The 13th Doll: A Fan Game of The 7th Guest

[h1]“[i]They're Stauf's puzzles. Only he knows the rules.[/i]” ~Edward Knox[/h1] Sequels. People want them. Because obviously, when there's a good thing, it's hard not to want more. But sometimes? Sometimes, even despite countless people waiting for the new game, sequel development can find itself in some really weird place. Or just canceled. Not even sure the older audience will ever recover from the original [b]Fallout 3[/b] sharing that fate, but even without cancellation, there are many ways for sequel to disappoint. Sometimes those get into development hell (after which there's no guarantee for us not to end up with yet another [b]Duke Nukem Forever[/b]), sometimes publishers decide to “refresh” things and we end up with some unholy crap like [b]Earthworm Jim 3[/b] and [b]Broken Sword 3[/b], sometimes the owner is just crazy and prefer to focus on something else instead (hello, [b]Gaben[/b], you ol' dog!), and so on. There are countless of stories. Stories of sequels we wanted but never got. At least, not in the way we hoped. [b]The 7th Guest 3[/b]? Is one of such stories. And yes, there was supposed to be [b]The 7th Guest 3[/b]. It was supposed to be called [b]The Collector[/b] and take place in a museum. It wasn't the first attempt for a new game in the series, though. The first one was called [b]The 13th Soul[/b] and it was supposed to redefine the old formula by going 3D. OK, OK, I know what you think. Most of such attempts failed back in the days. From [b]Monkey Island[/b] to [b]Prince of Persia[/b] (anyone even remember [b]PoP 3D[/b] at this point?). Those were the dark times for old series. But still, some managed to avoid [b]Bubsy 3D[/b] curse. [b]Miller[/b] brothers' [b]realMYST[/b] (it's funny how close [b]MYST[/b] and [b]7th Guest[/b] are even today), a 3D remake of their original game, for example, was quite good. Unfortunately, we'll never know how good [b]The 13th Soul[/b], an [b]Unreal Engine[/b]-based project, would be since it was canceled in 1999 due to [b]Trilobyte[/b]'s financial difficulties, eviction and ultimately closure. [b]The Collector[/b], which was announced by [b]Rob Landeros[/b] (one of [b]The 7th Guest[/b] fathers) back in 2003 and was supposed to be much more orthodox, was canceled too. [b]Trilobyte[/b] didn't give up, though. After being brought back to life in 2010 (again, by [b]Rob Landeros[/b]), it grew some fat by bringing good ol' [b]7th Guest[/b] to mobiles and even releasing the infamous microscope mini-game from it as a stand-alone product (I always considered that as a trolling), they went to [b]Kickstarter[/b]. [b]The Collector[/b] got second chance and [i]man[/i], it looked good! With [b]Rob[/b] as a lead designer, it had [b]Robert Hirschboeck[/b] returning as [b]Henry Stauf[/b], [b]The Fat Man[/b] making new music, etc. In other words, it was like dreams finally coming true. Unfortunately, times changed and... Yeah. People were not ready to pay $435,000 for a puzzle adventure in 2013. [b]Trilobyte[/b] tried to go down to $65,000 but no, still didn't happen. [b]The Collector[/b] was no more. Surprisingly, soon after it was gone, another project emerged. It was this. [b]The 13th Doll[/b]. A fan project by people, pretty much all of which didn't have any experience in video games development whatsoever. They were fans, though. And while being officially approved, they only asked $40.000 (while going in debt, since, well, they were fans and they really wanted their game to happen). Surprisingly, [b]The 13th Doll[/b] managed to accumulate $60,000 and, well, here we are. Sure, we didn't get the VR version (they needed $5.000 more for that), but hey! We got our game. Also, [b]The 7th Guest VR[/b] is a thing now, but that's the story for another day. For now? Let's talk about [b]The 13th Soul[/b]. I mean, doll. First of all, yes. What we've got here is a proper [b]7th Guest[/b] experience and we [i]will[/i] get back to ol' man [b]Stauf[/b]'s spooky mansion. And no, I'm not crying, you're crying. I mean, [i]come on![/i] Simply seeing that mosaic door, that staircase again? It's priceless. And to make things even better? Despite all the troubles, [b]Robert Hirschboeck[/b]'s still back! [i]Yay![/i] Story-wise, though? I can't say I approve what's going on here. Did they mean good? Yes. If something, they've played it very smart. Aside from some half-hidden refs, [b]The 11th Hour[/b] got completely ignored, while story follows the events of [b]The 7th Guest[/b]. They even tried to explain things that were left unexplained by [b]Trilobyte[/b]. Remember that female ghost who didn't play any obvious role before? Well, she's a main dish now. And I kinda hate it. See, that's my problem with this game. Instead of focusing on the new stuff, devs butchered the original lore. Quite merciless too. Remember [b]Tad[/b]? Our dead boy [b]Tad[/b], whose soul was, well, us in the original game? The whole thing revolved around [b]Tad[/b] being dead and re-living his death in order to find the exit and “go to the light”. Right? Well, guess what? [b]Tad[/b]'s alive now. And is in a mental institution. Switching from ghosts to mental issues? Bad idea. If something, the story feels more like something from [b]Blackstone Chronicles[/b], not [b]The 7th Guest[/b] (the whole thing revolves around [b]Tad[/b] and his doctor, while we'll be able to play as both in order to see all the details). Thankfully, it's all about story. The actual atmosphere? Is rather brilliant, really. If something, re-visiting familiar places feels a lot like playing [b]realMYST[/b]. And yes, like in [b]realMYST[/b], we're free to walk as we please, while click-to-movie thing is no more. You may think it ruins the original feeling, but like in [b]realMYST[/b], somehow... it does not. [b]Attic Door Productions[/b] actually did their very best to preserve the authenticity. Heck, if you'll ask me, they freakin' overdid it. For example, they've added an option to prevent game from “multitasking”, forcing it to pause every time there's a speech element. Similar to what we had in the original game, which, I think, is an interesting touch. Unfortunately, they also made sure there's no animation skip option. And this, my friends, is a bull. I mean, authenticity aside, times changed and [b]Trilobyte[/b] themselves didn't add animation skip to their [b]The 11th Hour[/b] for nothing. Thankfully, there's a quick travels through map now, but puzzles? Puzzles can make you suffer because of that. Which is kinda sad, since puzzles themselves... are kinda brilliant. Not in a way you may think, though. If all you want is a good puzzle adventure? You, most likely, won't like this game. Most puzzles here are dull, they come with a slightly rough design that fails to explain the rules properly now and then (remember, only [b]Stauf[/b] knows the rules), etc. But the thing is – that's [i]exactly[/i] how we had puzzles in [b]The 7th Guest[/b]. In my opinion, that's the devs' biggest achievement. Aside from some puzzles having multiple “stages”, those feel 100% [b]7th Guest[/b]. So yeah. That's [b]The 13th Doll[/b] for you. Is it perfect? Well, no. Instead of being “the next big thing” for the series, it feels more like a tribute, while also bending the original lore (not the best combo), there's a slight [b]Kickstarter[/b] aftertaste (there are two useless collectibles sets now, one of which is a series of backers' names), while new audience will sure find puzzles being not good enough, acting quite cheesy and FMV elements weird and out of the place. Yet to [b]The 7th Guest[/b] fans? It's the entirely different case. Aside from an arguable story, [b]The 13th Doll[/b] is a great “from fans for fans” project. After losing all of our hope, we finally got a chance to get back to [b]Stauf[/b]'s mansion and meet [b]Robert Hirschboeck[/b] himself. You had some good memories with [b]The 7th Guest[/b] back in the days? Do yourself a favor and buy this game. Dixi.

