It’s this poignancy that makes Broken Age’s attempts to explain the reasoning for its contrasting worlds all the more disappointing as Act II progresses, as the game’s big picture isn’t nearly as enthralling as the themes that shape it. While it’s often hidden within Double Fine’s clever and laugh-out-loud humorous writing, profound moments of questioning one’s reason for existence are found throughout both sides of the story.
These two are worlds apart, but Vella and Shay are both still subjected to unfortunate fates forced upon them by people who insist that their honorable sacrifice and mundane life, respectively, are for the greater good, and their questioning of those claims is often met with accusations of cultural disrespect and ungratefulness.Įven when Broken Age is portraying two very different characters in two very different situations, the underlying theme of questioning or succumbing to tradition runs through the game’s veins, as Shay and Vella’s attempts to take control of their own fate aren’t the only stories of self-discovery and longing for purpose to be found within the game’s world. Thankfully, immediately jumping into Broken Age’s second act does little to diminish the impact of the final moments of the first but even so, the second half of Double Fine’s return to point-and-click adventures never lives up to the moment right before the screen faded to black over a year ago.īroken Age stars two seemingly unrelated protagonists: Vella, a young woman being prepped as a sacrifice for a monster called Mog Chothra in order to save the citizens of her hometown, and Shay, a boy who has spent his entire life on a spaceship under the protection of an AI who is insistent he refer to it as his mother. While the instant Act I concludes was one of 2014’s most memorable moments, part of what made it so incredible was the knowledge that it was a cliffhanger, and you weren’t sure when you’d see it resolved.
There is little in terms of new characters to meet or places to visit in the game’s second act, but it keeps Broken Age from feeling fractured at any point, even at Act I’s remarkable ending. Given the conditions under which Broken Age was developed, it makes sense that playing through the game in its entirety never once comes across as something that was meant to be episodic.
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