70
MobyRank
100 point score based on reviews from various critics.
3.6
MobyScore
5 point score based on user ratings.

Description

The 7th Guest is a puzzle-adventure game which takes place inside an abandoned mansion. Venture into the 22 rooms of the spooky mansion, solve over 20 mind-bending puzzles to unravel a tale of revenge and horror that took place in the 1930s.

The owner of the mansion was Henry Stauf, a famous maker of children's toys. Once a homeless drifter and thief, influenced by a vision in a dream, Henry invented a wondrous doll, so incredibly life-like that it sold like wildfire. Stauf's toys became popular overnight bringing fame and fortune and changing his rags to riches. But things took a tragic turn when owners of the doll became infected with a fierce and deadly virus. None of those children recovered.

After this turn of events Stauf secluded himself inside his estate, stopped making his toys and never came into contact with the outside world for a long time. Something very strange happened when six people receive an invitation to a party at the mansion. By solving the riddles inside Stauf's "fun house", you'll delve into the past to learn what happened to them, and the mysterious 7th guest, on that fateful night.

The game is played in first person perspective with a point-and-click interface featuring horror-themed animated cursors (skeletons, bulging-eye skulls etc.). It is one of the first games to be released on the then-new CD-Rom media. The graphics are fully rendered in SVGA, and real actors and actresses bring the story to life during numerous full-motion video cut scenes. The visuals are accompanied by an original, orchestrated musical score.

To finish the game, you must solve the puzzles in Stauf's manor; each solved puzzle will unlock new rooms or new movie sequences to watch. The puzzles are quite varied; there's the classic "eight queens puzzle", another puzzle where you need to compose a sentence by rearranging letters, and others. If you get stuck, you can visit the library; a book within will give you hints on the puzzle. If the hints aren't enough, the puzzle will solve itself automatically once you consult the book enough times.

Some later, limited releases of the game came with a separate video that included a "behind the scenes" look at the making of the game and interviews with the developers.

Alternate Titles

  • "האורח השביעי" -- Hebrew spelling
  • "T7G" -- Abbreviated title
  • "Guest" -- Working title
  • "7th Guest for Windows 95, The" -- Windows re-release title

Part of the Following Groups


Merchant Title Platform Price  
Amazon
The 7th Guest DOS $3.35  
ebay.com
The 7th Guest    
Not an American user?

User Reviews

Technologically groundbreaking, but mentally frustrating. Trixter Bronze Star Contributing Member (8860) 3.6 Stars3.6 Stars3.6 Stars3.6 Stars3.6 Stars
Are you serious? Joakim Kihlman (267) 1 Stars1 Stars1 Stars1 Stars1 Stars
Creepingly eerie... and worth a look... Chris Martin Bronze Star Contributing Member (1115) unrated
One of the most memorable experiences of my life. Tomer Gabel Bronze Star Contributing Member (4466) 4.6 Stars4.6 Stars4.6 Stars4.6 Stars4.6 Stars
One bat! Hahahahahaha! Ashley Pomeroy (227) unrated
Mr Stauf and company. Scott Monster Bronze Star Contributing Member (868) 4.2 Stars4.2 Stars4.2 Stars4.2 Stars4.2 Stars
The extreme sales of this make me reel back in horror. emerging_lurker (181) unrated

The Press Says

Adventure Advocate Oct 04, 2005 5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars 100
Just Games Retro Jun 28, 2006 83 out of 100 83
Adventure Lantern Jul, 2006 77 out of 100 77
Just Adventure Aug 08, 2003 B 75
Power Play Jul, 1993 70 out of 100 70
PC Player (Germany) Jun, 1993 62 out of 100 62
Adventure Gamers Mar 13, 2003 3 Stars3 Stars3 Stars3 Stars3 Stars 60
Datormagazin Jul, 1993 3 out of 5 60
Adventure Classic Gaming Sep 25, 1997 2 out of 5 40

Forums

Topic # Posts Last Post
A site to follow to get this game running on Vista 1 ALAKA (14176)
May 29, 2009
Error Unknown Asset Type - when playing the game 3 Miss Golightly
Nov 18, 2007
HELP!!! 13 Foxhack (11152)
Sep 19, 2007

Trivia

Limited versions of The 7th Guest were bundled with a 13 minute video titled "The Making Of The Seventh Guest", which included interviews with the founders of Trilobyte and supporting developers/writers/directors. The 7th Guest was so ahead of its time that, during the closing credits, one of the sound designers predicts that "in months, we will see an explosion of CDROM technology that may change the way games are distributed--all games will come this way." How right he was (although it took about two years, not a couple of months).


This entry was contributed by Corn Popper (66156), Trixter Bronze Star Contributing Member (8860), Terok Nor (10803) and Jeanne Bronze Star Contributing Member (60846)
 

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