From Sierra Online
Gabriel Knight bookstore owner and Schättenjager. Gabriel and his assistant Grace have agreed to watch over a baby whose family has been haunted by night visitors (vampires). The baby is kidnapped while they are keeping vigil, and Knight follows the kidnappers to a small French village Rennes-le-Château. The village happens to be the centre of a treasure hunt guided tour. So Gabriel and Grace must find the baby and who is responsible for the kidnapping and why.
The treasure hunters come here because this was once a stronghold of the Templars and there are legends that link the Holy Grail to this place. Gabriel and Grace will need to learn more about those legends to solve the mystery.
The first game introduced us to Knight who was a two dimensional animated character. The second game brought us a new story, and a new Knight using full motion video. In this game, they use 3-d animation to create a realistic world. While having three different ways of presenting the game, the key ingredients are always the same. A good story to tell, interesting puzzles to solve and believable characters throughout the game. It is disconcerting though, to have every game look different from the previous.
The game is separated into a series of time blocks. During each block, you will be playing either Grace or Gabriel. There are a number of key events that must happen for time to progress. There are also a vast number of optional things you can do that will add to your score but are not necessary to finish the game.
Moving around within the game is pretty simple. You can move the characters around by just left-clicking a spot on the floor for them to walk to. You can also move the camera around using either the mouse or the keyboard. For general gameplay, it's better to move the camera around, much faster than watching the character walk around from place to place. I preferred using the keyboard for this. If you move the camera next to an exit, then the character steps from behind the camera almost immediately and you don't have to walk across the room.
Left clicking on any item that the cursor highlights will bring up the verb chooser. This allows you to closely inspect, look at, or interact with an item. If you get a light bulb, that means the character will think about the item. Always use a light bulb when available. You may get that necessary insight by doing that.
Right click will bring up your game options window, which allows you to save, restore, and quit the game. Also this is where you can adjust the game for your computer, access your inventory (also available via the i key) and get hints for a few parts of the game.
Check that you've talked to everyone. See if there is anything around that you can pick up. Make sure you've looked at every location again. If you've heard a ticking clock in the background, that means the other characters have moved around and you might need to find them or talk to them again. Hint for the first time block, did you examine everything in the bookstore window?
A very graphic intense game that locked my old computer the first time Gabriel went outside. I've owned the game for a couple of years but was never able to play it.
The zoom function of the binoculars was too subtle. I missed the change entirely the first few times I tried. There are a few times when you must observe something in the binoculars which means you must use the zoom.
To save then quit the game, first you must right click to save, then right click again to exit.
If you dislike dying in games, or critical timing puzzles or both, avoid this game. The end of the game in particular has a series of puzzles which require good timing, good instincts and a willingness to try again if you missed. If you have played other Gabriel Knight games, this is similar. Fortunately there are Retry and Restore buttons after you die so trying again is fast.
The strength of the Gabriel Knight games are the storylines. There is no feeling that you are solving puzzles to solve puzzles. The puzzles are much more an integral part of the game. Having attempted a number of games lately where the puzzles are just there to block you, I can appreciate the Knight games more.
I'd highly recommend this game for anyone interested in solving a mystery or interested in legends about the Templars and the Holy Grail. Serious Knight fans will already have the game though.
I almost missed the Saints being played this time. Far more subtle than the other games.
Poor Gabriel, a distinct lack of mirrors in this game. He couldn't stop and admire himself.
There are about 960 points for the game. I finished it with a score of 860. Obviously there are many many things that you can do which are not required to finish the game.
Reviews of Gabriel Knight Sins of the Father and Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within. At this time, more Knight games seem quite unlikely, Sierra seems to have abandoned the Adventure genre.