The 13th Doll, the fan-made sequel to The 7th Guest, will be out this year

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The 13th Doll is a licensed, fan-made followup to The 7th Guest, a creepy FMV adventure about a local nut who gets off on killing kids that was released in 1993. It was announced and successfully crowdfunded in 2015, at which time it was expected to be out late that year or early in 2016. Now here we are in 2018 and it still hasn't happened, but the developers have announced that it's coming this year—on Halloween. Ooooh.

The 13th Doll continues the sad adventures of Tad, the young chap who defeated the evil toymaker Stauf in The 7th Guest. Literally haunted by the experience, he languishes in a mental institution as a young man, until the day a new doctor takes up his case—and takes Tad on what he believes will be "a cathartic trip" back to the mansion where the horrors began. Naturally, the treatment does not go quite as planned.

The new game will feature 26 puzzles, new locations, HD FMV sequences, two playable characters with unique plotlines, and five possible endings. It will also see the return of Robert Hirschboeck as the villainous Henry Stauf: Hirschboeck portrayed the character in the original game and its 1995 sequel The 11th Hour.

There's a very retro look to the game, but I think that's inherent to FMV adventures: It doesn't matter how hi-def you make them, they're always going to have a certain "high school drama project" air. That said, it also looks very professional. Whether or not there's an audience for new FMV games remains to be seen, but based on the announcement trailer I'd say that at the very least, The 13th Doll will hold its own against the earlier games in the series.

The 13th Doll is available for preorder at the13thdoll.com, with Kickstarter-equivalent rewards offered at tiers ranging from $15 for the base game to $150 (plus shipping) for the physical "Stauf Box" edition. And if you haven't previously enjoyed the magic of The 7th Guest, you can get an idea of what it's all about in the trailer for Night Dive Studios' 2013 re-release below.

Thanks, RPS.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.