Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers – 20th Anniversary Edition

Without a doubt this is a faithfull and expertly executed remake of a game that already holds the highest esteem in its genre. The locations are recogniseably the same but even more beautifully rendered, the puzzles are mostly the same with a few extra thrown in, the voice acting is really, really good even though big names aren't involved this time. The music in (what I assume is) its first imagined form is gorgeous. I loved the game the first time but with this fully orchestrated soundtrack and the improved graphics I can't deny that this production has got it nearly perfect. I'd leave out 'nearly' if there weren't a bug or two. They seem to be not a minor problem and likely will be sorted out soon. For those new to the game: Anyone who has developed a liking of point and clicks should give this a go. Jensen's writing is exceptional in all of her games and this is was her best known work. The plot is mature, mildly dark and completely engrossing, the puzzles are sensible without feeling too easy and the characterization is perfect. Throw in an excellent production team and a soundtrack that John Williams perhaps might have felt a bit jealous of... what would you rather spend your gaming time on? For those who have played the original and aren't sure about getting this: The game has been made more linear. For example you can't visit Gabe's Grandma until day 5. It isn't a bug. You just have mildly less control over the order when you do some things. One or two locations seem to have an extra screen. This seems to be to make the puzzles more complex or make the puzzles more sensible. Seriously, the voice acting is good despite some of our heroes no longer being avaiable for the roles.

This was the game that introduced me to point-and-click adventure games and left a lasting impression on me that carried on well into adulthood. The memorable characters and atmospheric creepiness of the French Quarter is chilling and memorable. In comparison to the original game, I preferred the voice work of the original and that was about the only thing that I wished I could have back. Tim Curry's Gabriel Knight imbued much more personality and the original Narrators voice sounded slightly more authentically New Orleans. All other voices were passable; not great, but passable. This was my only issue with this remake which, overall, I felt was highly polished.. But then I was reminded of just how tedious some of these puzzles were. How they must be done in a correct order to trigger events and, therefore, forced quite a bit of backtracking on the player. The puzzles are usually fairly easy to figure out once you have the correct item, but finding that correct item was the actual puzzle at times! The original series required so little performance that one could zip back and forth between locations in seconds. Unfortunately, we are at the mercy of load times and slow character movement in this remake which hampers a game that placed a huge emphasis on travel. When you are stuck on a puzzle and must review all your options then having to move around from screen-to-screen can be your worst enemy at times. It was still enjoyable, but the structure of the original game was a lot of screen switching and I feel this didn't translate well into a remake that demanded a high performance.

This is a great game made even better with updated graphics and some quality of life features. The story is excellent, with an intriguing mystery, atmosphere, and memorable and likeable characters. The puzzle design mostly excellent with logical solutions that fit the story well and provide a good challenge without being frustrating. The voice acting is mostly good, but the music is absolutely amazing. I highly recommend this game. The only negatives are a few glitchy animations here and there, and the charaters do not always blend well into the backgrounds.

This is an incomplete review, simply because I didn't get far into the game. Not even to the first crime scene; my total playtime is roughly 30/40 mins, maybe even less. First of all, the only game I played in the Gabriel Knight series was the Beast Within, which I absolutely loved and enjoyed immensely, despite the hammy acting at times. That game was very immersive, and is the direct sequel to this game. Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers is a 3D game but doesn't contain the horrendous 3D backgrounds that Gabriel Knight 3 utilizes. Its backdrops are beautiful, well drawn and the characters themselves including their animations are done quite well. Normally I dislike 3D point n click games, but here it was at least done well. Once I started playing, the alarm bells started ringing straight away. The dialogue system is quite bad and inconsistent. Various topics that pop up can be clicked on twice with poor delivery by Gabriel, and no actual effort put into it to form complete conversations. It really feels like the devs/writers cut down on the dialogue because of the original voice cast for Gabriel (Tim Curry) and his very likely high price tag for each word uttered. As a result, npc conversations don't feel like conversations at all but badly formed questions. Yet it wasn't the dialogue that frustrated me or made me give up on the game. It was the very first 'puzzle'. Note: Spoiler ahead, so don't read on if you don't want to know the details. The first puzzle involves finding out the where the crime scene is. After heading to the back, it became obvious of what I must do; distract the cop to get access to his police radio. Unfortunately, the method of distracting the cop involves leading a Mime to him. Sounds easy, right? But either through a glitch or the fact its 3D and awkward as hell, the Mime will get 'distracted' with patrolling bystanders whose job it is to lead the Mime away from you. After repeated attempts... I gave up. 2/5 Stars

I played Gabriel Knight a long time ago, and I found the game great, but really difficult at my age. Now I'm older, I just find the game fantastic ! And the efforts made for the remastering are really great, and give the game a new youth. It was a pleasure to play this really well made game with a so brilliant story and really smart enigmas. I suggest you play it ! I played it in French, the translation is not bad.