The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery
Encyclopedia
The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery (also known as Gabriel Knight 2 or GK2) is a computer adventure game
released by Sierra On-Line in 1995. Unlike the first
Gabriel Knight game, released in 1993, The Beast Within was produced entirely in full motion video
. The technology was popular at the time of the game's production with the recently introduced storage capabilities of CD-ROM
s, but was expensive to produce and led to a linear storyline. The third
Gabriel Knight game used a rendered 3D engine a few years later instead.
The game was released for PC and Macintosh. The Macintosh version used a video player developed by Sierra instead of an off-the-shelf technology such as Quicktime
, and had a tendency to crash or run slowly on 680x0 processors. There is an XP-compatible re-print on DVD with de-interlaced movies, but it is exclusive to the Italian market.
mythology and Bavaria
n history with sexual intrigue and businessmen's quest for their primal roots. The game's two lead characters are Gabriel Knight—the seemingly less-than-bright but smart-as-a-fox mystery writer and bookstore owner—and Grace Nakamura, his less-than-trusting assistant. Knight has inherited a castle in a small German village and the title of Schattenjäger ("shadow hunter" in German) that comes with it. It has been a year since the voodoo murders case (The Sins of the Fathers) and the local villagers implore him to investigate the mysterious death of a little girl—caused, they believe, by a werewolf. Knight and Nakamura's search for clues takes them to Munich
, King Ludwig II's famous Neuschwanstein Castle, Altötting
and Bavaria's forested countryside. Their efforts lead them to uncover the truth about King Ludwig's mysterious death and discover a lost Richard Wagner
opera, written by Robert Holmes
(composer of music in the game).
The game is divided into six chapters and the player controls Gabriel and Grace alternately between the chapters. They conduct their investigations separately for the most of the game, only joining forces in the finale.
As well as creating the soundtrack for the second game alongside Jay Usher, series composer Robert Holmes
wrote the music for a scene of the fictional opera entitled "Der Fluch Des Engelhart" ("The Curse of Engelhart").
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
released by Sierra On-Line in 1995. Unlike the first
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers is a point-and-click adventure game developed and published by Sierra On-Line, Inc....
Gabriel Knight game, released in 1993, The Beast Within was produced entirely in full motion video
Full motion video
Full motion video based games are video games that rely upon pre-recorded TV-quality movie or animation rather than sprites, vectors, or 3D models to display action in the game. In the early 1990s a diverse set of games utilized this format...
. The technology was popular at the time of the game's production with the recently introduced storage capabilities of CD-ROM
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
s, but was expensive to produce and led to a linear storyline. The third
Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned
Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned is the third and final game in the Gabriel Knight series of adventure games by Sierra Online. The game was designed by Jane Jensen, Gabriel Knight's creator. In a departure from the previous two entries, the score is composed by David...
Gabriel Knight game used a rendered 3D engine a few years later instead.
The game was released for PC and Macintosh. The Macintosh version used a video player developed by Sierra instead of an off-the-shelf technology such as Quicktime
QuickTime
QuickTime is an extensible proprietary multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. The classic version of QuickTime is available for Windows XP and later, as well as Mac OS X Leopard and...
, and had a tendency to crash or run slowly on 680x0 processors. There is an XP-compatible re-print on DVD with de-interlaced movies, but it is exclusive to the Italian market.
Gameplay
The Beast Within is a point-and-click adventure game, played from a third-person perspective.Plot
The storyline weaves together werewolfWerewolf
A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...
mythology and Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
n history with sexual intrigue and businessmen's quest for their primal roots. The game's two lead characters are Gabriel Knight—the seemingly less-than-bright but smart-as-a-fox mystery writer and bookstore owner—and Grace Nakamura, his less-than-trusting assistant. Knight has inherited a castle in a small German village and the title of Schattenjäger ("shadow hunter" in German) that comes with it. It has been a year since the voodoo murders case (The Sins of the Fathers) and the local villagers implore him to investigate the mysterious death of a little girl—caused, they believe, by a werewolf. Knight and Nakamura's search for clues takes them to Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, King Ludwig II's famous Neuschwanstein Castle, Altötting
Altötting
Altötting is a town in Bavaria, capital of the district Altötting.This small town is famous for the Gnadenkapelle , one of the most-visited shrines in Germany. This is a tiny octagonal chapel which keeps a venerated statue of the Virgin Mary...
and Bavaria's forested countryside. Their efforts lead them to uncover the truth about King Ludwig's mysterious death and discover a lost Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
opera, written by Robert Holmes
Robert Holmes (composer)
Robert Holmes is a composer, living in the United States of America. Though he was at least partly responsible for the music heard in several other computer games, he is best known for having composed the music for the Gabriel Knight series of adventure games...
(composer of music in the game).
The game is divided into six chapters and the player controls Gabriel and Grace alternately between the chapters. They conduct their investigations separately for the most of the game, only joining forces in the finale.
Soundtrack
In every Gabriel Knight game, the popular gospel hymn "When the Saints go marching in" can be heard, albeit in different remixes and forms. In The Beast Within it is heard when Gabriel is visiting the Marienplatz in Munich.As well as creating the soundtrack for the second game alongside Jay Usher, series composer Robert Holmes
Robert Holmes (composer)
Robert Holmes is a composer, living in the United States of America. Though he was at least partly responsible for the music heard in several other computer games, he is best known for having composed the music for the Gabriel Knight series of adventure games...
wrote the music for a scene of the fictional opera entitled "Der Fluch Des Engelhart" ("The Curse of Engelhart").
Development
In Sins of the Fathers, when he uncovers the Schattenjäger library in Schloss Ritter, Gabriel can examine the bookshelves to browse their contents. Among the books he finds are reference material alluding to werewolves and vampires—which would turn out to be the supernatural antagonists in his next game.German version
When the game was first released in Germany it lacked dubbing and subtitles and had a few more violent scenes censored. The screen would go black and a short message appeared on screen roughly describing the material that was edited out in a few words (strangely those messages were in German although nothing else was). When the game was later released in its localized German version it was uncensored and branded "suitable for players aged 16 and above".External links
- Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within on the Sierra Chest