Shivers

aka: Shivers: La Terreur Révèlera les Secrets des Ténêbres, Shivers: What Darkness Conceals, Terror Reveals
Moby ID: 663
Windows Specs
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Description official descriptions

Surviving a dare by your friends to spend the night in a haunted museum is how Shivers begins, but it soon turns into a challenge of capturing the evil Ixupi, ghosts of South American legend, in pots scattered throughout the museum.

The game is similar to Myst in many aspects in that it's an adventure game with a 1st-person slideshow-type presentation. Though unlike Myst, you have a life meter and the Ixupi can steal life from it if you aren't careful.

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Critics

Average score: 70% (based on 21 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.6 out of 5 (based on 48 ratings with 6 reviews)

Darkness, Terror, and Great Fun in "Shivers"

The Good
This is a fantastic videogame. "Shivers" is a "Myst"-clone that utilizes the same technology of using still images to traverse locations. It is there that "Shivers" ceases to be a "Myst"-clone. Dropping the beautiful and ephemeral locations for a haunted museum, "Shivers" is a fun trek into a creepy and abandoned museum; it is up to you the player to find the right tools to capture the malign spirits. The puzzles, for the most part, and fun and entertaining - but the most fun is all that is in-between the puzzles. Simply walking around the museum, listening to the ambient noises and music, reveling in the lavish production design and chosen color palette is sheer joy.

The Bad
The puzzles are not logic-based like "Myst", at times they can feel just dropped in for the purpose of pacing and increasing the difficulty. Other than that, no complaints.

The Bottom Line
"Shivers" was released in 1995 right on the heels of the mega-popular "Myst". At that time, Sierra Studios, (the developer/publisher), had a slew of hits, including the "Aces" series and the burgeoning "Gabriel Knight" series. Sierra crafted a special adventure in "Shivers" that was a departure from the ephemeral atmosphere of "Myst". Much darker and macabre, like "Gabriel Knight" ,"Shivers" dropped the player in a Haunted Museum of the "Strange and Unusual". And that is where the game succeeds the most: the museum. For fans of classic scary movies like Universal's "Dracula" and "Frankenstein", this game will surely satisfy. The production design, music, and direction are clearly well thought-out and superbly executed; you'll wish you could actually walk through the museum. It is these elements that will make this title continue to be popular for years to come.

Windows · by D P (129) · 2005

One of the hardest games I’ve ever played. But, well worth it!

The Good
If you are expecting another Sierra whimsical fantasy, you’ll be totally surprised with Shivers. It is not played in 3rd person, but rather in 1st – another change for Sierra. This is a mystery that takes place in an old museum, complete with ghosts and all the atmosphere that goes with them. As you find books and other clues, the story unfolds gradually and ends with a punch.

There are numerous floors and rooms to explore in the museum. Hidden passages and secret rooms make it even more interesting. The scenery itself is beautifully done and the interface is easy to learn. The game will give you shivers at times, too. It is imaginatively spooky and suspenseful and this is reflected in the musical score, which is wonderful, and in the rich, realistic graphics.

I especially loved the “flashback” feature. You can review the cut scene movies as often as you like. Sometimes that’s the only way to find a clue you may have forgotten.

The puzzles are really creative and challenging. Rather than conversation or inventory based puzzles, you’ll need to use your skills in math, logic and common sense to solve the ones in this game. Some may even disturb your sleep!

Each time you begin a new game the locations of the illusive Ixupi spirits change. This means that even a walkthrough may not help you with your game. The game itself takes quite awhile to finish and you’ll be taking plenty of notes. (I filled up 2 legal pads with my notes and drawings!)

The Bad
You are only able to carry around one object at a time – a pot or a lid to catch an Ixupi. This means that you must remember where you hid the matching pot (or lid). Of course, this lengthened the game playing time, which is a good thing rather than bad.

The Bottom Line
If you have been looking for a great interactive puzzle game, you’ve found it! Shivers is one of the best, and hardest, games I’ve ever played. But it’s more than just puzzles. The story will keep you interested up until the very end. You’ll feel a great sense of satisfaction when you’re done.

Windows 3.x · by Jeanne (75956) · 2005

This game is so divine, it sends shivers down my spine

The Good
The 7th Guest was an adventure game released in the early Nineties. Considered one of the first games to take advantage of the CD-ROM medium, it combined puzzle-solving with full-motion video, a formula that made it a success. Not only did it prompted a sequel, but it also caused other companies to capitalize on its success. Shivers shares the same game mechanics, but it is a bit easy on the FMV.

