The 7th Guest/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Killer App: Until Myst came along, this game often came bundled with CD-ROM drives.
  • Technology Marches On: The reason why 11th Hour has not yet shown up on iOS, and why the Microscope puzzle was left out of the iOS version of 7th Guest.
    • The Microscope puzzle uses AI to play a game of Ataxx with the player, and you must beat it to proceed. Thanks to processing advances since the initial PC release, it's nigh impossible for a human to beat now. The game AI allots itself a set amount of time to perform a search tree for its most optimal move, then after a preset delay, picks the best move it's found by then. A really good processor back in 1993 ran about 40-60 MHz. They have since become 50 times faster with a single core, and as a result the Ataxx AI can think far, far, far more ahead in the same amount of delay. However, since it was only one game, in controlling only one (relatively minor) room of the house, excising it for the iOS release wasn't that big of a deal.
      • In fact, even if it is solved, there's no rewarding cutscene to watch, unlike many of the others.
    • The same unfortunately can't be said for Eleventh Hour, which had several puzzles where you were locked in a "duel with Stauf", including the final puzzle of the game, which was essentially playing a game of Pente with the AI. Because of that, the developers will need to find another way to limit the possible moves analyzed before the game can be released.
  • Vaporware: The 3DO version of 11th Hour, as well as the second sequel, The Collector.