The 7th Guest is getting a flat-screen remake this June

Vertigo Games is bringing its 2023 virtual reality remake of The 7th Guest to standard displays. The flat-screen adaptation launches June 4 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, with a Nintendo Switch version planned for a later date.

The original 1993 PC game by Trilobyte was a massive commercial success that helped justify the purchase of early CD-ROM drives. It relied heavily on pre-rendered graphics and full-motion video performances to tell the story of an amnesiac exploring the haunted mansion of toy maker Henry Stauf.

The premise follows six guests who receive invitations to Stauf's estate. Once they arrive, they find the eccentric toy maker missing and the house filled with deadly traps. The player has to piece together what happened to the guests and uncover the identity of the titular seventh guest. The game spawned a sequel, The 11th Hour, and inspired a wave of puzzle-heavy adventure games throughout the 1990s. It was a weird time for PC gaming, and Trilobyte was right at the center of it.

Free movement

The 1993 release kept players on strict, predetermined paths. Clicking on a door triggered a highly compressed video clip of the camera gliding down a hallway. Vertigo Games initially released this remake as a virtual reality exclusive in October 2023. The developers completely discarded the original on-rails movement. They rebuilt the entire mansion in a real-time 3D engine to allow for full exploration.

They also recast the roles and used volumetric video capture for the new performances. The actors were recorded in full 3D. This lets players walk around the live-action characters to view them from different angles as the scenes play out in the game engine. The flat-screen version adapts this system for standard controllers and mouse inputs. This entirely removes the requirement for a VR headset.

The core gameplay loop remains focused on environmental puzzle-solving. Players wander the mansion and unlock new rooms by solving logic puzzles left behind by Stauf. The new version updates the presentation of these classic brain teasers. A complex mechanical puzzle box unfolds on a table, alongside the familiar jewel necklace logic puzzles.

Cross-buy access

The game leans heavily into campy, supernatural horror. A skeleton waves from a dark doorway with glowing green eyes. It perfectly matches the B-movie tone of the 1993 release. It captures the exact brand of 1990s multimedia weirdness, just rendered with modern lighting.

The flat-screen release costs $20 and has a cross-buy system. Anyone who purchases the standard console or PC version gets the VR edition for free. Existing owners of the VR game will receive this standard version at launch. The PC release will be available across Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store.

The updated graphics and modern engine should make navigating Stauf's mansion much smoother than it was three decades ago. Hopefully, the developers also found a way to make the infamous microscope puzzle slightly less miserable.