Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned is a point-and-click adventure game created by Jane Jensen, developed and published by Sierra Studios, and released for Microsoft Windows in 1999. The sequel to 1995's The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery, the game's story focuses on the lives of Gabriel Knight (voiced once again by Tim Curry) and Grace Nakimura as they become involved in a case to track down a kidnapped infant, becoming embroiled in a mystery that involves vampires, the Knights Templar, the Holy Grail, and Jesus within the Languedoc province of France; the story itself is inspired by a real-life treasure conspiracy associated to the area.
Following the previous installment, Sierra opted to render the third game in the series in 3D graphics, with a heightened level of puzzle solving and exploration. Work on development was delayed due to difficulties from the team in adapting to the new rendering engine for the game, with some puzzles that were designed found to be complicated and replaced with a number of new puzzles that Jensen did not approve of but could not have changed. Although Jensen had approved of the actor who portrayed Gabriel in the last game, it was decided that Curry should return, owing to her belief he provided the right personality for the character.
Gabriel Knight 3 was the last game to be made by Sierra prior to the crash of the adventure video game industry. Although not a commercial success, much like its predecessors, it received mainly positive reviews from critics. Praise was given to the story and its setting, along with one of the "best-designed game puzzles" in adventure games, while it was criticized for some of its poor dialogue, Curry's performance, and its transfer to 3D graphics. The game was re-released as part of Sierra's Best Seller Series in 2001, and again for GOG.com, in 2010, and Steam, in 2016.
Gameplay
Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned is a point-and-click adventure game, played from a third-person perspective. The story is divided into chapters that cover a three-day period of several time blocks, which play out in a linear fashion and places players in control of one of the two playable characters – while Gabriel handles the initial block of chapters, most alternate between him and Grace. In each chapter, players must complete a set of required actions in order to progress the story, but may do so in a non-linear fashion, allowing them to explore locations and conduct optional actions that provide background and context to the game's story and events. In some chapters, completing certain actions will causes changes during that chapter in other locations - these are indicated by the sound of a ticking clock. Each chapter features a variety of locations that the player can visit, some of which are accessed via an overhead map which uses a hint system to highlight key locations that have actions to be performed for that chapter; additional sites become available as the game progresses. As with Sierra games of the time, a running score is used to keep check on actions, both required and optional, that players have completed (i.e. acquiring an object needed for a puzzle).
Interactive objects are highlighted when the cursor is moved over them, to which doing so activates an action bar of "verb" commands that can be conducted by the player. Actions can involve things such as examining an object/person, picking up an item, or talking to a person. As with previous titles, players store items collected in an inventory, and can examine them, use them, combine them, or make them an active object for interactions with other items or people. Conversations with people range from those who provide brief words on things and those who need to be interviewed on topics. For interviews concerning questioning someone for information, an action bar of "verb" topics appears, which can range from asking about a place or object, learning about the person themselves, or questioning them on something they learnt. However, conversations cannot be reviewed after they have been done, as with previous games in the series.
Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned allows players to have full control over the camera's positioning and angle, allowing them to examine a location in detail; the camera is only fixed during cutscenes, close-up shots of objects, and conversations. In addition, if the player's character is not in view, they will spawn someone off-camera near to the current position of the viewpoint. At certain points in the game, players can make use of a laptop for scanning in and comparing evidence, conducting research on topics, linking evidence and items to marked down suspects, and for tackling one of the game's central puzzles. In some situations, the player must overcome a dangerous situation or risk occurring a game-over moment, forcing them to retry, restart the game, or restore a previous save.
Story
Setting Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned takes place within a world where the occult and the supernatural exist throughout human history – such as ghosts, cultists and demons. To combat those who use such forces for evil against humanity are the "Schattenjägers" – a German translation of the words "Shadow Hunters" – who take it upon themselves to defend the innocent from such beings; their origins, however, are shrouded in mystery. The game's story is inspired by the conspiracy theories concerning 19th-century parish priest Bérenger Saunière and a secret treasure he hid away around the village of Rennes-le-Château in southern France, incorporating several elements concerning the mythology of vampires and the Holy Grail, the myths surrounding the Knights Templar, and the religious stories of Jesus Christ before and during his crucifixion.
The locations featured in the game included a fictionalized layout of Rennes-le-Château, which faithfully recreates local landmarks such as the Church of Saint Mary Magdalene, alongside the real-life locations of Rennes-les-Bains and Château de Blanchefort, with a mix of fictional landmarks and sites relating to the plot.
