The 7th Guest Remake Reviews

Ok, lets clear the air. This is no different than the version that was released for the Meta Quest in 2023. No gameplay changes, no puzzle changes. But with the PC version you get a more high fidelity experience. If you want the max presentation of visuals and performance this is the version you want. If you value mobility and self contained experience then I would buy/stick with the Quest version. I have a beast machine so really enjoy the increased visuals and frame rate the PC version provides.

I grew up playing the original 7th Guest. I loved the puzzles. I loved the eerie tone. Heck, I even loved constantly hearing "I won't have to start again". This game is sadly.... a pale shadow of the original. I was hoping so much that it would be a good, modern remaster of the original. There are so many brilliant puzzle games and numerous suspense/horror games out in recent years, so I know it's possible. However, this game serves as merely a sterilized retelling of the original. The puzzles are insultingly simple. Every one of them is easily explained and solved with whatever the lantern shows the player. There isn't a single puzzle that is legitimately challenging. The puzzles just serve as something to do to move the game forward as opposed to something that requires effort and investment so the cut scene or unlock actually feels earned. The puzzles are also isolated to the room they're in. In the original, there were puzzles that spanned rooms and floors. You had to pay attention to things in one room to figure something out in another. It was a legitimate, satisfying challenge. Games are one of the best mediums to have the player invested and focused enough that the mere tone, audio, and visuals can incite a genuinely anxious experience. The original game wasn't quite a horror game, but the tone of the game kept you on your toes. When something new happened, it could actually make you jump. The scenes invoked some sort of fear or disgust (remember goat head). This tension kept the game interesting. You didn't feel like you were just clicking things to get through the story. You were interested in what happened next. You were interested in the individual stories of each character. You learned about each person and why Faust had brought them. You knew them well enough to see how horrible a person they were. In all, this was a disappointing insult to the original. The good news is, I can easily find and play the original on any number of archive sites.

I was in my mid-teens when the original The 7th Guest came out and was a HUGE fan of the game so I was super excited when I saw this remake was coming out. I'll start off by saying that I really enjoyed this remake. I finished the game in 8.6 hours without rushing through anything. While the game is missing a bit of the creepiness that the original game had, I really enjoyed the modernization of the game and the brand new puzzles. Some of them were just OK but most of them were well done. I would like to see The 11th Hour Remake next but I'm not holding my breath for that one. I will definitely buy it if they do make one though.

the remake, if it wasn't clear, is the VR game without needing VR. It's good, but lacking a lot of the charm of the original, plus the puzzles are WAY easier. Easier in that you might solve them accidentally on your first try. HUP HUP.

A pale imitation of the OG, the puzzles are weak, the acting is weak, the house is weak, (no maze, no crypt, no laboratory, no galary, no secret passages, no supernatural events... ) In retrospect, I should have seen this was just a cash grab based on the name without the talent required to make it a classic. The OG pushed the state of the art in 1992, literally wrote their own 3D editing suite to produce the game. What do these developers have to show for themselves? A very weak escape-room style game with a 7th guest branding. =|

