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Release: The 7th Guest

Feel invited to stay … forever.

One of the first games to be released on a CD-ROM drive moves into GOG.com with a shocking 20% release discount. The 7th Guest is only $7.99 for the next 48 hours.

Shaking with trepidation, you step into the old abandoned house. Who are you, where are you, what is your purpose, and who is the mysterious 7th guest? The place you unwillingly inspect was created by an insane toymaker Henry Stauf and it’s the magnum opus of his twisted puzzle-making. Can you survive the twenty-two rooms? The twenty-two challenges? The twenty-two tales of terror?

The 7th Guest, developed almost 20 years ago by the recently-revived Trilobyte Games, is an FMV horror adventure game with bizarre riddles, tense atmosphere, and the omnipresent menace of the evil Henry Stauf--who was definitely nightmare fuel for many young gamers in the 90's. The game hailed by Bill Gates as "the new standard in interactive entertainment" was way ahead of its time with live actors, 3D environment, orchestrated score, and 679 MB of content in an era of 1.44 MB floppies (you’d only need 471!). The 7th Guest sold more than two million copies and is considered by many to be THE game that pushed gamers to make the switch from square disks to round ones. Today, it’s not only a piece of history, but a dark, creepy, smart point-and-click chiller with entertainment value that has not corroded like the old Stauf’s mansion.

The 7th Guest, masterpiece of gothic adventure horror, is available on GOG.com a full price of $9.99, but it’s only $7.99 for the next 48 hours.



Old Man Stauf built a house
And filled it with his toys.
Six guests all came at night
Their screams the only noise.
No one knows what happened next
There’s no one left to say.
But if you should see Old Man Stauf
Get on your knees and pray.
Children’s rhyme
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General discussion Release: The 7th Guest (78 posts) (78 posts)
(78 posts)
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Posted February 10, 2012
59
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Omega-Xi: The truth is every time I play this game on PC I always end up disappointed because it doesn't hold a candle to the CDi version.
I played the game on both CDi and PC and didn't see any real difference except that the video quality on the CDi was a tad smoother but the negatives (that darn track ball, having to use it on your TV, it being a lot costlier on CD-i) were just too big a deal for it to be superior. So I'm curious why you'd feel the CDi version was so much better.
Posted February 10, 2012
60
Bought it yesterday and played it for about an hour and I have to say I'm very happy with how well this game has held up. I mean the game is almost 20 years old but it doesn't feel archaic and more importantly it plays wonderfully and is just as much fun as I remember. I can't wait to go back and match wits with Henry Stauf again today.
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kalirion: I tried playing the game a few years back, and got completely stumped by the "spell out a sentence with the cans" puzzle.
The cans puzzle stumped me back in the day too, and sure enough it's got me stumped again now. No googling for me though, I WILL figure it out by myself.
Post edited February 10, 2012 by sirdilznik
Posted February 10, 2012
61
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sirdilznik: The cans puzzle stumped me back in the day too, and sure enough it's got me stumped again now. No googling for me though, I WILL figure it out by myself.
The cans were evil. Almost every other puzzle in the game, I could complete as a 15 year old with a limited English vocabulary and on top of that, it wasn't really clear what you had to do! Because you only had Ys, I wasn't even sure you had to make words. Even 15+ years later now, I still wonder what idiot came up with that puzzle :p It was just extremely unfair to use words such as "tryst" and "spryly" which are barely ever used if ever in casual language.
Post edited February 10, 2012 by Red_Avatar
Posted February 10, 2012
62
Epic release.
Posted February 10, 2012
63
I actually have a copy of this game somewhere in my point & click game collection but never played it before. Apart from it being quite hard as I can see from a few posts in this thread is this game quite good worth a try if you like these type of games?
Posted February 10, 2012
64
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Balious: I actually have a copy of this game somewhere in my point & click game collection but never played it before. Apart from it being quite hard as I can see from a few posts in this thread is this game quite good worth a try if you like these type of games?
It's not actually hard except for the can puzzle and that puzzle was only hard because it was so obscure and unfair because it relied on your knowledge of English rather than smarts. It's an enjoyable game that should last you a good evening. Me and my brother stayed up until 4am playing it to the end so it goes to show how fun it was.
Posted February 10, 2012
65
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Balious: I actually have a copy of this game somewhere in my point & click game collection but never played it before. Apart from it being quite hard as I can see from a few posts in this thread is this game quite good worth a try if you like these type of games?
I wouldn't really call it a "point and click" game, though that is the only mechanic. It's not like a traditional Adventure game where you examine things and pick up objects to use or combine with other objects. At its core it is a puzzle game. Each puzzle/game will give you another video clip of the occurrences of the fateful night of the party. So if you love logic puzzles you will love this.

