Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers

Sierra On-Line, 1994

A game based on a mystery novel by Jane Jensen. You play Gabriel Knight, a hip young writer in present day New Orleans who is being tormented by terrifying nightmares. In order to finish his book and quell the dreams, he must solve a series of grisly voodoo murders and unravel the story of his own supernatural heritage. The game plays like a mystery, with minimal graphic violence and gore. But what we particularly enjoyed was the well-researched history of voodoo as a religion, including how and why it was introduced in this country during the early days of slavery.

You play the game through a point and click interface, a way of control adapted earlier by Sierra, leaving behind the annoying keyboard text parsers. An icon bar slides down from above when you move the cursor to the uppermost area of the screen, where icons are available to select various actions, such as walk, talk, and look. The inventory icon pops up an inventory that allows one to carry multiple items. All characters and backgrounds are computer animated and finely rendered. Gabriel travels from one place to another by clicking the available locations on a map of  New Orleans. The background music in this game is so appropriate according to the situation that it elevates the enjoyment. For me, it's one of the best adventure games I have ever played.

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.

Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned

Sierra Studios, 1999

This is the third adventure in the Jane Jensen's Gabriel Knight series and this time Sierra has done it in 3D. You resume the role of Gabriel Knight, a Schattenjager, which means "Shadow Hunter" in German language, and you reach a small French town called "Rennes Le Château" chasing an infant who was kidnapped and carried out of his bedroom in Paris to this town. Since you promised the infant's father, Prince James of Scotland, a friend of yours that you will protect him, it becomes your duty to solve this mystery which involves vampires, ancestral curses, supernatural elements and treasure-hunting groups, and bring back the infant home safe and sound. Grace Nakimura, your favorite and only team member from the previous games joins you later in your quest allowing the player to play as Grace and Gabriel on alternate days.

Gabriel Knight 3 uses a unique and strange camera technique, in which the player can explore the area while leaving Gabriel or Grace standing still and just moving the camera around using the arrow keys. Once you explore and reach a place you need your character to be, just click the screen and your character will instantly walk in from any side giving you a feeling as if he or she was with you all the time. There are few weak element in this game which include shaky and blocky 3D graphics, but the grasping story and lengthy plot overcome all these minor glitches and entertain the players for many days.