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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/7thguest.jpg]]
2->''"Old Man Stauf built a house, and filled it with his toys''
3->''Six guests were invited one night, their screams the only noise''
4->''Blood inside the library, blood right up the hall''
5->''Dripping down the attic stairs -- hey guests, try not to fall''
6->''Nobody came out that night, not one was ever seen''
7->''But Old Man Stauf is waiting there -- crazy, sick, '''''AND MEAN!'''''"''
8-->-- Children's rhyme heard around the town of Harley, New York
9
10The story of the 1993 horror-themed puzzle-adventure game ''The 7th Guest'' begins during [[TheGreatDepression the Great Depression]]: wandering drifter and thief [[BigBad Henry Stauf]] [[KickTheDog kills an old woman on her way home from choir practice]], sinking to a new low even for him. That same night, he [[DreamingOfThingsToCome has a dream about a beautiful doll]], a replica of which he carves the next day and offers to a local barkeep in exchange for room and board. Stauf continues to make dolls and other toys [[DreamingTheTruth based on his visions]]; when they become a high-demand item, [[RagsToRiches Stauf becomes a very wealthy man]].
11
12Then, at the height of Stauf's success, [[SoapOperaDisease a mysterious illness]] soon kills many of the children who own his toys. Stauf builds a [[HauntedHouse remote mansion]] based on another dream, near the town of Harley (also called Harley-on-Hudson), New York, then moves into it and [[HikikoMori retires from society]] for good. The years pass on, and when nobody knows for sure if Stauf is still alive, he invites six guests to his mansion for a dinner party. The invitation promises to grant the wishes of whoever solves all of his mansion's puzzles. But the puzzles themselves are little more than a means to an end--clues to what Stauf wants and what he wants the guests to do for him.
13
14The player controls an unremarkable [[AmnesiacHero 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.
15
16''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 [[LiveActionCutscene Live Action Cutscenes]] 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.)
17
18''The 7th Guest'' was successful enough to receive a sequel in 1995. ''The 11th Hour'' takes place sixty years after the events of its predecessor and follows the story of reporter Carl Denning, who visits Stauf Manor to look for his lost producer and soon becomes another victim of Stauf's wicked schemes. ''11th Hour'' plays exactly the same--wander the mansion, solve puzzles, and watch scenes that advance the plot--but features multiple endings as opposed to the first game's sole ending.
19
20Another planned sequel, ''The Collector''--which would have featured Stauf as a museum curator--[[{{Vaporware}} vanished]] when developer Trilobyte went out of business. Before Trilobyte closed its doors, it published a GaidenGame to the series, ''Uncle Henry's Playhouse'', that compiled puzzles from ''The 7th Guest'', ''The 11th Hour'', and spiritual sequel ''VideoGame/{{Clandestiny}}''. That game was sold only through mail-order; it sold only twenty-seven copies in the US and 176 total copies worldwide.
21
22Fifteen 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. A remastered version of the game was released for the Switch on April 7.
23
24In March 2013, Trilobyte co-founder Charlie [=McHenry=] announced [[http://www.polygon.com/2013/3/6/4072420/the-7th-guest-3-in-development-for-ios-android-pc-and-mac a new sequel]] and plans to release it across multiple platforms in 2014. In an attempt to secure funding for the sequel (titled ''The 7th Guest 3: The Collector''), [[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1559170459/the-7th-guest-3-the-collector Trilobyte kicked off a Kickstarter project on Halloween 2013]], but the campaign was ultimately unsuccessful.
25
26A paperback novelization of the original game's backstory was shipped with the ''7th Guest'' CD; it is now available on Amazon Kindle.
27
28In the summer of 2015, [[http://indiegamemag.com/the-13th-doll-returns-to-the-world-of-the-7th-guest Trilobyte once again announced a new sequel]], ''The 13th Doll''. This game was originally a fan creation by Attic Door Productions; they have now partnered with the original Trilobyte team to make it an official sequel. Tad never recovered from his experiences in Stauf's manor; as an adult, he remains confined to a mental institution. His new doctor thinks he needs to return to the manor to confront his demons once and for all. But the doctor doesn't realize just how real those demons are.... The game was released on Steam on Halloween 2019.
29
30In 2023, Vertigo Games announced a remake of the game for the [=PlayStation=] VR 2 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]].
31----
32
33!! ''The 7th Guest'' and its sequels provides examples of:
34
35* AccentOnTheWrongSyllable: Ego oddly misemphasizes words sometimes, most commonly "Which way do I ''go now?''"
36* AlienGeometries:
37** The Art Gallery is completely isolated from the rest of the house, to the point that Ego effectively warps to get there. Edward Knox and Martine Burden (per the novel), including Carl navigates a hidden passage in the grandfather clock to reach the same room, but the latter leaves through the same painting that Ego used.
38** 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 logically shouldn't be able to fit a full-sized adult through them. [[spoiler:Then again, since you're a ghost, maybe this isn't as impossible as it seems.]]
