When last we heard from bookstore owner-turned-Shadow Hunter Gabriel Knight, it was 1999 and he was struggling to come to terms with regret and sorrow at the end of Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned. That's what makes today's release of Jane Jensen's short story The Temptation so interesting: it's the first new addition to Gabriel Knight's legend since that dark day in France.
The Temptation takes place six months after Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned, with Gabriel working on a new case in Germany. But his focus is elsewhere: Specifically, on Grace Nakimura, his former partner and love interest, who left him at the end of GK3.
An excerpt:
"The tea went down the wrong way and Gabriel coughed, gasping for air. Christ, he was losing it. He d been getting these weird thoughts more and more the past few weeks. Maybe he needed to get out of Rittersberg, and not like to a place like Wolfach. He needed a city. Nightlight. Beautiful women who spoke English and didn t look at him like he was a stupid foreigner. Maybe even a short trip back to New Orleans and friends, for God s sake. He wouldn t mind seeing Mosely. Maybe he could try to figure out if Gracie was there."
The story also features the semi-return of a familiar figure from one of the previous Gabriel Knight games (sorry, no spoilers), and even though it's obviously a fan service and readers unfamiliar with the series will miss some of the references, it's an entertaining tale entirely in its own right. It also very obviously opens the door to new Gabriel Knight adventures; but while Jensen is writing new stories, she's not actually working on a new game.
"There's no official Gabriel Knight 4 being worked on, though Jane is hoping that the remake goes well and doing so becomes a possibility," a Pinkerton Road rep said. "She's had a few ideas for a GK4 over the years, so she's definitely interested in doing that if possible."
The Temptation is available now in PDF format at postudios.com. Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers 20th Anniversary Edition comes out on October 15.