The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery (also called Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within) is a point-and-click adventure game developed by Jane Jensen and published by Sierra On-Line. It was released in 1995 for MS-DOS, Macintosh, and Microsoft Windows. The game follows the 1993 title Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers. In this story, Gabriel Knight investigates a series of killings near Munich, which are believed to be the work of a werewolf. He works with Grace Nakimura, who researches a connection between the murders and the final years of a Bavarian king in the 19th century.
Unlike the first game, The Beast Within was designed as an interactive movie, made entirely using full-motion video technology. This method was popular but costly at the time. Computer-generated backgrounds were used for scenes in the game, and a strict filming and voice-over schedule was followed. Because the game included live-action scenes, new actors were chosen for the main roles. Dean Erickson and Joanne Takahashi played the lead characters, both of whom can be controlled by the player at different points in the story.
The game received praise from critics for its storytelling, character development, and visual style. However, it did not achieve the commercial success Jane Jensen hoped for. Despite this, a sequel titled Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned was released in 1999.
Gameplay
The Beast Within is a point-and-click adventure game played from a third-person view, though some parts use a first-person view. The story is split into six chapters that follow a straight order, with each chapter focusing on one of two characters—half the chapters feature Gabriel, and the other half feature Grace. In each chapter, players must complete certain tasks to move the story forward, but they can choose the order in which to do so. Players can also complete optional tasks that provide extra details about the game’s story and events. Each chapter includes different locations that players can explore. Some locations have an overhead map that shows important places where tasks need to be completed. Like other Sierra games from that time, the game uses a running score to track both required and optional tasks completed, such as finding items needed for puzzles.
In each location, players can move a cursor to find items to interact with or move to new areas. Unlike Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, the cursor changes based on what the player is doing and automatically performs actions, such as starting a conversation when interacting with a person. Items collected and stored in the character’s inventory can be examined but must be selected as an active item before they can be used on objects. Other features include a main menu to save or load the game, adjust settings, or quit; a movie section to replay unlocked videos; and an option, available until the final chapter, to review past conversations as Gabriel or Grace’s notes. Conversations involve a series of topics that become available as the story progresses. In some situations, players must avoid dangerous scenarios or risk failing, which would require restarting the game or loading a previous save.
Story
The Beast Within is set in a world where supernatural beings, such as ghosts, witches, and demons, have existed throughout human history. To protect people from those who misuse these powers for harm, a group called "Shadow Hunters" (Schattenjägers in German) works to stop them. Their origins are unknown. The story is inspired by myths about werewolves and the real lives of King Ludwig II and Richard Wagner between 1870 and 1886. It includes made-up events about their relationship during that time. The game takes place mainly in Munich and other areas of southern Germany.
Players control two characters: Gabriel Knight, played by Dean Erickson, and Grace Nakimura, played by Joanne Takahashi. Both characters investigate a series of murders in Munich and uncover the reasons behind them. They receive help from Gerde Hull, played by Andrea Martin, and Police Commissioner Leber, played by Nicholas Worth. The game includes many real actors, such as Peter J. Lucas, Kay E. Kuter, and others.
Gabriel Knight, a novelist, now lives in Schloss Ritter, an old family castle in Germany, after writing a successful book about his time in New Orleans. He is now a Shadow Hunter, a role his ancestors have held to fight supernatural threats. One night, local people ask Gabriel to investigate a mysterious death they believe was caused by a werewolf. He asks Gerde Hull, the castle’s caretaker, to research the case while he examines the crime scene in Munich.
In Munich, Gabriel learns that the press and police think escaped zoo wolves might be responsible for recent killings. However, his clues suggest a larger, wolf-like creature is the real culprit. His investigation leads him to an exclusive hunting club. The club’s leader, Baron Friedrich Von Glower, is impressed by Gabriel’s German heritage and invites him to join.
