I was hunting around on YouTube and remembered that I'd found a complete walkthrough of Uninvited from 1986--the very first game I ever played, and the one that got me into adventures in the first place. Naturally I have to embed it here.
I still have the game on disc, packed away. I still have my old
Mac SE that I played it on, although I removed something vital on that poor computer years ago and rendered it inoperable (but that computer--my first--got me through most of my doctoral studies). Someday I'll get it fixed. It's just a software problem. So I can't play the game again (although rumor has it that it's being redone!).
This actually was not an easy game. Lots of the puzzles were fairly obscure. But they were all inventory puzzles, so if you've got the correct item and you just keep trying stuff eventually you're going to get through the game. (Hmmm. Probably why I still like inventory puzzles to this day--you actually can figure them out eventually.) I managed to finish the game way back then when I didn't even know what I was doing. There were no walkthroughs available then. Folks, there was no internet then. I even wrote a walkthrough myself, writing out every move. I was just entranced with the thing.
The game caught me when it scared me half to death the first time I touched the ghost. This is what happens the instant you click your mouse on her:
The original jump-in-your-chair moment
I mean, the Mac SE had a 9-inch screen and the graphics played in a small window inside of that, so you kind of had to put your nose right up to the screen to really see what you were doing. The effect of that gave me probably the most shocking moment I've ever had in gaming. This was so completely unexpected (and came right at the beginning of the game) that I not only jumped in my chair, I think I might have yelled. Goosebumps broke out on the back of my neck and spread down to my toes. It was a highly emotional moment, and it hooked me on adventures right there. Finishing the game hooked me completely. (I recall giving my Dad the same experience with the game! Later I got him into Shivers, which he really enjoyed.)
That ghost got me numerous times before I finally bypassed her and went upstairs and found the bottle of "No Ghost" in the closet. She still got me a few more times before I figured out that I had to open the bottle before I could operate it on her.
Whew!
And of course, whenever you do something suicidal, the game shocks you with this screen and does the only voice it has: "I've got you!" There are other extremely primitive sound effects.
This happened fairly frequently as I recall . . .
The graphics look primitive too, but they were amazing to us back in the day. I remember being absolutely astonished that by clicking on the old Victrola in one of the rooms, you could hear a recording of "Winchester Cathedral." It was just amazing technology!
Notice, of course, that there are holdovers from text adventures that came before. You still have to read the narration at the bottom of the screen. And of course, you still have to open the mailbox in front of the house! That mailbox meme began with Zork and used to pop up fairly often in adventures, as I recall.
Notice, of course, that there are holdovers from text adventures that came before. You still have to read the narration at the bottom of the screen. And of course, you still have to open the mailbox in front of the house! That mailbox meme began with Zork and used to pop up fairly often in adventures, as I recall.
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