Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers
Description official descriptions
Gabriel Knight is a wise-cracking bookstore owner and would-be author. He is the last in a long line of Shadow Hunters, those fated to fight supernatural forces of evil. Tormented by terrifying nightmares, he must spend every waking moment scouring the side streets and back alleys of New Orleans for the key to his dark past. One day, a blood-chilling murder shocks the inhabitants of the city. The police detective assigned to investigate the crime is Gabriel's friend. In the beginning Gabriel collects evidence in hope of using the material for his new novel; but soon he finds himself personally involved in the investigation, and plunges deeper into the world of secret societies and murderous cults.
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers is a third-person puzzle-solving adventure game. Created by Jane Jensen, the game differs from Sierra's Quest games (e.g. Space Quest) by having a realistic setting and focusing (despite its supernatural elements and humor) on mature themes and detective work. In this way it is more similar to the company's earlier Laura Bow games.
The game's icon-based interface is the same as in Sierra's previous titles, with verb commands that allow interaction with the game world and its inhabitants. Though the game still has plenty of inventory-based puzzles characteristic for classic adventure, its gameplay is heavily inclined towards dialogue. Typically, Gabriel will have to interrogate other characters, choosing conversation topics and thus gradually finding clues and advancing towards the mystery's solution.
The game's locations are done in hand-painted style. The CD version of the game adds full voice-overs to the dialogues, as well as narrator's voice to text descriptions.
Spellings
- ××ר×××: ×××ר×× ×ת ×פ××× - Hebrew spelling
- çŠéçäşş - Simplified Chinese spelling
Groups +
Screenshots
Promos
Videos
Add Trailer or Gameplay Video +1 point
See any errors or missing info for this game?
You can submit a correction, contribute trivia, add to a game group, add a related site or alternate title.
Credits (DOS version)
99 People (91 developers, 8 thanks) · View all
Game Designer | |
Producer | |
Composer | |
Director | |
Lead Programmer | |
Background and Illustration Director | |
Animation Director | |
Programmers | |
Backgrounds and Illustrations | |
Animation | |
3D Rendering and Animation | |
Text & Dialogue | |
QA | |
Brand Manager | |
Audio Engineers | |
[ full credits ] |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 86% (based on 33 ratings)
Players
Average score: 4.2 out of 5 (based on 307 ratings with 18 reviews)
Guybrush Threepwood gone detective!
The Good
Well for one, this is one deep story. Other Sierra adventure games had this "surface level-fun kiddies" kinda of story line. This is the first Sierra Adventure game with a really serious-adult like approach to a game. The mysterious but not so creepy storyline gave a constant adrenaline flow, but not so much to give you a heart attack.
Our main character appears to be a favorite among "men with minds like boys" : a cool, mysterious laidback kinda guy, but always seems to be a corny and horny guy in the background. Gabriel Knight is yet the most "real character" most blokes can relate with. One thing that is probably memorable is the various "useless actions" that ol'Gabriel does especially when he interacts with his lovely secretary. It may not have to do anything with the overall plot, but it certainly was the most memorable ones.
The graphics in this game is astounding, coincidently enough it's about the same period to the breath-taking graphics in Hero's Quest III. I remember just stopping and notice on how "smooth" the graphics were compared to previous Sierra adventure games.
One of the best things about the game was the Sound and the Music. The sound was totally aligned with the game-play: the sound of the motorcylce racing along is one of the most memorable sounds you get. The music cool and mysterious, certainly shall be a reminder of the best music compositions around in gaming history.
The Bad
Can you spell: B U G S?
Unfortunately, the reason why I didn't finish this game was the multitude of bugs which often cause the dang game to crash. Bugs appear to be a favorite feature among Sierra adventure games...don't know why.
