Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars

Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars
European PC version box art
Developer(s)	Revolution Software Astraware (Palm OS)
Publisher(s)	Virgin Interactive Windows, Mac OS Virgin Interactive PlayStation EU: Sony Computer Entertainment NA: THQ Palm OS & Windows Mobile Astraware
Director(s)	Charles Cecil
Producer(s)	Charles Cecil Chris Dudas Steve Ince Michael Merren
Writer(s)	Charles Cecil Dave Cummins Jonathan Howard
Composer(s)	Barrington Pheloung
Series	Broken Sword
Engine	Virtual Theatre
Platform(s)	Windows, Mac OS, PlayStation, Palm OS, Windows Mobile, Game Boy Advance
Release	14 October 1996 Windows & Mac OS EU: 14 October 1996 NA: 6 November 1996[1] PlayStation EU: December 1996 NA: 24 March 1998[2] Palm OS NA: 23 November 2005[3] Windows Mobile NA: 2 August 2006[4]
Genre(s)	Point-and-click adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player

Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars (also known as Circle of Blood in the United States)^[5] is a 1996 point-and-click adventure game developed by Revolution Software. It is the first in the Broken Sword series, co-written and directed by Charles Cecil. The player assumes the role of George Stobbart (voiced by Rolf Saxon), an American tourist in Paris, as he attempts to unravel a deep conspiracy involving a sinister cult and a hidden treasure, seeing him travel to various locations around Europe and the Middle East. The game's storyline was conceived to feature a serious tone and heavily influenced by research on Knights Templar by Cecil, but was also interlaced with humor and graphics in the style of classic animated films.

Development of the game saw considerable work to achieve its presentation. Artwork was conceived by Eoghan Cahill and Neil Breen, who particularly drew the backgrounds in pencil and digitally colored them in Photoshop, the game's design was handled by Tony Warriner and David Sykes, while the game's musical score was composed by Barrington Pheloung. The game was built with Revolution's Virtual Theatre engine, which had already been used by the company in two previous games, Lure of the Temptress and Beneath a Steel Sky.

Broken Sword proved a critical and commercial success following its release on 30 September 1996. Critics lauded praise on the game's story, puzzles, voice acting, writing, gameplay, and music, leading to it receiving numerous award nominations and wins. Sales of the games bested expectations by the company, with around one million units having been sold by 2001. The game has topped several listings of the best adventures games, with many developers citing Broken Sword as an influence in future adventure games.

After its initial release on Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, and PlayStation between 1996 and 1998, the game was released on the Game Boy Advance under the same title, and later received ports to Palm OS and Windows Mobile in 2006. The game spawned a number of sequels that would collectively form the Broken Sword series: Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror in 1997; Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon in 2003; Broken Sword: The Angel of Death in 2006; and Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse in episodic format, between 2013 and 2014. An extended version of the game, Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars – Director's Cut, was released between 2009 and 2012 for Wii, Nintendo DS, Microsoft Windows, OS X, iOS, Android and Linux. A remaster of the game was announced at Gamescom 2023, titled Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars – Reforged. It is based on the original version, not the Directors Cut.