Gabriel Knight is a series of point-and-click adventure games created by Jane Jensen and published by Sierra On-Line in the 1990s. The main character is an author and bookstore owner in New Orleans who investigates a series of mysterious murders. He later discovers he is descended from a group of people called Schattenjäger, or "Shadow Hunters." After completing a spiritual test, Gabriel becomes the new Schattenjäger, tasked with stopping individuals who use supernatural methods to harm others. To show this role, he wears the Ritter Talisman, a protective medallion. Since Gabriel does not have supernatural powers, he relies on his intelligence, research, and investigation to fight his enemies. In the first game, he is helped by Grace Nakimura. In the next two games, the two work together as partners, with Grace being a character players can control.

The original game, Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers (1993), became popular in part because of its voice cast, which included actors such as Tim Curry, Leah Remini, Virginia Capers, Mark Hamill, Michael Dorn, and Efrem Zimbalist Jr. It was followed by two sequels with different styles: The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery (1995), an interactive movie featuring werewolves, and Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned (1999), a 3D graphics game involving vampires. The first two games received strong critical praise, leading Computer Gaming World to call Jane Jensen "the interactive Anne Rice." The third game was less successful and marked the last game published by Sierra On-Line after the decline of the point-and-click adventure game industry.

Each of the first two games had a published novelization written by Jane Jensen. The original game was re-released in 2014 as Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father (20th Anniversary Edition), which included updated graphics, sound, and new voice recordings. To celebrate this release, Jane Jensen shared a short story online set six months after the events of the third game.

Series

The Gabriel Knight games and characters were created by writer Jane Jensen. She also worked on King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow with Roberta Williams, a veteran game designer. The music in the series was composed by Robert Holmes, who is Jane Jensen’s husband.

All three games in the series follow the adventures of Gabriel Knight, a struggling author and bookstore owner in New Orleans. He learns his true family name is Ritter and discovers he is destined to become a Schattenjäger (German for "Shadow Hunter"). In Sins of the Fathers, Grace Nakimura helps Gabriel run the bookstore and does research for him. She and Gabriel are friends who often argue. In later games, their relationship becomes closer, and they work together to solve supernatural mysteries. The second game hints at romantic feelings between them, while the third game shows them directly facing these emotions. In the later games, Grace becomes a main character, and players can control both her and Gabriel during different parts of the game.

Each game requires players to gather information by exploring the environment and talking to non-player characters (NPCs). Players must solve puzzles and complete tasks using items they find, information they collect, or actions they take with NPCs. The story moves forward in a set order, and players cannot advance to the next part of the game until they solve required puzzles and collect needed information. Solving puzzles and gathering information earns players points.

The first two games, Sins of the Fathers and Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned, include short graphic novels that provide background stories, similar to the "feelies" used by Infocom. The Sins of the Fathers graphic novel tells the story of Günter Ritter, an ancestor of Gabriel Knight who moved to the American continent in the 17th century. The Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned graphic novel explains how Gabriel began his investigation.

The first game is a point-and-click adventure played from a third-person perspective. It uses comic book-style art for story scenes. The floppy disk version had only subtitles, but the CD-ROM version included voice actors. Tim Curry voices Gabriel Knight, Mark Hamill voices Detective Franklin Mosely, Leah Remini voices Grace Nakimura, and Leilani Jones voices Malia Gedde. Other characters include Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. as Wolfgang Ritter, Michael Dorn as Dr. John, and Mary Kay Bergman as Gerde Hull. Virginia Capers provides the narration.

In the first game, Gabriel Knight is a struggling horror novelist who owns a bookstore in New Orleans called St. George’s Rare Books. His friend, Detective Mosely, is investigating a series of murders called "The Voodoo Murders." Gabriel begins his own investigation, helped by Grace Nakimura, and learns about the history of voodoo. He discovers that supernatural forces are involved and that he is related to the Ritter family, making him the latest in a line of Schattenjägers who fight those who use supernatural methods to harm others.

The 20th anniversary remake of the first game features Jason Victor as Gabriel Knight, Cissy Jones as Grace Nakimura, Ned Clarke as Detective Mosely, and Amy Kelly as the narrator.

The second game, Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within, is a live-action interactive movie. Dean Erickson plays Gabriel Knight, and Joanne Takahashi plays Grace Nakimura. Grace becomes a playable character in parts of the game. Gerde Hull returns as an NPC, played by Andrea Martin.

A year after the events of Sins of the Fathers, Gabriel moves to his ancestral home in Rittersberg, Bavaria, Germany, to write a new novel and connect with his family. His book, The Voodoo Murders, becomes a bestseller. The people of Rittersberg ask Gabriel to help investigate a werewolf attack in Munich. Grace travels to Germany to assist him and begins having visions. Gabriel forms a strange friendship with Baron Friedrich Von Glower, who leads a hunting club in Munich.

The second game uses 3D graphics and features Tim Curry returning as Gabriel Knight. Grace is once again a playable character, voiced by Charity James. Detective Franklin Mosely returns, now voiced by David Thomas.

