In case you need to be caught up on Trilobyte's classic, the 7th Guest was a flagship interactive movie/puzzle point and click game released in 1993; on April 1st of all days. The PC was in its new age infancy, and this pre-Myst title was probably the highest profile game to summarize the direction PC gaming was going. Puzzles, story, cut scenes, exploration, atmosphere; this was the game that did it all first.
And best.
Now that's a bold claim that I'm going to need to support, after all you can take any of those aforementioned variables and find a game that did it better (i.e. with fewer flaws). Maybe even one that managed to check off all five bullet points, Zork: Nemesis comes to mind as a viable contender. But The 7th Guest had an X-factor that made it something truly special. Immersion.
That concept gets thrown around a lot in describing games and it's about as reliable an adjective as words like funny, smart, or scary. It's purely subjective. If you're a game designer, you can confidently say you had puzzles that you poured a lot of effort into trying to find the right balance of fun/difficulty, or you devoted several layers to hammering out a coherent story, and so on through those tangible elements. But immersion describes the player's emotional experience, and no game designer can control that. And the fact that 26 and a half years later people are still talking about The 7th Guest leads me to conclude that this game did it best. I didn't come away from it feeling I'd played a game. I felt like I'd been to the Stauf Mansion.
I'd like to revisit it now, hence the title of the blog. I know my skill as a writer is nowhere in the realm of where it would need to be to take you with me, but I do hope it's enough to intrigue you. If you've never played the series, I encourage you to check it out in whatever capacity you have available. I understand there's ways to play the original games, although they're beyond the scope of my dying Chromebook. There are websites and Youtube playthroughs that can at least give you a taste of the journey. And for those of you who are already veterans of the mansion (probably why you're here in the first place), my goal is to make you love the series even more than you already do.
So let's dive into what's sort of a review but mostly a celebration of the house that Stauf built.
The Mansion
First off, has anyone else noticed the layout of the Stauf Mansion is very similar to the home of the Simpsons? If they ever decide to do a Treehouse of Horror segment that lasts the whole episode, this is the one to go with.
The history of Gothic fiction has given us countless great haunted mansions, including the Gracey Manor, Disney's theme park superstar; the one that earned the 'The' in front of 'Haunted Mansion'. But almost all of them create a mood of 'Keep Out' foreboding. The Gracey Manor, with its rich history of story arcs that don't quite intersect, is one of the few to give off a vibe of 'Please, come in'. Stauf's Mansion is carved from this template, but takes it up a notch. Gracey Manor doesn't mind you exploring it. Stauf's Mansion wants you to. In fact it DARES you.
That's the beauty of incorporating the puzzles into the narrative. You wonder how anyone is ever dumb enough to make a deal with the devil, the Stauf Mansion answers that question. It caters to your intelligence. It makes you think you can beat it. Each puzzle unlocks a new mystery, giving you the sense that you're winning. Stauf's voice mocks you (repeatedly) for failing to solve a puzzle, granting a catharsis when you finally do. You bought the game yourself, of course you're going to keep playing it. If this were a real pact with the devil, you would need him to dangle motivators of greed or lust in front of you, you'd fold to intellectual temptation. There. You've just learned something awful about yourself. You're welcome.
I'm going to talk more about the acting as we go through the games individually, but as the central figure of Henry Stauf, actor Robert Hirschboeck is a freaking rock star. It's perplexing to me why his acting career is so limited; you'd think at the very least sci-fi television would be throwing work at him. Hirschboeck is that horror movie host who would out-scenery chew the Muppets. You can see the whole history of horror throughout his performance as Stauf; from the silent film menace of Nosferatu to the soft spoken sadism of the Saw series, with every over the top evil-is-hammy moment in between. If Stauf ever manages to fulfill his end of whatever deal he's made with the underworld, you get the impression he'll keep working for free. He's having that much fun.
The 7th Guest
Now I'm not really going to spend much time addressing individual puzzles because that's really the adventure you have to go on yourself. But suffice to say, these are always a mixed bag. I hear people complain about the cake puzzle the most, which I've never understood what was so difficult about it. 'Solve the Soup Cans' is an official trope, and The 7th Guest named it as such. "Shyly, spryly tryst, wait what?" This was also the first, and to date only, time I've seen the word 'ruddy' used in a sentence. And the less said about the microscope puzzle the better, in fact just pretend I didn't type this sentence.
