Gabriel Knight Fans Seek to Bring Back the Series with Online Petition

We all know how frustrating it can be when our favorite game series doesn’t give us the sequels we desire. After all, Valve doesn’t seem to have the ability to make a game with the number “3” in the title. While not every property leaves us hanging narratively quite like the Half-Life games did, there is one that left fans on a huge cliffhanger. Gabriel Knight is a series of point-and-click adventure games that began in 1993 under Sierra Entertainment. It featured the vocal talent of legends like Tim Curry, Mark Hamill, and Leah Remini and has since garnered a massive cult following. Unfortunately, the last game, Gabriel Knight 3 (released in 1999) left the story with a massive, unresolved ending. Needless to say, fans want to see the story to its conclusion and are once again petitioning for that to happen.

What’s the Roadblock?

The author and creator of the first three games, Jane Jensen, lost the rights to the Gabriel Knight series when Sierra shut down and the copyright was sold to Vivendi Games. In 2008, Vivendi merged with Activision (now Activision-Blizzard), who now owns the property in its entirety. Jensen has been trying to regain the rights to the character for years with little success.

Her big break came in 2013, when she procured the rights to the original title. Thanks to a Kickstarter campaign that brought in close to half a million dollars, a remaster of Gabriel Knight was released in 2014. Although this pleased the fans a great deal, it more or less lit a fire under them for a desire to see the story continued/concluded. With that said, since Jensen had success acquiring the right seven years ago, it stands to reason that she can do it again. But she’ll need the support of everyone from the community to get the attention of those who can make it happen.

Gabriel Knight fans are pleading with Activision-Blizzard to bring back their beloved characters. They’re asking one of two things: create a fourth game in the franchise under the publisher’s name, or license the character to Jane herself so she can create the game on her own.

“Activision, please let us have a proper ending to the story of Gabriel, the way Jane Jensen originally planned it.”

But why has this series struck a chord with fans so well for more than twenty years now? I spoke with Toni-Pekka Kähärä, who started the petition, and this is what he had to say:

“Gabriel Knight has influenced many gamers on a personal level. The internet is full of fans showing their comparison pictures of game locations vs. the actual places where the games take place. Dozens of fans have even traveled to the small town of Rennes le Chateau, New Orleans and Bavaria, Germany.

While many have given up on the possibility of Gabriel Knight 4 happening, this petition has found support from the most unexpected places. Robert Holmes (Jane’s husband), Dave Gilbert, Cesar Bittar, and many others signed and shared the petition. They’ve even urged others to follow suit, which is very promising. It seems likely that there might finally be a realistic possibility of this game being made. But only if fans decide to come together one more time in support for the game to be made.”

Note from the Editor

Although I’ve never played a single game in the Gabriel Knight franchise, I’m fully in support of this happening for its fans. The tone of this petition is not one of demand or entitlement. It’s clear that the people who love these games would simply like to see this story concluded. Their hearts are in the right place, and I’d like nothing more than to see their dream come to fruition. For that reason, I’ve signed the petition myself and would encourage any fans of games to do the same. They just want the right people to see that there’s actually a demand for point-and-click adventures out there.

To learn more about the project, be sure to listen to Episode 48 of Adventure Games Podcast. The crew there interviewed one of the organizers of the petition, and the conversation gives some great insight on how the petition started. Also, don’t miss the the trailer for the campaign created by its organizers. You can see it below.