A good sequel, a very good puzzle game and actually the most playable game in the trilogy So, if you have never played the 7th Guest or the 11th Hour before, some stylisitc choices in the 13th Doll will seem weird to you, but that's because it tries to emulate the style of the other two games and is quite successfull in that. At it's core, this is a puzzle game in a haunted house. You solve a puzzle, you get to go to the next room and solve a puzzle there, rince and repeat. There are some cutscenes in between and some objects which will have some scary, weird or macarb humor interaction. Now the earlier games were dos games, which pushed what was possible at the time. That resulted in a lot of what made them attractive, but also came with a lot of clunkiness in controls and audio. That's not the case here, it's much more playable. But weirdly enough that kinda diminishes the atmosphere. Imagine you're locked in a haunted house. And you feel your movement weirdly restricted and sometimes you can't hear things clearly and sometimes the paths you take don't make full sense. It adds to the scariness somehow. With the 13th doll, it feels much more like a dungeon crawler, you kick in the door, solve the puzzle and kick in the next door. It's fun, but it's somehow different to feeling locked in and having to solve some sadistic puzzles to get out. Now the puzzles in 13th doll are good. The one maze is ... too much. At least there is a map you can find. But it still takes too long. If you brood-force it, it'll take several hours. But overall, they hit the right spot between not being too easy and not beeing too hard, while never being annoying. That's the core of the game and the 13th doll does this best of all three games. As for the story. I find it okay. It's thematically in-line with the other games. A bit too much exposition in the beginning, but I'd say the big problem is the character of Lilith. Now normally, all the ghosts are reflections of the moments the people fell victim to Stauf's seductions. You see them puzzling and scheming and forever doomed to repeat that fateful night. You feel horrified by and for them. All the objects in the mansion just ooze sadism. And it just feels like you're locked in a twisted mind. And then there's Lilith, who's totally cool with being a ghost, uses it to pop in and out of existance to consult, instruct and insult the player, and generally has this "yeah, I'm dead, stuff happens, but for arbitrary reasons, go do my fetchquest" attitude - and just one step away from saying "hey Tad, listen!" So, is it good? Yes. Is it as scary as the other two games? No. Do I recommend it? Yes, very much so. It's not a perfect game, but the problems are minor and are likely due to this being a 15 year or so project. But it's very much enjoyable.