But really we're here for the iconic cast of characters who manage to not be knock offs of Clue. They're all already successful members of the upper class (assuming Hamilton Temple is a magician people actually hire) and yet they all want more. In a couple of cases the motives aren't entirely unsympathetic; Elinor Knox just wants to start over with her husband Edward after their fortune ran dry. And Hamilton Temple is understandably drawn to the prospect of (let's say it together) "Rrrrrreal magic". The other four are purely self-interested. Edward is actively cheating on his wife right in front of her with young aspiring actress Martine Burden, who has the best last name of the bunch. And then there's corporate climber and Brent Spiner understudy Brian Dutton who has no poker face when it comes to reading letters, and Julia Heine who seems forgettable at first but becomes one of the most engaging characters down the road.
Blue-screen acting is hard. It's easy to knock the performers around for the bits that come off as silly, but it's not a fair assessment of their talents. Often they're having to overreact to nothing, and I'm sure their direction amounted more to hitting marks and holding poses than to figuring out how to make the performances seem natural. And for that, it's pretty impressive that they're all as into it as they are.
That's one of the charms of the series. If this were a film, those moments could break the quality; but here they somehow make the game all the more endearing. This is community theater acting, or the type you might see at Halloween Horror Nights. A friend and coworker of mine once shared the most insightful truth about acting with me. He said that acting isn't about convincing an audience that you're that character. It's convincing the audience that you've convinced yourself that you're that character. These performers are acting the hell out of their roles in a completely unfamiliar medium, and I give them all the credit for what they accomplished with what they were given.
Like the Haunted Mansion, the Stauf Mansion erupts with fanfic fuel by how much...stuff there is. Talking paintings, ectoplasmic soup, a physically impossible layout, a secret passage down a bathroom sink drain; there's a whole lot of window dressing in this place that serves no purpose other than it takes you further into the lore of the place. The fact that the main plot is told through non-chronological fragments that may or may not line up adds to the overall impact. It's fascinating to watch the narrative unfold as the guests start killing each other for an ambiguous reward they're never going to get (Oh Julia, you nutty flapper). And dear God, Elinor! I don't know what she ever did to deserve that fate, but suddenly the donkey from Pinocchio who still knew his name seems to have drawn the long straw.
The 11th Hour
This whole game takes a beating from the fan base that I think is undeserved. Some of the criticism is fair; there are way too many games you have to play against Stauf that require dumb luck to win, and the piano puzzle is the stuff of walkthrough-proof legend. But I honestly didn't have a problem with the fetch quests. There's a lot of detail throughout the mansion and you can't really get players to appreciate it without making them explore. Yeah, pre-Gamefaqs.com this was a frustration but it's not as big a deal as people are making it.
Gameplay-wise it's more of the same, which is exactly what you want from a 7th Guest sequel. But the changes in the approach to story-telling has people divided, and to be fair I get it. There were dangling plot threads from the first game for which I'd love to have gotten resolution. How exactly did Martine die? When was the 'now' that the events were happening? And of course, who was the woman in white?
Did I forget to mention her? Much like the enigmatic attic bride of Gracey Manor, the woman in white appeared out of nowhere with no explanation on the second floor, and once in the crypt maze. For the longest time I thought she was Martine, but that doesn't seem to be the case. At any rate, her sudden lunge towards the camera is one of the eeriest and most paranoia inducing moments in the game. Alas, her role will go unanswered for now.
What we have instead is the assembly of a short film starring quite an attractive cast that may have been rescued from a soap opera that never got past the pilot. Stauf is back, in all of his more-is-more glory, and I can't help but find the differing acting styles riveting. Carl Denning, Robin Morales, and the townsfolk are performing for television, while Hirschboeck and a few cameos are still projecting from the stage. You'd think this would create a disjointed clash, but I think it works surprisingly well. There's a fine line when actors have to play characters who just can't believe the situation they're in; it gets dangerously close to the actor losing their character. Fortunately the cast stays on the side of credibility, with Carl playing a round of Let's Make a Deal as the apex.
So, plot. Honestly a lot more going on than you'd expect. A string of disappearances in the town where Stauf's mansion sits, a relationship drama between television journalists, a lackey lawyer, a severed hand, and two women who were raped by the house eighteen years prior resulting in the birth of a demon offspring. This is actually a well written X-Files episode that never feels too overstuffed. And Samantha, the other victim, manages to be the strongest-willed character in the series; from the confines of a wheelchair no less.
