The 7th Guest (PC Games, 1997)

Hello readers,

The purchase of this game came about at least one year of drilling my memory, what was that interactive puzzle PC game I played back in 1994? Once I finally realized that I could just type "Vintage PC games" in the ebaY search engine, well, I was in instant nerd heaven.

The 7th Guest did not fail my reinvested interest once installed, but brought back challenging frustration I had long forgot. You (7th guest) go into various rooms in this haunted house and solve puzzles which once solved gains you access to additional rooms previuosly locked.

I have appreciation for the PC games of the past primarily because they are easier to play, the pace is comforting, casual, unlike the fast role playing games of today. Moderate concetration is a must for The 7th Guest, no killing arch rivals, no blowing up ships, tanks, buildings. Just puzzles, and an ocassional video from the past guests.

I have never finished this game, even today. I do although have a treasured pastime I can now visit like an old freind lost in time.

The game does have some issues installing and being played on today's operating systems. The game was designed to run in DOS mode, unlike Windows 2003/2000/XP games of present. Don't be threatened by this for you can download off of the internet, patch files, installers, and .exe programs to make this possible.

Enjoy the games of the 80's, 90's. They seem so innocent, like the times of yesteryear.

Rod

Any fans of puzzles, murder, mysteries, and horror will absolutely love this classic from both Virgin Games (Interactive) and Trilobyte Inc. The game involves 8 Primary Characters. The main protagonist and villain of the game is Henry Stauf: a poor beggar that comes across different visions that make people happy. Many of them are either puzzle toys or dolls that everyone including children love. However, soon afterwords, some of the children start to die from a strange illness.

The last vision that Stauf sees is a Mansion filled with strange things in the building. Now enters the other main characters of the game. The first 6 guests are invited to stay at Stauf's mansion for one night. To sweeten the deal, he also offers that those who come and is the first to solve Stauf's ultimate puzzle will be given a special reward. In order to solve it though, it will require them to to terrible things to the 7th and final guest. Some of the six guests are shocked and disgusted with what they must do, while the other guests just imagine the prize that awaits them at the finish line. The one who wins will literally have their heart's deepest dream come true. The guests include a elegant woman named Martine Burden, a married couple named Edward and Elinore Knox, an elderly woman named Julia Heine, a suave young man named Brian Dutton, and a parlor magician name Hamilton Temple.

You are playing the game as the 7th guest, or rather, the "ego" of the 7th guest while searching different rooms and solving puzzles as you progress throughout the mansion. All the puzzles in the game rank from simple child's play to incredibly hard. The good thing though is that in one of the rooms is a magic book that helps you solve the puzzle. The 1st time you read it about a puzzle, it gives basic rules on how to solve it. The 2nd time you read it, it gives you a big clue on what strategy to use to solve it. If even after all that it becomes just too hard to solve, you can always read the book a 3rd time and it will automatically solve it for you.

I like this game plan because if you want to test your brain teaser skills, you can try to solve them. Yet at the same time, you can skip a couple of hard puzzles and still be able to beat the game, so that way it makes the game playable to anyone. Now, I already have this game for the PC, and yet, I didn't already have it. Allow me to explain. When this game originally came out in 1993, it was made for the PC by loading it in MS-DOS format. Many computers nowadays don't run any games via MS-DOS, so for a game like "The 7th Guest" to be remade in 1997 for the Windows '95, it is now possible to play classic games like this even now.

I will admit this game does have its drawbacks. The game is in 3D surroundings which isn't so bad, but it does display characters using the FMV (Full-motion Video) method, so just be prepared to see some pretty cheesy acting here. Actually, Robert Hirschboeck (Henry Stauf) didn't do that bad of an acting job, but other than that though, I see nothing wrong with this game. If you remember playing this game long ago and wish to experience the nostalgia memories again, or if you've never heard of this game and wish to check it out, I say that this game is definitely a buy. It's a rare treat indeed to see games like this available anywhere else, so whether it be here at Ebay or anywhere else, don't miss your opportunity to play a rare gem of PC gaming history.