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.

Groups +

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)

Like a chewed bubble gum with almost no flavor.

The Good
Let's start with the good. I though the music and the sound effects, although scarce, were kind of nice and well put, I particularly liked the intro piano music a lot and the sudden stabbing sound effects. We have characters that are distinctive and with situations that resemble the first game. And... well, I admit I was hooked and wanted to beat it quickly. I'd add some points for the gore too.

The Bad
This game is cheesy and dumb. First of all, if you compare the title with the prequel's you might think this game should be like longer and more elaborated than the first, but despite that the game takes as much time as the other to be completed, if not less. A reason for this is that as a sequel it's more action driven while the first was more story driven. The little story the game has is impaled with logic gaps that are just dumb, and also the dialogue is generic and lacking in wit and humour unlike the more earthly driven prequel. And same with the first one we have a very limited environment with wasted possibilities of interaction. The crappy interface make the game look even more anemic due to its limitations. The graphics and scenarios are poor.

And the whole idea of making a space sequel of "5 Days a Stranger"... it might sound like it can be something original if you have faith in the wits of the creator (I had for a while), but what it came up really feels like a stretched bubble gum with almost no flavor.

The Bottom Line
This is a sequel to the unbelievably acclaimed amateurish mini horror adventure game, "5 Days a Stranger". Not bad for a free award winning AGS game, but not good enough for the reputation it got. But still better than this, which has to be one of the most forced and unnecessary sequels of an amateurish award winning game ever.

Windows · by Czar Husk Qi (27) · 2007

A Solid Enough Effort From An Amateur Developer

The Good
I'll be the first to admit that I can't fathom the faulting of amateur games, even mediocre ones. Especially in the adventure genre, where game designing tools for years have made it one of if not the easiest genre to create games in. Not quite foolproof, but much less prone to failure than games in other generations.

And if a game is given to you for free, created by a handful if not a singular person, and not created with the benefit of millions of dollars being poured into it... How can you complain about it if the game is even anything approaching decent?

And 7 Days a Skeptic, for what it is, is most definitely more than average.

A handful of appropriate MIDI tunes that set the mood, and the same goes for the sound effects, those few that there are in a game that only spans a few hours at most.

Some gruesome bits that a horror game like this benefits from.

Actual tension when being chased throughout the station. For a game that takes up a handful of MB at the most, that's remarkable in itself. Reminded me of Maniac Mansion to no end, being chased that is.

Diverse enough characters who act convincingly enough relative to their personalities.

The science fiction setting isn't without explanations of it's inner workings. Plants that can't grow in such an environment, no one needing more than two suits since the creation of material that dirt can't cling to, a Star Trek like food creator. It sets the stage, not letting you forget that you are a few hundred years in the future on a spaceship.

All in all the game isn't anything I didn't play over a decade over... And it's not going to change the landscape of professional or amateur gaming.

But it's a solid enough space adventure romp that'll make you think, invoke more than a few emotions, and keep you busy for a few hours. So why not?

Nice little twist there at the end too. Didn't see it coming.

The Bad
Hmm. The ship looks a little bland, and there's a lack of furnishing and general things around it. Could of used some more variety, more of the science fiction "fluff" that I mentioned above, to flesh it out.

The pitter patter of everyones feet gets a little annoying too, I guess. =)

Some puzzles are more than a little hard to piece together in your mind. And though they're not as aggravating as some adventure games, they did grate on my nerves at times.

Oh yeah, the developer didn't spell "artifact" correctly. Hehhee.

The Bottom Line
A solid enough entry into amateur adventure gaming. You could do far, far worse than playing this one for a few hours.

Kudos to the developer big time for creating a mythos and making his creation into a series. Very well done.

Windows · by Russell Brisson (5) · 2007

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

[ 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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  • MobyGames ID: 14228
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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.