This game added a level of substance that The 7th Guest missed out on. Stauf is hammy, but he also has layers. He has quick but noticeable moments of vulnerability when he realizes how easily his plans can be unraveled. Edward Knox pops up in one scene, affably resigned to helplessness, which is more development than he got in the whole first game. Previously unsympathetic Martine has a heartbreaking moment where she can't quite wrap her head around the fact that she's dead.
And Julia. Like Stauf, she seems much happier as a victim to the house than she was alive. In The 7th Guest we were left thinking she'd won the game but dispatched for being useless. Here we get an aftermath; she's become a valuable member of the house. In her one scene she seems to have become Stauf's partner in crime, delighted at being able to murder the lackey lawyer. Maybe he granted her wish after all.
All in all I think this game is underrated. Yeah, you can't top the raw inspiration of the original, but the story matured with The 11th Hour and expanded the mythology of Stauf and company. I can't imagine playing The 7th Guest and not continuing on to the sequel, it just feels wrong to leave unfinished, if completion is really an option. But, we still have one more stop to go.
Although before we skip ahead two and a half decades I want to mention the character of Marie, the demon offspring of the Stauf Mansion played by the late Michelle Gaudreau. I keep saying demon, but let me stress it wasn't through a makeup job, it was pure performance from Gaudreau. She looked venomous. Every line and reaction from her seethed with contempt, for no reason other than it's who and what she was. That character had grounds for a spin-off, and it's a real shame we'll never see one.
The 13th Doll
So full disclosure, I don't have Steam access. I'm not sure how long it's going to be before I get my hands on the new game, but I've been watching its development carefully. And ever since the release date I've been scavenging playthrough videos on Youtube to see how the game stacks up.
The fact that The 13th Doll exists at all is a testament to how beloved the original games were. The tagline for the title is "A Fan Game of The 7th Guest", and I certainly appreciate the humility Attic Door Productions has on display, but as a long time fan I can confidently accept The 13th Doll as a solid installment that stands alongside its predecessors without a need for any qualifier. This was a labor of love, and you can see it in every carefully reconstructed nook and cranny of the recreated mansion.
I can't personally speak to the puzzles as I skip over those segments, but they look true to form and I've read nothing but praise for their design. As a narrative, it's closer to The 7th Guest than The 11th Hour with a few creative tweaks, such as a dual-sided story with only one happy ending (as best as I can tell). Special kudos to the creators who were wise to avoid making too different. The Stauf Mansion has always been about giving the player just enough information to keep you engaged but not to the point of explaining everything. The 13th Doll does a wonderful job of building on the mythology without smothering it. The only questions that get answered are the ones that allow the story to blossom, the rest are left to your own untangling.
Now I have to be fair about this, the same issues that plagued blue-screen acting back in the nineties still exist today. Often the actors have to deliver performances with their feet anchored to their marks in a way that comes off as unnatural. This probably can't be helped, but unfortunately it tends to lead reviewers to the conclusion that the acting is bad. And its not. The actors are very good; better than you might realize. As I said before, this kind of acting is hard to do, and I believe every one of them accomplished something they should be proud of.
Risking spoilers ahead: Tad is back. He's been in a mental institution (and not a very good one) ever since his tussle with the house as a child. The ward thinks he's insane, but of course we all know better. Hunter Menken plays the role not as someone broken and defeated, but as someone broken and angry. It's a smart choice, as it gives Tad the kind of heroic determination that we've only previously seen from Samantha in The 11th Hour.
Joining Tad for his kill-joyride is Dr. Richmond, played by Mathias Blake. It wouldn't be a 7th Guest story without watching someone fall to Stauf's corruption. But interestingly, Richmond starts at a place of pure intentions, not the amorality of Carl and Robin. Blake plays him as a man unaware that he's turning to the dark side imbuing his journey with a douse of tragedy (well...maybe).
Rounding out the triumvirate is the long awaited return of the woman in white, played by Julia-Kaye Rohlf. I can't say too much, but her role in the game is as important as Tad's, Richmond's, or even Stauf's, and I'm grateful to the production team for giving her more of a presence than simply answering the question of who she is/was. For each mystery resolved with her character another arises, and not in a way that's unwelcomed. In the end The 13th Doll does something impressive, it concludes the series without necessarily concluding the series. And it's satisfying either way.