39* AllThereInTheManual: The game comes with a case book filled with newspaper articles and excerpts from other publications that outline the game's backstory.
40* 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 eventually 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]].
41-->'''Ego:''' How did I get here? I remember... nothing.
42* AnachronicOrder: Ego can view 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 shown to be ghosts. The first cutscene you see is all of the guests arriving, but beyond that, solving the puzzles and seeing what happens next is all up to the player.
43* AntiFrustrationFeatures:
44** The hint book in the library is there in case you're having too much trouble solving a 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 then transport you right back to said puzzle so you don't have to walk all the way back. 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.
45** 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 from the early 2000s. 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]]
46* AnotherSideAnotherStory: In ''The 13th Doll'', once Tad and his doctor arrive at Stauf's home, the player will decide which of the two will be the active character. Tad and the doctor have their own unique storylines and puzzles.
47* ArcSymbol: The House itself. Every time a puzzle (in the first game) resets or is completed, an outline of the Stauf Mansion appears and returns it to its original state. This is most likely to [[LawOfConservationOfDetail keep the original backgrounds intact.]]
48* ArtisticLicenseBiology: The first clue to the microscope puzzle reads "This game can be infectious. If your blue blood cells are effective, they should outnumber my green viruses by mutation in the end." Most viruses are too small to be seen under a microscope, let alone as large as blood cells. Mutation also has nothing to do with the game; it is likely that they used the word 'mutation' to mean mitosis. However, this is still wrong, as viruses don't replicate via mitosis. All in all, the 'viruses' behave much more like bacteria than actual viruses.
49* AutobotsRockOut: The music accompanying the Train puzzle in ''11th Hour'' is a rock combo of the first and second games' [[{{Leitmotif}} leitmotifs]].
50* BaitAndSwitch: The rug with the map of the maze on it. The way Elinor clearly draws your attention to the maze on the rug when you first enter her room and the camera angle used to present it strongly implies that you are going to solve the maze right there. However, clicking on the rug will instead start the much more difficult Bishop puzzle.
51--> '''Stauf:''' Don't you just ''love'' surprises?
52* BathtubScene: Solving the Knights puzzle in the bathroom reveals Martine bathing herself while drinking wine, before inexplicably sinking underwater at the end.
53* BalloonOfDoom: The MonsterClown cut-scene in the game parlor with said clown asking an unknown party: ''"Want a balloon sonny? Here's a nice one..."''
54* BeatStillMyHeart: The Heart Puzzle is based around this. Ironically though, the heart itself does not beat at all after you click on it.
55* 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:melted by [[ILied a puddle of acid that Stauf spits instead]]]]. Not exactly wish fulfillment there.
56** In the novelization and the VR game, they instead get what they wished for... [[spoiler:only for them to [[DeathByDeaging end up being turned into a baby]] due to not saying just how young they wished to be]].
57* BerserkBoardBarricade: Carl enters Stauf Manor, then finds the entrance boarded up behind him.
58* BloodBath: In ''The 11th Hour'', the bathroom contains this. With a skeleton still in it.
59* BookEnds:
60** ''The 7th Guest'' starts and ends with a book that Ego reads in the library.
61** ''The 11th Hour'' opens with Carl watching a report talking about Robin's disappearance. If the player selects the [[spoiler:Robin]] ending, another television report closes out the game, covering [[spoiler:Carl's death following their recent marriage, leaving everything to Robin...including the Stauf Broadcasting System]].
62* BookcasePassage: Or, rather, a plant passage, a bathtub drain passage, a weird [[{{Teleportation}} warp-through-a-floor-panel-and-Stauf's-head]] passage...you get the picture. ''11th Hour'' played it straighter, as Carl was shown walking through [[InsideAWall hidden passages inside the walls]]. There was even meant to be an actual bookcase passage in the first game's original script.
63* {{Bowdlerise}}:
64** The CD-i version of ''7th Guest'' changed the spiders on the front door's puzzle into worms for no discernible reason.
65** In the original script of the game, alternate "squeaky-clean Nintendo dialogue" is presented in brackets next to any lines that might be objectionable, just in case they had to do this to the end product (they didn't).
66* CanonDiscontinuity: The ending of ''7th Guest'' implies that Tad [[spoiler:was able to GoIntoTheLight thanks to the player]]; however, in the ''13th Doll'' he's all grown up and somehow fled the mansion and got help at a mental hospital.
67* ChessMotifs: Several puzzles in both ''7th Guest'' and ''11th Hour'' utilize chess pieces, usually requiring the player to swap the white and black pieces' positions.
68* {{Claustrophobia}}: The basement labyrinth. If you've got a fear of small enclosed places, it borders on horror. Bonus terror comes from Stauf's commentary whenever you hit a dead end.
69--> '''Stauf:''' Feeling... ''lonely''?
70* TheComputerShallTauntYou: Stauf will sometimes mock you when you start a puzzle in ''The 7th Guest'' or get a wrong answer, but he really dives into the Ham in ''The 11th Hour,'' where the incorrect guess to his item riddles will result in Stauf delivering one of many insults the game has ready.
