The Chzo Mythos

Yes, this series definitely deserves a review, but hey, I go to JiG to find something new!

About the new login system: I tried to sign up, but it said that there already was a user named "Groogokk". Now I wonder if somebody stole my highly individual, creative and expressive name, or is that simply my "old" TypeKey identity?

[Edit: Yes, it's picking up your typekey identity, and therefore only your username cannot be the same. When registering, there is a space for your display name which can be the same, however. So, just pick a username that is different and you'll be good as gold. :) -Jay]

Wow, finally. These are some of the best independent online games ever made and you really owe it yourself to check them out.

Even though the rest of the series is great, I especially enjoyed 5 Days A Stranger, just because it had a great combination of puzzles, characters, story etc.

As a word of warning, you should probably save quite a lot when you're playing these games, especially 7 Days A Skeptic, as they have quite a few opportunities to die (although it's usually quite clear when danger is imminent).

If you enjoy these, I would definitely recommend that you go on Yahtzee's site and play some of his older games, especially the genius Rob Blanc trilogy.

I knew I saw this before... http://jayisgames.com/archives/2007/10/halloweekend_download.php.

Thanks for the expanded review! Great game!

Wulfo, I definitely liked 5 Days the best, but Trilby's notes was the best for a scare, I think.

Now does anybody know if Yahtzee is actually still retired from making games?

Yhatzee made another game called Adventures in the Galaxy of Fantabulous Wonderment. Also class.

These really are great games, but I think it might be prudent to point out in the review that there is some heavy violence/adult themes running through the games.

Occult sacrifices, mass murderers, etc.

Err..never mind, I see that now in the fourth paragraph. :)

Cheers!

Who doesn't love Trilby?

Me?

>.>

Maybe it's just something about the games that rubs me wrong, but I can't get past the "guess which random action the developer wants you to do next" gameplay and all the little ridiculous, inaccurate, or unlikely bits to really get into the games.

Which is a shame, because I love horror stories, and I want to like the games...

Ah, Chzo Mythos. What a series of games.
It was good to go against what some others said and actually play Art of Theft first - seeing how Trilby was in the past was good, before the madness of the Manor (I won't spoil anything)

7 days gets quite difficult though - as you say, save little and often, especially when it looks like danger's imminent (it probably is, and there's no autosave)
Glad to see a review of it.
(Just a thought, it may be useful to put links to the other games of the series in the post - the only one I see is for 5DAS.)

[Edit: Done. Excellent suggestion, Slanzinger. Cheers! -Jay]

Man, I love these games. I remember playing 5 days a Stranger a few years ago and absolutely loving it, but I didn't find any of the sequels until this year. They're all stupendous games, and they can really get inside your head.

However, make sure that you always focus on what to do, because it takes a bit of logic sometimes. I know I used a walkthrough quite a bit for most of 5DAS and even 7DAS because of how many times I would just get randomly lost.

I have yet to play Trilby's notes, so I guess I know what I'm getting myself for Christmas :)

Also, as a side note, Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw not only made these fantastic games, but he also does a series of video game reviews call "Zero Punctuation" at http://www.escapistmagazine.com/

Be careful, though: Some of the things said can get pretty graphic, such as when he said

That he'd rather swallow razor wire, pull one end out of this butt and keep the other end in his mouth, then floss himself to death than pay full price for Guitar Hero Encore: Rock the 80's.

Definitely NOT for the kids.

w00t!
Chzo Mythos is (are?) the BEST point and click game (s?) EVER.
It's so hard to come across really good PNC games these days, and Chzo Mythos is really a-- pardon the cliche-- diamond in the rough. I played 5DAS about a year ago, but only found 7DAS, Trilby's notes, and 6DAS recently. My personal favorite was Trilby's Notes and 6DAS...but the ending was so sad :(
I've also noticed a few games that have paid homage to Chzo Mythos a few times too. One horror PNC game I recently downloadeed-- I can't recall the name-- had a painting in a room that would occasionally switch from a landscape to a profile view of Trilby-- pixellated outline and everything. If you hovered your mouse over it, it would say "A painting depicting a man in a trilby"...so apparently a trilby is also a hat. o_O
And on a side note-- Trilby may be the hottest PNC character I've ever come across. That hat and hair just kill me...*pretends to swoon* :P

I just like that it doesn't Pop up and scare

Does it bug anyone else that in 5DAS Tribly's lockpicking skills seem to have vanished?

Overall, excellent. Does the creepy scary part well, which is saying something coming from me, as I typically don't like scary things.

Reminds me of Agatha Christie.

What do you mean, they've vanished?

He just doesn't have the picks to start off with, that's all

These adventures feel very "raw" and cheesy, yet are quite satisfying to the die-hard fans of old Sierra and Lucas Arts adventures.

Unfortunately, the author seems to draw his inspiration a little bit more from the Sierra products, and that's the only significant drawback I can think of right off the bat. Having to roam aimlessly through same locations over and over again can perhaps be tolerated, but getting frequently getting killed without warning is just plain irritating - saving a game is a metagame concept, afterall, and shouldn't really be that much of a necessity. This is especially true for 7days where in certain parts of the game the killer spawns all over the place not even giving you a split-second interval for reaction.

But nitpicks aside, the retro feel and cost-free availability of the games is a big plus, as well as the fact that they are all a product of one adventure games enthusiast. All in all, a big thumbs up.

I usually don't like horror games, but these are just too good to pass. Trilby is my favorite gentleman thief!
And a small detail: these games are tagged as "Tribly", instead of "Trilby".

I love this trilogy! I managed to play through a lot of them without a walkthrough, and they're sooo good. Man.

