More than 10 years after the release of the last video game based on Tintin, namely the adaptation of the animated film The Secret of the Unicorn by Ubisoft Montpellier, it is therefore Pendulo Studios which has been chosen to give a new chance to the chaotic course of Tintin in video game. With Microids, the Spanish studio also seems to have given up its original creations for the moment (Runaway, The Next Big Thing, Yesterday) in favor of licensed games since this adaptation of Tintin comes after Blacksad: Under the Skin (2019) and Alfred Hitchcock – Vertigo (2021).
First published in 1934 in black and white, although most of us will have known Casterman’s reworked 1955 color album, Cigars of the Pharaoh took Tintin (and Snowy) on the trail of the tomb of the pharaoh Kih-Oskh, but especially of a secret society of arms and opium traffickers, this through Egypt, Arabia and India. Prelude of blue lotus, also marks the entry on the scene of the brothers Dupond and Dupont but also of the villainous Rastapopoulos. It was adapted into a cartoon in 1991.
On the artistic direction side, if Cigars of the Pharaoh is perceived by specialists as the album which helped Hergé to lay the foundations of his style called “the clear line”, Pendulo does not indulge in imitation of the designer and seems closer to Tintin in computer-generated image by Steven Spielberg, as we can see on these few images which, no doubt, will not fail to win unanimous support.
“It is a real pleasure to be able to adapt this adventure of the famous Belgian reporter. With the Spanish studio Pendulo Studios, we started production a few years ago and we can’t wait to show more to players around the world. I would even say that we are doing everything we can to honor Hergé’s work and we want to offer fans the adaptation they have always dreamed of.“, commented Stéphane Longeard, CEO of Microids.
Tintin Reporter – Cigars of the Pharaoh will be released in 2023 on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, Switch and PC.