71---> '''Stauf:''' "I took a picture of your brain, 'click', but... nothing developed!"
72---> '''Stauf:''' "Come now, Carl. They'll solve the deficit crisis before you figure this out!"
73* CouldntFindAPen: In the Music Room in ''the 11th Hour'', someone had etched "HELP ME!" into the front of the fireplace mantle.
74* CreatorCameo:
75** George "The Fat Man" Sanger, who wrote the soundtrack for the game, has a portrait of himself in the Art Gallery.
76** 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.
77--->'''Stauf:''' Now what the heck is a trilobite?
78* CreepyCathedral: The hidden chapel on the second floor definitely counts as one. Dimly lit, gargoyles on the columns that come alive, a skeleton organ player, axes and swords on the walls....[[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and it's accessed from Dutton's closet.]]
79* CreepyChangingPortrait: In the VR remake, the portrait of Stauf in the upstairs hallway changes as the player progresses, slowly becoming angrier.
80** When the spirit lamp is shone on the various portraits, they will change, usually in some macabre way.
81* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Temple might be a goofy looking stage magician, but he still has the strength to crack a man's skull against a stone casket, as seen when he saves Tad from Edward and Martine.
82* DeadAllAlong: In ''The 7th Guest'', everyone's already dead by the time you arrive, from the party guests to Stauf himself. All you get to see are their ghosts. [[spoiler:And, as you learn from the ending of the game, you were also dead the whole time.]]
83* DeadToBeginWith: [[spoiler:The entirety of ''7th Guest'' takes place long after the depicted events have already occurred.]]
84* DealWithTheDevil:
85** Definitely Stauf, seeing as how he's been trying to collect souls to gain immortality. [[spoiler:When protagonist Ego breaks the GroundhogDayLoop he finds himself in Stauf also doesn't get the souls he needs, and he's DraggedOffToHell.]]
86** [[spoiler:Robin]] in ''The 11th Hour''. [[spoiler:By the time Carl finds her, she's already accepted Stauf's deal to have her own television network.]]
87* 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.]]
88* DeathAmnesia: [[spoiler:The player character is a ghost and none other than Tad as an adult. Ego only figures this out upon seeing the final cutscene, but by then, he's broken the manor's curse, allowing himself and Tad to escape.]]
89* DeathByDeaging: [[spoiler: As revealed in the novelization, Heine was not killed by the acid Stauf spewed and instead transported to her room to recieve her wish. The cutscene of her turning into a baby really happened and she continued to de-age until she became a fetus, as [[JackassGenie she never specified how young she wanted to be]]. Meanwhile, in the VR version, she receives her wish in the same way, just in the ritual room instead.]]
90* DevelopersForesight: Zig-zagged with the grate puzzle. From a story standpoint, placing the grate with the top half of the hole in the top-right position and leaving the empty space over the bottom-right position would technically allow Ego to pass through without properly solving the puzzle, but a set of retractable spikes will emerge from the floor to block your path. However, if you try the opposite configuration (placing the grate with the bottom half of the hole in the bottom-right position and leaving the empty space over the top-right position), nothing stops Ego from crawling through the hole, except the technicality of not solving the puzzle correctly.
91* DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation: Several deaths of the guests are different in the VR version.
92** [[spoiler: Edward still dies from Temple slamming his head against something, however this time it's in the attic and against the model of the house.]]
93** [[spoiler: Elinor is killed by Martine stabbing her in the stomach in the cellar.]]
94** [[spoiler: Martine is shot by Julia while confronting her on the stairs, and presumably snaps her neck on the way down judging by the SickeningCrunch that's heard.]]
95** [[spoiler: Temple is killed via [[BoomHeadshot a headshot]] by Julia in the upstairs bathroom.]]
96* DoorToBefore: The clue book in the library can teleport you back to the last puzzle that you visited after giving you a hint on how to solve it.
97* DraggedOffToHell: [[spoiler:Breaking the GroundhogDayLoop in the first game does this to Stauf. By solving all of Stauf's puzzles, Ego figures out that he's Tad and breaks free from the loop. As such, Stauf doesn't get the last soul he needs, the DealWithTheDevil he made is broken, and his soul is claimed instead, being pulled down into a pit of flame.]]
98* TheDragon: [[spoiler:Heine becomes one to Stauf in the first game. She's willing to help Stauf get what he wants for her heart's greatest desire. However, once he decides that [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness Heine isn't needed anymore]], Stauf dissolves her in acid or turns her into a fetus depending on the version being played.]]
99* EnfantTerrible: Marie in ''The 11th Hour'', conceived from the rape of Eileen by the GeniusLoci.
100* EventFlag: A rather annoying one separates the first and second halves of the game. After completing the initial available puzzles, the player needs to go to the library, unprompted, to watch a scene of all the houseguests talking amongst themselves, which will open the remaining rooms up to exploration.
101* EverytownAmerica: Harley-on-the-Hudson acts as a fundamental setting of the story. It is featured in greater depth in ''The 11th Hour'' through cutscenes, featuring amenities like a diner and motel.