Something I've noticed about this particular Sierra adventure game compared to other Sierra adventure games was the lack of "places"...in games like King's Quest there are many places which may or may not have something for the hero to do. In Gabriel Knight there usually is something to do every area you visit, although more than often it's just one of two things. After that, you barely visit them again. It's like the church in the game, the only thing you do there is to get some pastor's clothes. That it. Ho-hum. Oh, well.
To my recollection, the puzzles were one of the toughest I have experienced, even by Sierra's standards. Funny that it was tough despite the it was the "point and click" adventure types. My IQ must've have been not very high back then...not that much has changed now...:p
The Bottom Line
Certainly one of the best mystery adventures around.
DOS · by Indra was here (20755) · 2004
One of the seven wonders of gaming
The Good
"The flesh is weak, Johnny. Only the soul is immortal." (You know what I'm talking about, right?)
The Bad
"I got a thing about chickens" :-P
The Bottom Line
It was the time when Sierraâs classic series had started to lose their splendor and brightness. Lacking the necessary originality and innovation, they somehow repeated themselves without offering something progressive. It was then that Jane Jensen, already an employee of the company, was given the chance to make her designing debut. The result was âGabriel Knightâ, an adventure that took the world of gaming by surprise and arguably is the genreâs finest hour.
The game casts us as Gabriel Knight, an unsuccessful writer who lives in his bookshop in the French Quarter of New Orleans, striving for a breakthrough in his career. He is not the kind of person who takes life very seriously. Also, he often displays laziness, bad manners and a bit of eccentricity. But he definitely has a charming personality to save him. His assistant, Grace, is the exact opposite of him. She is serious, organized and methodical. Very often their strong personalities come to disagreement, but undoubtedly there is an interesting chemistry between them. One of Gabrielâs few and greatest concerns are the inexplicable and horrible nightmares that haunt him and deeply depress him. He is currently working on a book inspired by the so-called âVoodoo Murdersâ that are taking place in the city during the recent weeks. His best friend, Police Detective Mosely, provides him with some useful âinside-informationâ. In the coming days, Gabriel will meet his destiny. Day by day, a chain of supernatural events will change him forever. The scenario draws elements from the âneo-gothicâ lore. It is dark, mysterious, erotic, thrilling and dramatic. It could as well be the script of an actual film.
âGabriel Knightâ is a âpseudo-3dâ adventure that utilizes the icon-based system. Specifically, it makes a new approach to this system. First of all, the game introduces a new way of making conversations with other people. Except for the âTALKâ one, we now have the âASKâ icon. The first is used for interactions of a more open and general nature. Now the second one brings us in the âinterrogation modeâ. There, between the portraits of Gabriel and of the interviewed person, is a list of subjects for discussion. Most of them apply to all the people we interact with, but there are some that solely concern certain individuals. Talking will usually lead to other subjects that will arise. The immensity and the depth of this procedure are simply remarkable. Apart from giving us clues on how to continue our investigation, it nicely outlines the richly designed personalities of the characters we interact with. We can later hear all the dialogues through the âRECORDERâ option. The typical âHANDâ icon is here divided in four different ones. There are the âPICK UPâ, âOPEN/CLOSEâ, âOPERATEâ and âMOVEâ icons. This separation makes for more demanding playing, as the player must have a clear idea of what he needs to do rather than randomly clicking on things.
Visually, the title reaches excellence. It is not only that its graphics are brilliantly designed. Above all, it is how successfully they fit its environment. Their dark style, coloring and shading strongly grasp the âfilm-noirâ concept. There are many places to visit. All of them are designed in great detail and with a certain âdimâ effect that makes them mystifying and enigmatic. That âdark detailâ is present everywhere, in the sprites, in the character-portraits, in the foregrounds and the backgrounds. In some places, like the cemetery, we constantly have the feeling that something unexpected is about to suddenly take place. The graphics include several superb cut-scenes. There are two kinds of them, the first are the ones that appear every night, during Gabrielâs tormenting dreams. They consist of series of still images that succeed each other very fast, radiating a terrifying and sometimes paranoid feeling. The other ones take place during the actual playing time. They are made of small graphical strips that emerge from the left of the screen moving to the right, in a comics-like fashion.
