Story
Set in 1935 in the town of Harley-on-the-Hudson, a drifter named Henry Stauf, after murdering a woman, had dreams of beautiful dolls which he would then carve and give to the local children. Successful, he set up a toy store and continued to sell the dolls. At the height of his success, some of the children with Stauf's dolls came down with an incurable virus; meanwhile, Stauf, guided by another vision, built an eerie mansion on the edge of town, and after its construction, was not seen for some time. The rest of the game is presented from a first-person view as the player's avatar, called "Ego", explores the house, witnessing the events of the past through ghostly images and narrating on what is seen.
Some time after the virus outbreak, six people received invitations to stay at Stauf's mansion: Martine Burden, a former singer; Edward and Elinor Knox, an older dissatisfied couple; Julia Heine, a bank worker who reminisces of her youth; Brian Dutton, a fellow shopowner; and Hamilton Temple, a stage magician. When they arrive, they find no sign of Stauf, but instead instructions that they should stay the night and solve the puzzles that he has left them, and he will grant them their greatest desires. The guests, once on their own, each come to the conclusion that Stauf wants them to bring him the "seventh guest", which turns out to be a boy named Tad that has entered the house on a dare from his friends. Stauf seeks one more child which he will turn into one of his dolls, completing his pact with a supernatural entity.
The guests soon turn on each other: Martine lures Edward from his wife, and together they search for the boy. However, both Elinor and Hamilton recognize that Stauf has only evil plans for the child, and urge him to escape when they find him. Eventually, all but Julia and Tad succumb to death from their fellow guests or traps left by Stauf (Brian is stabbed by Edward, Edward's neck broken by Hamilton, Hamilton strangled by Julia, Martine is drowned by a spirit in her bathtub, and Elinor's spirit is tranferred into a mannequin). Julia brings Tad to the attic, where the wheelchair bound Stauf awaits. Julia hands the boy to Stauf and demands her wish, but Stauf dissolves her in a pool of his own bile as she shrieks in pain. Tad attempts to escape, but Stauf holds him back with a long, prehensile tongue. The narrator, at this point, recognizes that he has seen all these events before, as he is the spirit of Tad; he has tried to stop this from happening countless times before and doomed to repeat it. Through the narrator's motivation, Tad is able to break free of Stauf's hold, causing the supernatural entity to take Stauf. Tad thanks the narrator, as the loop has now been broken, and they are taken into a glowing white light.
Read more about this topic: The 7th Guest
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