102* EvilVersusEvil: [[spoiler:Stauf and the Woman in White in ''The 13th Doll''. The former is obviously evil and manipulates Richmond just like he did his guests in ''The 7th Guest'', but the latter does look like a genuinely nice person to Tad until the final decision.]]
103* FanDisservice: Both games contain rather uncomfortable 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.
104* FanSequel: As noted above, ''The 13th Doll'' started out as this, but is now an official licensed product.
105* FateWorseThanDeath: While fun is different for everyone, [[spoiler:being trapped in the strange mansion forever and having his soul occasionally chewed on by Stauf is probably not particularly fun for Tad/Ego]].
106* FeaturelessProtagonist: Averted; while the player doesn't know anything about Ego until the very end, this is because of Ego's own amnesia. We learn that he's actually [[spoiler:Tad]] as soon as he does.
107* FifteenPuzzle: The infamous bedroom mirror. The grate puzzle in the first game also counts, but that one is significantly easier.
108* FullMotionVideo: The first game is one of the earliest progenitors of it. The cast are all full-motion actors, rendered as ghosts in the various backgrounds that the player comes across.
109* GameplayAndStorySegregation: Carl can still [[spoiler:hear the rules of the final game from Samantha]].
110* GeniusLoci: Stauf Manor itself. "There are clues throughout this house as to what must be done. The house... is ''alive with clues''." [[spoiler: The novel and unused bad ending take it a step further, with the house turning [[MeatMoss fleshy and organic]] when Stauf wins.]]
111* GetOut: Samantha tells Robin this three times when the latter tries to interrogate her about the Stauf Mansion. Robin responds at the last minute with, "It's been 20 years, Samantha. It's time you told the truth."
112* GhostAmnesia: [[spoiler:What Ego suffers from. He's the young boy named Tad, and he's been trapped in the Stauf manor until he breaks the curse.]]
113* GoingForTheBigScoop: This is part of what brought Robin to Stauf Manor in ''The 11th Hour'' in the first place. [[spoiler:It's also why she becomes TheDragon to Stauf: she wants her own TV network, and she's willing to make a DealWithTheDevil to get it.]]
114* 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]].]]
115* GreasySpoon: Robin's first stop in Harley-on-the-Hudson. While her choice of food doesn't fly there, the waitress, Eileen Wiley, is her first lead on the Stauf Mansion case, prompting Robin to drop by again a few times for more info.
116* TheGreatDepression: The whole reason Stauf [[spoiler:makes a DealWithTheDevil]] is because he's fallen on such hard times.
117* GroundhogDayLoop: The story in ''7th Guest'' eventually reveals that everything the player has seen has already happened in some form or another--no one is actually there, and Ego can't interact with any of the people. [[spoiler:In the original version of events, Stauf got to Tad, but ''something'' prevented Stauf from completing his DealWithTheDevil, and everyone--Stauf, Tad, and the six other guests--were then doomed to repeat the events of that fateful night. Tad's spirit was somehow split off into Ego; by solving the puzzles and reuniting with his actual self at the crucial moment, Ego changed the night's events, passed on to the afterlife, and doomed Stauf to Hell.]]
118* GuideDangIt: All of the puzzles in the games are present just for their own sake, because Stauf developed puzzles in his job as a toymaker. You're not even given context for the majority of them; you need to consult the library book or Carl's [=GameBook=] to learn the rules you need to follow to solve them.
119* GuiltBasedGaming: ''COME BAAAAAACK!'' shouts Stauf as you quit the game.
120* HarmfulToMinors: ''7th Guest'' had several scenes of infants in dangerous situations, not to mention the backstory of a mysterious virus killing children who owned Stauf toys.
121* {{Hellhound}}: Once you get into the attic in the original game, a ghostly Cerberus traps you inside if you try to leave. Plus the door itself is [[BerserkBoardBarricade boarded up]] for good measure.
122* HeroicSacrifice: Hamilton Temple, although it turned out to be somewhat [[SenselessSacrifice senseless]].
123* HesitationEqualsDishonesty: [[spoiler:After Carl pays Stauf to see what's behind the final door and sees Robin, she talks about how glad she is to see him, and then says that she loves him in a very restrained fashion.]]
124* HideYourChildren:
125** Inverted; Tad is in several cut scenes in the game, [[spoiler:and he's eventually killed and eaten by Stauf]].
126** Stauf makes toys that [[spoiler:carry some kind of fatal virus]], which in turn allows him to [[spoiler:eat the souls of the infected children]].
127* HintSystem: The library book in the first game, Carl's [=GameBook=] in the sequel.
128* HoistByHisOwnPetard: How many of the characters die in the first game.
129** Brian Dutton ends up [[spoiler: stabbed repeatedly by the dagger Stauf gave him.]]
130** Temple finds himself [[spoiler: strangled by the Indian Wire Trick, courtesy of Julia.]]
131* HollywoodHacking: Samantha's "tele-psychic" ability, complete with RapidFireTyping almost every time she's on-screen.
