$14.99Broken Age Two worlds, one warm puzzle story
Guide a would-be sacrifice and a spaceship kid through a hand-drawn point-and-click adventure full of jokes and talking objects.
Is Broken Age worth it?
Broken Age is worth it if…
- you want a story-first adventure you can finish in a few relaxed evenings
- you like classic point-and-click games with witty, joke-filled dialogue
- you enjoy hand-drawn worlds that look like an animated film
- you want something family friendly that never punishes or rushes you
- you would rather follow two characters' stories than master fast reflexes
Screenshots
Two lives, one switch away
Vella Tartine lives in a village that keeps a monster happy by feeding it its most eligible young women, and this time the honour falls to her. Shay Volta lives on a spaceship where an overprotective computer feeds him, entertains him and stages harmless little "adventures" with his cuddly toys. Both are teenagers who have had exactly enough of other people deciding their lives.
The stories run on their own until they start to rhyme in ways you did not expect. Helping both of them take control is what the whole game is about.
Puzzles with a sense of humour
This is a classic point-and-click: walk a character around hand-painted locations, pick up odd objects, use them on odder ones, and talk to everyone. The puzzles start gentle and logical, the kind you solve over a cup of tea, and they get tougher as the story goes on. Fair warning from many who finished it: the second half spikes hard in difficulty, and some solutions are convoluted enough that even puzzle veterans reach for a guide. Come for the story and the jokes more than the late-game head-scratchers.
The head-scratchers you do crack feel good, and the writing carries you through the rest. The dialogue is sharp and genuinely funny, the world is full of absurd touches, and the whole thing has the warm, storybook strangeness of a modern fairy tale. There is even a conversation puzzle that ranks among the trickiest of its kind.
What about the voices and the look?
Who is in the cast, and does it matter?
It matters a lot. Elijah Wood plays Shay, Masasa Moyo plays Vella, and Jack Black turns up as Harm'ny Lightbeard, with Jennifer Hale, Wil Wheaton and Pendleton Ward in supporting roles. The voice acting is one of the things players consistently single out, and it gives the comedy its timing. Add a fully orchestrated score and every background painted by hand, and the game feels closer to a short animated film than a typical adventure game.
Is it suitable for kids or playing together on the couch?
Yes on both counts. The game is family friendly, there is no fail state to stress about, and it is touch-friendly, so it works well beyond the usual mouse-and-keyboard setup. Because it is a puzzle adventure, it also makes good couch material: one person drives, everyone else shouts suggestions about where the talking spoon might fit. Just know the later puzzles can stump adults as easily as children.