[b][u]Tweaked and edited TL;DR Version:[/u][/b] [b][i]PROS[/i][/b] - People who played the original 1993 game have a decent chance of liking/appreciating this game. Incredibly true to the original as the music has the main themes woven in, the house layout is virtually the same on the first/ground floor, it follows the same story beats with some holes filled in, has lines from first game as achievements, and one puzzle made it back in. It's a high-end keyboard point and click, with the (relatively) same campy story and filmed human acting from the original. [b][i]CONS[/i][/b] - possible accessibility issue as mouse can't be mapped to or used properly [b][i]{EDIT 10 June 2026 - Use a controller[/i][/b], VR to flat doesn't work for a few of the puzzles (more below), final challenge is this Remake's Microscope Puzzle (IYKYK...). Can be completed in 10-15 hours, depending on how you approach the puzzles (and walkthroughs...). [b][u]The [i]I miss Stauf screaming "COME BAAAAAAAaaaaaaCK!!" when quitting the game[/i] version:[/u][/b] I'll start with negatives, so that I can safely gush about what I loved about this remake without the bad being ignored. [b][i]{Edit 10 June 2026 - On a replay, my major grievance is more or less taken care of with the use of a controller. It can still be a bit awkward, but I can actually grab the meat in that kitchen puzzle now. BUT, use the keyboard for the Knox Trains. Damn that was difficult to deal with; my instinct is to move the L stick to follow the track when I only have to hold only UP or DOWN.}[/i][/b] [strike][i]The only major grievance I have:[/i] how they programmed the use of the mouse and keyboard feels like it [i]could[/i] be an accessibility issue. I'm a mouse user; in so many games, I remap my most used buttons to my M4 and M5, and sometimes M3 because I only use WASD, shift, and space. Also, within the puzzles you can only manipulate the parts with the keyboard; it was so frustrating trying to remember to use Q, E and R along with WASD to solve it. The mouse could have been used to rotate the gears on the safe marble puzzle, but no. The mouse could have been used on the main puzzle in the music room with the pins...but no.[/strike] The minor, pop culture first-world-problem grievances: 1) lower the movement sensitivity down to 0.5 or less if you're prone to motion sickness. {EDIT 10 June 2026 - You may want to have it at 0.8 for both if using a controller} 2) the eyeball and skeletal hand aren't animated; probably too distracting, but it would have been one of those nice touches. 3) the puzzle translation from 3D VR to flattened doesn't always work due to the dynamic/changing angles you can get in VR vs one static angle in flat; the meat puzzle in the kitchen comes to mind as you HAVE to use your hands and change your angle for it but you can't in this version. It's incredibly awkward to grab a piece of meat, go into the puzzle, place the meat, leave the puzzle, grab a piece of meat, place it, and repeat until finished. Honestly, a lot of my issues stem from how the puzzles were programmed (one of the next points). 4) it's easy to forget that you need to use the lamp to manipulate things in the past to do things in the present like with the library clock. 5) I miss the spoken clues, like "Two sculls, two stones; the rest is just icing". Having those would have made solving some of the puzzles easier without having to go to the VR walkthrough to understand the logic. 6) THE WORST PUZZLES ARE IN BURDEN'S ROOM, hands down. I hate the jewellery puzzles because they were frustrating as f- They were overly difficult and illogical (I mean, sure, she couldn't afford real stones, but glass doesn't break [i]that[/i] easily). In second place: the bathroom. 7) I found the Remake's version of the unsolvable Microscope Puzzle: The final battle with Stauf. Freaking AI not letting me win OR get the achievement because it takes forever and I'm bad at this... 8) Crouch isn't smooth; it's instantaneous instead of gradual as in natural movement. [b]WARNING: stream of consciousness gushing ahead![/b] This game is what the GOLD STANDARD FOR REMAKES should be: deeply honouring and following the original, while making some specific changes for the better. It's modernized with an "upgraded/new" engine and puzzles, but still retains the charm of the original. The campy, B- or C-grade acting by [i]real, human actors[/i], the sometimes silly dialogue, the over-the-top reactions, Stauf's insults, how in the title screen he can sometimes say "Back for more? [laughs]" just like in the original... *tries not to dog-whistle squee* And the best part of the upgrade is how off the rail we are; we're free to roam and touch things! So much of what I want to say ends up being spoilers. The secret record made me smile, as it's [redacted]. And in the magician's room there's a flyer that has a cowboy on it; that's the original music composer known as The Fat Man! In the dining room when you finish the main puzzle, the cake looks just like the one in the original. The game room main puzzle is the only one to be in both games. So much of the dialogue is the same, the original's musical themes are woven into the new soundtrack... Speaking of references: also in the magician's room, there's a painting that made me laugh thinking of the line "what's he going to do, nibble your bum?". And there [i]may[/i] be a [i]Bioshock Infinite[/i] reference with the coins you have to get for the suitcase in there. It's been a while, but I thought of the "gift to Elizabeth" McGuffin immediately. And can we talk about the first/ground floor? My jaw dropped and I couldn't help grinning like an idiot when I saw it. It's laid out [i]exactly[/i] like the original. Yes, they added furniture, but the modelling of it is dead-on accurate. I understand the need to change the upstairs layout, but there's that tiny part of me that's like..."aww...but oh well it works!". Picking up the phone is so much fun in the beginning; the line changed, but it works so well. The dining room and kitchen look almost exactly like they do in the original, and it made me feel so freaking happy. Despite my frustrations with the 3D VR to flat conversion, I [i]really[/i] enjoyed this game. The changes they made, like music boxes instead of letters to the guests, the look of the rooms, the different puzzles, the logical changes to the story to fill it out, making it more paranormal... None of it I can consider a bad choice. This game holds a deep respect for the original, and the team did a hell of a job honouring it despite some of my perceived coding issues. I wonder if I can borrow a VR set to test it out since they were so insanely kind to give us both versions for roughly $30CAD. Both versions have their charms and annoyances; I encourage people to find a way to play the first, even if it's only four or five rooms to get a feel of what "1993 high tech" was, and what game developers are capable of doing now, thirty-three years later. I checked GOG; looks like the original version was delisted several years ago but can be found via a search on "my abandonware". I can't speak to the 25 year remaster, never played it.