Four friends have challenged you to spend a night at a museum founded by Hubert Windlenot, a professor who was a big fan of archeology. There were rumors that two high school students ventured inside 15 years ago and never returned, and that Windlenot was responsible. The opening movie focuses on the player being locked inside the museum gate while your friends give you the rundown. A mysterious voice is soon heard telling the player to get out, reminding me of the “Bad Dream House” segment in the very first Simpsons Halloween special. Then your friends drive off, leaving you to find a way into the museum. (Hint: It's not through the front door.)

As you start to venture inside, you hear Windlenot's ghost telling you that it has been taken over by the Ixupi, evil entities that drained his life essence, and possibly, the life essence of the two missing students. Your only hope is to capture the Ixupi within vessels, the two parts which are scattered throughout the museum. Only then will you prevent further destruction.

Windlenot's museum is just like any other one in real life, with multiple floors, elevators, and surveillance cameras in certain exhibits. There are even buttons near the doorways that tell you about each exhibit. This led to me believing that I was actually walking through a real museum.

The object of Shivers is to explore every inch of the museum while finding the two pieces of each vessel. Then once you have the completed vessel, you must examine its bottom half to work out what the symbol on it represents, according to a book you find in the library. It is up to the player to associate the symbol with a certain object to find out where the correct Ixupi would be. Once it has been captured, the vessel gets stored in one of the ten slots above your life essence, displayed at the bottom of the screen.

If you encounter an Ixupi before you manage to complete a vessel, or use the incorrect vessel on one, your life essence gets drained and you have to try again. There are puzzles in most of the exhibits that need to be solved in order to access other parts of the museum, or to discover more parts to a vessel. Each puzzle can be solved more than once, and this is even encouraged in fact considering that you get bonus points for doing so.

One of the most useful features is called “Flashback”, in the game's control panel. Not only does it allow you to review the game's cut-scenes, but re-read books without the need to go back to the library or another area to access them. In addition, closed captioning is provided for dialogue if turned on here. This is useful to me as much of the dialogue goes in one ear and out the other. It is the first for any interactive movie Sierra made, but it's a shame that the company decided that this would be a one-off.

The graphics are pre-rendered, in the same vein as Phantasmagoria, another of Sierra's interactive movies released in the same year. All the objects in each of the museum's exhibits are real, the backgrounds are not, and the only animations that are present in the game are one of the Ixupi draining your life essence. I always enjoying see one of the vessels being carted away if you use it on the wrong Ixupi.

The music ranges from traditional to pop and rock styles, but there are some pieces that have a dark tone to them. The music really blends in with whatever exhibit you are in. If you are in the shaman exhibit, for instance, you hear the sound of repeating drums and several chanting. It is brilliantly composed. The way that you can tell if an Ixupi is in one of the exhibits is also neat. It's always the same tune, but with different instruments depending on what exhibit you're in. As for the sound effects, most of them were taken from a CD and then edited for enrichment.

The game is non-linear, meaning that you can tackle each puzzle in any order you like, as well as collecting each vessel at the time of your own choosing, with each part of the vessel placed randomly each game. Completing Shivers gives you the opportunity to explore the museum on your own, without the threat of the Ixupi lurking nearby.

The Bad
The only think I didn't like about Shivers is the fact that you are only allowed to store one item in your inventory, forcing you to memorize the whereabouts of each vessel. The final Ixupi is triggered when you dealt with nine Ixupis, but it is easy to go around in circles finding the last vessel before that event occurs. I had a lot of trouble completing the vessel that resembles wood, but it wasn't until I read a walkthrough that made my job a lot easier.

The Bottom Line
Shivers was released in the mid-Nineties, when video game companies like Sierra decided to create games that combined FMV and puzzle solving. Your objective is walk around a museum, collect vessels, and use these vessels to deal with the enemy within. The graphics are great, the sound is great, and the game itself is packed with atmosphere. You can even play the game in any way you like. If you enjoy light horror games where all you do is explore, then you could give this game a try.

Windows · by Katakis | ă‚«ă‚żă‚­ă‚ą (43092) · 2017

[ View all 6 player reviews ]

Trivia

The random play factor of this game was influenced by Mixed-Up Mother Goose Deluxe, according to Marcia Bales, the game designer.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Benjamin Tucker.

Windows added by Dragom. Macintosh added by Scaryfun.

Additional contributors: Jeanne, jean-louis, Zeppin.

Game added January 3, 2000. Last modified February 8, 2024.