Der Horror-Adventure-Nachfolger von "The 7th Guest" aus dem Jahre 1995. Die Handlung spielt einige Jahrzehnte später aber wieder in dem verfluchten Haus. Am Spielprinzip hat sich nichts geändert, man spielt sich durch Rätsel in den Räumen. Aufgelockert wird die Handlung durch Zwischensequenzen mit echten Schauspieler im Stil der frühen 1990iger Serien was heute unfreiwillig komisch wirkt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSghmn2ZRzk

Man befindet sich als Reporter in dem Haus des Spielemeisters Stauf. In diesem Haus soll man nach Spuren suchen, die einem zu der Leiche einer Frau führen werden. Bei der Suche trifft man auf die verschiedensten Rätsel, die einen vor so manche knifflige Aufgabe stellen.

Dieses Spiel ist aus dem Jahre 1995, daher schon etwas älter, dennoch hat es seinen eigegen Charm.

+
Knifflige Rätsel
Gegenstände, die einen Kurzfilm erzählen
Gamebook, falls man Hilfe benötigt
Tolle Atmosphäre für damalige Verhältnisse

°
(keine)

-
Musik kann manchmal etwas stören
Der Player stürzt ab und dann einfach mal so ab
Rätsel ziehen sich manchmal in die Länge

FAZIT: Wenn man mal langeweile hat, dann kann man es sich mal geben. Wer auf knifflige Rätsel steht, sollte zuschlagen.

Zuvor sei gesagt das Spiel ist über 20 Jahre alt und wurde schon veröffentlicht da hat Herr Newell nichtmal Valve gegründet.

Man war damals irgendwie der irrigen Annahme man bräuchte die Grafik nicht verbessern man müsste den Film und das Videospiel zusammenführen. Mit echten Schauspielern und allem drum und dran. Dadurch hat man gerade heute einen wunderschönen Querschnitt auf den Lifestyle der 90ger.

Wer schlecht gegelte Haare und schlecht sitzende Ponys, Technikspielereien aus der Prä-smartphoneära sehen will, Frauen mit extremen Makeup und Jacketts mit Schulterpolstern und Hüftbundjeans, oh die werden ja gerade wieder getragen. Wer auf skurile stereotyplastige Dialoge, z.T. echt unfaire Rätsel und eine extrem nervige Musik steht, dem rate ich das Spiel. Allein für die unglaubliche Zahl an WTF Momenten ist es das Geld wert.

Von mir ein positiv, aber ich bin auch damit gross geworden. Erklärt im Nachhinein aber Vieles. ;-)

Circa 1993 and originally played on a CD disc. Sequel to The 7th Guest. Horror, mystery, point and click, "hidden object" puzzler. The game itself holds up to time passage but the graphics, speed, sound, color, etc. are not adjustable (at least not by me) and depending on the computer (especially newer ones) may make the game lag or be twitchy - just a warning. Included with the game is a "making of" section that are short movie clips about different aspects of how the game was put together, about the charaters, and the NEW 'AT THE TIME' concept of a 64 minute movie divided into clips and inserted in the gameplay to tell the story. (These clips are not skippable, nor is the beginning movie which the player only sees once and sets up the story.) Recommend listening to the title screen music/song. It is really creepy.

Storyline: Investigative reporter Robin Morales has decided to do a story concerning the Stauf Mansion in the town of Harley, prompted by rumors of present disappearances and the mysterious happenings 70 years ago and presently. (So sad I did not realize Stauf is an anagram of FAUST until nearly the end of this game.) Robin has disappeared while doing her investigation and her colleague/ex-boyfriend/boyfriend Carl Denning (news anchor) goes to the Stauf Mansion to find her. Through various video clips throughout the gameplay the player discovers what is happening and why. (Digression: the way Stauf says Carl when taunting him reminds me of when the llama Paul says Karl (Llamas with Hats - YouTube) and I can imagine Karl the llama being perfectly content in the grisly Stauf mansion).

Gameplay: This game is actually easier to play than the 7th Guest. The puzzles are not super hard logical puzzles and the brain busters that some of the logic puzzles in the 7th Guest were. Plus the storyline is much easier to understand. This is a stand alone game and playing the first game is not required to understand this one.