Years after the second game, Gabriel publishes another book, The Brutal Beast, based on his experiences. He now considers himself a full-time Schattenjäger, and Grace is his partner. Together, they create a computerized Schattenjäger archive called SYDNEY. They are asked to protect the newborn son of Prince James of Albany from a centuries-old threat involving vampires. The boy, Charlie, is kidnapped, and Gabriel follows the kidnappers to the French village of Rennes-le-Château. There, Gabriel and Grace investigate alongside Detective Mosely, who is part of a tour group searching for a legendary treasure. After rescuing the boy, Gabriel learns the origin of the first Schattenjäger. At the end of the game, Grace leaves Gabriel to find her own path.

To celebrate the release of the 20th anniversary edition of Sins of the Fathers, Jane Jensen released a short story called Temptation: A Gabriel Knight Interlude. The story takes place six months after the events of the third game and was later adapted into a comic book.

The story follows Gabriel chasing a cloaked figure in the woods, believed to be a seeleesser, "an eater of souls." During the case, Gabriel reflects on Grace’s departure and his own age, wondering if he has reached his peak. He has a vision of Baron Von Glower from The Beast Within, who expresses doubts and selfish desires, urging Gabriel to return to a life without responsibility. Gabriel dismisses the vision and continues his investigation.

After releasing Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned, Jane Jensen mentioned planning a possible fourth game. In that game, players can use the SIDNEY computer interface to search for "gk4" and find an entry about ghosts. Jane Jensen said ghosts might have been the antagonists in a fourth game. However, no fourth Gabriel Knight game was made. In August 2006, it was confirmed that Jane Jensen had not continued the series.

Characters

Gabriel Knight is the main character in the series. He is the orphaned son of Philip Knight and Margaret Templeton Knight. The story begins when Gabriel is about 30 years old, though his age changes in different games. He owns St. George's Rare Books in New Orleans and writes horror fiction. Gabriel is charming, sarcastic, and perceptive, but he avoids responsibilities and is often distracted by books and casual relationships with women. His two main friends are Grace Nakimura, his assistant, and Franklin Mosely, a police detective and childhood friend. Early in the first game, Gabriel learns there is more to his family history than he knew. His nightmares and interest in researching a new book lead him to investigate recent "voodoo murders." During this investigation, he discovers he is descended from the Ritter family and is the latest in a line of Schattenjägers ("Shadow Hunters"). He visits Schloss Ritter, his family's castle in Germany, where he undergoes a spiritual trial to become a Schattenjäger and later inherits the Ritter Talisman. In the second game, Gabriel is more serious, living in his family castle and achieving financial success after publishing a bestselling novel, The Voodoo Murders, which is based on his first game experiences. By the third game, Gabriel has written another successful novel, The Brutal Beast, based on the second game. He is now more mature and focused on his duties as a Schattenjäger, with Grace as his full partner in investigations. Despite his feelings, he still avoids romantic relationships with Grace.

Grace Nakimura first appears in Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers in 1993 as a non-player character. She becomes a main character in the sequel games. Introduced as a 26-year-old assistant, Grace helps Gabriel with research and acts as his moral guide in the first game. She later becomes his full investigative partner and takes on a stronger role as a romantic interest. At the end of the third game, Grace chooses to pursue her own path instead of staying as Gabriel's helper. Grace has been listed among the best sidekicks and female characters in video games. GameSpot described her as "more likable" than Gabriel and "more intelligent and resourceful." In 2007, Tom's Games noted that Grace is different from traditional female characters in games, as she wears conservative clothing and is not shown in revealing outfits. In 2013, USgamer's Pete Davison called Grace Nakimura "one of the best, most realistic female characters in game history."

Gerde Hull, voiced by Mary Kay Bergman in the first game and played by Andrea Martin in the second, is the caretaker of Gabriel's ancestral home, Schloss Ritter in Germany. When Gabriel first meets Gerde in Sins of the Fathers, she is a young woman who is anxious but optimistic. She deeply respects Gabriel's great-uncle Wolfgang Ritter and still grieves his death during the events of The Beast Within. Gerde helps with research and acts as a valuable assistant. Grace initially sees Gerde as a possible rival for Gabriel's attention but becomes friends with her after a conversation. Gerde does not appear in the third game but is mentioned in it.

Novelizations

The stories from Sins of the Fathers and The Beast Within were turned into books by Jane Jensen. The first book was a direct copy of the game's events. However, Jane Jensen later thought this method was not the best way to introduce Gabriel Knight to readers. For the second book, she started over without using the game's ideas.

Both books are no longer in print as of 2010. In 2012, Jensen used a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for a new game. As part of this effort, she gave both Gabriel Knight books as ebooks to people who donated $50 or more.

Compilation

In 1998, Sierra released the title Gabriel Knight Mysteries: Limited Edition, which includes:

• An 8-disc PC CD box containing the first two Gabriel Knight games and digital manuals.
• A 419-page novelization of Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, written by Jane Jensen and published by Roc in 1997.
• A complete soundtrack from The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery.
• A 33-page full-color graphic novel depicting an event that occurred nearly 200 years before the start of Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers. This graphic novel was written by Jane Jensen, with art direction by Nathan Gams and illustrations by Terese Nielsen. It is bundled with the original 1993 editions.
• A 20-page full-color graphic novel showing an event that happens days before the start of Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned. This graphic novel was written by Jane Jensen and illustrated by Ron Spears.