The first game in the series was released on September 30, 1996, published by Virgin Interactive Entertainment world wide. George Stobbart is an American tourist on holiday in Paris in the autumn. The story opens with Georges quiet coffee at a café rudely interrupted by the explosion of a bomb planted by a man dressed up as a clown. He sets off investigating the explosion and, gradually, he and photo-journalist Nico Collard are drawn into a globe-trotting adventure involving conspiracies, cults and murder, all revolving around the Knights Templar.

The game, which was a critical and commercial success, was released as Circle of Blood in the United States.

Ports of the game were released on the Sony PlayStation, Nintendo Game Boy Advance and DS, Palm OS and Windows Mobile.