Da Vinci adventure in April

By Tom Bramwell Published 20 January, 2006

Nowt to do with horrible book.

Nobilis Group's announced that it's got what appears to be four developers working on a game to do with the life and work of... Leonardo Da Vinci!

Elektrogames, TotM Studio, Kheops Studio and Mzone Studio are mentioned on the press release, which says the game's called The Secrets of Da Vinci: The Forbidden Manuscript. No wonder, then, that it's out in April!

The game's described as "a major investigation and adventure game, a thrilling mystical quest into the heart of the Renaissance", and "due for release on PC"!

Which of course means it has nothing to do with Take-Two's The Da Vinci Code game, which is going to be out later this year. And nothing to do with the international publicity ruckus around Dan Brown's irritating book and the film, which'll hopefully be a fittingly awful end to this overly cliffhangery nonsense!

Just as that was. APPLE! APPLE! TWAT!

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (41) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • dbeamish #1 6 years ago

    oh come on.. the books were trashy throwaway stuff but they were quite exciting.
    Can't see the film being any good.

    And the game should be made by Lucasarts.. cartoony 2d style like MI3.

  • Thamuhacha #2 6 years ago

    Dan Brown gets an A for imagination and a C- for actual writing ability

    Nobilis get a B+ for carefully wording their well timed rip off

  • ZeTimbo #3 6 years ago

    Oi!

    Bramwell!

    NO!

    I respect your ability to write in depth reviews laced with knowledge and understanding. I enjoy reading your witty musings on the games you so eloquently disassemble. I even laugh to myself whilst I'm abusing the office internet access to read Eurogamer.

    However, when you storm into Ellie's excellent news section, italics blazing like an office temp after a "training" session, my eyes start to feel like they're crawling out of my skull. And although the press release is flimsy (to say the least), your sardonic riposte (which I normally find hilarious) does nothing to save grace.

    So...

    When's Ellie back then?

    P.S. Keep up the good work.

    P.P.S. *insert fanboy remark of choice here*

  • Blerk #4 6 years ago

    APPLE! APPLE! TWAT!

    lol!

    /has just flogged his copy on Ebay for more than he paid for it

  • BlackJedi #5 6 years ago

    "Dan Brown gets an A for imagination and a C- for actual writing ability "

    Dan Brown gets an F for imagination, considering he ripped the idea off wholesale from the equally appalling (not least because it was presented as "true";) "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail".

    I agree with the C- for writing.

  • Thamuhacha #6 6 years ago

    >Dan Brown gets an F for imagination, considering he ripped the idea off

    Fair enough. I stand corrected.

    The thing is, the book (bobbins) might make a decent film. If we hadn't all read the book! It will be like a panto - when you boo and hiss as soon as the baddy walks on.

  • ST.. #7 6 years ago

    How terribly fashionable it is for faux intellectuals to pour scorn on the Da Vinci code. I haven't read it so I can't comment of course, though presumably all the haters sit at home and read Kafka through thick black rimmed spectacles?

    I believe it's called no-brainer fun? It's quite healthy btw.....

  • Scientist #8 6 years ago


    "I believe it's called no-brainer fun? It's quite healthy btw....."

    another C- for writing. Dan Brown rots brains!

  • Blerk #9 6 years ago

    Well I thought it was alright. Bit far-fetched in places, bit silly in places, but ultimately it was an entertaining read. Dunno why it built up such a reputation as being the 'best thing evah', but it's hardly cack.

  • morriss #10 6 years ago

    Me likes adventures and is looking forward to this

  • asphaltcowboy #11 6 years ago

    Yeah, that's more like it Blerk! ;)

  • Thamuhacha #12 6 years ago

    >Bit far-fetched in places, bit silly in places, but ultimately it was an entertaining read.

    Yes, it was. But it doesn't deserve to be the biggest selling book ever (or something). And the fact that it dragged all of his other, previously-released-to-complete-apathy back catalogue up the charts is also galling.

  • Blerk #13 6 years ago

    I've not read any of the other stuff. Might read the Da Vinci prequel at some point. If I can remember what it's called. :-)

  • Tomo #14 6 years ago

    ST wins.

