Graphic Adventure titles, ones made
by Sierra especially, are a tricky genre. Infamous for their reliance on obtuse
puzzles, strict adherence to sequencing and nonsensical deaths, Sierra graphic
adventures like Space Quest, King’s Quest and Leisure Suit Larry are often seen
as being incredibly daunting for a newcomer to the genre. Most people would
rather play something like Monkey
Island
A
phrase commonly uttered by most casual graphic adventure players is “Why would
I have thought to do that” as these games can offer some really dense and
nonsensical puzzles within them. Adventure games are notoriously poor at
conveying what you’re supposed to do, only giving the player a vague hint at
what their available options are. Combine that with relying on the players to
separate key items from background objects and you have a genre that will only
attract the most attentive of players. Graphic adventure games are the type of
game that start out incredibly difficult but get easier once you get used to
their Douglas Adams-esque logic.
And
this is, thankfully, something that Gabriel Knight manages to avoid…mostly.
Gabriel Knight starts out like an adventure game should. You’re given plenty of
places to explore, plenty of people to talk to and the puzzles required to move
forward aren’t incredibly weird or illogical. If anything, they actually make a
lot of sense. For example, the game makes it clear that you need to distract a
police officer in the park. In this same park, you find a mime that follows
people around. The solution is clear to even the densest of players. It still
follows the adventure game model of “Here are some tools, figure out on own”
but it also doesn't feel like you've been abandoned by the game designers.
Gabriel
Knight’s difficulty does slowly increase but it’s never too daunting. Generally
when I was having trouble with a puzzle, it was because I was missing an item
or had been overlooking something in the background. It’s not necessarily a
good thing that pixel-searching is present in this game but it’s in almost
every single graphic adventure so it’s excusable. There are one or two puzzles
which are incredibly confusing but they’re nothing compared to some of the
convoluted crap that Sierra generally threw at its players.
Gabriel
Knight has some problems with sequencing though. As with many adventure games,
you often need to accomplish tasks or present items to people in a certain
sequence in order to advance in the game. Gabriel Knight runs into this issue a
lot and I managed to run myself into a dead end more than a few times. It’s a
good rule of thumb to save often in adventure games and it’s no different here.
One
of the biggest highlights of Gabriel Knight is how dying is not a constant
threat. It’ll still appear every now and then but you won’t have to worry about
the most innocuous thing triggering a death cut-scene. King’s Quest, this is
not. When you do die, the cut-scenes are violent and effective. They make an
impact on the player and make sure that the player will try to avoid dying the
next time around. They never feel cheap or undeserved. Curiosity may kill the
cat in most Sierra titles but that’s not the case here.
Gabriel
Knight is an absolutely gorgeous game and one of the best looking titles that
Sierra would put out before they switched over to FMV and 3D. The sprite-work
is complex, detailed and smooth. The backgrounds look fantastic and serve their
role as hiding spots for certain objects quite well. The character portraits
also look great and the lip-syncing isn’t half bad either. For a game from
1993, that’s saying something.
The
amazing soundtrack, provided by Robert Holmes, is one of the best in Sierra’s
entire catalog. It’s quiet, atmospheric and varied. From simple, quiet pieces to a wonderful rendition of “When the Saints Go Marching In”, Gabriel
Knight manages to capture a distinct New
Orleans flavor. Gabriel Knight is incredibly
atmospheric and the music and excellent use of color help to suck the player
in. Gabriel Knight captured my attention and imagination immediately and didn’t
let go for quite some time.
Gabriel
Knight has an all-star cast too, a rarity for a game made in 1993. The game’s
cast list features names such as Jim Cummings, Leah Remini, Michael Dorn and
Rocky Carroll who all give great performances, especially Remini and Dorn. The
two real stars however, are Tim Curry and Mark Hamill who play Gabriel Knight
and Detective Mosely, respectively. Curry’s off-putting Cajun accent is certainly
an acquired taste but it’s got that trademark Curry “ham” quality to it that
makes it an absolute delight to listen to. Hamill’s accent is a bit less
over-the-top than Curry’s but it’s every bit as well done. Video game voice
acting was notoriously terrible in the 90s but games like Sins of the Fathers
prove that it had a future. It’s some of the best voice acting I’ve heard in an
early 90s game and it holds up today.
Gabriel
Knight also boasts an incredible script written by veteran Sierra scribe, Jane
Jensen. Gabriel has a comment for nearly every single object and person in the
game and his smarminess never feels obnoxious or unpleasant. His interactions
with other characters like his assistant, Grace, and his friend, Detective
Mosely, contain a lot of back and forths that give the characters a great deal
of personality. Special mention goes to Grace who might just be one of the best
sidekicks in any game from the 90s. The peripheral characters all have distinct
personalities too that will stick with you long after the credits roll.
Thematically,
Gabriel Knight is probably closer to a Stephen King novel than anything else.
Both Knight and King’s books deal with heavy supernatural themes and their
influence on the everyday world but simply comparing the two would be selling
Knight short. Gabriel Knight is a very unique creation despite the premise
sounding like “Syfy’s Castle
rip-off”. The plot itself is a great murder mystery plot that is certainly
superior to your average mystery plot. It does a bang-up job of combining
mystery, tension and atmosphere and the game benefits greatly from it.
One
of the primary reasons the plot is so good is because Jensen and her team make New Orleans and its
characters feel alive and real. Jensen clearly had a fascination with voodoo
because the game is so focused around it and the history behind it. I actually
feel like I learned something about voodoo from this game (and I did some
fact-checking after I finished the game, it all checked out). On top of that,
every major character has little personal details about their past or current
situation that helps to flesh them out again. For example, Gabriel can visit
his grandmother and they can discuss his heritage, his childhood or whatever
else. Some of the things they discuss are relevant to the actual game while
other pieces of dialogue serve as flavor text to give the game more personality.
Jensen’s team understood that a little goes a long way and Gabriel Knight’s New Orleans is one of
Sierra’s best worlds because of that.
Gabriel
Knight is one of the best adventure titles in Sierra’s entire library. Much
like Sierra’s other titles, it’s got its fair share of issues in the gameplay
department but they are nothing compared to some of the asinine stunts that
other titles pull. The biggest draw about Gabriel Knight is its amazing story
and tight dialogue. The graphics and music help to create one of the most
atmospheric adventure games of all time and it all comes to together to form a
nice little package that is deserving of its critical acclaim and cult status
among adventure game fans.
Final Score: 7.0
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