132* HowWeGotHere: The cutscenes in ''7th Guest'' gradually reveal what happened to the guests, while those in ''11th Hour'' mainly revolve around showing Robin's investigation prior to Carl's arrival. Only a few cutscenes in the latter occur in the present time.
133* HurricaneOfPuns: Stauf is all about this, but a moment in ''11th Hour'' when the evil ghosts decide to kill [[TooDumbToLive dumb, hapless Chuck]] sticks out.
134-->'''Julia:''' How about... a Chuck roast?
135-->'''Stauf:''' A Chuck steak!
136-->'''Soup-Based Skull:''' Chuck 'im into the soup!
137* IdentityAmnesia: [[spoiler:Ego doesn't remember that he's Tad, thanks to DeathAmnesia. He does figure it out as the story goes on, though.]]
138* IdiosyncraticMenuLabels: The quit function is titled "Exit This Reality".
139* ILoveTheDead: A rather disturbing cutscene implies that Hamilton Temple is a necrophiliac.
140* InfiniteFlashlight: The one Carl carries around.
141* IronicNurseryTune: The Stauf nursery rhyme paints him as mean, but not [[spoiler:a guy who made a DealWithTheDevil to become an EldritchAbomination]].
142* IWantMyMommy: While in her guest room, Julia muses in the the mirror about wanting to be young again. The mirror shows her having become young again, but continues to grow younger as she cries out for her mommy. The last we see of her in this cutscene is her as a baby wailing and crawling away.
143* KickTheDog: [[spoiler:Julia WouldHurtAChild by bringing Tad to be sacrificed to Stauf. She ends up RewardedAsATraitorDeserves by getting melted in acid in the original, or [[DeathByDeaging gets turned into a fetus in the VR version]].]]
144* KillItWithFire: In ''The 11th Hour'', [[spoiler:Stauf Manor burns down in the best ending]].
145* {{Klotski}}: The furniture puzzle in ''11th Hour''.
146* LargeHam: Pretty much all of the ''7th Guest'' cast seem to have made a bet to see who could overact the most. As the man tasked with playing Stauf, classically trained actor Robert Hirschbeck likely won such a bet. He looks and sounds like he's having the time of his life with every single line.
147* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Ego starts with memories of his origins repressed but remembers his English language skills just fine.
148* LastSecondEndingChoice: Used in ''The 11th Hour''.
149* LateToTheTragedy: By the time you start ''The 7th Guest'', all of the guests have already died, and it's way too late to save any of them. [[spoiler:Well, sort of. Ego can save his previous self Tad from Stauf just before his soul would be sacrificed, which allows them to pass on to the afterlife.]]
150* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: When Samantha is looking for Carl within Stauf Manor on her security cameras, it's represented by gameplay from ''The 7th Guest''.
151* LightIsNotGood: [[spoiler:The Woman in White in ''The 13th Doll''.]]
152* LiveActionCutscene: The ghosts.
153* {{Locked Door}}s: The game is built ''entirely'' around solving puzzles in order to unlock them.
154* MagicalSecurityCam: How Samantha is able to view the house on the inside, and she sometimes relays the feeds to the [=GameBook=]. It also must have a Magical ''Microphone'', since when Carl tries talking to Robin ''through'' the [=GameBook=], she can hear him where she is.
155* MeaningfulName: "Stauf" is an obvious play on "Faust".
156* MeltingFilmEffect: In Martine's sole appearance in ''the 11th Hour'', her body slowly turns monochrome with film lines, before disappearing altogether. Even the music turns distorted during this.
157* MetaphoricMetamorphosis: Edward is briefly turned into a foolish goat while succumbing to Martine's seduction.
158* MinigameGame: ''The 7th Guest'' and ''The 11th Hour'' feature puzzles scattered across the house, solving each one unlocks more rooms or a piece of the story.
159* MonsterClown: "''Red ballooooooon!''"
160* MultipleEndings: ''The 11th Hour'' has three endings; which one you see is dictated by a [[LastSecondEndingChoice single choice]] Carl makes in the finale: [[spoiler:Does he save Robin, Marie, or Samantha?]]
161** Ending #1: [[spoiler:Carl saves Marie only because she claims to be willing to do whatever he wants. The two end up in bed together, and while they're having sex, Marie reveals that she and Stauf are one and the same. Oh, and that she's eating ribs--Carl's ribs, specifically]].
162** Ending #2: [[spoiler:Carl chooses to save Samantha. Touching the television screen she's displayed on teleports both of them out of the mansion, and they watch it burn together, ending Stauf forever]].
163** Ending #3: [[spoiler:Carl saves Robin, just like he set out to do. A few weeks later, Robin watches a report on Carl's death; the two of them got married after escaping the mansion, but Carl disappeared during their honeymoon, and his body washed up in a river days later. His death makes Robin the new president of the Stauf Broadcasting System]].
164** ''The 13th Doll'' has ''five'' possible endings:
165*** Richmond's Ending #1: [[spoiler:Richmond kills Tad, and Stauf grants his wish for fame... but it turns out to be an illusion and Richmond ends up confined to the same mental institution where he worked.]]
