Gabriel Knight Trilogy - Your Ultimate Gabriel Knight Fan Site

"Welcome to the remote French village of Rennes-Le-Chateau. Gabriel and Grace arrive in this small village in pursuit of a kidnapped child, but a deeper, far more frightening story begins to unfold. Whispers of a sacred bloodline, vampires and a boundless treasure set the shadow hunter and his companion on an inescapable path. Their ultimate destiny is to solve a dark mystery held secret for thousands years."
-quote from the retail box of GK3

Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned is set in a small village and valley in rural Europe. The village, Rennes-Le-Chateau, is based on a real village and is the location of a Great Enigma -- either that or a Great Scam, depending on your level of belief.

The case begins when Gabriel is invited for a weekend at the home of a currently dethroned royal scion. Grace is delighted, assuming that at last they're moving into the kinds of circles a family like the Ritters ought to hobnob with. But it turns out that the 'Prince's' motivation for inviting Gabriel was not a social one. He has a new infant son and is concerned for his safety because the Prince's family has been plagued for generations by...(vampires)

It turns out the Prince was right to be afraid. The very first night Gabriel watches guard over his infant son the boy is kidnapped. Gabriel gives chase and winds up at the train station. He follows the kidnappers to the small village mentioned earlier but quickly loses their trail.

Gabriel will come to realize that the mystery that surrounds the Prince's family and the mystery of this ancient little town are not only connected, but will involve both very real current political agendas and ancient secrets. Once at the town, Gabriel discovers that a tour group arrived about the same time he did. He considers all of the members of the tour suspects even, perhaps, his old friend Mosely, who just happens to be 'on vacation' with the tour. Grace soon joins him and while Gabriel investigates the suspects and his leads on the kidnapping, Grace is convinced that the mystery is tied to the town's enigma and she sets out to solve it.
-taken from the Official Sierra GK3 Homepage

The third installment of the critically acclaimed Gabriel Knight series has brought a new dimension into the game, third dimension that is. With the debut of the G-Engine, a propriety 3D engine developed specifically for this game, Sierra has once again revolutionized the adventure game genre. By using 3D graphic, the game has given players the kind of freedom they never had before. You can now zoom in and out, rotate the camera around any way you want. Everything in the game is render in real time 3D models with insane amount of details, high quality texture and gorgeous lighting effects.

As story being the most important aspect of any adventure games, GK3 shines brightly in this area. Author Jane Jensen has once again proven that she's the master of story telling by mixing supernatural, theological, spiritual, and philosophical themes together to create a fantasy game world like no others.

General Informations

Developer: Sierra Studios
Publisher: Sierra On-Line
Release date: 3 November 1999
Media: 3 CD

Windows?95/98 CD-ROM. Minimum: Pentium 166 with 1st 3D card w/4MB+ RAM. Pentium 233 without 3D card, 32MB RAM. SVGA @ 16 bit High Color. Windows compatible sound card. Preferred: Pentium II 266. 2nd generation 3D card.

Awards

Best Adventure Game of Show - CES from IGN PC
Adventure Game of The Year - Gamer's Gazette/Future Games Network, 1999
Adventure Game of the Year - CNET Gamecenter, 1999
Adventure Game of the Year - Computer Games Magazine, 1999
Adventure Game of the Year - Computer Games Online, 1999
Jane Jensen, All-Star Lead Writer - PC Accelator Awards, 1999
Charity James as Grace Nakimura, Best Actress - PC Accelator Awards, 1999
Reader's Choice Awards: Adventure Game of the Year - Gamespot's, 1999

Commentary

Upon the finish of GK3, one thing came across my mind, will there be a next one? The time when GK3 was released, the adventure game genre has fallen greatly and GK3 was thought to be the last hope for its revival. Thought personally I believe that it's impossible for one game to take on such task, it did bring in some fresh ideas and innovation that were much needed. Today, despite all the talks about how adventure game is dead, it's in fact very much alive, it has evolved as we see more and more action, first person shooting games have taken elements from traditional adventure game and integrate them into the gameplay. It might be true that the old fashion point-and-click adventure game is out of life, but adventure game as a whole is not dead. As long as there are people who enjoy being told a good story, adventure game will live on.
-mAdwoLf

Viewer's Review

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