The End, or Is It?
By the definition of a ghost story, you can't keep the dead down. The Stauf Mansion has lots of ghosts and even more stories, so it's quite possible we haven't had those front doors slam behind us for the last time. After all, there's plenty of numbers left (The 18th Birthday, The 39th Step, 101 Damnations); when you're in the underworld there's no place to go but up.
In 1993, Trilobyte created something more than a computer game. They created a journey; one that people were, and are, willing to take over and over, no matter how many times they've assembled the phrase "There is no possible way". As fans, we love the journey. We cherish the precious moments to face the power behind the monster behind the man behind the mansion. We care. And a team of game designers known as Attic Door Productions cared so much that they were willing to feed the house, resurrect Stauf, and grant us a whole new journey to love.
Books are meant to be read, films watched, music listened to, games played; I think at best any creator just hopes their work will be correctly experienced for what it is. But once in a while a work becomes loved, and then it transcends itself into something special. I believe the Stauf Mansion has achieved this, and that may very well be the "Rrrrrreal magic" we were promised.
Thank you Trilobyte. And thank you Attic Door Productions.
The 11th Hour
This whole game takes a beating from the fan base that I think is undeserved. Some of the criticism is fair; there are way too many games you have to play against Stauf that require dumb luck to win, and the piano puzzle is the stuff of walkthrough-proof legend. But I honestly didn't have a problem with the fetch quests. There's a lot of detail throughout the mansion and you can't really get players to appreciate it without making them explore. Yeah, pre-Gamefaqs.com this was a frustration but it's not as big a deal as people are making it.
Gameplay-wise it's more of the same, which is exactly what you want from a 7th Guest sequel. But the changes in the approach to story-telling has people divided, and to be fair I get it. There were dangling plot threads from the first game for which I'd love to have gotten resolution. How exactly did Martine die? When was the 'now' that the events were happening? And of course, who was the woman in white?
Did I forget to mention her? Much like the enigmatic attic bride of Gracey Manor, the woman in white appeared out of nowhere with no explanation on the second floor, and once in the crypt maze. For the longest time I thought she was Martine, but that doesn't seem to be the case. At any rate, her sudden lunge towards the camera is one of the eeriest and most paranoia inducing moments in the game. Alas, her role will go unanswered for now.
What we have instead is the assembly of a short film starring quite an attractive cast that may have been rescued from a soap opera that never got past the pilot. Stauf is back, in all of his more-is-more glory, and I can't help but find the differing acting styles riveting. Carl Denning, Robin Morales, and the townsfolk are performing for television, while Hirschboeck and a few cameos are still projecting from the stage. You'd think this would create a disjointed clash, but I think it works surprisingly well. There's a fine line when actors have to play characters who just can't believe the situation they're in; it gets dangerously close to the actor losing their character. Fortunately the cast stays on the side of credibility, with Carl playing a round of Let's Make a Deal as the apex.
So, plot. Honestly a lot more going on than you'd expect. A string of disappearances in the town where Stauf's mansion sits, a relationship drama between television journalists, a lackey lawyer, a severed hand, and two women who were raped by the house eighteen years prior resulting in the birth of a demon offspring. This is actually a well written X-Files episode that never feels too overstuffed. And Samantha, the other victim, manages to be the strongest-willed character in the series; from the confines of a wheelchair no less.
This game added a level of substance that The 7th Guest missed out on. Stauf is hammy, but he also has layers. He has quick but noticeable moments of vulnerability when he realizes how easily his plans can be unraveled. Edward Knox pops up in one scene, affably resigned to helplessness, which is more development than he got in the whole first game. Previously unsympathetic Martine has a heartbreaking moment where she can't quite wrap her head around the fact that she's dead.
And Julia. Like Stauf, she seems much happier as a victim to the house than she was alive. In The 7th Guest we were left thinking she'd won the game but dispatched for being useless. Here we get an aftermath; she's become a valuable member of the house. In her one scene she seems to have become Stauf's partner in crime, delighted at being able to murder the lackey lawyer. Maybe he granted her wish after all.
All in all I think this game is underrated. Yeah, you can't top the raw inspiration of the original, but the story matured with The 11th Hour and expanded the mythology of Stauf and company. I can't imagine playing The 7th Guest and not continuing on to the sequel, it just feels wrong to leave unfinished, if completion is really an option. But, we still have one more stop to go.