    It's popular so spread the hate guys... sigh.

  • lemonfist #15 6 years ago

    The worst thing I can say about Dan Brown and his awful prose is that my friends and colleagues at work who read it actually think the Da Vinci Code is brilliant. It's really sad to see such poor writing being so popular.

  • Syneisha #16 6 years ago

    It's crap, but then so is celebrity big brother, and look at how many people follow that ;)

    Go read The Traveller for a more refined approach to a ridiculous story. The characters are tons better than anything Dan Brown has thrown up, but the writing is still fairly poor.
    Edited by 1 at 20/01/06 @ 11:52

  • BlackJedi #17 6 years ago

    "How terribly fashionable it is for faux intellectuals to pour scorn on the Da Vinci code. I haven't read it so I can't comment of course, though presumably all the haters sit at home and read Kafka through thick black rimmed spectacles?"

    No. I count the Halo novelisations (well, the first and third anyway) as some of my favourite no-brain fun books. I read trashy pulp scifi and enjoy it enormously. I read kids' books like Potter and Garth Nix. I read comics/manga meant for teens. I'm perfectly capable of enjoying low-brow entertainment, as long is it's entertaining.

    Dan Brown is an appalling writer. The ideas are stolen, the plots contrived, the characters paper-thin, the endings truly atrocious. I even gave the bugger another chance and tried a second of his books to see if the Code was an aberration, but unfortunately not. He truly is shit, and nothing short of a large wad of cash would ever convince me to read another of his books.

  • elvenearth #18 6 years ago

    It was the ridiculous historical inaccuracies that annoyed me:

    For example: "Constantine forming the Bible."
    "Arrians apparently believing that Jesus was just a man."
    "Gnostic texts being a more accurate view of early mainstream Christian
    doctrine and beliefs."

    All either wrong or extremely speculative...

  • Blerk #19 6 years ago

    It's just a story. It's not supposed to be 'real'. :-)

  • asphaltcowboy #20 6 years ago

    Precisely, it's made up - and the fact that he made it up and it sounds so convincing (I listened to the audiotape) is pretty impressive. In fact, that so many people believe the stuff to be true (despite it wrongly-educating them) wouldn't you say that was an impressive feat?

    Maybe he's drawing parallels with the Bible? ;)

  • Thamuhacha #21 6 years ago

    >Maybe he's drawing parallels with the Bible? ;)

    CAREFUL!

    The religious lot are worse than the Nintendo fanboys.

    Jesus R0xx0r5 (to be safe!)

  • asphaltcowboy #22 6 years ago

    /lays the bait ;)

  • Scientist #23 6 years ago

    Reading Dan Brown is the literary equivalent of playing crappy overhyped videogames, the kinds of which people hear usually get so hot and bothered about.

    The very same people who are here extolling the virtues of crap fiction are the ones who decry "chavs" for playing FIFA Street and *insert overhyped game name here*. It's cultural relativism gone mad. People like dishing it out but can't see that their tastes in other fields might be considered crass by others.


  • Blerk #24 6 years ago

    Jesus saves!

    But Judas knocks it in off the rebound.

  • Scientist #25 6 years ago

    " Jesus saves!

    But Judas knocks it in off the rebound."

    There was a sign outside a church in Toxteth:

    Fowler Shoots
    Jesus Saves

    Always made me chuckle.

  • ScoutTech #26 6 years ago

    But isn't Darren Brown the one that says it's all true and possible, totally backs his work up as fact with his own story interwoven?
    If that's the one then he really is rather silly as a lot of the things have proven to be fake or myths.
    If not then... Ermmmm, look a bird
    /runs

  • JonFE #27 6 years ago

    Well, IMHO, the Da Vinci Code could have been "half" in size and "twice" in excitement, if Dan Brown wasn't dragging on irrelevant pieces of the story (like the romance) and concentrated on the historical / factual-like parts...

  • Perry #28 6 years ago

    I read it before it was very well known and thought it was quite a good read, with a good conspiracy theory that questioned various historic events here and there (incl religious stuff that I know little about).

