The original Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers is held in high regard. Taking a more serious tone than previous in-house Sierra On-Line adventures, the player takes the role of the titular Gabriel Knight, a down on his luck New Orleans horror novelist researching a recent rash of voodoo murders for his latest book.
When it was released, roughly twenty years ago, it met with critical acclaim. With a recent resurgence in the adventure game genre and the occasion of the anniversary a remake only makes sense.
And that’s the appropriate word for what results. Everything from the original release has been re-done, with the most obviously apparent change being the graphics. The new game looks the way you remember it looking, retaining all of the visual style of the original 256-color palette, but with modern fidelity and high-resolution. Most scenes are largely identical to the 1993 release; a few were updated to be more accurate to the setting.
The remastered soundtrack provides a nice compliment to the graphical changes, even if it does wander too close to the bad old days of midi. The game also has an all new voice cast which, while generally disappointing, will at least please those who cringed at Tim Curry’s trainwreck of a southern accent.
While some puzzles and sequencing have changed, the core of the game and its story remain the same. It’s still a point-and-click adventure, and with that genre come the classic pitfalls that have leave many modern gamers frustrated and disinterested.
Thankfully there’s a new built-in help system that does its best to replicate the feel of old school hint books, nudging you in the right direction. There are some other modern improvements like the ability to highlight objects of interest, and no longer having to cycle the cursor between actions. More in line with modern adventure games, clicking an object now brings up the icons for possible interactions.
The fusion of old and new creates an easily accessible game that rarely pulls its punches. For fans of the series and newcomers alike Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers 20th Anniversary Edition is the definitive version of the already classic game. And with any hope this is just the vanguard for new adventures.
Gabriel Knight: Sinds of the Fathers 20th Anniversary Edition is available from Steam.