History VideoGame / TheSeventhGuest

* QueensPuzzle: The "eight Queens" variation in ''7th Guest'', coupled with some [[MundaneMadeAwesome way-too-frantic music]].

%%* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Brian Dutton.

%%* DullSurprise: Carl in ''The 11th Hour'', most of the time.

%%* FemmeFatale: Martine Burden.

%%* SongsInTheKeyOfLock

* AmnesiacHero: The very first line the protagonist speaks in the first game says it all: he can't remember anything, including how he got there. He ventually figures out why he can't remember, though: [[spoiler:it's DeathAmnesia, and he's been stuck in a GroundhogDayLoop that only ends once he solves all the puzzles]].

** The whole house is this. Compare the floor plans for each floor to each other, and then to the outside of the house. And that's not counting all the weird shortcuts through walls, drains etc which may or may not count [[spoiler:since you're a ghost]].

* AmnesiacHero: The very first line the protagonist speaks in the first game says it all.

* AnachronicOrder: Ego views the events of the past out of order, making it difficult to decipher the exact details of Stauf's get-together, especially since the characters are explicitly ghosts.

** The hint book in the library is there in case you're having too much trouble solving any one puzzle. Using it once gives a hint on how to solve the most recent puzzle you visited, using it a second time gives more detailed instructions, and using it a third time completes the puzzle for you. In all three cases, the book will transport you right back to said puzzle after you get the hint. The hint book can be used on every puzzle in the game except the last one. And while the game's instruction manual warns players about consequences for using the hint book too often, the only downside to skipping a puzzle is that you also skip the cutscene that plays after completing it.
** The microscope puzzle gained one of these as an AuthorsSavingThrow. The puzzle is a game of strategy against an enemy AI that runs on processor speed. Not a problem in 1993, but the AI opponent is all but unbeatable on computers even ten years older. The first few {{Updated Rerelease}}s gave you the option to skip this puzzle with the hint book, while later ports simply omit the Microscope puzzle entirely.[[invoked]]

** Definitely Stauf, and arguably Julia. Not so much for Martine, Edward and Brian, but not for lack of trying.

* DefectorFromDecadence: [[spoiler:Elinor and Temple]] resist Stauf and ultimately team up to help Tad and thwart Stauf, while all the other guests give in to Stauf's temptations.

* DeathAmnesia: [[spoiler:The player character is a ghost and none other than Tad as an adult]].

* GeniusLoci: Stauf Manor itself. Say it with me now: "There are clues throughout this house as to what must be done. The house... is ''alive with clues''."

* GhostAmnesia: [[spoiler:What Ego suffers from]].
* GoingForTheBigScoop: This is part of what brought Robin to Stauf Manor in ''The 11th Hour'' in the first place.

* GuiltBasedGaming: [[spoiler:''COME BAAAAAACK!'' shouts Stauf as you quite the game.]]

--> Stauf: ([[VaderBreath Huff...huff...]] ) Even Obi-Wan can't help you with this one, Carl. (huff...huff...)

--> Stauf: Dee dedee dedee dedee dee...if you only had a brain.

* SongsInTheKeyOfLock

* SolveTheSoupCans: Starting with the TropeNamer (the soup cans puzzle in the pantry), ''7th Guest'' lets you know as early as possible that the puzzles will be anywhere from difficult to mind-numbingly frustrating. The game lives up to this promise with several puzzles throughout the game, although which puzzles may be subjective. Thankfully, the eponymous puzzle can now be brute-forced with an anagram engine. Although every puzzle [[FinalBoss but one]] can be [[AntiFrustrationFeatures skipped with no ill consequences]], the game wants you to think overusing the hint-book could [[SequenceBreaking mess up the game]]. But the only consequence is being unable to see the cutscene that plays after the puzzle you're on.

* TitleDrop

* TomatoSurprise

* TheDitz: Elinor Knox is more concerned with her appearance than anything Stauf might offer her, including solving his puzzles. [[spoiler:Her vanity ends up getting her killed with DeathByDeaging when she regresses to a kid, then a baby, then she's gone.]]

* TheDragon: [[spoiler:Julia becomes one to Stauf. She's wanting her own TV network, and she's willing to help Stauf get what he wants for it. However, once he decides that [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness Julia isn't needed anymore]], Stauf dissolves her in acid.]]

* AccentOnTheWrongSyllable: Ego oddly misemphasizes words sometimes, most commonly "Which way do I ''go now?''

-->'''Ego:''' How did I get here? I remember...nothing.

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: The hint book in the library is there in case you're having too much trouble solving any one puzzle. Using it once gives a hint on how to solve the most recent puzzle you visited, using it a second time gives more detailed instructions, and using it a third time completes the puzzle for you. In all three cases, the book will transport you right back to said puzzle after you get the hint. The hint book can be used on every puzzle in the game except the last one. And while the game's instruction manual warns players about [[LyingCreator consequences for using the hint book too often]], nothing happens if you overuse it. But there is one downside to skipping a puzzle: you also skip the cutscene that plays after completing it.[[invoked]]
** Interestingly, this is pretty much the only way to complete the Microscope puzzle now. It's a game of strategy that runs on processor speed; not that much of a problem in 1993, but multi-core processors of the 21st century make the AI all but unbeatable. The first few {{Updated Rerelease}}s gave you the option to skip this puzzle with the hint book, while later ports simply omit the Microscope puzzle entirely.