One of the best features is the Gamebook (phone). The Gamebook (accessed in the upper right - just point the mouse there and it shows up) contains an AI who will play or simply solve the puzzles for the player, all except the last endgame one. I suggest that the AI play any game that is being played against Stauf. (Gamebook has all the rules for the puzzles and games, and will tell the player if they are playing against Stauf.) Of the 5 Stauf games (not including the endgame one) only the mouse maze as far as I am concerned is unbeatable without using the AI to do it. (In my game it took the AI 3 times before it beat Stauf.) The other Stauf games are like Othello or Go, and logic and good strategy will beat him.

The gameplay is driven by answering "riddles" which read and are solved like British cryptic crossword puzzle clues. The 41 cryptic crossword puzzle clues can be anagrams, homophones, put together words (like guile + lot + in = guillotine), backwards spelling, backwards anagram, separated words, etc. There are also number clues and two cipher clues. Once the word is found then the player must go find that object somewhere in the mansion and click on it to get the next cryptic crossword clue. Fortunately the Gamebook gives the player hints about the word/object that needs to be found.

When the player arrives in a room if an object can not be clicked on then a puzzle has to be solved first. There is one puzzle per room and once the room opens up the player can go solve the puzzle. Defintely look around at everything because the player will be back to find some object when mentioned in some word clue. Puzzles include 2 chess puzzles (exchange sides - one with knights (6 pieces), the other with bishops(4pieces)), various logic puzzles, a couple of scrambled word puzzles and a train puzzle. As I said before these puzzles are easier then those encountered in the 7th Guest. The Gamebook will also kindly ask if the player wants the AI to outright solve the puzzle.

At word clue 7, 17, 29, and 37 all the movie clips gathered between those word clues will be played in full showing the player "the story". These can NOT be skipped. I highly recommend saving at these points. There are 9 save slots and make sure to save before exiting the game.

Finally save the game (final save point) at the last word clue (which is at the grandfather clock) because you may opt to play the endgame more then once (and beat Stauf's final game more than once) to see all the endings. There are three different endings to this game and are determined by Carl's choice. Do try to remember this was a very inventive and innovative game when it was made in 1993. So please try not to laugh too hard at the end or be disappointed by it. I personally think the end is still really creepy, even the ending that would be considered the best, "good" or "true" ending today.

I recommend this game for puzzlers who want a challenge and something different from today's fare.

Three reasons to buy this game:

* Challenging puzzles for people who enjoy frustration.
* A decent and interesting horror story.
* It's a very valuable piece of gaming history.

Three reasons NOT to buy this game:

* Cheesy cutscenes (but for some of us who like to laugh, it's a GREAT reason).
* Won't appeal to people who love HD games.
* The engine is outdated. Some people will have to fiddle with the game to get it running.

Now... for the review:

I have to admit that, like most people who played this game when it came out, I have fond memories of it: I used to play it with my family, in the weekends, when we usually took turns to solve the puzzles or to try to beat Stauf in Honey & Blood or the Rat Maze.

It's kind of sad, but I haven't played like that with my family and friends in a while. It seems like games rarely have that balance anymore. Most games nowadays are divided in two: A single player paradise with a flexible difficulty (so the player doesn't lose its appendix because of the frustration) or a multiplayer gore fest where rarely you understand what's happening anymore. Yeah, like most gamers, I also enjoy those kind of games, I know it's the evolution of gaming. However 11th Hour (and the 7th Guest) was a game which could be enjoyed with other people in a single gameplay and somehow, it seems it was meant to be played with the advice and skills of other people or it could be a very frustrating game.

You had to ask for help before the internet spoiled everything.

But time has passed and I know this game will barely catch the attention of new and young players. It's a shame. It deserves an opportunity, at least as a piece of history. The game has an interesting story but cheesy and low-res movies require some faith and imagination from the player; a suspension of desbelief and a willingness to enjoy what's happening or what's about to happen, regardless of the acting, or the 90s modelling and rendering. In my latest gameplay, although I knew most of the story, I could feel some scary or tense moments. The music is amazing, a true accomplishments (some puzzles are so difficult, that you could be listening the same tune for hours and you will hardly feel tired from hearing it).

