| Revolution Software | |
| Type: | Private |
| Industry: | Video games |
| Hq Location City: | York |
| Hq Location Country: | England |
| Key People: | Charles Cecil (managing director) |
| Products: | Broken Sword series |
Revolution Software Limited is a British video game developer based in York, founded in 1989 by Charles Cecil, Tony Warriner, David Sykes, and Noirin Carmody.[1]
The company's logo was inspired by the 1981 film Excalibur and designed in collaboration with a graphic design firm in Hull.[2]
Released in 1992 for the Amiga, Atari ST, and DOS platforms, Lure of the Temptress was both critically and commercially a success,[3] which helped set the company up for their future game releases.[4] Revolution released the game as freeware on 1 April 2003.[5]
Their next game was released in 1994; Beneath a Steel Sky became a hit on the Amiga and IBM PC compatibles. The game focused on protagonist Robert Foster's abduction and subsequent search for answers in a dystopian city of the future. In that period they also ported Sierra's to the Amiga. Virtual Theatre system was used instead of Sierra's Creative Interpreter because of its much better performance.[6]
Despite the success of Beneath a Steel Sky, it was the company's next game that they would become best known for, and which would have both the biggest critical and commercial success. was released for PC and PlayStation in 1996 and was later ported to the Game Boy Advance in 2002. The game revolves around the story of George Stobbart, an American tourist whose holiday in Paris is rudely interrupted by a bombing. Investigating, he runs into photo-journalist Nicole Collard, and the two embark on a globe-trotting adventure. The hand drawn graphics, story and characters, and gameplay helped cement the company's reputation for story driven games.[7] The game was quickly followed by a well-received sequel, .[8] According to Charles Cecil, each of the first two Broken Sword games sold around a 1,000,000 copies in the mid-1990s.
In July 2000, the company released their first 3D game In Cold Blood for the PlayStation (later released for Microsoft Windows in October 2000). Set in the near future, the game featured John Cord, an MI6 agent. Sent to the fictional, former Soviet region of Volgia, the player embarks on a mission to investigate a newly discovered substance, Blue Nephrine. However, Cord is betrayed and must work out by whom, while simultaneously trying to work out what plans the dictator of Volgia, General Nagarov, has for this mysterious new chemical and the implications for the world.
In December 2000, the company also released a children's adventure game to coincide with the release of the film The Road to El Dorado.[9]
The company then started work on Good Cop Bad Cop, an action game for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube. However the game was eventually cancelled[10] so that the company could concentrate on .
Released in November 2003, featured 3D graphics, and moved away from the 2D point-and-click style of older games. As the game was developed for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2 and Xbox simultaneously, they decided to implement a direct control mechanism for the protagonist, instead of mouse control clicking on hot spots, as this was easier to convert to console game pads.[11]
Revolution released on 15 September 2006. At the start of the game, George is working as a bail bonds clerk, when he falls in love with Anna-Maria, a woman who asks George to help her find an artifact.[12]
On 1 March 2009, Revolution Software released a director's cut version of their first Broken Sword series, titled , for Wii and Nintendo DS platforms (later on iOS, Microsoft Windows and OS X).[13] According to a Charles Cecil interview with Pocket Gamer, the iOS version of the Director's Cut sold around 160,000 copies by December 2010.[14] The company also announced that The Director's Cut is coming soon to Android.[15]
In October 2009, Beneath a Steel Sky – Remastered was made available on the Apple App Store.[16] The Remastered Edition sold around 20,000 copies in its first month and expected to hit 70,000 sales in the first year and 100,000 lifetime sales.[17]
The company announced the remastered edition of the second game in the Broken Sword series on 9 December 2010, called Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror – Remastered. The game was released in late 2010 on iPhone, April 2011 on OS X and May 2011 on Microsoft Windows.[18]
On 25 July 2012, Charles Cecil posted on his personal Facebook account: "Totally focused on the announce video for our next game. I am thrilled by how it's looking, and can't wait to talk publicly, but completing the video for end of the month – as originally promised – now seems somewhat ambitious."[19] After a short delay, the game was officially announced to be a fifth entry in the series: .[20] The game was announced with a Kickstarter campaign and a video, showing some of the game's graphics and hinting at its storyline.[21]
After the release of Beneath a Steel Sky – Remastered, Charles Cecil and Dave Gibbons stated that a sequel could be likely and that iPhone would be the ideal platform.[22] During the Broken Sword 5 crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, the company originally put Beneath a Steel Sky 2 as a $1,000,000 bonus stretch goal if the new Broken Sword game raises enough money, but it only raised $820,000 (inc. PayPal donations). On 24 September 2012, after failing to reach the bonus stretch goal, the company's co-founder Tony Warriner said that "after the huge success of the Broken Sword 5 crowdfunding campaign on Kickstater, it inspired us to begin work on Beneath a Steel Sky 2. Development of the sequel will begin after the release of Broken Sword 5. We're delighted by the recent level of interest in a sequel to Beneath a Steel Sky and are currently discussing design ideas for this project which we plan to go into development following the release of Broken Sword 5. We're deeply touched that our Beneath a Steel Sky fans are as enthusiastic today as they were when the original game released in 1994." Beneath a Steel Sky 2 is to be developed for iOS, Android, PC, Linux and OS X. There is also a possibility in looking into a console version release.[23] In a September 2015 interview, Cecil announced that he was working on a story for Broken Sword 6, which would involve the main characters travelling to Germany.[24] In a later interview from April 2020, however, Cecil said he was "mulling around" ideas for Broken Sword 6, while his focus seemed to be still on Beyond a Steel Sky, though he did not exclude the idea that the next Broken Sword game may follow the company's present project.[25]
Towards the end of 2023, Revolution announced that a sixth instalment of Broken Sword was in development, entitled 'Broken Sword - Parzival's Stone', which is scheduled for release in 2024. In addition, a revamp of the first game 'Broken Sword - Shadow of the Templars: Reforged' is due to be released in 2024, with updated graphics and other minor changes to the original gameplay.