The sound aspect of the game is also superior. The musical score is simply an outstanding classic. It contains distinctive themes for every location and occasion of the game, all wisely chosen to amplify the impact and the sensation. Relaxed pieces of music and more powerful ones appropriately. Also, several high-quality sound effects support the experience.
There are all kinds of puzzles in this adventure. Some of them require the correct use of items. Others are about being in the right place in the right moment. A few are based on close observation of factors. And finally there are those of a larger scale that involve more than one location. They are all based on logic and reason and are made with respect and care for the player and his entertainment. During playing we will also encounter several, full of agony, time-sequences* where swift moving and acting is essential. The game is generally of high difficulty and lasts for many intriguing hours.
Some months after its release in floppy disks, the game became available in CD format. The CD version has two major updates compared with the diskettes one. Firstly, it has full speech support for every person in the game. All the voices are convincing and sound right in terms of acting performance. The voice-cast even includes two quite known actors, Tim Curry and Mark Hamill as Gabriel and Detective Mosely respectively. Tim Curry satisfactorily captures the accent and the mentality of the stereotyped Southerner, overdoing it only in a couple of instances. The second important improvement is that, thanks to the CDâs capacity, the cut-scenes of the dreams now have animation that makes them much more fluid. Needless to say, anyone who wants to play this game is encouraged to prefer the enhanced CD edition.
âGabriel Knightâ had two great sequels. Each one had drastic changes in the technology and method it used. But both of them are inferior to their predecessor. It seems that they could not reach the unrepeatable atmosphere and feel of it. This timeless masterpiece is unlike anything we have ever seen. Recommended to every self-respecting gamer âGabriel Knightâ is, especially for us passionate adventurers, an experience of a lifetime.
- In the sixth day of the game, the use of a slow-down utility (e.g. Turbo) is needed for passing the time-sequence in the police station.
DOS · by Iron Lord (40) · 2016
Maybe the only adventure game to have physical effect on the way I dress.
The Good
I never was that big a fan of the Sierra adventure games.
Sure, Sierra was one of my top 5 favorite game makers but, their games were either a bit childish in my taste in the case of the king quest games
or didn't leave a lasting impression on me in the case of police and space quest games
That is until Gabriel Knight: Sins of Fathers.
I don't remember when or how I got the game, but about 10 minutes into the game I was hooked. First the Hero, Gabriel. I don't know who said it (maybe my brother) "Hey this guy is a like a clone of you" and maybe they were right, I was immediatly drawn in. Gabriel was like my computerized ego.
Second the place. A bookstore in New-Orleans. What can be a better setting for a occult mystery then this great city?
Third the plot. I didn't hear or read about the game before I played, so I didn't know what to expect, and a good thing it is. The plot of game (and the game as a whole) left an impression on me the same as is created by reading a great book or watching a superb movie. The hero starts the day without knowing what will happen, as he is drawn into a murder mystery the involves the occult, family heritage, romance with a stranger that cannont be, a friend that turns into a love intrest, a police detective that without his help you will not succeed and a plot that spans from New-Orleans to a castle in germany to african catacombs and back.
The only game that left me wanting to go around in blue jeans a white t-shirt and long black jacket while riding a harley around town. (I was too young for an harley)
Will always be in my eyes the best sierra game ever made, and one of best adventure games ever made.
The Bad
The only annoying thing, was a part in the african catacombs you had to click in an exact point of the screen within only a few second, otherwise you die, this was pointless, I was stuck for hours until I figured it out.
But other then that there was nothing I didn't like, and I even think it was fixed with a patch.
The Bottom Line
Superb adventure, as good as any great movie or book.
