What is The 11th Hour?

Sequel to the popular 7th guest.

• The rotting mansion of evil toy make Henry Stauf has been ominously silent for 70 years.
• Only when reporter Robin Morales vanishes while investgating the house do events resurrect the malignant past.
• As Morales' colleague and lover, you explore the ravaged estate and strangely quiet town to look for her.
• Every dramatic moment is riddled with intricate clues.
• Will you find Robin and unearth Stauf's fate at last? Or seal your own forever?
• It all comes together at The 11th Hour.

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That creepy old house in upstate New York has been naughty again. The home of depraved toy-maker Henry Stauf, who was last seen playing murderous tricks on a group of overnight visitors in The 7th Guest, has resurfaced with a vengeance in the belated Mac version of The 11th Hour.

The 7th Guest was a smash hit for both PC and Mac in its day, so you would have expected a fair amount of hype when the sequel rolled around. But Virgin Interactive released the Mac version of The 11th Hour with scarcely a whisper. A pity — it deserves better, especially for the puzzle fanatics who ate up the original.

The 11th Hour takes you back to the old haunted house that once belonged to mad genius Henry Stauf. Situated on the outskirts of a weird little town called Harley on the Hudson, where supernatural things seem to happen naturally, the ghostly mansion is filled with the ominous detritus of past crimes and some of the toughest puzzles ever to mangle a brain.

There is, of course, a plot. A TV producer, Robin Morales, entered the house to track down a major story — and disappeared. Now her anchorman, Carl Denning, has come to the house to find her. He must solve more than 40 riddles and work his way through almost 20 tough brain-busters before midnight, or she’ll be lost forever.

The puzzles are the driving force in this game. There are numerous familiar devices from The 7th Guest to aid you: a bony hand that beckons you onward or wags at you to deny access, a skull with a throbbing brain to indicate a puzzle, and a rolling eyeball that shows possible moves. As you solve the puzzles, you learn more about the story that Morales was chasing — two young women were trapped in Stauf's mansion years ago and ravished. One is now confined to a wheel-chair; the other has a prosthetic hand and an evil daughter. Their night of horror unfolds slowly through snippets of full-motion video.

The riddles are tough, too. They appear through a device called the GameBook. They may be short (“Skedaddled”) or long and nonsensical (“Dreams abound of arming the rebels. What of nocturnal horses’ schedules?”). Some riddles may suggest the room you need (“Artsy, excited lecher” leads to the Art Gallery and a painting of a satyr), or you may have to wander through rooms, clicking on everything.

You don’t have to have played The 7th Guest to understand the sequel, but it helps. When a clue sugests a trip to the dining room or the bathroom, memory cells may guide you in the proper direction. If you missed The 7th Guest, don’t worry. Most rooms are inaccessible until you need them. You can always retrace your steps to see if the bony hand beckons toward a previously blocked room.

In case you’re at a loss, you can turn to the useful brain-saving device, the Techno-Psychic Ally. If one of Stauf's wicked logic puzzles proves too difficult, go to your GameBook and ask for help. A ghostly female voice will offer advice. The first time, she’ll give you a general clue; the second time, a more specific clue. If you ask a third time, she’ll offer to solve the puzzle.

But don’t rely on her too much. Even specters get tired, so she may not be around when you need her.

Lee, John. (January 1999). The 11th Hour: The Sequel to The 7th Guest. MacAddict. (pg. 68).

Download The 11th Hour for Mac

Architecture

IBM PowerPC

System Requirements

From Mac OS 7.5 up to Mac OS 9.2

Compatibility notes

• PowerPC/80MHz or faster
• System 7.5.3 or later
• 12MB free RAM
• 4X CD-ROM
• 16-bit color display

Emulating this? It could probably run under: SheepShaver