--> '''Stauf:''' Feeling...''lonely''?
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Brian Dutton.

* DeadAllAlong: Arguably everyone, but especially [[spoiler:Ego]].

* TheDitz: Elinor Knox.

* DeathAmnesia: [[spoiler:The player character]] is a ghost and none other than [[spoiler: Tad as an adult]].

* TheDragon: [[spoiler:Julia]] becomes one to Stauf.
* DullSurprise: Carl in ''The 11th Hour'', most of the time.

* FemmeFatale: Martine Burden.

* FullMotionVideo

* GottaCatchThemAll: The whole reason for Stauf's game might have been to [[spoiler:get one more soul]] in order to become [[EldritchAbomination something even worse than he already was]].

* GuiltBasedGaming: [[spoiler:''COME BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!'']]

* IdentityAmnesia: See AmnesiacHero above.

* IronicNurseryTune
* KickTheDog: Brian, Edward and Julia.

* LateToTheTragedy

The player controls an unremarkable [[GhostAmnesia amnesiac]] who wakes up in Stauf's mansion, which is the setting for the entire game, and tries to figure out how he ended up there. As this character wanders the mansion and solves logic puzzles (some of them [[FakeDifficulty suspiciously]] [[SolveTheSoupCans illogical]]) to advance the story, [[JerkAss Stauf]] becomes an ever-present menace by [[IShallTauntYou taunting the amnesiac]] with clues and expressing displeasure when a puzzle gets solved.

** The MonsterClown in the game parlor with a red balloon bears more that passing conceptual resemblance to [[Literature/{{It}} Pennywise]].

''The 7th Guest'' was one of the first games to make use of CD-ROM technology, which gave it a reputation as a technical marvel for its day. Critics and fans considered the prerendered CGI graphics and FullMotionVideo as state-of-the-art technology for a videogame; computer manufacturers frequently used the game to show off the capabilities of a CD-ROM drive. ''7th Guest'' has a fairly complex plot sitting underneath all the technical wizardy and its non-linear gameplay, but without a [[GuideDangIt FAQ of some kind]] that details how to trigger events in a logical progression, the average player could believe the game doesn't have much of a plot at all. The game offers a hint book in the library of the house that offers clues on how to solve the game's next puzzle. When it is used for a third time, it [[AntiFrustrationFeatures completes the puzzle for the player]] so they can continue the game. (The game's manual says [[BlatantLies "consequences" could occur for using the hint book]], but a player can use it without penalty for all but the last puzzle.)

In 2023, Vertigo Games announced a remake of the game for the [=PlayStation=] VR2 and Meta Quest which substantially changes the puzzles and objective, with the player character being introduced rowing towards the house and seemingly guided by one of the ghost children inside. Watch the trailer [[https://youtu.be/6xrDjsPIxWE here]].

** The ''TabletopGame/ConnectFour'' clone in ''The 11th Hour'' is played over a cake which is in the shape of a trilobite, a reference to Trilobyte. Stauf even lampshades this.

* FanDisservice: Both games contain rather {{squick}}y sexual encounters: Martine and Edward in ''The 7th Guest'', and Carl and [[spoiler:Marie/Stauf]] in ''The 11th Hour''. Carl and Robin can count, too, depending on how you feel about either character. The hint book for ''The 11th Hour'' included the complete script for the cut-scenes, including a love scene between Chuck and Marie that was partially censored in the final product.

* MeltingFilmEffect: In Martine's sole appearance in ''the 11th Hour'', her body slowly turns monochrome with film lines, before disappearing altogether in this manner.

** In ''11th Hour'', one of Stauf's generic taunts is his best [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Vader]] impression.

** On top of that, in the first game [[OffModel you can clearly see trees through the windows in the kitchen, even though none are present on the cliff]].

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Stauf shows each of the six guests visions of what they wished for. Of course, being Stauf, he can't help showing how these wishes could go awry. This doesn't seem to faze four of his guests, who decide that the risks are worth it, and that the ends justify the means. The one guest who actually completes Stauf's "quest" asks for her wish (to be young again)...and gets [[spoiler:[[ILied melted by a puddle of acid that Stauf spits instead]]]]. Not exactly wish fulfillment there.

Fifteen years after the original game's release, [[http://www.trilobytegames.com/index.html Trilobyte Games]] rose from the grave and ported both ''7th Guest'' and Rob Landeros' InteractiveMovie-meets-Psychoanalysis Session ''Tender Loving Care'' to the Apple iOS. After solving the problems with porting to newer hardware, ''The 11th Hour'' also became available for purchase.

* BerserkBoardBarricde: Carl enters Stauf Manor, then finds the entrance boarded up behind him.

* NoPronunciationGuide: Not for the actors, anyway, since about half of them say "Stoff" and the other half say "Stowf."

** The Connect Four clone in ''The 11th Hour'' is played over a cake which is in the shape of a trilobite, a reference to Trilobyte. Stauf even lampshades this.

* YouWakeUpInARoom: The first game starts out this way.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: Carl Denning hasn't a clue what the [=GameBook=] is when he finds it on his doorstep. The prop used in the live action cutscenes is actually a real-life [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmtop_PC palmtop computer]], one of the predecessors of [=PDAs=] and cell phones. Some models even had network connectivity, which could somewhat justify how Samantha is able to reach Carl through it.