7 Days a Skeptic

aka: 7 Days a Skeptic: History runs in Cycles
Moby ID: 14228
Windows Specs
Special Edition

Description

7 Days a Skeptic takes place 400 years after 5 Days a Stranger.

You play as Dr. Jonathan Somerset, a psychiatrist on a spaceship. One day, a strange artifact is found floating outside the ship's doors. When the crew brings it in, it appears to be a coffin with the remains of John DeFoe, which somehow floated out into deep space. At first the crew believes it's nothing, and leaves it lying around. But during the night, the ship's captain goes missing. And even stranger, the box is open, and nothing is inside.

7 Days contains fewer puzzles and more action elements than its predecessor, and is also made with the AGS engine.

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Screenshots

Promos

Credits (Linux version)

13 People (7 developers, 6 thanks)

Artwork
Programming
Dialog
Story
Characterization
AGS Engine by
Sound effects taken mostly from
  • Half-Life
Playtesting by
Thanks to
  • All the playtesters - for their time and criticism
  • Valve - for not knowing about this
  • Philip J. Reed (for living the dream and keeping the faith)
  • The AGS forum regulars - for not working out my false identity
  • The Brothers Redcloud - for the usual stuff
  • Bruce Campbell (for inspiring a generation)

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 81% (based on 6 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 35 ratings with 6 reviews)

In Space No One Can Hear You Scream!

The Good
7 Days A Skeptic the sequel to 5 Days A Stranger revolves around the crew of the spaceship Mephistopheles nearly 4 hundred years in the future from the first ones events and begins when the crew finds an object floating in space and decide to bring it aboard but when they inspect it, it appears to be nothing so they leave it alone but when the captain disappears and along with him the rest of the crew leaving your character Dr. Jonathan Somerset to find out what is behind all this madness.

7 Days A Skeptic is a horror adventure game just like the original but this time around the play mechanics are slightly different this time in order to use an object by clicking on it then choosing the desired action to use with it for example to open a door you would right click on the door and choose the hand icon, the puzzles remained about the same using the item on an object to get further along.

The graphics are about the same as the originals so there’s not much to talk about with it the music is now an original score not just taken from RPG Maker and still holds well with the horror theme and the sound effects are pretty much the same as in the original.

The Bad
Even Though this game takes place over more days than the original 7 instead of 5 this game is the same length as 5 Days A Stranger thus meaning the game is only like 45 minutes to complete which some will definitely be disappointed by and one thing I must stress is how stupid I thought the ending was it’s not even because its downer because horror shouldn't have happy endings but it’s just stupid.

The Bottom Line
All That Said this game is a quality sequel to 5 Days A Stranger and anyone who enjoyed that should enjoy this one plus once again its free! Special Edition $5.

Windows · by Classic Nigel (108) · 2007

Just like a cheesy horror movie sequel

The Good
The first game, 5 Days a Stranger, was very good. So I wanted to complete the saga it's sequel, 7 Days a Skeptic. However while 5 was mostly story driven, 7 is mostly action driven. The graphics are very nice here, and the what plot there is is pretty well thought out.

The Bad
I don't really like the control system, but that more an issue with AGS than with this game. Also, the fact that there was really no story given in this game makes it feel like you are actually in a horror movie sequel that just exists to make money. This game even parodies the movie series Halloween at least twice. There are also two days in which you have to spend the whole (very short) day running away from The Welder. The Welder is also never named, which is too bad as all horror movie legends deserve a name.

The Bottom Line
A decent follow-up effort to 5 Days a Stranger. If you're interested in this game, I strongly suggest you play 5 Days first, and then 7 Days as it will give you a much better understanding of the backstory. And if you only have enough HD space for one of these games, chose 5 Days.

Windows · by CubbyKatz (83) · 2005

Big on atmosphere, short on gameplay

The Good
Continuing in the vein of its predecessor 5 Days a Stranger, Skeptic transposes the slasher flick vibe to a sequel -- IN SPAAAACCEEE. I'm not sure why it was necessary to pick up the same storyline 400 years in the future, but it makes for a really cool Alien-esque setting. Except instead of an Alien it's an aptly malicious and scary space-Jason.

Even (or especially) in the adventure gaming heyday of the early- to mid-90s, there were very few decent horror/suspense games, so it's cool that the designer made an effort to right these past oversights. The ship is a fun setting, and the sparse music combined with ambient sound effects, particularly the use of bipedal pitter-patter, adds immensely to the creep factor. Throw on top of that an inexplicable murder mystery wherein everyone, including the main character, is suspect.

The tension and suspense is really palpable, and the puzzle design is remarkably logical for an adventure game. Every problem has a sensible solution, a relieving change from most fanmade retro games which feature puzzles designed by level 5 sudoku masters who spent too much time playing King's Quest 6.

The Bad
Obviously a retro-style amateur game should be held to different standards than a pro-game. It's free, so that said, there's only so much to complain about but...

..for starters, it's short. Maybe too short. As a side effect of logical puzzles, you can work through the game in pretty short order. There are no alternate solutions, so you're following a very linear path. The limited scope of gameplay means you're essentially playing a movie, but it's in 16-bit and you could be watching Alien instead.

The explorable areas on the space ship are pretty limited and the prop-ish rec room could have done with some functionality for at least the illusion of more open-ended gameplay.

I understand the limited scoring was done for dramatic effect, but honestly a bit more music would have really added to certain segments.

The story itself is a little want for detail. Flashbacks, hallucinations and dreams all add to the atmosphere, but they don't really explain what's going on. The gruesome revelation toward the climax is more for shock value than exposition, and it still leaves tons of loose ends. The Twilight Zone hook at the end is kind of baffling and cheap.

The Bottom Line
It's free, it's fun and it's short. You can't go wrong if you're an adventure gaming fan and you're not expecting a masterpiece of the genre. If you like slasher flicks and suspense games, 7 Days is your man.

Windows · by jTrippy (58) · 2010

[ View all 6 player reviews ]

Trivia

Hidden scene

There's an easter egg in 7 Days a Sceptic, in the form of a lost scene. To see it, play through the game to the end on a date close to my heart (or at least with your Windows clock changed to that day).

References: Chzo Mythos

  • Dr. William's last name is Taylor, and he has very blond hair. He is a descendant of Simone Taylor from the first game.
  • Parallels with 5 Days A Stranger: the first (full) day ends with the discovery of a corpse, and the hero is at one point accused of the murders and imprisoned.
  • On Friday, the captain's console will tell you that the Captain's birthday was on Monday, that he is 55, and that today's date is the 1st of August 2385. Monday was four days ago, so his birthday is the 28th of July. Fifty-five years ago would be 2330. So, the captain's birthdate is 28-07-30.

References

  • The imagery wherein the Welder's hands appear on the side of the box, ready to haul him out, is a reference to the classic Japanese horror film The Ring, as is the way the camera cuts away before anything else happens.
  • At the end of day 4, William says "Don't you think we can refer to 'it' as 'him'?". This is a line from Halloween.
  • The bit where William has lost his eyes is a reference to Event Horizon, a film in which a spaceship is taken over by an evil force, possesses a doctor and influences him into pulling his own eyes out.
  • While on EVA, the only sound you hear is your own breathing. The same thing occurs during EVA scenes in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Soundtrack

The music playing at the beginning of the game is called One Man's Dream.

Additional information contributed by CubbyKatz

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Zack Green.

Additional contributors: Indra was here, CubbyKatz, formercontrib, Solid Flamingo, Patrick Bregger, Tien Thuy Le Nguyen.

Game added July 29, 2004. Last modified December 5, 2023.