Uninvited (video game)
Uninvited is a 1986 by ICOM Simulations developed for the Apple Macintosh computer game. The plot of the point-and- click adventure game set in a remote haunted house in Scotland.
The game was ported from its U.S. developers in the following years on numerous other systems. Among other things, as the console version for the NES. The game is the second in a series of four adventures based on the macventure engine.
Action
On a nightly street suddenly a strange form blocked the roadway. The player character tries to dodge, but comes with the car skidding. The control by the player shall be, when he just comes back to consciousness. A younger brother ( in the NES version an older sister ) seems to have disappeared from the heavily damaged vehicle, which then burst into flames and within a short time. There is no other choice but to enter the grand old manor house, in front of which the accident occurred, to find the brother or to get help.
The house is on two floors and a tower, whose rooms the player can explore largely freely selectable order. The decor seems mostly to originate from the early 20th century. Some rooms are furnished but modern and suggest to have been inhabited by someone younger. In the backyard, there are three more places to explore. An observatory, a greenhouse and a small chapel, from which a path leads out to the cemetery. In general, one has to go but already can see that the dead do not rest here in the cemetery, but are found throughout the house.
During the game, it turns out that the house was inhabited by a skilled magic with numerous apprentices. The most gifted among them, Dracan let himself be led away by dark forces to kill everyone else by magic that now haunt around as a shadow or undead on the property.
The player's task is to solve puzzles, make by collecting and using various objects all first inaccessible or locked areas of the game gradually accessible to and save the lost brother. As with all games of macventure engine there for a time limit. Evil always wins continue to influence and ultimately transforms the player into a zombie if it exceeds the limit.
History of development
The first adventure on the Mac - Venture Engine, Déjà Vu: A Nightmare Comes True, was successful and brought many positive reactions for there newly introduced point- and-click technology, with an adventure game can be controlled entirely without text entries alone with the mouse could. Wanted to repeat this success again or exceed at ICOM with a different theme.
Uninvited for Apple Macintosh appeared with black -and-white graphics and still no sound. For later porting not only the graphics, the story itself has been improved and complemented by sound, but especially for the NES revised. In addition to details, such as the already above mentioned change from the brother to the missing sister, additional text hints to facilitate release of the puzzles is the biggest change that there is on the NES no required time limit. A period starts when you take the ruby in the bedroom itself. However, it can be closed when you submit it back. Thus, the player has the option to waive this game element.
At the time of publication for the NES were very strict, perceived by many developers as a censor content guidelines at Nintendo of America. Some changes in the NES version were also made with regard to it. Thus, the pentagrams shown in other versions were exchanged in stars, a cross replaced by a chalice, another cross from the background graphic removed without replacement. The address " Master Crowley, 666 Blackwell Road, Loch Ness, Scotland " shortened to simply "Master Crowley ". This was (perhaps intentionally) overlook the fact that the allusion to the English occultist Aleister Crowley is still recognizable.
There was for a short time the rumor going for the NES still appear a second part. But it was alleged by the developers never planned a sequel.
Reactions and criticism
The magazine praised World Data on the Amiga version of their ease of use, good graphics and atmospheric sound. The game was even better than Déjà Vu. Also, the assessment in Computer Gaming World, which explicitly emphasizes again the simplicity of the mouse control and thus their superiority compared to Adventures with text input. The magazine The Dragon judged "a truly horrifying adventure game and mystery that'll leave you shivering in the dark"
From players perspective, the puzzles do not always seem logical, since the story is largely based on magic. After the plot of the game is not linear, the game ending seems more or less abruptly.
Trivia
In the NES version, if the player turns on the phonograph in the game room, the theme song of Shadow Gate is heard, another released for NES macventure game.