GodisaGeek.com : Gray Matter Review

When Jane Jensen’s first solo title, Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, was released in 1993, adventure gaming was riding a wave of huge success. PC Gaming was built around adventure games and the biggest selling and most acclaimed games were still from that genre. Each new release from Sierra, the publisher of Gabriel Knight, was hugely anticipated. Built around a strong grounding, both in historical fact and folklore, the game was an instant hit among more mature gamers.

Fast forward to 1999 and the release of Gabriel Knight: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned (the third installment in the series) was met with a much more unfavourable response. Adventure games were expensive to produce, took a long time to develop and were now declining in popularity. They were no longer the powerhouse of computer gaming that they once were. This third title met with critical success, and fans of the series lapped it up, but poor sales were the final nail in the coffin for Gabriel, and in turn, his creator. Sierra let go the majority of their staff who worked on adventure games and so ended an era for the company.

But what of the present day? For a game that has been in development on and off since 2003, Gray Matter has largely flown under the radar of most video game fans. Jane Jensen has been working on an entirely new character and story for the modern adventure gamer. After nine long years, Gray Matter has finally emerged as the latest offering from a master of the genre. But has the genre, or moreso gaming in general, passed her by?