After she had co-designed EcoQuest and King’s Quest VI at Sierra On-Line, Jane Jensen was encouraged by Roberta Williams to pitch her own adventure game series to Sierra. When she came up with Gabriel Knight, it was unlike anything the company or the genre at large had produced up to that point: a dark and mature supernatural mystery, with a huge focus on story, characters and dialogue. Jensen, a writer at heart, thought that this type of game would lend itself perfectly to the adventure game genre, unveiling a mystery by collecting and combining clues, talking to people etc. - and, as it turns out, she was right.
The game is divided into days that serve as chapters. A day ends when certain objectives have been achieved. Despite this structure Sins of the Fathers is a very non-linear game. You can visit many locations in and around New Orleans from Day 1 on, regardless if they’re important for the task at hand. This lets you explore at your own terms, making the city feel more alive and trusting the player to follow along the clues and the overall mystery, which is very satisfying.
The story is intriguing from the very beginning, with Gabriel’s nightmares mirroring the events of the past. His investigation slowly but surely uncovers more horrifying truths while the supernatural elements keep increasing, until he has to confront his family’s secret legacy. The game is not devoid of humour, though: Gabriel is a womanizing rogue that is kept in check by Grace, his assisstant, and her sarcastic replies. His and Detective Mosely’s banter is equally as delightful. The dialogue is brought to life by terrific actors: Tim Curry, Mark Hamill, Leah Remini, Michael Dorn, as well as Virginia Capers who acts as the narrator, which means she mostly describes objects the player investigates, often giving witty remarks in regards to Gabriel ("Gabriel’s mini-stereo isn’t exactly high-fidelity. Then again, neither is he."). You can devote much of your time listening to what the characters have to tell you outside of the necessary investigation stuff, talking about their backgrounds, interests or any topic of conversation you have unlocked so far.
The game oozes atmosphere with its beautifully drawn backgrounds that deliver a cold, dark, mysterious mood with lots of symbolism in either details or strong colour accents. Places like Grandma Knight’s house or Gabriel’s bookstore have the warmth they need while still adhering to the overall colour palette. The art really makes the gothic personality of the story come to life visually. The soundtrack was composed by Robert Holmes who was also the producer for the game. His music complements every scene perfectly - one of my personal favourite game soundtracks. Just listen to the tracks for the Voodoo Museum, Lake Pontchartrain, the Bayou, or the Main Theme.
Even though the art style is charming, the low resolution means a bit of pixel hunting. You may think you investigated an area fully - some pixels may disagree. This, combined with some complex puzzles, means the difficulty for the game is relatively high. The non-linearity also plays into that, but it’s never illogical. There is a focus on the puzzles containing actions the character would realistically do. Another part where the game shows its age is the point-and-click interface which is a bit awkward to use. You can change the cursor and the associated action - look, use, etc. - by right-clicking. This in itself is fine, but having eight different cursors makes switching them not as fluid as it could be. You can also choose the cursor from the extendable menu at the top of the screen, which is fine but again not as fluid as mechanics found in later adventure games. Of course, this being a Sierra game after all, deaths are to be expected and can occur in later parts of the game; so you better save regularly.
Except for these few age-related issues, the game is a great adventure to play even today. (And definitely better than the remake.) Presentation and game design are superb, with the story and characters as the game's heart and soul - a strength that would consistently define all of Jensen's following adventures.
The game is divided into days that serve as chapters. A day ends when certain objectives have been achieved. Despite this structure Sins of the Fathers is a very non-linear game. You can visit many locations in and around New Orleans from Day 1 on, regardless if they’re important for the task at hand. This lets you explore at your own terms, making the city feel more alive and trusting the player to follow along the clues and the overall mystery, which is very satisfying.
The story is intriguing from the very beginning, with Gabriel’s nightmares mirroring the events of the past. His investigation slowly but surely uncovers more horrifying truths while the supernatural elements keep increasing, until he has to confront his family’s secret legacy. The game is not devoid of humour, though: Gabriel is a womanizing rogue that is kept in check by Grace, his assisstant, and her sarcastic replies. His and Detective Mosely’s banter is equally as delightful. The dialogue is brought to life by terrific actors: Tim Curry, Mark Hamill, Leah Remini, Michael Dorn, as well as Virginia Capers who acts as the narrator, which means she mostly describes objects the player investigates, often giving witty remarks in regards to Gabriel ("Gabriel’s mini-stereo isn’t exactly high-fidelity. Then again, neither is he."). You can devote much of your time listening to what the characters have to tell you outside of the necessary investigation stuff, talking about their backgrounds, interests or any topic of conversation you have unlocked so far.
The game oozes atmosphere with its beautifully drawn backgrounds that deliver a cold, dark, mysterious mood with lots of symbolism in either details or strong colour accents. Places like Grandma Knight’s house or Gabriel’s bookstore have the warmth they need while still adhering to the overall colour palette. The art really makes the gothic personality of the story come to life visually. The soundtrack was composed by Robert Holmes who was also the producer for the game. His music complements every scene perfectly - one of my personal favourite game soundtracks. Just listen to the tracks for the Voodoo Museum, Lake Pontchartrain, the Bayou, or the Main Theme.
Even though the art style is charming, the low resolution means a bit of pixel hunting. You may think you investigated an area fully - some pixels may disagree. This, combined with some complex puzzles, means the difficulty for the game is relatively high. The non-linearity also plays into that, but it’s never illogical. There is a focus on the puzzles containing actions the character would realistically do. Another part where the game shows its age is the point-and-click interface which is a bit awkward to use. You can change the cursor and the associated action - look, use, etc. - by right-clicking. This in itself is fine, but having eight different cursors makes switching them not as fluid as it could be. You can also choose the cursor from the extendable menu at the top of the screen, which is fine but again not as fluid as mechanics found in later adventure games. Of course, this being a Sierra game after all, deaths are to be expected and can occur in later parts of the game; so you better save regularly.
Except for these few age-related issues, the game is a great adventure to play even today. (And definitely better than the remake.) Presentation and game design are superb, with the story and characters as the game's heart and soul - a strength that would consistently define all of Jensen's following adventures.