Still my number one favorite sierra game. (with the quest of glory games close behind)
DOS · by GrimReaper (9) · 1999
Discussion
Subject | By | Date |
---|---|---|
Gabriel Knight Multimedia CD-ROM | Edwin Drost (9479) | Feb 4, 2017 |
The game gets stuck at day 5 | Nowhere Girl (8680) | Apr 28, 2016 |
A GK remake and no one's talking about it | chirinea (47495) | Nov 11, 2014 |
I really dislike the narrator | SnubPollard (62) | Feb 8, 2013 |
Trivia
CD version
The CD version of the game includes a 20 minute behind the scenes avi file depicting the creation of Gabriel Knight. The file also included interviews with most of the cast, lead designer/writer Jane Jensen and others.
Covermount releases
- The full, original game on CD was bundled with the 1/2001 edition of Computer Gaming World magazine.
- The full, original game on CD was bundled with the July 1997 edition of CD-Rom Today, a Brazilian computer magazine.
German version
The German CD-ROM version has a major bug, which causes to crash the games at at least three points during the game. The program obviously hangs, because of a corrupted soundfile. Turn off voices & music in the crashing scenes and you can go on playing.
Leilani Jones
Leilani Jones (Malia Gedde) seems to like the Voodoo Priestess gig. She also plays one in LucasArts' Curse of Monkey Island.
Novel
Jane Jensen> has written a novelization of the game, first printed in February 1997, through Penguin's ROC imprint. The game's sequel was also given the novelization treatment.
References
- It could be a coincidence, but there is a real life blues musician from Lousiana, named Dr. John. Perhaps the character's name came from a fan.
- On day 3, youâre able to attend a (pretty boring) lecture at the Tulane university. Take a walk in the lecture hall and read the bulletin board. After looking at it a few times, youâll get the message âThere's a notice for a lecture on Investigative Reporting techniques to be given by octogenarian Pulitzer Prize winner Laura Bow Dorian." This refers to two game characters from the Laura Bow II â Dagger of Amon Ra adventure: Laura Bow en Steve Dorian. In the game, they fell in love. An octogenarian means someone between 80 and 90 in age, so this assumes the two of them got married in the end.
Awards
- Computer Gaming World
- June 1994 (Issue #119) â Adventure Game of the Year (together with Maniac Mansion 2: Day of the Tentacle
- November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) â #7 Best Way To Die In Computer Gaming (get the heart ripped out by a zombie)
Information also contributed by Alan Chan, chirinea, Chris Mikesell, Isdaron; Pseudo_Intellectual, Sciere and Zovni
Analytics
Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!
Related Sites +
-
31 Day History of Horror Games: Gabriel Knight
An article by Jonathan Howard of On the Stick, a video game blog and podcast, providing a retrospective of Gabriel Knight as part of a series on horror games. The article has little in the way of personal opinion but rather attempts to provide a broad overview of the game (Oct. 2011). -
GK1 Walkthroughs
Links to several strategy guides -
Gabriel Knight 2000: Surviving the Third Millennium
An independent programmed setup file which installs the game perfectly on Win XP. -
Gabriel Knight omnipedia
A wiki encyclopedia/companion for all Gabriel Knight media. -
Hints for Gabriel Knight 1
Diane Griffiths' hints will help you solve the game -
Sins of the Fathers - FAQs & Guides
GameFaqs.com collection of walkthroughs and guides -
The Domain of Schattenjagers
All about the game and the blood !! -
The Patches Scrolls
Download site for the CD-Rom Patch -
Windows XP Set Up
Inferno explains how you can get this old game to run on Windows XP. Not perfect, but playable.
Identifiers +
Contribute
Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.
Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Eurythmic.
Windows added by Picard. Windows 3.x added by MAT. Macintosh added by Katakis | ăŤăżăăš.
Additional contributors: MAT, Andrew Hartnett, Unicorn Lynx, Jeanne, Daniel Saner, chirinea, Sciere, Xoleras, Boston Low, 1gnition, Zeppin, Patrick Bregger.
Game added May 13, 1999. Last modified March 31, 2024.