Plus the music is awesome. I still listen to it fairly regularly, especially around Halloween.
Posted February 10, 2012
66
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delboy2k10: 1 of the first CD ROM games I had, still remember 2 sequencies very well - the trip from the bottom of the stairs to the top (as it was very fluid and was a WOW factor back then)
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Anamon: Definitely one of the "great moments of gaming". You know, those things that you don't forget and just become iconic over the years, like Half-Life's intro train ride, or jumping down the cable car hill in Crazy Taxi :D

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delboy2k10: Other than that it was bloody hard if I remember correctly.
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Anamon: There are some real brain-teasers. Fortunately though, if you really can't solve a puzzle there's a book in the library that first gives you hints, then offers to solve the puzzle for you. I don't think I would have been able to complete the game as a 10-year-old with a limited understanding of English if I couldn't have used the book on some of the harder puzzles.

It's definitely closer to Myst than Phantasmagoria, meaning it's not really a traditional adventure/interactive movie with real-life FMW, but more like an atmospheric game of exploration and collection of logic puzzles, with the video sequences as rewards. That being said the atmosphere and music are top-notch and something to behold even today; few games in the past 20 years have managed to be so moody and creepy.


Edit: I see the bonuses include a making-of video—I remember the US copy of the game came with a VHS cassette that was missing in the EU release. Does anyone know whether by any chance it's that video?
I'm going to guess it is the same video. I was on a kick of watching playthroughs of old games on YouTube a while back and around Halloween when I re-found the music for T7G I searched for a T7G playthrough and did find a making of video in there. When I watched a bit of it I remembered it so I must have the VHS somewhere.

When buying my first CD drive with sound card bundle for my 486sx (in the days when this wasn't standard), this was one of the games bundled with one of them. That was the bundle I bought. Never regretted it. Loved it. So creepy. Note: You may want to get some old school graph paper to figure out where you have and haven't been in the underground catacombs.
Posted February 10, 2012
67
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Red_Avatar: The cans were evil. Almost every other puzzle in the game, I could complete as a 15 year old with a limited English vocabulary and on top of that, it wasn't really clear what you had to do! Because you only had Ys, I wasn't even sure you had to make words. Even 15+ years later now, I still wonder what idiot came up with that puzzle :p It was just extremely unfair to use words such as "tryst" and "spryly" which are barely ever used if ever in casual language.
About the same here, although it has the funny side-effect that once you do know the solution, it's very hard to forget. My last playthrough of the game was probably about 8 years ago and I still cannot get that darned silly sentence out of my head!
Posted February 10, 2012
68
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Red_Avatar: It's not actually hard except for the can puzzle and that puzzle was only hard because it was so obscure and unfair because it relied on your knowledge of English rather than smarts. It's an enjoyable game that should last you a good evening. Me and my brother stayed up until 4am playing it to the end so it goes to show how fun it was.
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RickFalletta: I wouldn't really call it a "point and click" game, though that is the only mechanic. It's not like a traditional Adventure game where you examine things and pick up objects to use or combine with other objects. At its core it is a puzzle game. Each puzzle/game will give you another video clip of the occurrences of the fateful night of the party. So if you love logic puzzles you will love this.

