Gabriel Knight
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 1: Gabriel Knight: The Sins of the Fathers
Type: Point-n-Click/Music
Written 1993 by Jane Jensen.
Runs on:
Notes: 256 color VGA graphics. Comes in both disk version (3 disks)
and CD-ROM. Featuring the voice talents of: Tim Curry
(Gabriel), Leah Remini (Grace), Mark Hamill (Det. Mosely),
Michael Dorn, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Rocky Carroll and Virginia
Capers, as the ever-unintelligible narrator.
Package includes a 42 page technical manual and a 32 page
graphic novel, beautifully illustrated by Terese Nielsen.
This was Sierra's first straight-to-CD release project and
featured a very expensive all-star voice-over cast.
The CD release originally came in an origami-shaped box,
marketing not seen since the days of Infocom's equally
hard-to-stack Starcross saucer. Floppy owners did not get such
luxury, as the disk based version of the game (as well as
later releases) came in a regular rectangular box.
Sins of the Fathers was awarded Computer Gaming World's and
Computer Game Review's 1994 Game of the Year title, a title it
most certainly deserved.
Comments: Gabriel Knight, dashing skirt chaser-cum-fiction writer, joins
forces with his sarcastic Asian sidekick, Grace, and balding
law inforcement pal, Detective Mosely, to learn more about the
voodoo-related crimes plaguing New Orleans, in efforts to
inspire his latest novel. Little does he know what he's
getting into, as Gabriel will be anything but a commonplace
bookstore owner by the time the game is over. Excellent.
Package blurb: He started out writing a book on voodoo. Now he's fighting
for his very soul. Gabriel Knight is the last in a long line
of Shadow Hunters, those fated to fight the dark forces of
the supernatural. Haunted by a centuries-old curse, he is
tormented by terrifying nightmares. Now he must spend every
waking moment scouring the side streets and back alleys of
New Orleans for the key to the dark past. And when he sleeps
-- the nightmare begins.
 2: Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within
Type: Point-n-Click/Music/Video clips
Written 1995 by Jane Jensen.
Runs on:
Notes: Starring Dean Erickson as Gabriel and Joanne Takahashi as
Grace.
Available on CD only in 256 colors SVGA. The PC version comes
on six CDs (another source says 5 CDs) in one double-width
jewel case. Includes a 24 page manual in jewel case.
Comments: Gabriel is back, surrounded by more murders, proving once
again that Jessica Fletcher has got nothing on him. Now
vacationing in his estate in Germany, with Grace grudgingly
running the show back in New Orleans, Gabriel's vacation is
cut short by the townspeople seeking vengeance on the supposed
werewolf killing of one of their little girls. Chapters
alternate between Gabriel's investigations of the murders
through a coveted German hunting lodge, and Grace's trudging
around Germany, in search of both Gabriel's location and the
connection between old German history, and the plight of the
werewolf.
An excellent storyline is marred by Sierra's use, once again,
of the single icon "Light Up Interface." Where Sins of the
Fathers was non-linear animation with voice-overs, The Beast
Within is very linear full motion video shot with real (we
think) actors. Dean Erickson and Joanne Takahashi are unable
to find the spark that made Tim Curry and Leah Remini so
endearing. Both Takahashi's crabby screen presence and Grace's
endless quest for the next pixel that will unfold mountains of
pointless historical text upon the viewer are the definite low
points, although it's a toss-up which is more difficult to
stomach. Otherwise, superbly written with some definite
unsettling moments packed in.
Package blurb: From the darkly prolific mind of creator Jane Jensen comes
the next Gabriel Knight Mystery: The Beast Within. Now we
find Schattenjager, or Shadow Hunter, Gabriel and his
assistant Grace Nakimura deeply embroiled in a murderous
mystery that unravels half a world away.
Play as both Gabriel and Grace as they are dispatched to
Munich to solve a series of mutilation murders thought to be
the work of werewolves. Gabriel confronts his own demons
while Grace traces an historical mystery, that of the strange
demise of Mad King Ludwig II. The hunters become the hunted,
and the only hope for deliverance lies in the most desperate
of schemes...
 3: Gabriel Knight: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned
Type: Point-n-Click
Written 1999.
Runs on:
 Gabriel Knight Mysteries (Limited Edition)
Written 1998.
Runs on:
Notes: This is a compilation which contains Gabriel Knight 1: Sins of
the Fathers (1 CD), Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within (6
CDs), Gabriel Knight Soundtrack (contains Gabriel Knight 1 & 2
game manuals and Sins of the Fathers graphic novel in digital
form; 1 CD), Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers (novel by
Jane Jensen, 400 pages), Gabriel Knight: Blood of the Sacred,
Blood of the Damned - Prologue (graphic novel, 16 pages).
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