The 7th Guest

The 7th Guest
by Trilobyte Games

Series links: The 7th Guest, The 11th Hour

Available at:
DotEmu
GOG
Steam (games bundled together HERE)


 
Henry Stauf was a master toymaker and his eerie mansion was the greatest of his creations. It stands empty, abandoned years ago, rotting ever since the children started dying, ever since the six guests were here. Now, you are in the house, moving from one room to another, trying to remember and trying to forget. The mansion of horror comes to life again and only you can end the nightmare and learn the secret of the 7th  guest.

The 7th Guest is a horror adventure described as “the first Interactive Drama”, with plentiful pre-rendered 3D graphics, live action video clips, and an original, orchestrated musical score. Even though it was one of the first games on a CD, it broke the record of 2 million copies sold in 1993, and was considered an epoch-making achievement of the gaming industry. To this day the FMV sequences and 3D graphics look amazing, the atmosphere (orchestrated music!) is dense, the puzzles remain difficult and the experience as a whole is completely horrifying. Discover for yourself why this game caused CD-ROM drives’ sales to grow by 300%, unless you’re afraid to find out who the 7th guest really is.

• Groundbreaking use of full-motion video and dialogue recorded by live actors in a terrifyingly real virtual environment.
  
• Old Man Stauf's bizarre puzzles to solve and games to play.
  
• 22 Stunningly rendered, devilishly surprising, 3-D rooms await you in this fully explorable haunted mansion.
  
• 2 CDs of extensive gameplay with an original musical score.
  
• GameBoomers Walkthrough
  

I broke down & bought both 7th Guest & 11th hour.  I'm not quite ready to start them but did take a peek at 7th Guest.  It is as strange as I remembered.  As I go along I will post my reactions here.  First, I am running Win 7, 64 and it downloaded & started fine.  I have a widescreen monitor & the screen filled horizontally, but did not fill vertically.  However, that really didn't bother me.  I might try changing the resolution.  The graphics were pretty good considering the age of the game.  Certainly not the glossy graphics we have come to expect.  But, again that didn't bother me.

The introduction was long and I didn't see anyway to skip, but I really didn't want to.  Upon entering the mansion I discovered the skeleton hand that leads you on the way.  Right away, I was sent back to the first time I played.  The first puzzle I found was to cut the cake into equal pieces, however there are no real instructions so I will have to give it some thought.  I think that is part of the charm of the game - you have to figure things out as you go along.  I think there is a walkthrough on gamezebo.  I'm sure I will be looking for it. 

I'm looking forward to this trip down memory lane.

There's a walkthrough link right under the images in the first post.

I'm looking forward to reading your impressions!  I've never played it, so no spoilers, please!  I have both games on disk, but I've never played them

Thanks Genki, I found the walkthrough, which I will no doubt need.  I got through the first puzzle & starting to seriously play now.

I just wanted to say that I haven't found any skip for the dialogue nor for the puzzles.  However, since this is primarily a puzzle game that probably isn't surprising.  Some people may find 7th Guest dated, but I find the simplicity, coupled with puzzles that make me think, a refreshing change of pace.

I've been meaning to try it since forever ago... It's only because the Dark & Eerie friends want to do a group play-through of Scratches that I'm finally going to play THAT!

Oh no, not Scratches!   Without a doubt it was the best scary games ever made.  I played it with my grown children (in a dark room).  About half way though my son (who had been watching through his fingers) jumped up & said "I've had enough.  I'm going home."  We kidded him and called him a wimp.  As he went out the door he yelled back, "I may be a wimp, but at least I'll be alive, come morning!"  Be prepared to sleep with the light on.

I'm over half way thorough 7th Guest & have a few additional thoughts.  I liked the spooky music, but there is no option to change the volume in the game.  There is no 'jump' map, but there is a map in the main menu.  It helps give an idea of the layout of the mansion but not terribly helpful.  Of course, there is no inventory, HO's, or great storyline.  Still, I have enjoyed the game, but realize that it is only for a hardcore puzzle fan. 

If you played it originally, I would think you might still enjoy it.  I'm not so sure that it would appeal to those too young to remember what gaming originally was.  I understand why it was given either one star or five in the review forums.  There is no middle ground about the game.

I have truly enjoyed it, but would be cautious about recommending it.

I forgot to add that there is no automatic save, so if you are playing for the first time remember to save your game from the main menu which can be found by taking the cursor to the top of the page & click when it becomes a pyramid.