Gabriel Knight Remake - New Demo on Steam

If any of you want to try out the new Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers 20th Anniversary Edition you can as Steam now offers a new demo to download.

Experience one of adventure gaming’s most stunning masterpieces all over again in this blockbuster retelling of the award-winning 1993 murder-mystery, which adds all-new puzzles, scenes, and HD graphics!

Blending the best of yesterday and today, it re-imagines the 1993 original, voted one of the greatest games of all time, for an entirely new generation of fans. As struggling author and bookstore owner Gabriel Knight, players will investigate a series of savage ritual killings in New Orleans and their connection to voodoo’s sinister mysteries.

The deeper you dive into master storyteller Jane Jensen’s tale of terror and suspense, the closer you’ll come to discovering the secrets of Gabriel’s family history–and unfolding his destiny.

More information.

The remake is faithful to the original.

Played some of the demo which got me to download the full game, which I guess is the purpose of a demo. It feels like Gabriel Knight to me, and I forgot how much the music means to this game and the series in general. I accept that it's not a perfect redux, with some technical issues, etc, and a new voice cast etc. But, the wife and I are enjoying it so far and glad to be back in the world of the Schattenjager. It's a very "spouse-friendly" series, if you have someone close to you who is not averse to gaming.

Thanks for the information Falchor. I'll download the demo later today.

I never played the first two games, having been more of a Sierra/LucasArts adventure gamer. Actually, the first Gabriel Knight game for me was Gabriel Knight 3, which was in 3D and that I played on my new top-of-the-line Pentium 3 gaming machine. That was pretty awesome.

I really need to download this remake soon!

A demo is available? Im tempted to try it.

BTW What do you think about last Jensen's games - Gray Matter and Moebius?

It looks kind of outdated in the game mechanics department. Their previous games introduced (or at least tried to…) something more than just the old use object with object routine. But I'll give it a chance, I suppose the story is the game's forte (I never played the original, so I'm just repeating what I red about it).

Originally Posted by MigRib
It looks kind of outdated in the game mechanics department. Their previous games introduced (or at least tried to…) something more than just the old use object with object routine. But I'll give it a chance, I suppose the story is the game's forte (I never played the original, so I'm just repeating what I red about it).

Yeah, I wouldn't want it any other way. I don't understand why reviewers score old-school adventure games badly for being old-school; I don't necessarily see that core mechanic as an negative any more than the core mechanic of an FPS game does. For example, look at Painkiller as an ode to old-school FPS mechanics that still work in that genre, too.

I particularly enjoyed the Strategy Informer review. Aside from White Knight feminist blabbering (get it? get it??!), he argues that the adventure game genre should look like Telltale's The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among us. I like those games, too, but they're not exactly heavy on puzzles…

Originally Posted by Thaurin
Yeah, I wouldn't want it any other way. I don't understand why reviewers score old-school adventure games badly for being old-school; I don't necessarily see that core mechanic as an negative any more than the core mechanic of an FPS game does. For example, look at Painkiller as an ode to old-school FPS mechanics that still work in that genre, too.

I particularly enjoyed the Strategy Informer review. Aside from White Knight feminist blabbering (get it? get it??!), he argues that the adventure game genre should look like Telltale's The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among us. I like those games, too, but they're not exactly heavy on puzzles…

Well, almost everything gets boring when it's overused, but I get your point - although I'm a BIG fan of Telltale's games and I (personal taste, of course) would like all adventure games to have their light-on-puzzles-heavy-on-the-drama approach. Anyway, what I meant is that Moebius (like it or not) and the thriller with the red-headed detective whose brother get's killed (which name I can't recall) have a few tricks up their sleave aside from the puzzle solving - nothing much, just a few distractions, but for me they worked.

Originally Posted by MigRib
Well, almost everything gets boring when it's overused, but I get your point - although I'm a BIG fan of Telltale's games and I (personal taste, of course) would like all adventure games to have their light-on-puzzles-heavy-on-the-drama approach.

But I'm sure even that will get boring to you when it's overused. Although, after two seasons of The Walking Dead, the DLC and the first season of The Wolf Among Us, I would still love more of that same format.

Speaking of which, have you tried Dreamfall Chapters? It sort of follows Telltale's trick, with the consequences and everything, and has a bit more relatively puzzles added to the mix. As you can guess, the geme follows after the cliff-hanger from The Longest Journey: Dreamfall, so it you enjoyed that, this is something you should try!

Anyway, what I meant is that Moebius (like it or not) and the thriller with the red-headed detective whose brother get's killed (which name I can't recall) have a few tricks up their sleave aside from the puzzle solving - nothing much, just a few distractions, but for me they worked.

I think very many "adventure" games are trying new things these days: L.A. Noire, Valiant Hearts: The Great War, Machinarium, but sometimes you just want a Deponia, The Whispered World, The Book of Unwritten Tales or a The Dark Eye! At this point, to me it's almost like saying you get tired of words if they are overused in a book.

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Anyway, I downloaded the demo. Looked pretty alright to me; game mechanics, user interface and all. They could've made examine default for the right mouse button, though, I'll give you that.

I'll agree that maybe it's a little harder to get into this type of game these days. They took take a little time and patience, where in the "old" days, I could just turn on the PC and click on everything (or type in every imaginable combination of phrase) all afternoon after school.

Originally Posted by Thaurin

Speaking of which, have you tried Dreamfall Chapters? It sort of follows Telltale's trick, with the consequences and everything, and has a bit more relatively puzzles added to the mix. As you can guess, the geme follows after the cliff-hanger from The Longest Journey: Dreamfall, so it you enjoyed that, this is something you should try!

Yes, I did, and it's a great game. The previous one was good, but this one promises to be a classical, someday. I hope the next chapters are as good as this one. Anyway I will definitely try Gabriel Knight. The fact that I didn't play the original (I suppose I didn't even own a PC by then, I played on a Commodore Amiga for quite some time) is surprising because I usually like anything with a supernatural theme.

The original had superb pixel art, this looks really generic and unappealing.