Review of Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within by Intense Degree

When I first got my hands on this game a while after playing GK1 I was ridiculously excited. I loved GK1 so much that I couldn’t wait to get stuck in to the sequal.

However, I actually initially gave up on playing it after about 20 minutes. And the reason? It wasn’t the transition to FMV, the move to Germany, the different feel and pace.

It wasn’t the Gabriel I knew.

Now I’m not just talking about looks here, clearly even Tim Curry doesn’t look like good old pixelated Gabe from GK1, it was the change in personality.

For me one of the biggest pulls of GK1 was the character of Gabriel. But here in GK2 he was bland, somehow all the edges were rounded off and (I’m sorry but this is my opinion) he was somehow American-sitcom-ised. At first I was so disappointed I stopped playing.

However I did come back and boy am I glad I did. This is, to my mind, the finest example of FMV. Once again the story is excellent but the characters steal the show. Whilst Gabe in GK2 I’m not too bothered about, Von-Glower is a masterpiece. Brilliantly written, exceptionally acted and probably the most intriguing and charismatic game character ever. All the members of the hunt club and their relationships are excellent too, brilliantly written and acted.

The story is a great one and the 2 parallel investigations of Gabe and Grace keep the depth and intellect of the first game with the more visceral parts of Gabe’s investigations. The game draws you in an keeps you interested and the replay value is very high too.

With a better Gabe this would be 5 stars from me. However, I know many people then Dean was brilliant so only half a star goes.