Part 1: Gabriel Knight vs. Mornings

Chapter 1: Gabriel Knight vs. Mornings

We begin, as so many stories do, in a dream.



Men stand around ominous fires.



One man stands especially close to the flames, staring at a woman being burned there.



She lowers her head to look at him, and he takes a step back in surprise.



He stares, horrified, at the scene before him.



We close in on his face as he continues to watch.



The woman in the flames burns away.



A tear rolls down his cheek. Whatever exactly is going on, it's tragic.



Suddenly, something changes. His eyes widen...



The woman in the flames stares at him, rage filling her features.





In an instant, she transforms into a leopard before his very eyes. Its eyes begin to glow.



Elsewhere, a strange golden medallion flies through the darkness.





A splash of blood covers the piece.



A swoopy camera takes us around the corner of a building.



Looks like we're in New Orleans.





The man continues to stare in horror, unaware of the snake wrapping itself around his neck until it's too late.



Back on the street, we see we're looking at a bookstore.



The door opens and the camera swoops inside.



Elsewhere, against a stormy purple backdrop, a man hangs from a dead tree.



We close in on the face...



...it's Gabriel Knight!



Safe and sound in his bed, Gabriel wakes up in terror.







"HOLY SHIT!"



That was ominous and fun, but after the opening credits roll, we kick things off for real.



Each day begins with an unattributed poem excerpt, written by an unspecified fictional person. The day we're beginning also spreads across the screen like spraypaint.

Gabriel and Grace's morning routine is pretty steady:



The paperboy throws the newspaper against the door of St. George's Books.



Grace walks up at approximately the same time and takes it inside.



Some time later, Gabriel staggers out like he was just on the world's biggest bender.



The character models in this game aren't especially detailed due to PC constraints at the time, but the designers make up for that by including loads of animation. Gabriel's stagger out of the bedroom is one of my favorites.



Every character in this game has subtitles of a different color, which I believe are distinctive enough to keep the screenshots from getting too confusing. What we see here is Grace, on the phone. Gabriel, meanwhile, attempts to rub the nightmare out of his face.





Gabriel silently, violently shakes his arms: NO.



The game opens up with one of the worst quips in this or any game.



"She's makin' fun of me. Don't care. Coffee."



Grace puts up with a lot of crap, but she's super organized.



"Coffee."




"Sort of" is man-talk for "Yes, and I nearly shit myself."



Seems reasonable enough.



Gabriel Knight is not responsible for the quality of his quips before the caffeine has kicked in.



SWEET!



Gabriel loves tape recorders. It even convinced him to put down the coffee.



"MINE."



I kinda want to know what human rights he violated with the last one.



Grace just stares at him and changes the subject.



"Dixieland Drug Store." Sounds totally reputable.



He probably wouldn't.




That's two horribly inappropriate come-ons and I haven't even gotten control of the game yet.



Grace is becoming a black belt in deflecting sexual harassment.



Grace goes back to work repairing books and we finally get control of Gabriel!


Next time:


We explore the sights of Gabriel's home in Chapter 2: Gabriel Knight vs. St. George's Books!


Videos!
01. Intro and Opening Credits (Dailymotion) (Youtube)
02. Day 1 Intro (Dailymotion) (Youtube)