Although before we skip ahead two and a half decades I want to mention the character of Marie, the demon offspring of the Stauf Mansion played by the late Michelle Gaudreau. I keep saying demon, but let me stress it wasn't through a makeup job, it was pure performance from Gaudreau. She looked venomous. Every line and reaction from her seethed with contempt, for no reason other than it's who and what she was. That character had grounds for a spin-off, and it's a real shame we'll never see one.
The 13th Doll
So full disclosure, I don't have Steam access. I'm not sure how long it's going to be before I get my hands on the new game, but I've been watching its development carefully. And ever since the release date I've been scavenging playthrough videos on Youtube to see how the game stacks up.
The fact that The 13th Doll exists at all is a testament to how beloved the original games were. The tagline for the title is "A Fan Game of The 7th Guest", and I certainly appreciate the humility Attic Door Productions has on display, but as a long time fan I can confidently accept The 13th Doll as a solid installment that stands alongside its predecessors without a need for any qualifier. This was a labor of love, and you can see it in every carefully reconstructed nook and cranny of the recreated mansion.
I can't personally speak to the puzzles as I skip over those segments, but they look true to form and I've read nothing but praise for their design. As a narrative, it's closer to The 7th Guest than The 11th Hour with a few creative tweaks, such as a dual-sided story with only one happy ending (as best as I can tell). Special kudos to the creators who were wise to avoid making too different. The Stauf Mansion has always been about giving the player just enough information to keep you engaged but not to the point of explaining everything. The 13th Doll does a wonderful job of building on the mythology without smothering it. The only questions that get answered are the ones that allow the story to blossom, the rest are left to your own untangling.
Now I have to be fair about this, the same issues that plagued blue-screen acting back in the nineties still exist today. Often the actors have to deliver performances with their feet anchored to their marks in a way that comes off as unnatural. This probably can't be helped, but unfortunately it tends to lead reviewers to the conclusion that the acting is bad. And its not. The actors are very good; better than you might realize. As I said before, this kind of acting is hard to do, and I believe every one of them accomplished something they should be proud of.
Risking spoilers ahead: Tad is back. He's been in a mental institution (and not a very good one) ever since his tussle with the house as a child. The ward thinks he's insane, but of course we all know better. Hunter Menken plays the role not as someone broken and defeated, but as someone broken and angry. It's a smart choice, as it gives Tad the kind of heroic determination that we've only previously seen from Samantha in The 11th Hour.
Joining Tad for his kill-joyride is Dr. Richmond, played by Mathias Blake. It wouldn't be a 7th Guest story without watching someone fall to Stauf's corruption. But interestingly, Richmond starts at a place of pure intentions, not the amorality of Carl and Robin. Blake plays him as a man unaware that he's turning to the dark side imbuing his journey with a douse of tragedy (well...maybe).
Rounding out the triumvirate is the long awaited return of the woman in white, played by Julia-Kaye Rohlf. I can't say too much, but her role in the game is as important as Tad's, Richmond's, or even Stauf's, and I'm grateful to the production team for giving her more of a presence than simply answering the question of who she is/was. For each mystery resolved with her character another arises, and not in a way that's unwelcomed. In the end The 13th Doll does something impressive, it concludes the series without necessarily concluding the series. And it's satisfying either way.
The End, or Is It?
By the definition of a ghost story, you can't keep the dead down. The Stauf Mansion has lots of ghosts and even more stories, so it's quite possible we haven't had those front doors slam behind us for the last time. After all, there's plenty of numbers left (The 18th Birthday, The 39th Step, 101 Damnations); when you're in the underworld there's no place to go but up.
In 1993, Trilobyte created something more than a computer game. They created a journey; one that people were, and are, willing to take over and over, no matter how many times they've assembled the phrase "There is no possible way". As fans, we love the journey. We cherish the precious moments to face the power behind the monster behind the man behind the mansion. We care. And a team of game designers known as Attic Door Productions cared so much that they were willing to feed the house, resurrect Stauf, and grant us a whole new journey to love.
Books are meant to be read, films watched, music listened to, games played; I think at best any creator just hopes their work will be correctly experienced for what it is. But once in a while a work becomes loved, and then it transcends itself into something special. I believe the Stauf Mansion has achieved this, and that may very well be the "Rrrrrreal magic" we were promised.
Thank you Trilobyte. And thank you Attic Door Productions.