Characters Players assume the role of Gabriel Knight, voiced by Tim Curry, and Grace Nakimura, voiced by Charity James, throughout the game, using their own methods and approaches to solving their respective part of the investigation they undertake together. During their work, they receive assistance from Frank Mosely (voiced by David Thomas), a police detective from New Orleans. Other main characters in the game include: Emilio Baza, voiced by Billy West; Madeline Buthane, voiced by Jennifer Hale; Vittorio Buchelli, voiced by Joe Lala; Excelsior Montreaux, voiced by John de Lancie; Abbé Arnaud, voiced by Gregg Berger, John Wilkes, voiced by Richard Doyle, Lady Howard, voiced by Samantha Eggar; Estelle Stiles, voiced by Carolyn Seymour, Larry Sinclair, voiced by Corey Burton, and Prince James, voiced by Simon Templeman. Other supporting characters feature the voices of Philippe Bergeron, Rene Auberjonois, Susan Silo, Karen Ross, and Tom Kane.
Plot Four years after the events of The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery, novelist Gabriel Knight, fulfilling his family's role as Schattenjäger, and Grace Nakimura, his research assistant, receive an invitation from Prince James of Albany, a descendant of the House of Stuart, in Paris. James requests the pair's help in protect his infant son Charlie from "Night Visitors" - beings claimed to be vampires - that have plagued his family for centuries. Agreeing to the job, the pair are overcome by a strange force: while Grace is knocked out, Gabriel is temporarily paralyzed and forced to watch Charlie being kidnapped. Pursuing the kidnappers to a south-bound train, Gabriel is knocked out by them; when he recovers, he finds himself outside the town of Couiza, where a station porter helps him to a hotel in the nearby village of Rennes-le-Château.
The next morning, Gabriel calls James to report his location, but is confused when he is asked to investigate until James' men can take over. Following the call, he learns that a treasure hunting group arrived at the hotel the same time he did, whose members include: Madeline Buthane, the tour's leader; Vittorio Buccheilli, an Italian tourist; John Wilkes, an Australian treasure hunter; Emilio Baza, a Middle Eastern tourist; and Frank Mosely, Gabriel's police detective friend from New Orleans. During a search of the region, he discovers the kidnapping has a connection with a treasure hidden near to Rennes-le-Château, linked with the Knights Templar and the Holy Grail. After James' men arrive with Grace, Gabriel tails them, witnessing the men interrogate local priest Abbe Arnaud, and greeting historical writer Larry Sinclair with a Masonic handshake. Both Gabriel and Grace decide to continue the investigation, aided by Frank.
The next day, while Gabriel searches the rooms of the tour group - discovering Buthane and Vittorio to be concealing secrets about themselves - Grace joins the tour to learn more about the hidden treasure in the region. After a visit to a local winery, owned by Excelsior Montreaux, she and the group come across the bodies of James' men. Gabriel examines the crime scene with Frank, finding the victims were brutally murdered and drained of their blood; he deduces the killers were vampires. Gabriel informs James of what happened, before later confronting Larry about their visit; he later spies him setting his alarm clock for later that night. After questioning the group, Grace suggests to him to visit Montreaux, expressing suspicions his winery was deeply unsettling in its decor and setup. Posing as a journalist, Gabriel meets him, and notes his views on wine-making are strangely odd and creepy.
In the evening, Grace comes across an envelope containing a document known as Le Serpent Rouge, whose riddles, when solved, pinpoit the valley's treasure. Managing to solve some of its riddles, she is interrupted by Wilkes, who offers her dinner. Grace accepts, and discovers he found a hollow chamber under the valley through seismological surveys, but is forced to leave him when he makes a drunken pass at her. Later that night, Gabriel heads out into the valley, and witnesses Larry bury a manuscript which he recovers. After returning to the hotel, he experiences a nightmare about vampires, caushing him and Grace to sleep together. In the morning, Grace reveals the manuscript explains how Jesus Christ had descendants, and covers his bloodlines following his crucifixion. After Gabriel finds Wilkes had disappeared from the hotel that night, he finds his body near a local landmark, killed in the same fashion as James' men.
Grace continues her work on Le Serpent Rouge and discovers the riddle's answers conform to Wilkes' findings. After completing the riddles, she and Gabriel find the manuscript missing. Grace eventually recovers it after Prince James arrives in the village, whereupon she and Gabriel confront Frank, Buthane and Vittorio. Buthane is revealed to a French intelligence agent and Vittorio a priest from the Vatican, both of whom reveal they were investigating recent activity in the region; Frank admits to recently signing up with the CIA, who were investigating Freemason problems in France. Gabriel returns the manuscript to James, who is accompanied by his manservant Mesmi, and Larry. He confirms his family has a connection to Jesus, and is fearful that Charlie's lineage was the motive for his kidnapping. Gabriel later revisits Montreaux, and confirms him to be behind the kidnapping; he is forced to flee when his real identity is exposed.