I finished The 7th Guest earlier; been a long time since I played that all the way through. And I really enjoyed it! It's one of those games that, oddly, I think is better experienced today than it was back in the day; its oddly stylised elements work particularly well in the context of today's gaming landscape, while I recall it coming in for a fair amount of criticism back when it was originally released for being all style and no substance.
I mean, to a certain extent that is true — it was always designed to be a showcase of CD-ROM technology — but the idea of a "game where you're not constantly actively doing things" is much more palatable to today's audience than it was in the '90s. The 7th Guest's surreal nature is intriguing and enjoyable to engage with — one might argue the narrative doesn't really make a ton of sense if you stop to analyse it, but that's all part of the charm.
And the acting. Oh the acting! We can be quick to mock early FMV games for their acting, but in The 7th Guest, there's a strong feeling that everyone involved in the production had a background in acting on stage. The whole thing is very theatrical, meaning lots of deliberately overblown acting — but it works. My wife, overhearing the game from the other room, thought it sounded like "musical theatre" — particularly with the awesome closing number Skeletons in my Closet.
Part of this side of things would have been out of necessity; none of the actors in The 7th Guest were doing things on a "real" set, and thus what they were doing would doubtless have been very much like the abstract nature of performing on stage. But as I say, it works; it makes The 7th Guest into less an interactive movie and more an interactive play. And that's not only super-interesting, it's something I'd genuinely like to see a lot more of.
Anyway. Play The 7th Guest. It's very old. But I think I love it more now than I did back when I originally played it!
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