Sword & Sworcery's narrative follows the struggles of the Scythian, an adventurer in a magical forest realm. A pipe-smoking, self-aware narrator sits outside the action in a wingback chair and inches the plot along, although most story elements are delivered via smartly-written text boxes (seen when you engage in dialogue with other characters or tap on special objects). And then there's the meta-level narrative that involves a two sides of a vinyl record, which is why Sword & Sworcery has its EP suffix.
Sounds a little artsy-fartsy, right? If Sword & Sworcery didn't have a good adventure to back it up, I'd enjoy it more as an experiment in sight and sound, and then move on to the next game. But the core game here is a fantastic throwback to point-and-click adventures. It relies on poking around beautiful scenery, looking for clues to advance the story as well as solve a series of puzzles. Now, some of the puzzles are a tad too obtuse and I confess that every once in a while, solutions were discovered by just poking around the screen (such as when I finished finding five little water sprites and then needed to somehow activate some magical staff). I could do with a little less abstractness in the puzzle department, as those are the moments Sword & Sworcery flirts with being too cute by half.
Sword & Sworcery does have a little combat, too. When you encounter an enemy, rotating the iPad into portrait drops into fight mode, complete with two virtual buttons at the button of the screen for raising a shield or slashing with a sword. These are timing contests, not actual brawls. They work well to break up the adventure. I wasn't nuts about twisting and turning the iPad to play the original version, especially when 90-percent is played in landscape mode. However, it feels smooth and natural with a smaller device.
Finally, Sword & Sworcery actually uses the lunar cycle to unlock the last two game events. Here's something I don't want to spoil too much because it's so neat. Just know that once you beat the first major boss, not much happens until the next phase of the lunar cycle. So, if you grab it tomorrow from the App Store and play to the first big boss battle – which is really cool – wait until the new moon and start Sword & Sworcery again. Yeah, something's different… (Now, you can tweak your device clock to trick the game into thinking you've reached the next full or new moon. But don't ruin it if you can help it.)
There are other point-and-click adventures on the App Store, though, so what makes Sword & Sworcery stand so much taller? Let me circle back to the beginning of the review. It's how all of the elements come together. I cannot speak highly enough about the retro art used here. Sword & Sworcery's 8-bit aesthetic is stunning, especially when it's contrasted with lighting techniques from a few decades later. The animations are beautiful, such as the sight of a frightened bit-art deer rushing off into the trees.
But the music is what truly pushes Sword & Sworcery into higher orbit. Created by Jim Guthrie, Sword & Sworcery's soundtrack is – without hesitation – one of the best game scores I have heard in years. There's a strong current of chip tunes in here, but Guthrie doesn't limit himself to the tones of an overactive Commodore 64. Beautiful synths and strings interject as necessary, especially when you go about poking the screen. It's something else when a game successfully makes you want to touch everything just so you can hear something.
And then there's just the outrageously cool lunar cycle stuff.
iPhone vs. iPad
Aside from a couple subtle (and welcome) differences, the iPhone/iPod version of Sword & Sworcery is identical to its iPad cousin. The Twitter integration that confused some players in the iPad version is now fully explained in the intro. And the sword-and-shield combat system has been adapted to the smaller screen of the iPhone. It's the same experience, but more portable.
Editor's Note: Levi Buchanan reviewed the original iPad version of Sword & Sworcery. This review was updated by Ryan Geddes, who also played both versions.
