Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers

I missed out on the Gabriel Knight series back in the 1990's, although I have always been a fan of point & click adventure games. For the first time, today I took the plunge into the world of Gabriel Knight - and what a world it is. A mature, interesting and thoroughly satisfying RPG with depth of character, intelligent puzzles and a storyline that just sweeps you along - this is the most fun I've had with an adventure game in years. Even though the graphics are 17 years old now, you have to admire them - even the soundtrack is appropriate, and really adds an atmosphere to New Orleans. If you're undecided about buying this, all I can say is that for $5.99, you are investing in an adventure classic. Gabriel Knight is an adventure that firmly puts you at the centre of a thrilling plot - one that you won't want to put down until you've seen it through to the end. Five stars, all the way.

i'm only on day 2 of gabriel knights sins of the fathers but i love every single moment of it The vo work is superb and the story is dark and suspenseful tim curry plays gabriel knight and mark hamil plays detective mosely mark hamil, tim curry, the guy from star trek who play worf, awesome graphics are beautiful and the vo work suits the game my only problem is tim curry as gabriel knight, hearing that name makes me think of someone else otherewise a great game warning this game has some dark subject matter like voodoo and murder, plus it is a bit scary at times during the intro or also known as gabriel's nightmare

Once upon a time there were lots of adventures available for us, not-so-young players. Sierra was one of the best companies for that. They and Lucasarts were always trying to win this Adventure-Race and you could get good games from both of them, but each one had its own personal style. In Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers you'll find what is (al least for me) The Gem of Sierra's catalogue: Believable characters which you get to know and love as if they were your friends, an intriguing plot which will keep you wanting for more and a good musical score. Only the Police Quest series has reached my heart as much as Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers has. The only cons you'll find here are the usual ones in Sierra's games: You can die and, near the final, there's an action sequence wich I think is out of place. Give it a try. You won't regret it at all. And, if you have some more money to spend, get the Police Quest series too.

While the animation seems a bit crude by comparison with modern 3D graphics, this is a great game with some challenging puzzles. Gabe was much more understandable than in 2 & 3 (where he mumbles). However, I found the West Indian accent of the narrator difficult at times, so missed some of what she was saying. Escaping the cave zombies and getting into the inner wheel was one of the more challenging puzzles I've encountered. Jane Jensen is a very clever and scholarly woman (as a break from her games read her novel Dante's Equation which is a good sci-fi story). She does her research and creates a story-realism one doesn't find in many games. I have just finished playing Gray Matter (her final game) where, again, Jensen's scholarship shines through.

Adventure games are very weird, especially in our current computer age. Many of them had almost no actual game-play, but the most groundbreaking stories and narratives in video games, in their time. Patience was the secret, these games hooked you for hours in the days before downloading mods and multiplayer was used to extend the play-time of games. But they did this often with sheer annoyance, something you could not get away with today. Although, GK holds a special place in my heart, because despite it's atrocious gameplay (rub items on everything), it had exceptionally voice acting (Tim Curry), and a literary level story to spin. Voodoo, magic, noir, New Orleans--it was all damn mysterious and exciting, in a simpler age of games. GK makes up for its point and click simplicity with spunk and genius. Take solace in the fact that their are walkthroughs on these games in present day. You just might need it on this one, and it makes these classics way less frustrating at times, even if they are more story then game. But man what a story this one was!