Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth from Daedalic Entertainment is a gorgeous adventure game set in 12th-century England. Learn more in our Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth review!
Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth from Daedalic Entertainment is a gorgeous adventure game set in 12th-century England. This is a Rated M for Mature experience based on the 1989 novel from author Ken Follet that has sold over 26 million copies and counting. You’ll get to dive into the story as you work your way through each of the seven chapters as Jack, Aliena, and Philip. The choices you make along the way can take you away from what was originally written in the book, changing the events and taking you on new paths.
All the main characters are very interesting and different from one another. Jack is a boy who is being raised in the woods by his outlawed mother, and his life will change thanks to his apprenticeship as a stonemason. Aliena is the daughter of the Earl of Shiring, and she ends up rejecting an arranged marriage to William, the only son of the Hamleighs. And then we have Philip, a monk who becomes the prior of the small abbey of Kingsbridge. He dreams of Kingsbridge rising to greatness with a cathedral.
Each character is brought to life in an animated art style that helps all of their actions pop as you explore the hundreds of hand-painted locations that Ken Follet’s The Pillars of the Earth has to offer. The game is also fully voice acted – which is always a plus – featuring the talents of Glen McCready as Philip, Naomi Sheldon as Aliena, and Cody Molko and Alex Jordan as the young and adult versions of Jack. Even Ken Follet himself lends his voice to the Cantor!
You’ll get to learn all of the basics for Ken Follet’s The Pillars of the Earth thanks to the starting tutorial – which the game gives you the option to skip. As you control a character that is shown only as a shadow, you’ll move your character with the left analog stick. Pressing the ZR button will allow it to walk at a faster pace. Since this is an adventure game, you’ll have to interact with objects and characters by pressing the A button. When standing next to an object, you can press the Y button to think about it.
You can collect items and add them to your inventory so that you can solve puzzles, use them when interacting with objects, as well as move the story forward. Holding the right analog stick will open up your inventory wheel. By moving the cursor to an item, you’ll then get to equip it. After that, just press the X button to use it on something or someone. By pressing and holding down the ZL button, you’ll be able to highlight everything you can interact with on the screen.
As you play through Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth, you’ll also get to collect some clues. These will be added to your inventory just like the items that you collect. Selecting them by using the right analog stick and using them on people will allow your character to talk with them about each clue. Use a clue and interact with an object, and you’ll be able to ponder how the clue and the object might be connected.
Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth features an in-game achievements system for you to keep track of the many objectives you can complete. This is not going to be a short one since you can easily spend 15+ hours playing this one. It’s particularly hard to discuss the objectives without spoiling things for you, so I’ll just say that there’s one achievement that will unlock when you find a secret door somewhere, a handful of trophies for being supportive during specific situations, and achievements that will pop as you progress through the story.
Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth is a gorgeous point and click adventure game that showcases the 1989 of the same title in a Rated M for Mature experience. It features outstanding hand-drawn background and a solid cast of characters that get to shine thanks to the solid voice acting, all wrapped in a classic point and click adventure journey with some 21st-century quality-of-life elements. Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth is out on Nintendo Switch with a $19.99 asking price.
Disclaimer
This Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by Daedalic Entertainment.
