Broken Age – Waltorious Writes About Games

I wrote about Act 1 of Broken Age nearly a year and a half ago. The full game was released back in April, and I went back and played through the whole thing, ready to provide my final thoughts. Initially I thought I would write about the entire, complete game, ignoring the fact that it had been split into two acts (a decision the design team made out of necessity rather than desire) and judging it on its own merits. But, after a few aborted attempts to do so, I realized that I couldn’t do it. I can no longer view Broken Age merely as a game, a fate I now believe was inevitable the moment Tim Schafer decided to make its development public, both by funding it through Kickstarter and by chronicling the process in documentary form. So I decided to write about all of that too.

This is as timely as my posts are ever likely to get. Act 1 of Double Fine’s point and click adventure game Broken Age was released a mere week ago; usually, months or years elapse between a game’s release and my posts about it. But the release of Broken Age is especially notable. Long before Act 1 went on sale, Broken Age was already famous for the circumstances of its creation. Tim Schafer, the industry veteran and fan-favorite developer who heads Double Fine, pitched the game (or, more accurately, proposed making an adventure game in general) on Kickstarter roughly two years ago, and the overwhelming response opened the doors for countless other game projects seeking crowdfunding. From other industry veterans to untested indie teams, the influx of games on Kickstarter and other crowdfunding sites can be more or less pinned on Tim Schafer, and everyone wants to see how Broken Age, as the poster child for the movement, is going to turn out.

It’s undeniably exciting, and certainly worth discussing, but I think Broken Age deserves to be judged on its own merits. So, much like Broken Age itself, I’ve split this post into two parts: the first covers the history behind the genre and the development of Broken Age, and the second discusses the actual game. Read on.

Game-related ramblings.

Tag: Broken Age

Broken Age Is Finished And I Like It A Lot

Split, But Not Broken: Broken Age Act 1