The 13th Doll is a puzzle adventure and semi-official sequel to The 7th Guest. The premise is that Tad Gorman was able to leave the house at the end of the first game, but the house never really left him, and 10 years later he returns with Dr. Richmond, his new psychiatrist, to try to free the souls of those he left behind. The gameplay here is mostly just solving logic puzzles, just like the first two games. You'll see some series regulars again, like chess puzzles and a maze, but none of them are exact repeats. These puzzles were all really well-designed and a huge improvement over the puzzles in the previous games. They were pretty challenging, and there were some that took a lot of time to figure out, but they didn't feel unfair or rely on lack of explanation to be difficult in the way either of the first two games sometimes did. Most of the puzzles had pretty clear instructions, and the ones that were more vague were pretty easy to figure out just by looking at them or playing around with them a little. I only ended up needing help for one of the puzzles, although I did consider looking things up a couple of other times. The story... sure is there. You can play as Tad or Richmond, and for each character you go through the mansion to solve the puzzles and interact with the ghosts inside. You don't really get the full story until you play both paths, and even then there are a lot of things that just aren't fully explained. The story is in kind of this weird place where it only makes sense if you've played The 7th Guest, but also doesn't make sense if you've played it. It assumes you're already familiar with the events and characters of the first game, but also directly contradicts the ending. The new characters mostly don't get a lot of backstory or explanation. I kept waiting for something to be revealed that would make everything fall into place, but at the end of the game I was left with more questions than answers, and not in a good way. There are 5 different endings, although none of them feel particularly satisfying. The game takes place in the Stauf mansion once again. It's been recreated very faithfully, but also feels emptier, more drab, and less visually interesting than either the colorful rooms in the 7th Guest or the decay in the 11th Hour. There are also a couple of new locations, but neither last long or are very interesting to look at. The game is a bit macabre but isn't ever really trying to be scary the way the first two were. The music is pretty comparable in quality to the other two soundtracks, although this is my least favorite of the three. For good and bad, the game feels a lot like The 7th Guest. You can tell it was made with a lot of love for the original, and while it is flawed, those flaws are pretty in line with those of the other games. The story is weak and doesn't make a lot of sense, the FMV sequences are over-the-top, and visually it doesn't look great, but you could make the argument that that's true for either of its inspirations. The puzzles, which I would argue are the most important part, are well-designed, and I would say are an improvement over the previous games. For an indie fan-made sequel, it's a pretty good tribute with really good puzzles, but if you aren't a fan of the series, the rest of the game just isn't much of a draw. 6/10

Ok, diese Betrachtung muss man hart in zwei Perspektiven unterteilen: Entweder ich erhoffe mir ein Spiel, das wirklich nah am Original ist oder ich möchte das Thema und das Gameplay mit einem modernen Spiel kombiniert bekommen. Zweiteres ist es definitiv nicht. Und bei ersterem besteht das Problem, dass the 7th Guest einfach mal kein gutes Spiel war. Es war neuartig und technisch beeindruckend, doch heute fallen die grauslige Grafik und die echt schlechten Rätsel, die meist sehr unfair sind, viel stärker ins Gewicht. Die Studis, die das hier zusammengebaut haben, waren echt gut darin die billigen 3D-Modelle, die oft eh in der Dunkelheit absaufen, wiederzubeleben. Chapeau, dass Sie den alten Bösewicht-Darsteller zurück gebracht haben. Aber warum sind die Rätsel immernoch so schlimm? Da hätte es besseres gegeben. Und wenn schon Trash, dann doch bitte durchgehend. Die beiden Hauptdarsteller sind ganz gut, aber viele der anderen passen nicht besonders: die zwei weiblichen Hauptfiguren geben sich null dem Trash hin, sondern spielen viel zu gewöhnlich, wodurch dann das durchschnittliche Können leider sehr auffällt. Der Haupt-Geist erklärt dann schonmal genau und im ruhigen Erzähler-Sprech was jetzt für Aufgaben zu erledigen sind - das fällt komplett raus und passt überhaupt nicht zum Rest, schade. Wer das großartige VR-Remake des Originals schon durch hat, kann hier ja mal reinschauen. Es ist ein wenig wie RealMyst, nur nicht so schön poliert. Definitiv trashiger als das Remake, aber eben auch sehr hölzern und unfair. Ach und bitte nicht auf die Idee kommen, erst Ted zu spielen und dann den Doktor, das ergibt keinen Sinn! Oh und nicht wundern: bei mir zumindest war das Menü konsequent Englisch und hier und da auch die Untertitel.

A great effort. Fun puzzles with new HD cutscenes. Acting is a bit hammy, but fans of the 7th Guest wouldn't have it any other way! (Shaky head nurse, I love you!)

If you're unfamiliar with this franchise, this game will probably just befuddle and annoy you: Why is the video so grainy? Why is the acting so bad? Why is the story so incoherent? Why are the puzzles SO FRACKING HARD? But understand that if you grew up with these games, this is a PERFECT homage and nails all the best aspects of it. And no seriously, how did they capture the original music so well without actually bringing John Sanger back? I also like that the game isn't too long. I loved the original games, but they both started to overstay their welcome after a while. Minor nitpicks: 1. Game takes almost a full day to install and my computer runs hot trying to play it. Surely, there's a better way to compress these files. 2. Animation of going up the stairs in the grand foyer goes too fast. Takes me out of the experience. 3. Wish there had been more references to the 11th Hour continuity. Sure, the mansion burned down at the end of that game, but I don't see why that should matter. 4. Stauff was barely in this! I was looking forward to seeing the old drag queen again. You put him on the cover, after all. 5. Skip button doesn't work and the hints just reiterate the rules of the game instead of suggesting an opening move. I don't know; the fact that the hints are useless might be part of the joke. Overall 4.5/5.

Honestly, in some ways I feel like this does a better job of capturing the feeling of The 7th Guest than The 11th Hour does. The music is also fantastic, it matches the eerie quality of the original soundtrack while being unique and not relying on The 7th Guest's previously established melodic motifs. The maze section is dumb and it should feel bad, even with the map in the game. :)

I loved that the puzzles were solvable. The needed information was readily available and just took a little time to put things together. As puzzle games go, this one was nowhere near as difficult as Myst/Riven type of game are and that's just fine by me. I've been working on Riven for months! LoL Sometimes it's fun to work on a game that is just fun to play. For me, this fit the bill.

the only true sequel to the 7th guest , love it . well done ! i highly recommended it.

For nostalgia and puzzles lovers only. I did like the original 7th Guest back then but not for its gameplay, but for the gorgeous (for the time) graphics and LIVE ACTORS, wow!!! :) Now, playing this fan remake, I came to realization that I HATE puzzles, and therefore this game is not for me, although kudos for developers for staying true to the original's athmosphere and aesthetics!