Gabriel Knight
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Gabriel Knight'' is a series of
point-and-click adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an Interactive storytelling, interactive story, driven by exploration and/or Puzzle video game, puzzle-solving. The Video game genres, genre's focus ...
s released by Sierra On-Line in the 1990s created by
Jane Jensen Jane Jensen (born January 28, 1963) is an American video game designer and author. She is the creator of the ''Gabriel Knight'' series of adventure games, and also co-founded Oberon Media and Pinkerton Road video game development companies. Je ...
. The titular character is an author and book store owner in
New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
who is investigating a strange series of murders when he learns he is descended from a long line of ''Schattenjäger'' ("Shadow Hunters"). After undergoing a spiritual trial, Gabriel becomes the new ''Schattenjäger'', called on to stop those who use supernatural methods to threaten others. To signify this, he wears the Ritter Talisman, a protective medallion. Not having supernatural abilities himself, Gabriel mainly opposes his enemies with cunning and insight after investigation and research. In the first game, he is assisted by Grace Nakimura. In the two sequels, the two act as partners against evil, with Grace being a playable character. The original 1993 game '' Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers'' met with success and popularity, due in part to the voice cast including actors
Tim Curry Timothy James Curry (born 19 April 1946) is an English actor and singer. He rose to prominence as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the musical film '' The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' (1975), reprising the role he had originated in the 1973 London, 1974 L ...
, Leah Remini, Virginia Capers,
Mark Hamill Mark Richard Hamill (; born September 25, 1951) is an American actor. He is best known for starring as Luke Skywalker in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, and the Joker (character), Joker in various animated DC Comics projects, starting with ''Batm ...
,
Michael Dorn Michael Dorn (born December 9, 1952) is an American actor best known for his role as the Klingon character Worf in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, appearing in all seven seasons of the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (1987–1 ...
, and Efrem Zimbalist Jr. The game was followed by two sequel games that each used a different style of game design: '' The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery'' (1995), an interactive movie featuring werewolves, and '' Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned'' (1999), a 3D graphics game involving vampires. The first two games met with enough critical success that ''
Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American Video game journalism, computer game magazine that was published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 199 ...
'' declared Jane Jensen "the interactive Anne Rice". The third game did not reach the same success and wound up being the final game published by Sierra following the decline of the point-and-click adventure video game industry. The first two games each had a published novelization written by game creator and writer Jane Jensen. The original game was re-released in 2014 as ''Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father (20th Anniversary Edition)''. This version had remastered graphics, sound, and new voice recordings. To celebrate its release, Jane Jensen posted a ''Gabriel Knight'' short story online, one set six months after the third game.


Series

The ''Gabriel Knight'' characters and games were created by writer
Jane Jensen Jane Jensen (born January 28, 1963) is an American video game designer and author. She is the creator of the ''Gabriel Knight'' series of adventure games, and also co-founded Oberon Media and Pinkerton Road video game development companies. Je ...
, who also worked on '' King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow'' with veteran game designer Roberta Williams. The music in the series was composed by Robert Holmes, Jensen's husband. All three games in the series focus on the adventures of Gabriel Knight, a financially struggling author and bookstore owner in
New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
who discovers his true family name is Ritter and he is destined to follow the family legacy of being a ''Schattenjäger'' (German for "Shadow Hunter"). Grace Nakimura is a major supporting character in ''Sins of the Fathers'', running the bookstore while doing research for Gabriel. The two are friends who often bicker. In the sequel games, Grace and Gabriel develop a closer relationship and act more as partners when investigating the supernatural. The second game teases their romantic feelings for each other, while the third game has them directly confront their feelings. The two sequel games make Grace a lead character alongside Gabriel and the player alternates between controlling each of them during different parts of the game. Each game calls on the player to acquire information through investigation of surroundings and interrogation of non-player characters (NPCs). Players must also solve puzzles and complete tasks through the use of items they acquire, information they obtain, devices they activate, or provoking action in NPCs. The game's story generally proceeds linearly, with the player unable to continue into the next "day" or "chapter" or "time block" of the narrative until they have solved the required puzzles and obtained the proper information. Solving puzzles and gathering information results in the collection of points. ''Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers'' and ''Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned'' both included short
graphic novel A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and Anthology, anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics sc ...
s that contained back-story, much in the tradition of
Infocom Infocom, Inc., was an American software company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced a business application, a relational database called ''Cornerstone (software), Cornerston ...
's " feelies". The ''Sins of the Fathers'' graphic novel follows the story of Günter Ritter, an ancestor of Gabriel Knight, who has left his ancestral home for the American continent in the 17th century. The ''Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned'' graphic novel acts as a prologue to the game, explaining how Gabriel began the case.


''Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers''

The first game in the series is a point and click adventure done in third-person style, with comic book style art used for story cut scenes. While the floppy version of the game only included subtitles, the
CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...
version featured a cast of voice actors.
Tim Curry Timothy James Curry (born 19 April 1946) is an English actor and singer. He rose to prominence as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the musical film '' The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' (1975), reprising the role he had originated in the 1973 London, 1974 L ...
plays Gabriel Knight,
Mark Hamill Mark Richard Hamill (; born September 25, 1951) is an American actor. He is best known for starring as Luke Skywalker in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, and the Joker (character), Joker in various animated DC Comics projects, starting with ''Batm ...
plays his old friend Detective Franklin Mosely, Leah Remini plays his assistant and friend Grace Nakimura, and Leilani Jones as Malia Gedde. Other characters include Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. as Wolfgang Ritter, Gabriel's great-uncle,
Michael Dorn Michael Dorn (born December 9, 1952) is an American actor best known for his role as the Klingon character Worf in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, appearing in all seven seasons of the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (1987–1 ...
as Dr. John, a proprietor of a voodoo museum, and
Mary Kay Bergman Mary Kay Bergman (June 5, 1961 – November 11, 1999), also briefly credited as Shannen Cassidy, was an American voice actress and voice-over teacher. She was the official voice of the Disney character Snow White from 1989 to 1999 and the lead fem ...
as Gerde Hull, the caretaker at Gabriel's ancestral home Schloss Ritter in Germany. The narrator is Virginia Capers. This game introduces Gabriel Knight, a financially struggling horror novelist who owns a bookstore in New Orleans called ''St. George's Rare Books''. His friend Detective Mosely is investigating series of homicides dubbed "The Voodoo Murders" by the press. Compelled by strange nightmares and thinking the murders may give him good material for a book, Gabriel begins his own investigation, aided by his assistant Grace Nakimura. This leads him to meet mysterious New Orleans socialite Malia Gedde, as well as learn much about the history of voodoo. During the investigation, Gabriel realizes genuine supernatural practices are involved and learns he is related to the Ritter family, making him the latest in a line of ''Schattenjägers'' ("Shadow Hunters") who are meant to fight those who use supernatural methods to threaten innocent lives. The 20th anniversary remake edition featured Jason Victor as Gabriel Knight, Cissy Jones as Grace Nakimura, Ned Clarke as Detective Mosely, and Amy Kelly as the Narrator.


''The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery''

The second game (also known as ''Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within'') is in the style of a live-action interactive movie, starring Dean Erickson as Gabriel Knight and Joanne Takahashi as Grace Nakimura. Grace is now a playable character for portions of the game. The character Gerde Hull is back as an NPC, portrayed by Andrea Martin. A year after the events of ''Sins of the Fathers'' and after undergoing the spiritual trial necessary to become a ''Schattenjäger'', Gabriel has moved to his ancestral home in the small village of Rittersberg in
Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...
, Germany to write his new novel and connect with his family lineage. His new book ''The Voodoo Murders'', a fiction murder mystery based on the events of the first game, is now a best-seller. The people of Rittersberg, the seat of the ''Schattenjägers'', ask for Gabriel's help when there is talk of a
werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (from Ancient Greek ), is an individual who can shapeshifting, shapeshift into a wolf, or especially in modern film, a Shapeshifting, therianthropic Hybrid beasts in folklore, hybrid wol ...
attack in
Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
. Gabriel investigates and Grace comes to Germany to help him, determined to fight evil alongside the ''Schattenjäger'' and now experiencing visions and dreams of her own. Gabriel develops an unusual friendship with Baron Friedrich Von Glower, who leads an exclusive hunting club in Munich and believes Knight is a kindred spirit.


