Gaspar de Guzmán y Pimentel, 1st Duke of Sanlúcar, 3rd Count of Olivares, known to history as the Count-Duke of Olivares, is one of those historical figures who really deserves a video game made them. Not a video game that sees them as the hero, of course, but as the terrifying, grasping, mercurial villain. The Count-Duke was the favourite of Spain’s Philip IV. In paintings from the era he fairly radiates malice and self-interest. He was huge and powerful, the epitome of the power behind the throne.
And I’m pretty sure he’s the model for the villain in En Garde!, a spry and witty swashbuckling game set in Spain’s golden age. The Count-Duke is everywhere in this game, even when he isn’t dominating boss fights: he glowers from the walls in paintings that reference works of Velazquez and – at one point – El Greco. His scheming notes are scattered around waiting to be found. He’s planning something – something big and terrible. Like the real Count-Duke in the court of Philip IV, his presence in this world is inescapable.
Fans of Spanish history will enjoy stuff like this, I think, but the delights of En Garde! are so generous, so freewheeling that there’s something for everyone. This is a third-person action game with a brilliant heroine, brisk, breezy platforming and rapier combat inspired by the likes of the Arkham games. It’s a colourful journey across a bunch of lovely, intricate maps. It’s a bit of a treat in every way.
