Remember The 7th Guest? Then you’re either as old as we are or you actively seek out rather wonky FMV games. The 7th Guest was one of the first FMV CD-Rom games and while it’s still a classic, of sorts, its shaky acting is by the weakest part of the game. So, we were happy to discover that this VR remake has binned the original full motion video and started from scratch.
Unsurprisingly dubbed The 7th Guest VR, this remake will be landing on PC VR, PSVR2 and Meta Quest 2. Some time during the 30s/40s, toymaker Henry Stauf invited several people to his home and no-one ever saw them again. Your task, as a mysterious ghostly entity, is to uncover the truth behind their disappearances.
In the original that involved solving a series of puzzles, each rewarding you with an FMV sequence. Having gone hands on with The 7th Guest VR’s demo, we’re happy to report that his new version is much, much more involved than that. There are still logic puzzles to solve but you’ll tackle challenges every step of the way.
You’re equipped with a very handy lantern which restores parts of the mansion to their former state. Got a collapsed bridge? Shine the lantern on it and watch it rebuild itself. Just getting inside the mansion requires some lantern-related meddling. Though we felt thoroughly smug for having figured out the puzzle.
The demo made effective use of our VR kit. Forget being able to see your feet; every time you glance down you get an eyeful of your glowing skeletal hands. We loved Wraith: The Oblivion but the 7th Guest VR absolutely doesn’t let you forget you’re dead. Or undead. And just stepping inside the mansion is deeply unsettling.
The ‘ghosts’, echoes of the past, help dial up the mystery and the mansion feels like one vast escape room. Given the aformentioned skeleton-hands it may be too late for you. And, like any decent Escape Room, just poking around, poring over potential clues, is fun.
The 7th Guest VR absolutely left us wanting more, more puzzles to solve, more horror and more clues as to what really happened. Handily, it’s been long enough since we last played the original that we don’t remember how it ended. Though the fact that Stauf is an anagram of Faust is one heck of a clue.
We’re eager to see how the game’s final incarnation pans out. Based on what we’ve seen so far, this is set to be a haunting genuinely creative remake, not just a current-gen regurgitation of the original. You can get your hands on The 7th Guest VR when it lands on PCVR, Meta Quest and PSVR2 this October 19th.