Plus the music is awesome. I still listen to it fairly regularly, especially around Halloween.
Thanks guys I be sure to give the game a try :) what other games would you recommend that are like this one if I do enjoy it?
Posted February 10, 2012
69
http://open.spotify.com/album/12sbFlI9In6LFDQnxdnZ6F

For everyone who has access to Spotify, this is the soundtrack. The song The Game is really brilliant. Mr Death too but that's from 11th Hour. I've been listening to the full soundtrack all day :p.
Posted February 10, 2012
70
I have to agree with a few others above that $7.99 is just too high a price. I already own this on CD-Rom (although finding it may prove as difficult as some of the puzzles in the game); but even if I didn't, this is a 20 year old title and I can't imagine why it would be priced above $5.00. One thing I love about Good Old Games (besides the games that are old and good), is the pricing. This one -- at least for me and a few above me -- is priced beyond its worth. When it jumps to $9.99? Well ... that's just crazy talk. It's the same price GOG's charging for the much newer, much more critically acclaimed, Witcher.
Posted February 11, 2012
71
Well, I last played this on the 3DO (yes, I'm that old) and never finished it. Puzzle games aren't my preference, but it was an interesting game in its day and I'm tempted to give it another go. I agree that 4.99 would be more reasonable as this game has been sold to death over the years. Not exactly rare. But GOG can charge whatever they wish and I'm sure the price is based partly on what those owning the rights want.
Posted February 11, 2012
72
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thebream: I'm wondering about that Microscope Puzzle. I played this last year and that puzzle was impossible to beat. Looking on the net for help, it was mentioned that performance of the AI was linked to CPU speed.

*snip*

The microscope puzzle is, quite literally, unbeatable. The only way to beat it if playing the game on a modern computer is to deliberately (and drastically) slow your clockspeed."

Has this been fixed?
The last time I played this, back in like 1999 or so, that was the only puzzle I couldn't solve. I never understood why no matter what I did I would lose, until I read about that clockspeed stuff. The game was never intended to be played on more powerful computer, and as a result I never did beat that puzzle.

Also, I've heard numerous times that if you use the book to solve puzzles it changes the ending, so I've again never see the game finishing without using the book on that puzzle.

And then yes the price. I'd love to buy the game again, but not when it's that high. I mean, I paid like $10 for it at the store new with the case and everything. It's hardly a long game by any stretch unless the puzzles hang you up a lot. I'd say make this one 5 dollars, and make 11th Guest the 10 dollar on. Reason being that I recall 11th Guest having multiple discs and being more involved/longer.

..then again, I never beat 11th Guest cause I had developed computer problems at the time and the game got lost.
Posted February 11, 2012
73
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GOG.com: The 7th Guest is only $7.99 for the next 48 hours.
Will the 11th Hour be on sale for $11.99 before returning to its full price of $9.99?
Posted February 11, 2012
74
I remember playing this game at my cousin's house.
Posted February 12, 2012
75
just bought It, I wish game nowadays could be as creepy as this
Posted February 12, 2012
76
I just replayed my own personal copy of the game. Took me a while to find a fix for the sound being so low (you have to pick Soundblaster in setup and not SB Pro) but then I played for a good 3-4 hours.

The game has one big flaw, and that's unskippable animations of all sorts. Moving through the house, watching clips, puzzle animations, etc. If they had given you a key to skip, the game would have been a great deal more enjoyable. Right now, it's good fun but it can start to annoy when the animations are so long that they break your focus or concentration.
Posted February 15, 2012
77
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Entrena: just bought It, I wish game nowadays could be as creepy as this
Try Penumbra or Amnesia. Environmental horror may only be a niche, but it's still around. And still far and away the most effective, in my opinion. Amnesia's the only game I've ever played that can scare me away from playing on a regular basis.
Posted March 06, 2012
78
Holy shit! That game is creepy!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_These_Walls_Could_Talk_%28The_Outer_Limits%29
Reminds me of this Outer Limits 1995 episode.
Post edited March 06, 2012 by Protoss
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General discussion Release: The 7th Guest (78 posts) (78 posts)
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