    What I liked was the "explanation" of various symbols and symbolic thoughts that we take for granted every day. Made me think, whether it was true or not.

    It's bizarre that 90% of the eurogamer readers are book critics as well. Quite talented!

    Tall poppy syndrome springs to mind
    Edited by 1 at 20/01/06 @ 16:01

  • job314 #29 6 years ago

    the da vinci code wouldn't be so bad if Brown didn't portray it as factually accurate.

    it's not.

    art historians refer to da vinci as 'leonardo' in reality, not once do they do that in the book. it's such a small thing, but a massive clue that brown had others do his research for him.

    as for the rest of it, how opus dei haven't sued him i'll never know, and john is really mary magdalene in the last supper?

    aside from the fact that there are sketches of the last supper by leonardo that have the names of the disciples above their heads, and 'mary' is clearly labelled 'john', yeah, factually accurate. again, one wonders if brown is aware of rennaisance painters portraying male adolescents in a feminine manner?

    i know fuck all about art, i don't really care about art at all, but this knowledge was accrued in about 5 min of googling.

    and as everyone else has said, Brown can't write prose for shit.

    but neither can I.

  • firm3d #30 6 years ago

    ScoutTech -- Umm, Darren Brown is the bearded trickster of Channel 4/E4 fame;)

    I'd like to see a game with the same level of human drama as Fahrenheit that links the Illuminati, Majestic-12 (their modern equivalent) and isn't it funny that the richest man in the world owns the Codex Leicester.

    Oh wait, I pretty much described Deus Ex; come on, Bob Page was so Bill Gates.
    Edited by 1 at 20/01/06 @ 18:46

  • Bhav #31 6 years ago

    How the fuck is the Da Vinci Code book awful???

    You EuroGamer writers are a bunch of illiterate assholes!

  • asphaltcowboy #32 6 years ago

    job314 - and do you think he actually believes it to be factual, or might he just be pulling everyone's leg (everyone that doesn't know better anyway).
    Edited by 1 at 20/01/06 @ 19:24

  • ilmaestro #33 6 years ago

    I'm confused as to how you make the distinction between 'presented as factually accurate' and 'presented as factually accurate within the reality of the book'. A lot of people would consider a large number of the basic ideas of the book to be absolute rubbish, even the ones that are closer to the truth than some, but it doesn't stop you from enjoying the book as a self-contained work. Consider it an alternate reality and I don't see how it can't be enjoyed, aside from the relative transparency of some of the major 'puzzles' as noted at the end of the EG article. And I think why people are 'allowed' to back up the book as no-brainer fun and run down chavs buying FIFA street is twofold; firstly, most people who defend the book probably know that it isn't the greatest story ever told, as opposed to the chavs who genuinely believe that FIFA street is where it's at, and secondly the book should cost you less than a blue 'un, whereas a video game is thirty notes or so.

  • Frogger #34 6 years ago

    If you think Dan Brown is a poor writer, I beg you not to read another star of the boxoffice called Mark Levy. Dan Brown looks like the new Shakespeare after reading a book of Marc Levy.

  • PearOfAnguish #35 6 years ago

    How the fuck is the Da Vinci Code book awful???

    Because it's poorly written tripe? If it wasn't for the unexplainable popularity of Da Vinci, Brown would be taking up shelf space in your local £1 bookstore, right where he belongs.

    Nothing wrong with throwaway thrillers, I love 'em myself, but there are writers who do a better job. Try Lee Childs, Mo Hayder or early Clive Cussler.
    Edited by 1 at 20/01/06 @ 23:09

  • Daikon #36 6 years ago

    @Bhav:

    You haven't read a lot of books in your lifetime, have you? If you would have, you'd know that Dan Brown's writing style and way of telling a story is quite similar to that of my seven year old nephew.

    As for your "illiterate" remark, some of the definitions of "illiterate":

    1. Marked by inferiority to an expected standard of familiarity with language and literature.
    2. Violating prescribed standards of speech or writing.

    Both of these apply to you.

