February 4, 2015

Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within

Sierra Studios, 1996


After the great success of Jane Jensen's Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, Sierra seriously felt like promoting the game, so they worked out this sequel using the full-motion-video technology, which was very popular at that time. Real actors were hired to do the roles of Gabriel Knight and Grace Nakimura, which were respectively acted by Dean Erickson and Joanne Takahashi. The story in this sequel starts where it left off in the previous one. Gabriel is still living in his castle in Rittersberg, Germany, writing novels on his previous adventures and Grace alone is looking after the bookstore in New Orleans, USA. Your quest begins when you reluctantly agree to investigate some mutilated murders rumored in the locality to be the job of werewolves.

There is nothing much to say about the graphics as real location images are scanned and added in the backdrops where characters in form of sprites are superimposed. The character's movements are being controlled by a mouse-driven interface. This game is not recommended for young children as many explicit scenes may frighten them. However, in general this is the best game in the Gabriel Knight saga.