Meanwhile, Grace Nakimura, who is left to manage Gabriel’s bookshop in New Orleans, travels to Germany after learning about Gabriel’s new case. She becomes frustrated when she cannot find him and Gerde refuses to share his location. She mistakenly believes Gerde and Gabriel are in a romantic relationship and insists on taking over the research. Later, she realizes her mistake and apologizes. Grace discovers information about the Black Wolf, a werewolf that terrorized the area centuries ago, and an unsent warning about it to King Ludwig II of Bavaria. She sends her findings to Gabriel through his lawyer.
In Munich, Gabriel is upset that Grace has come to Germany, thinking the case is too dangerous. He asks her to investigate Ludwig’s connection to the story instead. Gabriel learns that the hunting club believes humans have become too comfortable and should rediscover their animal instincts through hunting and other activities. While he suspects a club member named Von Zell, he also becomes friends with Von Glower.
Grace visits museums, including King Ludwig II’s Neuschwanstein Castle, and finds his diary. She learns that Ludwig II suffered from lycanthropy (the ability to turn into a wolf) due to the Black Wolf. Ludwig and Richard Wagner worked together to create a sound that could force a werewolf to transform, as written in one of Wagner’s operas. However, their plan to expose and kill the Black Wolf was stopped after Wagner died. Ludwig hid the opera’s music before being arrested for insanity, and the score was lost.
Gabriel joins the hunting club on a trip and finds proof that Von Zell is a werewolf, witnessing him eating human remains in a forest. He tells Von Glower, who agrees to help kill Von Zell. Before Von Glower arrives, Gabriel is bitten by the werewolf and is given a rifle. He kills the wolf but is now infected with lycanthropy. Grace finds him in Munich and places him in quarantine.
Grace and Gabriel discover that Von Glower is the ancient Black Wolf, the source of the curse. He is the "alpha" (leader) of the werewolf pack, and Gabriel must kill him to cure himself. In a letter, Von Glower explains he infected Von Zell to find a companion and used Gabriel to kill him. He asks Gabriel to embrace lycanthropy and join him as a werewolf. Grace finds the lost opera score, and a performance is arranged. During the opera, both Gabriel and Von Glower turn into wolves. They run to the opera house’s basement, where Grace and Gabriel force Von Glower into an incinerator, burning him to death and curing Gabriel’s lycanthropy. Afterward, Gabriel mourns Von Glower, respecting him despite his actions. He promises Grace he will no longer keep her away during dangerous cases.
Development
The game was released for PC and Macintosh computers. The Macintosh version used a video player created by Sierra, instead of pre-made technology like QuickTime. This version often crashed or ran slowly on older Mac computers with 680×0 processors. A version compatible with Windows XP was released on DVD, featuring movies that are easier to watch. However, this version was only sold in Italy.
The Beast Within has a more complex story than its earlier game, Sins of the Fathers. Jane Jensen explained that the FMV graphics limited how interactive the game could be. To keep players interested, she added more mystery to the story, even though the game was easier to play.
The character Gabriel Knight was played by a different actor because Jensen felt Tim Curry, who voiced Knight in Sins of the Fathers, did not look right for the role. Dean Erickson took over the role and portrayed Knight in a way very different from Curry's. Erickson said he did not want to copy Curry's style because Curry's performance was more exaggerated. He explained that Curry only provided the voice, and in animation, voices often need to be more dramatic because there are no visual cues from the actor.
To prepare for the role, Erickson studied films with Southern characters and listened to recordings of Southern dialects to make his accent sound natural. He later said that if the Gabriel Knight series had continued using live-action FMV, he would have played the role again.
Filming for the game's cut scenes happened in California during mid-1995. Because of limited budgets, actors were expected to deliver perfect performances on the first try. Director Will Binder only allowed two takes of any scene unless needed. All of Erickson's voice-over lines were recorded in one day at a sound studio.
Jensen said The Beast Within exceeded its original budget. In the game, the paintings in the Singer's Hall in Neuschwanstein were changed to match the story. Some scenes from the game were filmed for the British series Bad Influence!, which led to a brief appearance by the show's presenter, Violet Berlin.
Todd Vaughn of PC Gamer US noted that the first Gabriel Knight game did not achieve the success Jensen hoped for. However, before The Beast Within was released, he said Jensen aimed to improve character development and puzzles while using new video technology to attract both fans and new players.
