The introductory cinematic of the game takes place in Catalonia in 1937, and presents us in particular with a painting entitled "La Maledicció". The fruit of much covetousness, this work was exhibited several decades later in a Parisian art gallery. Among the visitors are our dear George Stobbart and Nico Collard, who stumble upon each other. The first works for the insurance company that paid for the exhibition, while the second is there to do her job as a journalist. And when our two heroes are reunited, we suspect that adventure is never far away! It begins here with the intrusion of a masked thief, who steals the famous painting and inadvertently assassinates the owner of the gallery. Nico takes charge of the criminal to try to take a picture of him, George begins to investigate on the spot, then it's the turn of Inspector Navet (a brand new character) and Sergeant Moue (a ghost from the great era) to make their appearance. The cast is thus made up of known faces that we are really delighted to find, and new characters who are on the whole rather well written. Everything is bathed in an atmosphere extremely faithful to the first episodes of the series. By peeling all the dialogues, one can for example unearth some well-felt humorous traits. We find certain places still in our memories, like Nico's apartment. Parisians express themselves with a French accent in their original version. The plot goes far beyond the initial framework which is that of a simple police investigation. And the game does not hesitate to give us control of Nico from time to time, just to vary the situations. Charles Cecil and his companions at Revolution Software have therefore lost none of their know-how, which they do not hesitate to reinforce with a regular dose of fan service.
George was walking...
This respect for the original saga is even found in the technique, since The Knights of Baphomet 5 abandons the 3D graphics of the third and fourth episodes (often decried) and returns to classic 2D sets made by hand. With their bright but never garish colors, these paintings are a real treat for the eyes. Especially for us French people, who can then enjoy a Paris fantasized by Americans (clean and sunny streets, art deco architecture...) and therefore much more pleasant than that of everyday life. On the other hand, the integration of 3D characters in these 2D sets is largely perfectible. They sometimes stand out a little too much, the fault in particular of a rather summary management of shadows and lighting. More generally, the game would also have deserved a better technical finish. The soundscapes sometimes seem too shy, while the backgrounds often lack small animations that would make them livelier. The gestures of the characters are also too basic. For example, if George hands an item from his inventory to someone, the item in question does not appear on the screen. In the same vein, we could also mention these doors that open and close on their own, or even these micro-timeouts that chop up certain phases of dialogue or animation. All these little nothings end up breaking the immersion a bit and slightly breaking the rhythm of the adventure.
More generally, the game would also have deserved a better technical finish. The soundscapes sometimes seem too shy, while the backgrounds often lack small animations that would make them livelier."
On the other hand, novice players don't have to worry about getting stuck because of a puzzle that's too twisted. The situations are rarely preposterous, and the characters do not hesitate to regularly distil valuable clues in the dialogues. It is even possible to simply resort to a special menu, which gives us relatively precise indications on the next action to be carried out. But suddenly, seasoned players brought up in Monkey Island may find that the adventure lacks a little too much difficulty. Or more generally spice, because the division of the game into two parts has the unfortunate consequence of postponing the most extraordinary script events until later. Conspiracies and mysticism are only touched upon, and we feel that the developers have kept some in mind for the future. This is also confirmed by the end of this first episode, which inevitably leaves a taste of unfinished business, but makes us really impatient to discover the rest and the end of the adventure.
