The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery

Video Game
1995
M

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The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery (1995)

Werewolf Horror Adventure Drama Horror Mystery

Shortly after moving to Rittersburg to take over duties as the lone "Schattenjager", Gabriel Knight is called by the townsfolk to investigate the killing of a child believed to be caused by ... Read allShortly after moving to Rittersburg to take over duties as the lone "Schattenjager", Gabriel Knight is called by the townsfolk to investigate the killing of a child believed to be caused by a werewolf.Shortly after moving to Rittersburg to take over duties as the lone "Schattenjager", Gabriel Knight is called by the townsfolk to investigate the killing of a child believed to be caused by a werewolf.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.9/10

886

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

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Storyline

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Trivia
The game (like many American movies) uses phone numbers starting with 555 which are invalid in the US. However in Germany numbers starting with 555 do exist.

Goofs
When Gabriel asks his lawyer about the "Koeniglich Bayrische Hofjagdloge" his pronunciation is so bad that not even German native speakers could understand a single word of it. However Gabriel's lawyer does, although he admits he never heard that term before.

Quotes
Gabriel Knight: What do you think of the club philosophy?
Preiss: It works, doesn't it?
Gabriel Knight: Does it?
Preiss: We're all animals! Why deny it?
Gabriel Knight: So you don't believe in suppressing anything?
Preiss: Why would I want to suppress my urges? If your body wants something, it must be natural.
Gabriel Knight: Well what if you get the natural urge to rip someones throat out, shouldn't they suppress?
Preiss: Well, fortunatly my insticts are to pleasure, of the equally sticky, but less fatal kind.
Gabriel Knight: What about those whose instincts are fatal. Shouldn't they suppress?
Preiss: I believe that nature, handles that situation when it occurs, Herr Knight.
Gabriel Knight: How?
Preiss: In the wild when a member of society does not conform, he is hunted down and executed. End of mutant instinct, and its genetic bloodline.

Alternate versions
When the game was first released in Germany it was the un-dubbed and un-subtitled version which had a few scenes censored (for example, von Zell sitting in his cave and eating flesh from a human bone). The screen would go black and instead of being able to see what's happening you'd see a short message on the screen (in German) just describing the scene. When the game was later released in its localized German version it was uncensored.

Connections
Followed by Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned (1999)

User reviews22

Review

Featured review

9/10

Find this game. Play it.

"Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within" is not only the best computer game ever made, it's also one of my favorite horror movies. I guess you could say it's half-game, half-movie...although, in truth, it's so well-researched and cleverly written that it reminds me more of a novel. Who cares what it is? It's just awesome.

Like other games of its type, "The Beast Within" is very linear. If you're looking to wander freely through a huge 3D environment, wasting polygon creatures with a shotgun, you'll be disappointed. Your job in this game is basically to solve brain teasers and push the plot ahead to the next mini-movie segment. I suppose there is a passive aspect to the gameplay, and I do get frustrated when I can't solve a particularly obscure puzzle and my progress grinds to a halt. But the rich storyline and sharp dialogue - courtesy of Jane Jensen, clearly a talented writer - more than compensate for any shortcomings with the game's format.

The movie segments feature several strong actors, particularly Peter Lucas, who makes for a very suave villain indeed. The underrated Dean Erickson is extremely likable as Gabriel Knight; in fact, I prefer his interpretation of the character to the oily purrings of Tim Curry in the series' first and third games. Too bad he seems to be doing real estate deals these days! Oh, and come on, hands up - who else recognizes Clabe "Preiss" Hartley as the evil Caliban from Trancers 4 and 5? Oh...nobody? I guess it's just me, then.

I won't summarize the plot much; suffice to say, it involves German history, werewolves, and homo-erotic tendencies. When I played the game as a teenager, I was a little impatient with all the background information on Ludwig II, but when I replayed the game recently I found it all pretty fascinating.

It's a shame that this type of game - that is, the cerebral type - has all but died out over the years. Hopefully, at some point, the computer game industry will climb out of its rut and start taking an interest in good storytelling again.