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

This game uses 3D rendered graphics and features the return of Tim Curry to the role of Gabriel Knight. Grace is once again a playable character, now voiced by Charity James. Detective Franklin Mosely returns to Gabriel's life, now voiced by David Thomas. Years after the events of the second game, Gabriel has published another successful book called ''The Brutal Beast'', based on his experiences in the previous game. He now considers himself a full-time ''Schattenjäger'' and Grace is his full partner, having created a computerized ''Schattenjäger'' archive called SYDNEY. The two are asked by the exiled Prince James of Albany to protect his newborn son from a centuries-old family threat that may involve
vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and c ...
s. That same night, the boy Charlie is kidnapped and Gabriel follows the kidnappers to the mysterious French village of Rennes-le-Château. Gabriel's arrival coincides with that of a visiting tour group supposedly hunting for a legendary local treasure that may be linked to the
Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
, the
Knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...
, or the
Holy Grail The Holy Grail (, , , ) is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. Various traditions describe the Holy Grail as a cup, dish, or stone with miraculous healing powers, sometimes providing eternal youth or sustenanc ...
. Gabriel and Grace investigate the case alongside Mosely, who arrived with the tour group. After finding and rescuing the child, Gabriel discovers the origin of the first ''Schattenjäger''. At the end of the game, Grace leaves Gabriel's side to find her own path.


''Temptation: A Gabriel Knight Interlude''

To celebrate the release of ''Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers - 20th Anniversary Edition'', Jane Jensen released a short prose story online. The story ''Temptation: A Gabriel Knight Interlude'' is set six months following the events of the third game. The story was later adapted into a comic book. The short story depicts Gabriel pursuing a cloaked figure in the woods said to be a seeleesser, "an eater of souls". During the case, Gabriel reflects on recent events and Grace's departure, as well as the fact that he has fulfilled three major "quests" already and is now 36-years-old, bringing him to wonder if he has reached his peak already. During the adventure, he has a vision of Von Glower from ''The Beast Within'' and hears the man voice his own doubts and selfish desires, saying Gabriel should return to his life where he had no responsibility and didn't need to endanger himself hunting evil. In the end, Gabriel dismisses the vision and continues his investigations.


Possible fourth game

After the release of ''Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned'', Jane Jensen stated she had started planning a possible story and setting for a fourth game. In ''Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned'', the player can use the SIDNEY computer interface to search for "gk4" and see an entry on ghosts as a result. Jane Jensen said ghosts would have been the antagonists for a fourth entry to the series. However, no ''Gabriel Knight 4'' game followed and in August 2006, it was confirmed that Jane Jensen's next adventure game project would be the revival of ''
Gray Matter Grey matter, or gray matter in American English, is a major component of the central nervous system, consisting of neuronal cell bodies, neuropil (dendrites and unmyelinated axons), glial cells (astrocytes and oligodendrocytes), synapses, and ...
''. The rights to Gabriel Knight are currently held by
Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...
, which acquired them after merging with former rights holder
Vivendi Universal Vivendi SE (stylized in all lowercase) is a French investment company headquartered in Paris. It currently wholly-owns Gameloft as well as a number of investments in several companies, primarily involved in content, entertainment, media, and t ...
in 2008. Jane Jensen has pitched new ''Gabriel Knight'' games to both Vivendi and Activision. In April 2012, Jensen launched Pinkerton Road Studio and said in interviews that she hopes producing a new game with Pinkerton Road is a step in the right direction for getting the chance to make new ''Gabriel Knight'' games in the future. A remake of ''Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers'' for Windows, OS X, iOS and Android was released on October 15, 2014. In 2022, Jensen noted that she has previously envisaged a potential fourth game being about witches and set in
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
. She stated her willingness to proceed with a book version as a method to make any potential subsequent game production more feasible, but admitted that the complex nature of rights and legal contracts with
Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...
continues to render such a project unlikely. In a June, 2024
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
interview with Daniel Albu, Jensen said that she had written the first chapter of a new Gabriel Knight story, so that ''GK4'' and ''GK5'' were in the works. She told him that she had attached some art for it and that "the licenses are with
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
."


Short story "Five Hearts"

In November, 2024, Jensen published the downloadable illustrated short story "Five Hearts" on her husband's website. In it, Gabriel Knight travels to
Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...
,
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
, to investigate a mysterious cursed dagger.