Gasp! The ending where Tribly is... injured... is so scary! Is that the ending? or was he supposed to live?

The part where

Tribly is trapped in the shed bacause the others think he was the murderer

There are actually a bunch of text based adventure games between 7DaS and 6DaS for more back story.

Considering that Yahtzee made Art of Theft a few weeks ago, I doubt he's retired. However, he is busy doing game reviews every week, which I thoroughly enjoy.

Ainegue:

(I'm assuming you're talking about Trilby's Notes) If you mean that you were told "Trilby went missing in action", that's not the 'good' ending.
What can you do to mess up the ritual? (Go back a little to the conversation with Lenkmann if you can't think)

Hmmm...again, nothing for Mac. Maybe I need to make time to do reviews. Unfortunately, I hang out here because I'm busy. Weekends suck--please don't forget your Mac users.

dstrosy, I totally agree with you. Mac users really ought to petition for mac-happy downloadables.

dsrtrosy and Scramble125,

Because the games are all made using Adventure Game Studio, ou can actually download a player for these games here.

Also, I recommend not playing through the entire series in one go if you're a scaredy-cat . I had to leave a light on when I went to sleep because I was afraid of the welder...

No, I get it now. I'm doing 7 Days A Skeptic now, and i'm freaking out - being persued by what apears to be a crazy zombie trying to choke you to death and having a hard time using your weapons to destroy him and not being able to run away for help does that to people. I hate when these games are, well, "timed" in a way. Ugh - the second that the zombie enters the door I freak... These can be pretty hard... ugh... well, still pretty fun. I'm going to take a break or I might begin to have nightmares soon. Ha!

I liked the first game so much that I just played all of them in one go (with little help from walkthroughs to speed up in tricky spots).

The bad things first:
- The interface sucked in 5DAS and TN. Tribly's Notes had me pulling hairs navigating the bothersome hotel staircase. I peeked at the walkthrough more than once, just to avoid running back and forth between floors. All of the mouse based games could've borrowed from Monkey Island the ability to directly jump to the next screen, without the character having to walk across the screen.

- I'd never have figured out the last puzzle of TN on my own,

where you have to MOVE first, then DIE.

- All of the games could've done without the Sierra save-n-restore hell. I don't believe there was a single point, where the games couldn't just have let you get a second go at it, as the last game cleverly does when you are killed in the house.

- Some of the games had inconsistent scrolling vs. snapping: For example, in 5DAS I walked to the end of the pool thinking that the backyard ends there, because it stopped scrolling. I needed a walkthrough to realize that there was another screen.

The good things:
- The stories are quite captivating and it was nice how the plot thickens during the games. Until close to the climatic point, it was never quite clear what was going on.

- It's obvious that the author didn't think of the whole Chzo thing until the third game. Thus the overarching plot evolves throughout the games, yet without falling apart, which kind of reminds me of Roger Zelazny's Amber series.

- The games borrow from Clive Barker quite successfully.

I've played 5 days a Stranger (completed) 7 days a skeptic (couldn't finish but watched end) and am currently playing Trilby's Notes (scaring me more then the other 2) and the games are just amazing.

The story is just amazing and truly easy to get sucked into. The gameplay can be a bit confusing at times but it still is an amazing series

Also its a good idea to keep a walkthrough (and maybe your favorite teddy Mr. Fluffy) in hand at all times.

I can't find anyone in 5DAS.

I found it really frustrating that I

got all the way to the part where you need to use a pick axe on the kitchen wall, and it just wouldnt work. i went and found a walkthrough and i've done everything im supposed to so i dont know what the problem is.

Sarah before you can use the pickaxe on the wall you have to open the map you got from the library....

OMG I just submitted this ;_; You're freaking kidding me!!!!!!! Darn it... Must've been posted by another deceasedcrab fan...

Was a fan of the first one until I died.

Guess it's just growing up with Secret of Monkey Island, Loom and the like: games which (sensibly!) don't force you to replay whole segments of the game just because you couldn't figure out what speck to click on within 5 seconds.

Hi all, I'm requesting a bit of technical support ^.^ In Trilby's Notes you have to use your keyboard to control your character, but since one of my directional button on my keyboard is broken, I've reconfigured my keyboard on Windows with the help of an external software. Unfortunately, when I play Trilby's notes, the game recognizes the original configuration and it doesn't let me move my character, since I can't use my original directional button. How can I overcome this problem? Thanks in advance.

Hey Danaroth - you can use the Numpad arrows, if you turn Num Lock off (assuming you're using a desktop keyboard)

Thanks a lot for the advice, unfortunately I'm using a laptop keyboard so I don't have a real numpad; anyway I've solved the problem downloading a virtual keyboard software (that one that usually is used by people with disability). It's not really a problem to me to play the game in windowed mode and now this episode too feels like a true point-and-click :P

I'm so happy these games were finally reviewed! This series is undoubtedly the best freeware I've ever downloaded. The story is great, the puzzles aren't too random/hard, and did I mention Trilby is probably the coolest name ever?

I love Zero Punctuation too, although there is definitely a ton of adult humor, so don't check it out if you're sensitive to that kind of thing (but if you've gotten through the Chzo Mythos, you're probably fine :P)

I was playing Trilby's Notes and when I entered the bar for the first time I appeared in the Engine Room of the ship from 7 Days a Skeptic. I left and was back in the hotel but it was weird because I don't think that was suppossed to happen, must have been a bug.

I finally finished the whole series and I seriously think the story should be made into film. Trilby is a fantastic character for a movie -and the Chzo/Defoe myth would make an excellent plot line-.

As for the games themselves, 5/5, no doubt.