Good Game: Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers (PC)

Another Good Game

Today its Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers a 1993 point-and-click adventure game developed and published by Sierra On-Line for Microsoft Windows (PC). It was written, designed, and directed by Jane Jensen and the first game of the Gabriel Knight series.

Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers follows the eponymous Gabriel Knight, owner of a rare book store, and fledgling writer, as he investigates a series of local murders he plans to use as the basis for his new novel. Its CD-ROM version includes voice-acting by Tim Curry, Mark Hamill, Michael Dorn, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., and Leah Remini among others.

The plot and atmosphere of Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers was largely inspired by the film Angel Heart. Game designer/director Jane Jensen recalled that she was given a great deal of freedom in creating the game’s concept: “One of the great things about Sierra was that Ken Williams really believed in the artistic vision. If he gave you the chance to do a game, that was your responsibility. Nobody told you what to do with it. If it didn’t sell, then you wouldn’t do another game for him, but he would let you have that freedom.”

During development, Sierra’s SCI game engine was upgraded to “SCI 32”, and the team struggled to switch Gabriel Knight onto the new engine. Because of this, Jensen later wrote that they “fought bugs and snafus for six months. Despite this, we made our Christmas date – it just made what had been a very smooth project a bear.”

A remake titled Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers 20th Anniversary Edition, co-developed by Jane Jensen’s Pinkerton Road and Phoenix Online Studios, was released for Windows, Mac, iPad, and Android on 15th October 2014.

Watch the video I made below showing about the first 30 minutes of the game.

Video:

Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers Gameplay.

Developer: Sierra On-Line.
Publisher: Sierra On-Line.
Platform: Microsoft Windows.
Release: 17th December 1993 (NA).
Genre: Point-and-click adventure.