166*** Richmond's Ending #2: [[spoiler:Richmond stabs Stauf, who is consumed by the souls of the kids he had imprisoned inside the dolls, and Richmond and Tad escape the mansion.]]
167*** Tad's Ending #1: [[spoiler:Tad stabs the 13th doll, destroying the Woman in White. He then tries to release the souls of the children imprisoned inside the other dolls, but is attacked by Richmond, who is controlled by Stauf.]]
168*** Tad's Ending #2: [[spoiler:Tad kills Richmond, then performs the ritual to release the souls of the imprisoned children... but the ritual was a lie invented by the Woman in White, and she manages to return to life while Tad's soul becomes imprisoned into the 13th doll.]]
169*** Tad's Ending #3: [[spoiler:Tad kills Richmond, but decides to throw himself into the attic window instead of completing the ritual, killing himself and preventing the Woman in White from returning.]]
170* NastyParty: This is how Stauf lured the six adult victims into his manor house in ''7th Guest''.
171* NoEnding: Carl must choose one of three doors at the end of ''The 11th Hour'' before the clock strikes twelve. Not choosing results in this, with the game just cutting to credits.
172* {{Novelization}}: A couple years after the game's release, the game's script-writer Matthew Costello wrote a novelization. Rather than be a direct word-for-word retelling of the game, though, the first dozen chapters delve into the lives and [[DarkandTroubledPast tragic backstories]] of the guests and of Stauf himself. Some of which would be put into the VR remake.
173* OnceMoreWithClarity: Once you solve the final puzzle of a chapter of ''11th Hour'', all of your collected cutscenes play back-to-back and include new footage to provide additional context to what you already saw before. Plus, once the game's finished, in the bonus section, clicking on the logo of the game plays the entire movie beginning to end.
174* OneSteveLimit: One of the little girls killed by Stauf's virus was named Samantha. ''11th Hour'' features a second, adult Samantha who assists Carl on his mission to find Robin [[spoiler:and who was also raped by the house like Eileen; she had the resulting pregnancy aborted, leaving her paralyzed.]]
175* OntologicalMystery
176* OuijaBoard: The first game's main menu, known as "The Sphinx", complete with a Freemason-style divining glass as its cursor, and the traditional alphanumeric layout for saving and loading. In the VR version, a similar board acts as a map and access to the help system.
177* PetTheDog: [[spoiler:Edward, Martine, Julia, and someone implied to be Brian, still haunt the house in the second game, while Elinor and Temple are nowhere to be seen. It's implied that the latter two were spared because they didn't side with Stauf, allowing them to pass on.]]
178* ThePlague: The fatal virus spread by Stauf's toys.
179* PlayerNudge: In the ''11th Hour'', after a riddle is shown, Stauf's taunts sometimes change into subtle hints toward its solution.
180* PlotHole: [[spoiler: Upon discovering Stauf's true plans for Tad, Temple and Elinor agree to split up to find and save him, with Temple searching upstairs and Elinor downstairs. However, the next time Temple is seen chronologically is in the crypt beneath the house, and Elinor is last seen trapped as a mannequin in the attic. The VR version rectifies this by placing them properly where they said they were going to go look.]]
181* PointOfNoReturn: The ritual room is this in the VR version. The Lost Child informs this to the player and you're even asked if you found everything you needed beforehand.
182* PungeonMaster: Stauf.
183* QueensPuzzle: The "eight Queens" variation in the games room on the second floor, coupled with some [[MundaneMadeAwesome way-too-frantic music]].
184* RailroadTracksOfDoom: One of the riddles in ''The 11th Hour'' results in Carl being nearly run over by a ''toy train'' when the player zooms close enough to the tracks.
185* RapeAsBackstory: Appears in ''The 11th Hour''; [[spoiler:Samantha and Eileen were assaulted by Stauf Manor itself]].
186* RealLifeWritesThePlot: [[spoiler:Originally, the events of ''The 7th Guest'' were meant to play out as they happened. However, the limited technology of the day caused ghostly auras to appear around the chroma-keyed actors when the footage was inserted into the game. The dev team ran with it, altering the plot so that the scenes the player character witnesses firsthand are the ghostly afterimages of events that actually occurred several years in the past.]]
187* RealityChangingMiniature: Moving the piano off the board in the Furniture Puzzle causes the real piano to vanish from the Music Room.
188* RecurringRiff: "The Game"; could be called a {{leitmotif}} if you consider it the [[GeniusLoci Stauf Manor's]] theme song.
189* RecursiveCanon: Several copies of ''The 7th Guest'' appear in ''11th Hour''; a ''[=T7G=]'' CD is even the solution to one of the fetch quests.
190* RedHerring: You ''really'' think that's Stauf's skeleton hanging out in the upstairs bathroom?