One of the first great CD ROM games a lot of us enjoyed in the 1990s is bag. Is it any good? Hmmm... It's more polished of course as we've had 30 years of gaming technology since the original. It's got the ability to a slight better game intro. Downsides, the voice of Stauf just isn't the same. The original he was very dark, very creepy as he was a vile character, the latest incarnation is very competent but lacks the "creepy" vibe that so held us all captive. There silly bits that spoil a competent game, like the lazy crouch animation, the lack of guidance on the keys leading you to head to the options to look them up. On the whole I think it's a competent game, a worthy remake and at the right price, but the lack of real gameplay polish shows and it think it could have benefitted from more play testing by people played the original from start to finish. I'm still going to keep it and play it through, and it's certainly no disappointment but you know when something just needs a little more "time in the oven".

As a longtime fan of the original The 7th Guest from the 1990s, I couldn't be happier with this modern reimagining. The developers have done an excellent job preserving the atmosphere, mystery, and charm that made the original so memorable. One of the highlights is how the puzzles strike a perfect balance between nostalgia and being distinct enough to stand on their own. Rather than simply recreating old solutions, the game offers a fresh take on the classics. I was also especially appreciative of the number of puzzles found throughout each room. The game consistently provides a satisfying amount of content without ever feeling overwhelming. Each puzzle presents a fair level of challenge, and I was rarely frustrated or felt like the puzzle was unfair. As a kid, I only knew the gist of the story by reading the strategy guide. I was more interested in the puzzle solving than the lore, but it is awesome to see the story told in the way that they've portrayed it here. Related to the storytelling, I also sincerely love that they kept the live action acting using the modern technology. As much as I have loved other games that are recreations of classics, I really appreciate the developers of the 7th Guest keeping the practice of incorporating the live action video into the 3D environments. Overall, this modern version successfully honors its roots while confidently establishing its own identity.

This game commits a pretty grave sin. In attempting to modernize the formula, it loses all the creepiness and charm of the original. Are the puzzles "better"? Maybe. You'll certainly get stuck on them less than in the original, but they're also all really easy, and in the post escape room era, you've basically seen all of these puzzles before. That's not how 7th Guest felt. The actors are now show in volumetric 3D so they look less like static projected images, but the uncanniness of their old portrayal is part of what made the game creepy. Even the music misses the mark for me. But what really makes this unfortunate, is that it's not even well modernized. The controls are probably fine in VR, but they're really obtuse and frustrating for mouse and keyboard.

I played the original back in the early 1990s when I was a teenager when it first released on PC CD-ROM and enjoyed it a bunch. It was completely revolutionary for the time, so comparing this remake would be really unfair since it's hard to beat an original masterpiece. This one has its own charm though, and you get it in both VR and flat screen for a very reasonable price. The original The 7th Guest cost $79.99 back in 1993 for comparison. This version also has new puzzles and new actors and new music and it all plays homage to the original fairly well. And it has the insult system like the original had when you mess up a puzzle and have to start over and Stauf mocks your intelligence. I do wish they would animate the skeleton hand cursor and eyeballs in this remake like the original had. I like the lantern and how things change when you aim your light at them. Dead flowers and plants will appear alive and healthy when the light hits them. All paintings will show a different image when you aim at them. Etc, Etc. That's all done really well here and the house and graphics all look really nice. They should add the animated cursors for the skeleton hand (I miss the skeleton finger wagging so much) and the eyeballs and they should fix a few logic bugs with the Stauf voice when you enter and exit the game. Like, I was exiting from the game back to the main menu and the Stauf voice said, "Welcome back, we were expecting you" or something like that which is what he says when you start the game. He should have said, "Leaving so soon!? (evil chuckle)" and when exiting the game entirely from the main menu to the desktop he should shout, "COME BACK!!!" but there was nothing like that this time. Overall I'm enjoying it and will recommend it for those who like puzzle games and ghostly murder mystery stories.