  • Shadar #37 6 years ago

    Hint: Replace the B in Bhav with a closely associated letter.

    The truth shall make ye fret.

    Oh, and Dan Brown is a horrible writer. He is speculative, he has a 12-year-old's grip of the English language, and he couldn't write a dramatically interesting character to save his life. The Da Vinci Code is a stroke of luck. It makes the people who read it feel smart, and that really sells.

    Whenever I am asked whether I have read the damn thing or not, and I respond in the negative, I get condescending stares from the savvy, cultured people who hold the book in such high regard. The book represents a kind of reverse cultural snobbishness: There is no doubt that the book is drivel, and those who claim so are usually academics. The massive public opinion, however, says the book is spectacular. Thus, the plebs can look down on the truly cultured.

    Just like gamers look down on people like Roger Ebert who dismisses games as puerile, insubstancial entertainment. Because *we* can see that the games, despite their crude exterior, says wonderful things about the human condition. How is Aerith's death *not* a touching, profound rendition of loss and regret? Only ignorant nincompoops like Roger Ebert could fail to see that.

  • Symptom #38 6 years ago

    Hands up who thinks the Bible is "factually acurate"...

  • redneon Verified Programmer, SUMO Digital #39 6 years ago

    "It makes the people who read it feel smart, and that really sells."

    From my experience, I find that people get annoyed when they aren't the intellectual few anymore and in retaliation tend to slag off the cause to elevate themselves above it.

    I seriously doubt that the book is as bad as half of you are making out, although I do think it is probably overrated. I find it terribly irritating, though, how some of you consider yourselves to be among the intellectual elite enough to say that only stupid people could enjoy a book like this.

    I'm sure that if I read some of the books you have suggested I may have similar comments to make.

    Personally, I haven't read The Da Vinci Code but I do intend to, at some point. I'm more of a nerdy Pratchett fan though, to be honest. Although, I do like sci-fi books, especially the "To Your Scattered Bodies Go..." series.

  • job314 #40 6 years ago

    isn't the 'da vinci' part of leonardo's name in reference to where he's from?

    so calling leonardo merely by 'da vinci' is gramatically inaccurate, in the same vein as referring to 'of arc' instead of joan being a mistake?

    dan browns book is awful, he does present several aspects of the book as fact, and makes no allusion to this 'alternative' reality of which you speak.

    i agree that it does make stupid people feel intelligent, as witnessed in this very thread i fear. brown merely throws icon after icon and coincidence after coincidence at you in attempt to 'blow' your mind.

    off the top of my head, one laughable example of this is when langdon points out to sophie that rose is an anagram of eros. big wow.

    the book is written for less intelligent individuals than myself, i winced at each 'revelation' regarding the position of saunieres body, the bank account number etc, as i had thought the answers to these riddles were glaringly obvious a few chapters back. not wanting to seem intellectually superior here, i'm just giving my honest views.

    i think brown basically wrote a screenplay in book form to make as much money as possible from it. at one point, brown describes the characters in terms of stage directions (langdons eyes mist over, sophie gasps etc)

    absolute tripe.
    Edited by 1 at 22/01/06 @ 02:30

  • lucky_jim #41 6 years ago

    Hm this is actually a pretty interesting comments thread, maybe it's time to launch "Euroreader"...

    Haven't read Dan Brown yet, mostly because enough people I have respect for have told me his writing stinks; but as a very lapsed Catholic I can't help feeling that I really *must* read anything the pope tells me not to (hey, he'd just prefer us to read his favourite work of preachy historical fiction instead, right?). I'll probably give it a try at some point.

    Incidentally, isn't the point of the article that this new game has nothing to do with the Dan Brown books? Sounds like non-news to me, oh well at least it caused a discussion!

  • Daikon #42 6 years ago

    The game's described as "a major investigation and adventure game, a thrilling mystical quest into the heart of the Renaissance"

    I'd buy it if it would star Leisure Suit Larry.

  • KOKIS #43 5 years ago

    can anyone help mne with the game?
    i cant get get in babou's room
    cant open the door in the basement and cant open the globe