191* TheRenfield: In ''The 11th Hour'', it's revealed that the murders associated with the mansion are being committed by Chuck, a corrupt local businessman who was seduced by Marie into "feeding" the mansion innocent victims in exchange for business success and sexual favors. One possible interpretation of [[spoiler: Robin's]] ending is that she's taken Chuck's place as the mansion's Renfield as part of her bargain with Stauf.
192* RevenueEnhancingDevices: [[AvertedTrope Averted]]. In addition to the mobile ports, Trilobyte also released an interactive ''[[{{Walkthrough}} Book of Secrets]]'' app to help players through the trickier puzzles--and released it for free.
193** Played straight: The Microscope puzzle didn't make it into the port, but Trilobyte released it as a standalone app designed specifically for tablets--for an additional cost.
194* ScareChord: There are two in ''The 7th Guest''. One is a {{sting}} that accentuates some of the scarier moments in the game (e.g. hitting a dead end in the labyrinth). The other is composed right into the background music of [[spoiler:the labyrinth]]: near the end of the minimalist and unsettling track, a violin solo starts playing, only to be interrupted by what sounds like someone pounding random keys on a piano. Possibly jarring the first time hearing it, but not so much subsequently since you know when it occurs.
195* TheSchlubPubSeductionDeduction: Martine seducing Edward; neither party benefits from the arrangement, unless you count Edward getting laid.
196* SchmuckBait: [[spoiler:Marie]] being a choice at the end of ''11th Hour''.
197* SealedEvilInADuel: Inverted; Ego is freed from his circumstances only when the player beats the game properly.
198* SequelHook
199** At the end of the first game, when the camera pans out from the [[BookEnds storybook]] to reveal, "The 7th Guest, Vol. I" at the bottom.
200** The only ending for ''Uncle Henry's Playhouse'' is a teaser for the unreleased "7th Guest III".
201* SeriesContinuityError: All involving Stauf Manor. The first game clearly placed it by itself at the edge of a precipice. ''The 11th Hour'' manages to screw this up ''twice'': the house is situated in a large field of grass up from a gated fence with some trees nearby in live action footage, while it's out in the middle of nowhere on a large dirt plain during the [=CG=] cutscenes. Perhaps the "house on a precipice" is meant to be metaphor that the developers liked better as box art, but it was also included in [=CG=] cutscenes in ''The 11th Hour'' for some reason.
202** In The 7th Guest, all of the backgrounds and shots of the house were pre-rendered CGI, with the actors performing in front of a green screen. This allowed them to make the outside of the house look however they wanted. In 11th Hour, though, because they filmed all the cutscenes movie-style, they used the actual Nunan House (the manor house that Stauf's mansion is based on) for the exterior shots.
203** More of a RetCon, but the toy room puzzle in ''7th Guest'' implies that [[spoiler:the house itself is already a ruin by the time of the first game. In the sequel, it's obviously intact, although it does burn down in the good ending]]
204** On top of that, in the first game [[OffModel you can clearly see trees through the house's windows, even though none are present on the cliff]].
205* SetPiecePuzzle: Every room in the house has one.
206* SexyDiscretionShot: In the first game, if the player clicks on Martine's bed, the player will hear the sound of her groaning and the bed creaking.
207* ShoutOut:
208** At the top of the grand stairway, there is a painting that can be clicked on. A pair of hands press out, stretching the painting, much like Freddy Kruger does in ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet''.
209** The MonsterClown in the game parlor with a red balloon bears more than a passing conceptual resemblance to [[Literature/{{It}} Pennywise]].
210** In ''11th Hour'', one of Stauf's generic taunts is him doing a [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Vader]] impression.
211---> Stauf: ([[VaderBreath Huff...huff...]] ) Even Obi-Wan can't help you with this one, Carl. (huff...huff...)
212** Another of his taunts in said game paraphrases the Scarecrow's song from ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'':
213---> Stauf: Dee dedee dedee dedee dee...if you only had a brain.
214* SignificantAnagram: "Stauf" for "[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Faust]]", which is the solution to the train puzzle in the second game. Also, the Toy Block Puzzle, as well as most of the FetchQuest clues in ''11th Hour''.
215* SimonSaysMiniGame: Playing several notes of "The Game" using [[SongsInTheKeyOfLock the music room's piano]].
216* SlidingScaleOfGameplayAndStoryIntegration: Near the climax of ''11th Hour'', Carl loses the ability to save when [[spoiler:Stauf cuts his connection with Samantha]].
217* SolveTheSoupCans: Given that the Soup Can puzzle (Arrange a bunch of soup cans with letters on them on a shelf to open a passage) is the Trope Namer, the series is full of them, to the point that it'd take effort to recall the puzzles that actually ''do'' relate to the game world somehow. (How exactly is cutting a cake into particularly arranged slices opening doors?) Justified in that the whole manor is under Stauf's control, and every puzzle is him challenging you rather than some esoteric lock-and-key.
218* SoundingItOut: Ego will frequently comment on the status of any given puzzle, as a means of providing the player with a clue regarding the solution. For example:
219--> Two skulls and two stones... The rest is just icing.
220--> [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal A perplexing, planetary poser. How puzzling. Perhaps a phonemic path can be phrased... with a little postulation.]]