| Year | Game | Platform(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Lure of the Temptress | Atari ST, Amiga, DOS | |
| 1993 | Amiga | ||
| 1994 | Beneath a Steel Sky | Amiga, Amiga CD32, DOS, iOS, Linux, Microsoft Windows, OS X | |
| 1996 | Mac OS, DOS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation | ||
| 1997 | Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation | ||
| 1999 | PlayStation | ||
| A Bug's Life Activity Center | |||
| 2000 | In Cold Blood | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation | |
| Disney's Learning with Mickey | PlayStation | ||
| 2001 | Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: 2nd Edition | PlayStation 2 | |
| 2002 | Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars | Game Boy Advance | |
| 2003 | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox | ||
| 2006 | Microsoft Windows | ||
| 2009 | Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo DS, OS X, Wii | ||
| 2013-14 | Android, iOS, Linux, Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch | ||
| 2020-21 | Beyond a Steel Sky[26] | macOS, iOS, tvOS, Linux, Microsoft Windows, OS X, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S |
| Year | Publication/Ceremony | Nominated game or person | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | PC Gamer | Beneath a Steel Sky | Best Dialogue | |
| Golden Joystick Awards | Best Adventure | |||
| 1997 | Generation 4[27] | Best Adventure 1997 | ||
| Quest magazine | Best Quest | |||
| 2001 | GameVortex | In Cold Blood | Top Pick | |
| 2003 | British Academy Video Games Awards[28] | Best Design | ||
| Best PC Game | ||||
| Best Adventure Game | ||||
| Just Adventure[29] | Best Adventure Game of 2003 | |||
| 2004 | Game Developers Choice Awards[30] | Excellence in Writing | ||
| 2006 | Develop | Charles Cecil | Development Legend | |
| 2009 | Slide to Play | Beneath a Steel Sky: Remastered | Game of the Month, October 2009 | |
| Slide to Play's iPhone Games Holiday Buyer's Guide | Best Adventure Game | |||
| British Academy Video Games Awards[31] | Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars – Director's Cut | Best Story | ||
| 2010 | Adventure Gamers' 2009 Aggie Awards[32] | Best Port/Updated Re-release | ||
| Beneath a Steel Sky: Remastered | ||||
| 2011 | European Games Awards[33] | Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars – Director's Cut | Best European Adventure | |
| Order of the British Empire | Charles Cecil | Member of the Order of the British Empire |
| Year | Publication | List | Game or company | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Amiga Power | Amiga Power All-Time Top 100 | Lure of the Temptress | 47 |
| 1994 | 66 | |||
| Beneath a Steel Sky | 42 | |||
| 1995 | 72 | |||
| 1996 | 84 | |||
| 2004 | Adventure Gamers | Top 20 Adventure Games of All-Time[34] | 17 | |
| 4 | ||||
| 2006 | Adventure Classic Gaming | Top 10 retro graphic adventure games of all time from PC to consoles | Beneath a Steel Sky | 9 |
| Broken Sword: The Shadow of Templars | 3 | |||
| 2009 | Edge | Top 50 iPhone Games Available | Beneath a Steel Sky – Remastered | 26 |
| 2010 | PCWorld | 25 Best iPad Games | Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars – Director's Cut HD | |
| Pocket Gamer | Top 10-point-and-click adventure games on iPhone and iPad | Beneath a Steel Sky – Remastered | ||
| Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars – Director's Cut | ||||
| Metacritic | The Best iPhone and iPad Games of 2010[35] | 9 | ||
| Retro Gamer | Top 20 Adventure Games of All-Time... not by LucasArts[36] | Beneath a Steel Sky | 3 | |
| Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars | 2 | |||
| 2011 | Develop | Develop 100: The World's Most Successful Studios | Revolution Software | 47 |
| Brighthub | The Best PC Adventure Games of All Time[37] | Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars | ||
| Gameranx | Top 25 Best iOS Games[38] | Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars – Director's Cut | 10 | |
| Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror – Remastered | 9 | |||
| Trusted Reviews | 100 Best iPhone Games Ever[39] | Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars – Director's Cut | 31 | |
| TechRadar | Top 30 best free games you should play today | Beneath a Steel Sky | 4 | |
| PC Gamer | 20 free PC games you must play | 9 | ||
| Altered Gamer | Top 5 Adventure PC Games | |||
| Now Gamer | Greatest Point-And-Click Games (Not By LucasArts)[40] | Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars | ||
| Beneath a Steel Sky | ||||
| Adventure Gamers | Top 100 All-Time Adventures[41] | 19 | ||
| Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars | 4 | |||
| 2012 | GamesRadar | Best point-and-click adventure games[42] | 8 | |
| Gaming Enthusiast | Top 10 PC Adventure Games[43] | Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars / The Smoking Mirror | 4 | |
| VideoGamer | Top Wii Adventure Games of All Time[44] | Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars – Director's Cut | 5 | |
| Top DS Adventure Games of All Time[45] | 1 | |||
| Adventure Gamers | Top Adventure Games[46] | |||
| Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars |