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Soon... |
What is the draw to horror? In the intro to Veil of Darkness, I mentioned that this kind of entertainment was not my cup of tea, at least at the time it was released. I enjoyed a good mystery and had some interest in supernatural fantasy, but gruesome and especially gory art turned me away. So, once again, I probably would have passed on this game if the box were the only thing to go by.
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Hanging body? weird looking face? no thanks. |
The back of the box promises something a little more in line with a thriller than outright horror. A story steeped in voodoo, a generational curse, and unnerving nightmares. It gets my mind racing with possibilities. How were the Shadow Hunters formed? Why do they exist? Are there others? Is the curse triggered by some recent or future event, or has he had these nightmares throughout his life? I guess there's only one way to find out.
In case anyone is curious, I'll be playing the GOG.com release of the game, which should be close to the original. There is a 20th anniversary edition to the game, and I happily welcome any comments that give insight to the changes and additions in that version of the game. While I did have the manual to download, not included in this copy of the game is the graphic novel that acts a prologue I believe. Please correct me if I'm wrong, as I'd like to avoid spoilers to events revealed in the game. In any case, I'll only refer to it If I'm stumped in the game. I did find a copy of it on the Internet Archive.
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Now if this were the cover art to the game, I'd have been more interested. |
I usually like to start off with an overview of the story in the manual, but there isn't one. I guess the graphic novel was supposed to fill that role. The manual goes into a good amount of depth regarding the systems and interfaces used throughout the game; however, it started to edge on the cusp of what felt like spoilers, so I'll mainly use it for reference than reading it cover to cover. Notably, there are interrogations, tape recorded audio, a couple of encoded writing systems to work with throughout the game. There's a section for general tips for adventure gamers (which I probably won't need), and a walk-thru of the first few puzzles (which I'm strictly avoiding). At the end are a lot of credits, including some big-name voice actors, but more surprising is a bibliography of the reference material used to support the game's setting. I don't know of any other game that included such a thing.
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Let's see what the Intro option tells us about the game. |
Selecting Intro from the main menu starts an animated scene with a lot of visual references to the graphic novel that I noticed while flipping through it. There's no dialogue in it. It starts with people gathered around three bonfires. As it focuses on the center fire and the man standing in front, a figure becomes more visible in the fire... a woman. The man watches her burn with an expression of unease. The woman's face transforms into a leopard, and then the scene changes to amulet. Engraved with a lion and serpent entangled in combat with gems at each cardinal direction except north, it turns into focus before blood splatters on it. The scene changes once again. This time to an empty street, Bourbon Street, where St. Georges Books is seen. The door opens and as we enter, we see a hanging body from a tree on top of a hill in the distance. As we get closer to see the face, Gabriel realizes it's him and jolts awake.
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I guess Gabriel is already having those nasty nightmares. |
The intro continues with credits set next to renderings of medieval art. Judging from the bibliography, I'd suspect most of these came from either History of Art, Third Edition 1986[1962] by Janson (H.W.), or The Occult in Art 1990 by Rachleff (Owen S.). It's unclear why these particular pieces were chosen, so I'm currently chalking it up to selections by the designer or art team that are thematically relevant to the story as opposed to telling part of the story.
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The director, game designer, and half of the writing credit goes to Jane Jensen. |
After gaining some writing credits at Sierra on Police Quest III and EcoQuest, Jane Jensen co-designed and co-wrote King's Quest VI with Roberta Williams. With that experience under her belt, she approached Ken Williams about leading her own game. The story and setting are based on Angel Heart, a film I hadn't even heard of until I skimmed the development section of the game's Wikipedia page. While the series received critical acclaim and a sizable fanbase, commercial success seems to have eluded it upon release and re-release. I wonder how much of that is due to the full voice acting and FMV sequences, both of which I'd imagine would increase the budget of the game. There are also some notes that the game engines used were going through some growing pains.
The credits end, and the game begins in earnest with the opening scene of the same bookstore front as a woman arrives on Bourbon Street as she picks up the just delivered newspaper of the day. A quote for the day reads, "I dreamt of blood upon the shore, of eyes that spoke of sin. The lake was smooth and deep and black, as was her scented skin...."
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| Dawn of the First Day |
I will be extremely disappointed if this game doesn't get at least 80 in the Final Rating.
ReplyDeleteSo, obviously, my guess is 78. Because I already know.
Having played most Sierra games, I'd say this one is probably the best one, or at least the one that left me best the impression after completion. My first run was in 2004, I still remember it, the game is challenging but not impossible or unfair as most Sierra games.
ReplyDeleteI wouldnt say it's a horror game though, Veil of Darkness is, but this one is more of a tense thriller, very tense for moments. The music is superb, some of the best in the genre, and there's a constant feeling of things happening outside your vision, lots of loneliness when exploring some areas .. I don't know, it's hard to explain. I guess the voodoo and the omnious intro help a lot.
In 2021, I finally also 100% (achievements included) the 20th anniversary edition. It's a nice game, but it has some issues that might be unforgivable for fans of the original game.
First, the obvious lack of Mark Hamill, they rerecorded all characters because of quality or actual loss of the tapes or maybe licencing issues (not sure which one), the narrator is now an old jamaican woman for example. I liked the work they've done in general, but GK is now oversexualized in a lot of his lines. The 3D characters and the lack of charming pixel art is also very different. The main plot is almost the same, but they changed a couple of puzzles and shuffled some events in different order.
For example, one location gets unlocked in day 1 in 1993 game, but in remake it's unlocked in day 4. There's no huge changes though, you play either one of these games, or both if you are a huge fan, or are a reviewer of the games =)
Also .. and very important .. it's meme and legendary now, but never press B in the remake, I will let other people fill in or tell their experiences. Repeat with me .. NEVER PRESS B.
I will guess a 70 for the 1993 version.
After looking the top rated games in this guild, I will guess a score of 75. This is a pretty good game, but the first four games in that list are better (also, what is KGB doing in the top ten?). Zenic, you should check Angel Heart. It is a very good film, you have De Niro playing The Devil, and if you are not easily scared just look how Mickey Rourke looked back then and how he looks today. It is a pretty scary experience
ReplyDeleteI'm going to guess a 79. It's one of the few Sierra's graphic adventures which I have enjoyed playing due to not having encountered any "dead man walking" situations and all the deaths being fair (not any "whooops, you walked to close to the cliff"). The soundtrack is awesome, but I specially like the main theme.
ReplyDelete88, it will probably top the leaderboard, perhaps forever.
ReplyDeleteNah. A good game, and arguably the best in the series, but not THAT good. I'll go with 81.
DeleteI still have my money on Sanitarium beating this out in the distant future. :)
I agree. The first half of the game is really good but then...well, let's just say it has its Sierra(TM) moments. I really love GK1 but don't think that a higher score than 74 (which is my guess) would be reasonable according to our PISSED rating system.
DeleteI still think that Curse of Monkey Island was arguably a shock to many of us because it was so different from the first two games in the series BUT upon reexamination will prove to be a strong contender for the top of the leaderboard. (Although I will always prefer and cherish Grim Fandango despite the long list of its flaws.)
DeleteI agree about Grim, but there's an undercurrent of people here who think it's overrated, so I wonder about its chances.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI'm with Will. Grim Fandango was probably my all time favourite until I replayed Curse a year or so ago. I had poo poo'd the graphical departure back in the day, but have come to appreciate what a perfect adventure game it is. I'm not sure I can fault it. That said, I'm one of the few who actually enjoyed Grim's tank controls and think that's equally perfect. I *can* fault GK, and I don't have an issue with the back half (although of the Sierra games I've played recently, the "rushed finish" seems to be a consistent theme - PQ Open Season anyone?!?) but there are couple of interface issues for mine that distract from an otherwise brilliant game. That said, I personally think it's better than the games reviewed so far.... we shall see!
DeleteI can fault Curse, but it's very, very good, and it's probably going to smash the PISSED rating.
DeleteA sound quality repair mod that was very recently made:
ReplyDeletehttps://alltinker.itch.io/gk-speech-fix
Thread at VOGONS: https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=103755
DeleteThe "on-the-fly" version (i.e. one that works without modifying the data files) for ScummVM that he mentions in the Development log was accepted a few days ago:
Deletehttps://github.com/scummvm/scummvm/pull/6292
I haven't tried it much myself, though.
never played it! but it's one of those that everyone says is very good so... 72?
ReplyDeleteI love this game; I haven't played it in many years but there's so much good about it -- the voice actors, the atmosphere, the setting, the story...some of the puzzles are a bit too Sierra-like but overall it's a lot of fun.
ReplyDeleteI remember liking this game, but while most of the game is pretty good, I felt like there was a bit too much pixel hunting going on at times. The way the game records dialog for you to relisten to later was very helpful though, perhaps one of the few games that should get a 10 in the interface department. I'll go with 80 assuming nobody sniped me.
ReplyDeleteI think that the interface is still slow and clunky compared to most LucasArts games. It has some nice features but it's far from the level of polish that would be deserving of a 10.
DeleteAgree with Will here, the lack of mouseover texts and hotkeys continue to mar the otherwise fairly solid Sierra GUI. Biggest reason why I didn't guess even higher.
DeleteOn the other hand, I could see this being the first game to get a 10 in at least in Environment & Atmosphere.
On the other hand, I could see this being the first game to get a 10 in at least in Environment & Atmosphere.
DeleteI agree completely. Also possibly high scores in Story & Setting as well as Dialogue & Acting (though no 10s). P, I and the other S will weigh it down, I reckon.
Well, we'll see then, I don't remember those two things being an issue, but it has been a while. Hotkeys are only really needed if you have enough actions for that to be an issue.
Deleteand the other S will weigh it down
Huh? Is there something lacking in the sound department? Personally, the music would fail the memorability test, but it had a very solid presentation and design that would make it a hard sell for under 8.
Well, it's sound & graphics, and the latter haven't aged all that well, imo.
DeleteHard disagree, the art direction is among the best if not the best I've seen in an adventure game. The use of colour is just exquisite. In Gabriel's dialogue portrait, the red in his hair to make his skin look even paler is just inspired. I don't see why it would score much lower than the current top-scoring games in the department (Kyrandia got a 9 despite repetitive forest screens), other than kind of blurrier than average pixel graphics.
DeleteI am kinda jealous of the author for being able to experience Gabriel Knight for the first time! It's in my opinion the best Sierra Adventure Game and one of the best games in the Genre, but there are a few puzzles in there that might bring the rating down slightly. Still, I think it's scoring similar to Monkey 2, but y'all already took the rating I was to give, so I'll take 77.
ReplyDeleteSomewhere around 1996 I got hold of a cd full of pirated games. That's the way it was, unfortunately. On it, there was a directory named GK with gk.exe inside. No box, no manual, no graphic novel, no wiki. Imagine my awe when instead of usual cartoony graphics and some fantasy story, I got spooky bells, hanging man and beautiful quotes in the intro. Nothing will beat that ever.
ReplyDeleteAnd this is just a start to the excellent story. I say 81.
"but more surprising is a bibliography of the reference material used to support the game's setting. I don't know of any other game that included such a thing."
ReplyDeleteThe Infocom games Trinity and Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur did, at least. Trinity as part of the printed manual (page 18), and Arthur as part of the built-in hints. (Unfortunately I can't unsee the "Tolkein" [sic] typo in the Arthur bibliography section.)
I don't know how common it is, though. I looked around at a few more manuals, but the only one where I found a bibliography section was Conquests of the Longbow.
Not an adventure game, but I think the SimCity games had them. Though personally, I would say the most important thing to use a bibliography like that, are pen and papers games. Dungeons and Dragons first edition famously had one, while I think World of Darkness had one for each source book for you to get suitably ready for whatever flavor of goth you were going for that day.
DeleteI seem to remember my manual of Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri had one too, and possibly my original Homeworld too (2 of the 3 manuals I actually read more than once).
DeleteScore wise - yikes, that's what I get for being late, 69 right through 82 is booked, and it will either astound or disappoint ever so slightly, so put me down for...65. My dice roll said to go lower so 65 it is. I do look forward to this one, we missed it in my country so it's a classic I never got to see back then.
I feel like I'll be an odd one out here, but I actually think GK1 is a little overrated. Despite the strong writing and tone, it still suffers from then standard Sierra puzzle design issues and a bloated interface. But it certainly makes improvements in other areas and I can't deny that it stands as one of Sierra's stronger games. Fantastic voice cast as well.
ReplyDeleteFor all that, I think the game will do rather well here and I'll guess 74.
Oops, that's taken. 76!
DeleteI'm with you. Although I think it's a good game, I don't love it and tbh it's my least liked GK game. I have a feeling that JJ was more interested in writing some romance novel therefore there is some really unconvicing love story in GK - bad boy womanizer finds a love of his life in girl he saw once and since then he's loyal to her and do everything for her... Sorry, I don't buy it. I couldn't take storyline seriously because this love story was such huge portion of it. I liked it the most when Gabriel was focused on hoodoo investigation and not on helping or rescuing love of his life. I think GB 2 is the best part of the series.
DeleteOn the other hand GK 1 has fantastic music... What an amazing soundtrack! Holmes is great musician. Also - voice acting is fantastic! Hamill and Curry are great! "What can you tell me... about... VOODOO...?"
@LeftHanded Matt: Couldn't agree more, that description is spot on.
Delete@GF: Really, GK2 is your favourite? Which part of examining every pixel of Neuschwanstein Castle did you enjoy most? ;-)
All joking aside, I agree that the storyline in GK1 is kind of silly but I felt like JJ went for a pulp fiction vibe here, and it works (at least for me).
Hamill and Curry are great!
DeleteDon't forget about the immortal Michael Dorn as the aptly named Dr. John (what a nice New Orleans reference)!
Virginia Capers' almost-falling-asleep style of narration is not my cup of tea, however.
@Will Moczarski Heh! It was a good one, Will. :) Maybe I'm weird, but to be honest it never bugged me. Yeah, I know, it's silly design decision and pixel hunting isn't good thing, but for me it was kinda like looking at the things in museum. I can't put my finger on it, but I suspect FMV have something with it - in GK1 this kind of pixel hunting would be frustrating for me, but in GK2 it wasn't that bad. Probably it makes sense only for me. :)
DeleteYeah, Dr John is great and I liked talking with him. IMO Virginia Capers' has certain charm - her narration is like granny's fairy tale. It don't gel well with more dark moments, however.
And I like most of the characters in GK 1 - they are written really well. Even Crash or professor are memorable characters.
And one more thing. IMO GK 1 hoodoo/investigation storyline is strong, but... I try to write without spoiling anything. Sometimes there's really good tension, you can feel like somebody is watching you, but sometimes tension dies and game feels like Gabriel's holiday trip.
I'm always shocked when someone claims GK2 was the best of the series, but I know that's partly because I've yet to see an FMV game that's worth a purchase.
DeleteFor myself, I owned the first game for years, and never got around to playing it. Then, after reading some good reviews, got the third game and started there. Played that one, found it quite enjoyable, and then went on to see what I missed.
"I've yet to see an FMV game that's worth a purchase."
DeleteI remember enjoying Spycraft: The Great Game. Haven't played it in many years though.
I know who I'm saying it to, but the Myst series did technically do FMV, even if those parts are less so in comparison to exploring 3D worlds.
DeleteThat said, I'm surprised Tex Murphy hasn't come up in this conversation already...
I remember enjoying Spycraft: The Great Game. Haven't played it in many years though.
DeleteI replayed it recently and it was... fine. The plot leans so much on the classic spy thriller tropes that it verges on the ridiculous, but apart from that it is a solid game. GK2 is still better though.
I'm always shocked when someone claims GK2 was the best of the series
Delete@Michael: I'm with you. I was genuinely shocked when I saw that the 1001 Games book featured only the second game from the series. I even think that Phantasmagoria works better as an FMV although GK2 is arguably the better game if that makes sense. But I'd always rank them 1 first, then 3, then 2. The second game has some very fine moments (particularly in the first acts) but falls apart completely in the last two acts or so, at least as far as I'm concerned. (I know that it's an unpopular opinion.)
@GF It was not so much the pixel hunting that broke me but having to read every bloody plaque in the museum before the act was finally cleared. That would be fine in an educational game, I guess, but I had come for the thrill, not to learn every detail about some mad king's fairytale castle.
On paper, GK2 probably has the best story of the series, but the game is otherwise too inconsistent to honestly rank particularly high.
DeleteI have a disproportionate and irrational love for FMV games, but I know I am an outlier here. It makes me actively angry that in the modern era, it's considered perfectly fine to tape ping-pong balls to famous hollywood actors to mocap them and then CGI a dead-eyed polygon reconstruction of their likeness, but it would be considered ridiculous to just FILM them and use that in a game.
DeleteAnd outside the world of folks who specialize in adventure games, I tend to find that a lot of criticisms of FMV games blur the lines between criticizing the FMV-induced limitations and complaining about undesirable traits of the genre as a whole (as an example: the bad acting in GK2 is a problem with an FMV game, but the fact that it's got ridiculous puzzles overly reliant on pixel-hunting is a problem with it being a 90s adventure game from Sierra.)
@Ross - I'm with you here. FMV games are an absolute joy and I'm filled with delight any time a new one appears. GK2 stands as one of the best examples of the format, and one of my treasured gaming experiences (although admittedly, it does fall apart at the end).
DeleteOne of the most recent examples of playing to FMV's strengths was Immortality, although it makes for quite a different experience to a traditional FMV adventure game even though that's the genre I would most closely align it with.
@Ross It isn't that the filming is "ridiculous" but rather that it is restrictive. When you film something FMV, you are limited to the exact scenes or movements you filmed. When you use CGI or, as the game companies called it back then, rotoscoping, you are able to open up the realm of possibilities to anything the programmers can think of.
DeleteI suppose that's why I don't like FMV -- it feels limited in most implementations.
Those opening credit illustrations are only present when the game has been installed/setup with the VESA option, which enables higher resolution graphics. Only some of the artwork has been redone in high resolution, resulting in an ugly mismatch - worsened by the game's primitive aspect ratio correction producing unevenly sized pixels all over the screen. Additionally, in VESA mode animated videos only take a tiny part of the screen (ScummVM, which GOG uses, may fix this based on your screenshots). These are why I prefer playing in the lower-res VGA mode.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the graphic novel, personally I recommend against reading it as it makes some reveals too predictable.
Hm... 73. A bit lower than I think it deserves, but the next available number is too high. The wildcard in my mind is how Gabe himself comes off. The one weakness of Jensen's writing to my mind is that she doesn't quite get the way this genre plays with "rogueishness" to make its heroes tough-but-loveable, so Gabe can come off as a bit too much of a cad, a bit too much of a self-serving ass, a bit too much of a jerk. One of the happy accidents of the sequel is that casting a, let's generously go with "novice" actor as Gabe recasts the character's less attractive qualities by giving it an air of "We are seeing a dude who is clearly out of his depth put on a brave face out of necessity".
ReplyDeleteGood point! Dean Erickson is a paragon of haplessness in GK2; he reminded me of Craig Wasson in Brian De Palma's film "Body Double" - in a good way.
Delete"Likeability" is pretty far down on my list of criteria for judging how well-written a character is, I value aspects like complexity and memorability more. (The linked quote is from Bob McKee's screenwriting book Story, which I haven't yet read but plan to sometime.) Gabriel has multiple sides, such as in how he talks with different people (e.g. his grandmother vs. Grace), and there are numerous anecdotes of his life fleshing him out, making him extremely believable.
DeleteI probably should have gone with "sympathetic" rather than "loveable". In GK1, I can clearly see that Jensen was aiming for "rogueish noir-inspired antihero", but it felt like she didn't consistently balance it. I sometimes got the sense that Gabe's negative traits did not flow organically from his character, but had just been thrown in willy-nilly out of the belief that the protagonist in this sort of story was "supposed" to have them.
DeleteI interpret his behaviour coming in large part from a big dose of nihilism arising from being a non-achiever for much of his life (ybfvat uvf cneragf ng na rneyl ntr might have something to do with it, too).
DeleteSeeing what's left score-wise, I'll take 71 even though I also expect it to come out a bit higher.
ReplyDeleteI’ll go with 69 since it hasn’t been taken yet, though I expect it to score higher—probably around 75. The talkie version is likely to rate very highly in most categories. The only lower-scoring category will probably be "puzzles," due to at least two puzzles from hell (no spoilers, but those who’ve played it will know exactly which ones I mean). GK excels at creating a vibrant city setting for an adventure game. It’s hard to say which is better: New Orleans in GK or London in Sherlock Holmes (The Lost Files)?
ReplyDeleteI've seen an online auction for a sealed copy of that impractical-looking box. That it's gone unsold for so long gives me hope for humanity, because the seller wants 29,000 SEK (about $2,640) for it.
ReplyDelete(I'm sure there are people who could argue for why it's worth that much, but without a buyer that's just math.)
That seems bloated even in the case of online auctions...wait, is that one of those graded jobbies? The kind in a box with a letter and a number saying how good a shape it's in? They're pretty much used in scams, if there even is a legitimate use for them, unless people really think that their VHS collection is worth millions of dollars.
DeleteThough if it isn't, that's one hell of a fishing expedition considering that more sought after games don't go for that much. (Even considering the company, I haven't heard much about people going crazy over GK titles)
"wait, is that one of those graded jobbies?"
DeleteI guess so. I'm not familiar with them, but the item description did say "Graderat av VGA", and the picture showed the box inside a transparent case with a sticker from some "VIDEO GAME AUTHORITY". And it does have a number and a grading on it, as you say.
I'm reminded of the first time I read about comic book collectors. This was decades ago, but the final text was something along the lines of...
"They store their comic books in sealed containers, in a controlled environment. They live in constant fear of flooding and burglary. They're surrounded by comic books that they can't read. This must be hell on earth!"
Mind you, if a decent boxed copy was ever to show up at my local thrift store I'd definitely be interested. But it's been many years since I found anything close to that.
I first played GK in the mid-1990s, and it sparked my interest in other media related to voodoo. I am not sure if there was any "voodoo moment" in 1993-94. Around that time, European MTV was frequently playing The Prodigy's "Voodoo People" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YV78vobCyIo
ReplyDeleteDo you guys remember any other voodoo stuff from that moment?
While Angel Heart is an obvious point of reference for GK, I’d also recommend the absolutely chilling and fascinating The Serpent and the Rainbow.
"The Serpent and the Rainbow" is without a doubt the best Wes Craven movie, by far.
DeleteVoodoo Lounge by Rolling Stones in 1994, Monkey Island 2 in 1991, and Alone in the Dark in 1992
DeleteOh, yes. For some reason, my brain didn’t connect the voodoo in Monkey Island with the voodoo in Gabriel Knight.
DeleteVoodoo, or vodou/vodun/vodoun, is an actual syncretic religious tradition of the area. Gabriel Knight's take on it is a bit closer to reality (albeit still sensationalized) vs. Monkey Island's basically complete pop-culture fantasy representation.
DeleteI adore everything about this game.... well, almost everything - but between the Voodoo lore, the voice acting, the puzzles (I know a lot of people don't like some of them, but I found them challenging but fair, and felt a great sense of achievement when I worked them out), the music, the setting, the casual sexism and equally "you go girl" feminism, this is one of my all time favourites. I was going to go with 81 but given that's taken.... heck - 82.
ReplyDeleteArgh - I've done it again (replying without logging in)... that was my post above. 82. I say 82.
Delete