221* StageMagician: Hamilton Temple is this by trade, and he wants to know if '''real''' magic exists.
222* TakeThat: In the Chapel in ''The 11th Hour'', there's a bowl off to one side with a skeleton in it. Zooming in closer reveals a burned piece of paper with the word [[VideoGame/{{Myst}} "MISSED" written on it, in the exact same font of the referenced game's title.]]
223* TitleDrop: Hamilton Temple drops the title once he meets Tad. The notes Stauf left for the partygoers indicate that he actually invited seven guests, not six, and that the final guest had yet to arrive when the party started.
224-->'''Hamilton Temple:''' I know! I know who you are--you're the seventh guest!
225* TomatoSurprise: The first game ends with one. [[spoiler:Ego is the young boy Tad, and the titular seventh guest. The reason he couldn't remember it is GhostAmnesia.]]
226* TrrrillingRrrs: Temple, particularly when discussing ''Rrrreal magic!''
227* TutorialFailure: Part of what made ''The 7th Guest'' so cryptically difficult at the time of its release is that none of the puzzles explain their rules when you find them, excepting perhaps a ''very'' vague taunt from Stauf. You need to attempt the puzzle blind once, and then check the hintbook in the library in order to learn your actual goal is. ''The 11th Hour'' lets you check your [=GameBook=] while in the puzzle to have Samantha explain the rules right away.
228* UncannyValleyMakeup: ''11th Hour'' shows Stauf in a bizarre makeup job, especially at the end when he acts as a game show host.
229* UnintentionallyUnwinnable:
230** The mirror puzzle in ''11th Hour'' can (and will) start out unwinnable 50% of the time. The fact that it's a slider puzzle is already irritating enough to begin with.
231** Similarly, the Stauf Mansion picture puzzle on the second floor in ''7th Guest'' can also start off unwinnable, and the only way to know for certain is to try and get all 9 pieces to be identical. Its tendency to crash the game either during the puzzle or shortly afterwards when playing from the optional Windows executable didn't help matters, either.
232** On more modern systems (ie. anything clocked faster than 66MHz or so), the microscope puzzle is impossible in the original game. This is because the computer's turn is calculated based on clockspeed. The faster your machine is, the more time it gets to pick out an ideal move. It will only make the best possible moves on faster systems as a result. Half of the AI games, including the Honeycomb game, which is a clone, also suffer from this in the second game. Fortunately this particular bug was addressed in the seperate handheld app.
233* UpdatedRerelease: ''The 7th Guest: 25th Anniversary Edition'' brings the game to proper widescreen, smoothes out several of the interstitial animations, offers subtitles for the voice acting, and the option to skip cutscenes.
234* ViewerFriendlyInterface: The Gamebook in the ''11th Hour' can wirelessly receive voiced messages and video files, far more than an organizer of the time would be capable of. Samantha's computers seem relegated to CCTV as well.
235* VoiceWithAnInternetConnection: Samantha in ''11th Hour'' is always able to send relevant information to Carl's [=GameBook=].
236* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Martine Burden is the only guest whose fate we never see (unless the acid bath scene actually happened).
237* WhenTheClockStrikesTwelve: Carl gets into Stauf Manor at 7 PM. He has until the clock strikes midnight to find Robin and escape.
238* WhoEvenNeedsABrain: The ghost patient in Stauf's hidden MadScientistLaboratory.
239* WickedToymaker: Stauf earned a reputation as a toymaker, creating dolls from his strange dreams that serve as a means of killing several children. And it only goes downhill from there...
240* WorldOfHam: Everyone, but no one more than [[EvilIsHammy Stauf]].
241* YouHaveFailedMe:
242** If you pay attention, it's indicated this is why at the end of the final confrontation [[spoiler:Stauf gets StrippedToTheBone and DraggedOffToHell. Stauf made a deal with the infernal powers to collect the souls of a specific number of children, and was one soul short. By failing to collect Tad's soul at the last minute due to Ego's intervention, Stauf failed in his task and is immediately punished for it. Though the sequels suggest this was less than permanent.]]
243** Stauf turns Martine into a... distorted reptilian thingy... after she and Edward fail to capture Tad.
244** In ''The 11th Hour'', Stauf kills his TheRenfield Chuck, for accidentally killing the police chief instead of Robin, who was the person Stauf wanted dead.
245* YouWakeUpInARoom: The first game starts out this way, with Ego reading an animated book that tells the story of Stauff's rise to fame and the construction of the mansion he moved into and that you explore. Ego's memories are dormant and he remembers nothing about his origins.
246* YouWouldntShootMe: In the VR version, [[spoiler: Martine confronts Julia on the stairs near the end of the night. When the latter pulls a gun on her, Martine laughs at her, saying she doesn't have the guts to do it and calls her an old hag. She's proven fatally wrong.]]
247----
248
249->''No one knows what happened next. There's no one left to say.''
250->''But if you should see Old Man Stauf, '''get on your knees and pray.'''''
251

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