Sierra S Adventure games have been of three types: the remorselessly twee (Kings Quest), the tough cops (Police Quest) and the vaguely role-playing (Quest for Glory). Gabriel Knight is more in the Police Quest mould. You have to track down a gang of killers, and the violence is fairly graphic. Gabriel Knight scores by being a very good game. In fact, it's brilliant.
The new Gabriel Knight Mysteries Limited Edition gives you both of author Jane Jensen's Gabriel Knight Mysteries: The Sins of the Fathers and The Beast Within. Each game features a rich, chilling story highlighted by intriguing characters, challenging puzzles, and an engrossing musical score. New Orleans is the setting in Sins of the Fathers. Gabriel Knight Series Updates Gabriel Knight 1. Gabriel Knight 1 Update (GKPAT10B) (floppy version) (ZIP file) 371 KB This diskette or archive file contains the necessary files to update your copy of Gabriel Knight to version 1.0b. This update corrects several problems described below. Check your installation disks to verify which version you. Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers is an adventure game, released in 1993 by Sierra On-Line. Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers has a Illustrated realism style and uses a Point-and-click control scheme.
You play the eponymous hero, a failed author who runs a book shop in New Orleans. A spate of Voodoo murders is terrifying the w city: useful, because you are researching a book on the subject. But there is another reason why you are drawn in, hinted at in your gruesome nightmares and given full treatment in the graphic novel (comic book). Many years ago an ancestor of yours came to America from Germany to purge a town of evil. He found that devilry was afoot and set a trap for the idolators. Meanwhile he had fallen in love with a beautiful slave girl, Tetelo. The coven falls into the trap but the high priestess turns out to be none other then Tetelo. Torn between love and duty he frees her and she and her murderous gang wreak bloody havoc on the town he had promised to protect.
Voodoo Chile
Is the slave, in some strange way, still alive? And will you undo the mischief of your great great grandfather? Fate is conspiring to bring the two blood lines together and for a while you seem doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past. It is all exciting stuff. In the early part of Gabriel Knight you are just trying to get your bearings and find out about the threat, yourself and your family history. Your assistant, Grace, helps you with research and fends off your attempts at sexual harassment. She gets sniffy when you start sleeping with Malia, but that's women for you, I guess.
Got a Black Magic Woman
From day four, the bodies start piling up - including your own if you're not careful. People start leaving gentle hints, like a dismembered cockerel, that your researches are unwelcome. Your allies become few and far between. The case gets closed and your friend Inspector Mosely is transferred and then killed. You have already compromised yourself with a sexual liaison with Malia Gedde who looks like a strong candidate for an incarnation of the slave Tetelo.
Amazing Grace
In a magnificent sequence on the seventh day you are cleansed of your sins and emerge a Schatttenjagger, shadow hunter. Now you are ready to do battle against the forces of evil. The action moves from New Orleans to Germany to Benin and back again. Gabriel Knight is atmospheric with background music and sound used to good effect. The various music traditions of New Orleans - jazz, Creole and blues - provide the accompaniment to your walks in the park (an essential part of every day). The general background music is of the sort that you find yourself whistling in the bath.
Redemption Song
The music can be turned off from the game control panel. From here you can also alter the sound volume, ear level of detail, text scroll speed and game speed. The last is useful in the arcade sections.
There are eight 'action' icons: walk, look, question, speak, pick up, open, operate and push. A simple click will perform the action, although if you've chosen the wrong one the person might actually walk away and you'll have to catch up with them in order to try again. The graphics and animation are very good. Better than its nearest rival. Shadow Of The Comet.
Fingers and thumbs
Objects that you can pick up or use stand out slightly from the background and there is no limit on what you can carry. I picked up everything in the bedroom on day one, although half of it wasn't needed until three days later.
The inventory can be called up at any time and objects can be used on each other or on the outside world. On the first day you are given a tape recorder which enables you to play back conversations. The general idea is to talk to everyone you meet about everything. Global topics are in one colour, new topics in another and topics special to the person you are talking to in a third. You should also show everyone you meet all you have collected so far. If there is something you shouldn't display (like the snake scale to Dr John) the program will tell you and save your embarrassment.
There are a few special tasks you must perform. These include translating tomb inscriptions and drum messages. All the tools are available to you. Gabriel Knight is not a linear adventure. You do not need to restore at frequent intervals. If there are a number of tasks to be completed in a day, then that day won't 'end' until you've done them. Within the limits of the plot, actions can be done in almost any order. You can pick up the snake scale as late as day five, if you wish.
The puzzles are challenging but not impossible; a mix of logic and lateral thinking. If you investigate your surroundings thoroughly you should have no problems - for instance, if you noticed the effect of the air conditioner on the snake in day one or two, you should survive the attack in day five.
