"Old man Stauf built a house and filled it with his toys. They were all boring..."

The 7th Guest is an Adventure game developed by Trilobyte. I have very fond memories of this game. Along with Myst and the Monkey Island games this was my favorite adventure game of my childhood. However once I've completed it I've never touched it again. After so many years I install it, I start playing and once again get captivated by its immense atmosphere… unfortunately it was then that I remembered that this was the only reason I loved the game when I was younger…

Story: 7.5/10
Presentation: 6.5/10

The 7th Guest is a dark Faustian ghost story that takes place in the mansion of Stauf, (Stauf = anagrammatism of Faust), a dark place where strange phenomena take place. You arrive there without knowing why and don't really remember who you are. Upon entering the place you see some people that look like ghosts entering the mansion like you, but they look as if they aren't ghosts but past events! These are the 6 guests who were lured here by Stauf with the objective of solving the puzzles of the mansion, with the winner being given whatever is in his\her heart. But who is the 7th guest and what is his role in this dark tale. You need to start searching around, solve puzzles and witness even more events from the past to unravel the mystery of the Mansion, Stauf, the 7th Guest and of course… yourself!

My feelings about the plot of the game are mixed. The story of the game is full of mystery… even when you've managed to finish the game you'll be left with a big question mark over your head. The actors playing the guests are quite bad in my opinion. They overact and look quite ridiculous reminding me of the opening movie of Resident Evil. Even the developers of Myst who were also the in-game actors were much better than these people over here. Also, the script doesn't improve things at all. I won't say more in fear of spoiling it… just bear in mind that while the game looks promising in terms of plot the presentation could be much, much better…

Gameplay: 6.4/10
Replay Value: 0/10

7th Guest is all about puzzles. The house is full of them and its not actually hard finding them, so don't expect searching around the place for clues or anything. Like I've said it's all about the puzzles… but since the game is all about them shouldn't they be good? Unfortunately they aren't. Some are extremely easy and some, (most of them), are extremely hard and not only hard but very long too, meaning that even when you DO know what you have to do it will take you a long time doing it. In some puzzles, (mostly chess-based ones), the animated pieces of the puzzle move so slow that you will almost commit suicide from anger. Navigating through the mansion is also very slow and boring but fortunately you won't really have to walk around a lot. Once you find a puzzle it is you and it, you don't need to search around for help or anything.

Graphics: 9/10
Design: 8/10

The game takes place in a strange, dark mansion, full of various rooms, strange objects that move or change on their own and ghosts flying around. We also have real actors that play the “guests” that in my opinion aren't exactly the best a developer could find, in fact the developers of Myst did all the acting for their game and did a better job even though they weren't professionals. Now, you won't be able to realize that but the graphics of T7G along with Myst where top notch back then. In fact both sold like crazy even to people that didn't know what the games where all about, just because they saw a couple of screenshots. You view everything in first person's perspective and like Myst in T7G we have pre-rendered 3D images that look quite good and ooze with atmosphere due to the excellent lighting and overall design of the mansion. In Myst the transition between areas was done instantly something that didn't look so good because it resembled a slideshow. In T7G the transition shows the whole movement from place to place something that while looks better is so damn slow that navigating in the game can become quite boring.

Sound: 6.8/10
Music: 7/10

The sound of The 7th Guest contributes greatly to the overall spookiness of the game, with strange “poltergeist” music tunes that in certain areas of the game can make you feel quite spooked along with various sounds like screams and stuff. There is only one problem and that has to do with the voice acting. Its not bad, its not good, just average but it has a very low volume thus it can barely be heard when music plays in the background. I had this problem back when I was a kid and I have the same problem again so I don't thing that it is my PC's fault.

[+]:
-Good for people that like very hard, mind boggling puzzles
-Very good graphics that give a nice “spooky” atmosphere to the game

[-]:
-A bit too hard and boring puzzles
-The plot could have a better presentation
-Bad actors
-Speech's volume should be higher

Also Play:
Dark Fall (PC)
Myst \ Riven (Series)(PC & Various Platforms)
The Neverhood (PC)

Overall: 6.4/10

All in all, while the atmosphere is very good, as a game 7th Guest doesn't have what it takes for me. The puzzles are annoying, not only because of their extreme difficulty and the plot is full of big holes. I recommend Riven or any other Myst game for a much better puzzle-solving Adventure game.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 07/19/10

Game Release: The 7th Guest (US, 1993)