Characters

* Gabriel Knight is the central protagonist of the series, the orphaned son of Philip Knight and Margaret Templeton Knight, meant to be about 30 year old when the narrative starts (although his age is not consistent in the games). Gabriel is the proprietor of St. George's Rare Books in his hometown of New Orleans and a struggling horror fiction author. Charismatic, sardonic, and intuitive, he prefers to avoid responsibility, often distracted by interesting books and casual affairs with women. His two main friends are his assistant Grace Nakimura and his childhood friend Franklin Mosely, a police detective. Early in the first game, he realizes there is more to his family than he knows. Gabriel's nightmares and a desire to research a new book lead him to investigate recent "voodoo murders". During his investigation, he discovers he descends from the Ritter family and is the latest in a line of ''Schattenjägers'' ("Shadow Hunters"). Visiting his family castle ''Schloss Ritter'' in Rittersberg, Germany, he undergoes a spiritual trial to become a new ''Schattenjäger''. He later inherits the Ritter Talisman. '' GK2'' features a somewhat more somber Gabriel now living in his family castle over a year later and experiencing financial success since his new novel ''The Voodoo Murders'' (based on his experiences in the first game and starring fictional detective Blake Backlash) is a best-seller. By '' GK3'', Gabriel has published another successful novel entitled ''The Brutal Beast'', based on the events of the second game. Gabriel is a more mature and experienced character, now more focused on his duties as a ''Schattenjäger'', with Grace as a full partner in his investigations. Despite his feelings, he still resists romantic commitment with Grace. * Grace Nakimura is first introduced in '' Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers'' in 1993 as a
non-player character A non-player character (NPC) is a character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster (or referee) rather than by a ...
, before becoming a
player character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional Character (arts), character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters tha ...
in both sequel games. Introduced as a 26-year-old assistant, Grace is a researcher, aid, and moral compass for Gabriel in the first game. She becomes a full investigative partner in the two sequel games and is more strongly in the role of romantic interest. At the end of the third game, she decides to pursue her own path rather than remain Gabriel's helper. Grace has been included in multiple lists of top sidekicks and female characters in video games. ''GameSpot'' wrote that Grace was "more likable" than Knight and more "intelligent and resourceful". In 2007, Tom's Games also noted that unlike traditional female characters in video games, Grace is designed with conservative dress, without "sexy outfits ndout-sized proportions". According to
USgamer Gamer Network Limited (formerly Eurogamer Network Limited) is a British digital media company based in London. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and ot ...
's Pete Davison in 2013, "Grace Nakimura remains one of the best, most realistic female characters in game history". * Gerde Hull (voiced by
Mary Kay Bergman Mary Kay Bergman (June 5, 1961 – November 11, 1999), also briefly credited as Shannen Cassidy, was an American voice actress and voice-over teacher. She was the official voice of the Disney character Snow White from 1989 to 1999 and the lead fem ...
in the first game, and played by Andrea Martin in the second) is the caretaker of Gabriel's ancestral home, ''Schloss Ritter'' in Ritterberg, Germany. When Gabriel first meets Gerde in ''Sins of the Fathers'', she is an anxious and enthusiastically optimistic young woman. She clearly has deep love and respect for Gabriel's great-uncle Wolfgang Ritter, grieving the man's death still during the events of ''The Beast Within''. Gerde acts as a valuable research assistant. Grace considers her a possible rival as Gabriel's investigative partner and love interest but after a talk with Gerde the two become friends. Gerde does not appear in the third game but is mentioned.


Novelizations

The stories of ''Sins of the Fathers'' and ''The Beast Within'' were adapted into novels by Jane Jensen. The first is a straightforward adaptation of the events of the game, an approach which Jane Jensen decided, in retrospect, was not the most successful way of introducing Gabriel Knight to a literary audience. For the second novel she "threw the whole idea of the game away and started again from scratch". Both books are out of print as of 2010. As part of her 2012
Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...
campaign to fund a new adventure game, Jensen offered both ''Gabriel Knight'' novels as ebooks to backers who pledge $50 or more.


Compilation

In 1998, Sierra released the title ''Gabriel Knight Mysteries: Limited Edition'', which contains: * an 8-disc PC CD box of first two ''Gabriel Knight'' games and electronic manuals. * a 419-page novelization of ''Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers'' (written by Jane Jensen and published by Roc in 1997). * a full soundtrack of ''The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery''. * bundled with the original 1993 editions, a 33-page full-color graphic novel of an event that takes place almost 200 years before the opening of ''Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers'' (written by Jane Jensen, art direction by Nathan Gams and illustrated by Terese Nielsen). * a 20-page full-color graphic novel of an event that takes place days before the opening of the then-upcoming ''Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned'' (written by Jane Jensen and illustrated by Ron Spears).


References


External links

* {{Sierra Adventure Games, Gabriel Knight Activision Blizzard franchises Video game franchises Video game franchises introduced in 1993