The problem comes with the arcade sequences. There ar$ two really bad ones; in the snake mound on day nine and the final fight on day ten. They not only demand fast reflexes and perfect timing; they also have Sierra's pixel-perfect interface so that unless you click at exactly the right place at the right time, you're dead. I'm not bad at arcade games but I - and about half the people on CompuServe - found the mummies in day nine almost impossible. I think the record for completing it was three days. And you can't skip them as you could in Indiana Jones. This has to be remedied.
It's all in the game
That is not the only thing that should have been remedied. I got the full boxed version of the game, manuals, storybook and the rest. Yet it wouldn't restore saved games. This should have been caught at the testing stage. This couple of minor, technical faults is the only thing that detract from the game - and I hope they will be sorted in the next release. The actual game is addictive, highly playable and downright creepy. Gabriel Knight is one of the few games that approaches the skill of the cinema in transporting you to another world. What more could you ask for?
Voodoo
In Voodoo every object is ruled by a spirit and can be controlled by dealing with that specific spirit.The gods of Voodoo (loas) number over three hundred, and include figures from the Dahomney, Nigerian and Congolese pantheons as well as a few surprised Catholic saints.The gods are of two sorts, the Rada and Petro loas. In general terms, the Rada are benevolent and the Petro loas more destructive. This doesn't mean that the Petro loas are evil - their destructive power was harnessed in the Haitian revolution. Voodoo has its priests called the houngan if male and mambo if female. Voodoo had the ordination of women some time before the Anglican communion.
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers is the first installment in Sierra Online's popular series of supernatural adventures collectively known as the Gabriel Knight Mysteries. Set against a backdrop of several bizarre ritual murders in the city of New Orleans, Sins of the Fathers is one of the most rich and engrossing graphic adventures to ever hit the shelves.
You play Gabriel Knight, a struggling writer researching the local voodoo culture for an as-yet-unwritten novel. The game opens as Gabriel awakens from another night of disturbing dreams, all of which bear a frightening similarity to the voodoo-style killings filling the morning newspaper. It's not long before Gabriel is pulled into the investigation.
Desperate for answers, he only stumbles upon more questions when he discovers that he is the last in an ancient line of shattenjaegers, or Shadow Hunters -- those destined to fight a never-ending battle against the supernatural forces of evil. Strange stuff but only the beginning of this extraordinarily well crafted story. As the web of intrigue grows deeper and deeper, you will find yourself wondering who to trust and who to fear. The mystery only grows in intensity with each passing chapter.
Sins of the Fathers spans the course of several days of action, with night falling when you have completed certain requisite actions and learned enough information to advance the story. If this sounds too linear, don't worry. Within each day is a good deal of flexibility but like any good story, some things simply must happen before others. The daily breaks are nice for two other reasons as well. First, they advance the plot as Gabriel's dreams grow stranger and more disturbing with each successive night; and second, they provide a nice sense of accomplishment from one phase of the game to the next.
You control Gabriel with the mouse driven point-and-click interface standard in most graphic adventures. It's easy to manipulate objects, speak with other characters and move from place to place. While the icon-based system has been improved upon in later games, it's certainly not a drawback here. It won't distract you from solving any of the game's puzzles, nor will it make them any easier by allowing you to try endless combinations of objects until something happens. In Gabriel Knight, you truly need to think things through before the solution becomes apparent.
Although the graphics are throwbacks to the time just before today's super realistic true color technology became the industry standard, chances are you'll find yourself impressed with the backgrounds nonetheless. The visuals capture the feel of New Orleans (and later some other surprising locations) with amazing detail. And, the moody settings provide the perfect locations for the mystery to really come to life.
The characters in the game represent another enjoyable aspect of the game. Unlike many other video game heroes, Gabriel is an eminently likable guy with an equally interesting supporting cast. Of particular note is Grace Nakimura, a nicely drawn sidekick who is an effective foil to Gabriel's laid-back, anything-goes attitude. While the voice acting of some characters (including the narrator) can grow irritating at times, it's only a minor drawback from an otherwise excellent game.
It's hard to imagine a series starting off with a more successful debut than Sins of the Fathers. Everything about the game is first class and even several years after its initial release, the story and characters endure. While you can't go wrong with any of the sequels, you should start at the beginning and really enjoy the story from day one.
Graphics: Top-notch at the time of its release, and still serviceable years later.
Sound: Decent sound effects and music but some of the character voices are weak.
Enjoyment: One of the best adventure games of all time. 'Nuff said.
Gabriel Knight Game Download
Replay Value: Fun to go back to and see what you missed the first time around.
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 Games
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.
How to run this game on modern Windows PC?
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