In every Gabriel Knight game, the gospel hymn "When the Saints Go Marching In" appears in different versions. In The Beast Within, it plays when Gabriel visits Marienplatz in Munich.
Alongside Jay Usher, series composer Robert Holmes created the soundtrack for The Beast Within. He also composed music for a scene from the fictional opera Der Fluch Des Engelhart ("The Curse of Engelhart").
Reception
In the United States, The Beast Within was the fourth-best-selling computer game in January 1996 and the 17th-best-selling game during the first six months of that year. The game and its earlier version, Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, sold a total of 300,000 copies by December 1998. Leslie Gornstein of the Orange County Register noted that these numbers were "considered a success in the world of adventures, according to Jensen." Jensen, however, expressed disappointment with the game's sales. She said she had expected it to attract a large, mainstream audience and later remarked, "I thought it would be top ten. And it was—for about a week." She also mentioned that the game's release on Christmas Eve likely contributed to its lower-than-expected sales.
Critics praised the game highly. At GameRankings, it received a score of 90.50% based on six reviews. William R. Trotter of PC Gamer US stated, "The Beast Within sets a new standard—within the graphic adventure genre, at any rate—for interactive entertainment." Similarly, Johnny L. Wilson of Computer Gaming World called it "a graphic adventure benchmark."
A Next Generation critic praised the character of Grace and Joanne Takahashi's "appropriately sardonic" acting. He compared the game favorably to Sierra's Phantasmagoria (which used the same game engine), noting that The Beast Within offered more gameplay content and better scenery. He also rated it one of the best graphic adventures due to its "detailed and evolved storyline" and "easy to use yet sophisticated graphic system." Maximum magazine said, "The Beast Within is one of the few [interactive movies] that manage to grab the player's attention, largely due to its interesting plot. Graphically, the game is also smart, with digitized actors that work well with computer-generated scenery."
The Beast Within won Computer Gaming World's 1995 "Game of the Year" award. It was named the best computer adventure game of 1995 by Computer Games Strategy Plus and the best of 1996 by GameSpot and PC Gamer US. It also won GameSpot's "Best Story" prize. PC Gamer US editors called it "one of the best adventure games ever" and said, "If it had been just a movie, The Beast Within would easily beat 99 percent of what passes for horror on the big screen these days." Computer Gaming World staff described it as "the continuation of a brilliant tradition—the graphic adventure as art."
The Beast Within was a finalist for the Computer Game Developers Conference's 1996 "Best Adventure Game/RPG," "Best Script, Story or Interactive Writing," and "Best Use of Video" Spotlight Awards. However, these awards went to The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, You Don't Know Jack XL, and Wing Commander IV, respectively. In 1996, GamesMaster ranked the game 71st on their "Top 100 Games of All Time" list.
Legacy
In 1998, The Beast Within was turned into a novel by Jane Jensen. The first novel followed the events of the game closely, but Jensen later said this approach was not the best way to introduce Gabriel Knight to readers. For the second novel, she started over without using the game’s original ideas. Both books are no longer in print as of 2010. In 2012, Jensen offered both novels as ebooks to supporters of her Kickstarter campaign who donated $50 or more.
In 1996, Computer Gaming World ranked The Beast Within as the 17th best computer game ever, the highest position for any graphic adventure. The editors called Jane Jensen "the interactive Anne Rice." In 1998, PC Gamer US listed it as the 27th-best computer game ever, noting it had more excitement and better graphics than the first game. In 2000, Computer Games Strategy Plus included The Beast Within in its list of "10 Essential Graphic Adventures," calling it "probably the best video-based adventure game ever released." In 2011, Adventure Gamers ranked Gabriel Knight 2 as the 3rd-best adventure game ever.
In a 2004 review, Adventure Gamers’ Dan Ravipinto said The Beast Within was one of the few computer games that showed meaningful character growth and was "easily one of the best Full Motion Video games ever made."
In 2021, Jess Morrissette of Vice Media praised the game’s writing, acting, and inclusion of queer themes, calling The Beast Within a "minor masterpiece in adventure gaming."