Current GK Status

We’ve seen a resurgence of interest in precisely those elements of Gabriel Knight that have made it so fascinating. Historical mystery, centuries of conspiracy, the Templars, vampires, creatures of darkness, great evil, a mighty good, a reluctant hero, a cataclysmic secret, religious elements, the arcane and the mysterious – and never, positively never have those elements been better told within a game than in Gabriel Knight. Few books, too, use those elements in any comparable way – Jane Jensen is a strong and gifted writer whose work, were it marketed as well as, for instance, that of Dan Brown, would reveal just how excellent her talents are in comparison.

But the huge popularity of the Da Vinci Code should show one thing at least – it’s time to create Gabriel Knight 4. The climate of popular opinion is ripe for it. Interest in this genre has never been higher. In fact, it’s almost at fever pitch, spawning a host of imitators in many fields. Why not, then, let Gabriel Knight continue? Why not? It has the virtue of being not an imitator, but a leader in this field, going beyond the narrower confines of other fiction as well in a stunning and powerfully poetic and lyrical way.

Prompted by the great popularity of this part-historical-mystery, part-horror, part-fantasy genre, fans of the Gabriel Knight games who communicate regularly in the official GK forum run by Vivendi sent a letter to Vivendi some months ago, pointing out all the reasons why another GK game would be a terrific idea. The letter was partly in response, too, to the suggestion of a Vivendi contact, so there is hope that the letter prompted at least a little discussion within the company.

A great effort has been and still is being made by a group of fans who have created a fan site for GK, called GK4ever: included in their site is a petition, perhaps the most well-organised petition thus far.

Then news came from a reliable source that another Gabriel Knight game is being discussed seriously. Due to the confidential nature of the situation, we do not know exactly by whom and in what circumstances this discussion is occurring. We can only say that there is nothing contradicting the idea that it’s sufficiently serious a discussion that discretion is necessary. We could speculate that it’s a discussion between Jane Jensen, Robert Holmes and Vivendi – but we can’t run away with the idea that this is what’s happening. I repeat – we can only speculate at this stage, and although we have received confirmation that the discussions are occurring under conditions of confidentiality, we cannot assume anything further.

Cautious optimism.

Something else occurred which impacted on the entire adventure-game community – Vivendi gave permission for a fan-made-game based on the King’s Quest series, called The Silver Lining, to go ahead. This was in direct response to a barrage of letters, articles, emails, fan-blogs and more, in a concerted and strongly-supported effort by all the KQ fans.

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