Henry Stauf is a great character. It could be an icon like other popular videogame mascots.

The 11th Hour is a tough game to recommend, because I enjoyed playing it but I don't necessarily think it's "good". If you tend to like cheesy FMV point and click games with their at times frustrating logic, this game is probably worth a try. If you get easily frustrated with really obtuse puzzles or lackluster story, you might want to choose something else.

The gameplay is a combination of puzzles and riddles. I found the puzzles to be pretty reasonable, although some of them were pretty challenging. The riddles were a lot more variable ranging from incredibly easy to incredibly obtuse. Figuring out what the riddle is getting at doesn't necessarily doesn't necessarily give a clear indication of what the corresponding object is. The in-game hint system is also not always clear, and at least once actually gave me the wrong impression of a puzzle. The puzzles where you have to go against the AI were difficult, but all were possible to beat without getting the computer to solve it for you.

The gameplay is all pretty divorced from the story. You unlock the cutscenes by solving riddles and completing puzzles, but those riddles and puzzles don't have anything to do with the story of the game. The story is okay. It's there, and it's interesting enough, but it isn't anything special and doesn't make a lot of sense if you really think about it. The characters aren't especially interesting and the acting and dialogue is all pretty cheesy.

I never had any major technical problems playing the game, and I didn't have to tweak any settings to get the game to work. I'd still recommend that you save frequently, though, because some of the puzzles are really irritating to have to do over in case of an unexpected glitch.

For all its flaws, I still really enjoyed The 11th Hour. I thought it was mostly fun, and had lots of elements to enjoy, although there are certainly much better games out there. It's also pretty cheap, especially when it goes on sale, and the soundtrack is pretty nice. Overall, 5/10

Not to be confused with Greame Base's excellent tale of birthday games and rodent treachery. The 11th hour is the sequel to The 7th Guest, an FMV horror puzzle game from the mid 90's. The game is played from a 1st person perspective and involves the player wandering around the games mansion looking for clues suggested by the disembodied voice of the mansions owner and solving "spooky" puzzles as you go. There are also a host of FMV events to stumble on to which detail the story of previous visitors to the house. It's a little slow but mostly holds up but I'm not sure who if anybody is going to be scared by anything that goes on, it's all just too funny.

-Everything seems to work, gameplay is somewhat engaging
-pretty hilarious. Also I have a crazy uncle by the same name as the games villain which just made it funnier
-slice of 90's gaming history. I was suprised to see that this was made in the SCUMM engine

-B grade acting, goofy plot, falls flat on it's face as far as being "horror" goes
-the villain looks like Mr Layheih (RIP) from trailer park boys

The 11th hour is unlikely to change anyone's life but it's a good laugh and plays decently, maybe not for recommended to everyone but if you are the sort of person who enjoys their B grade (or even C or D or E grade) horror films then you will probably enjoy this, similarly if you enjoyed the first person FMV puzzle games of the 90's this will take you back.

A classic!
Although people still says that this is a downfall from The 7th Guest, it is defenetly a must-have for fans of the genre.
Can't wait for the 7th Guest 3!

11th hour is the second in my quest of playing at least an hour of each of the games in my Steam Library.

Obvious constraint of a 1995 game aside it was a very enjoyable time and I might try it again.
The game is a follow up to 7th Guest the 1993 hit which I hear is better game wise then 11th hour.
It is a FMV game of the era, puzzles & treasures hunt or the “padding” in between movies.
The puzzle are very clever and hard. The treasure hunts are VERY hard and border on the arbitrary at time with the constant use of anagram.
The story is interesting liking it to 7th guest nicely. I actually went on Youtube to watch a montage of all the cut scene in order which makes an interesting hour long movie.
All in all a fun nostalgia game.

This game takes place inside the same mansion as The 7th Guest. The mansion is more detoriated than the previous, your character uses a flashlight while moving around. The gameplay is the same as The 7th Guest. Pointing and clicking along, you must solve puzzle after puzzle in order to continue on deeper in the mansion and figure out more of the story. Anyone who likes puzzle games should play it.