Shadowgate vs The 7th Guest
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Shadowgate
Embark on a perilous quest in a reimagined point-and-click adventure. Solve mind-bending puzzles, explore stunning hand-painted rooms, and choose your playstyle with customizable UI and difficulty levels. Uncover secrets and defeat an ancient evil in this classic reborn.
- Customized UI with modern or classic commands
- Four difficulty levels that alter gameplay
- First-person adventuring with inventory and mapping
- Beautifully illustrated rooms with new and familiar locations
- Mind-bending new and updated puzzles
- Retro mode with classic graphics and sound
- Over 50 player achievements
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REQUIRES iPAD 3 OR NEWER! ALSO WORKS WITH iPHONE 6/6s and 6/6s Plus (However, the optimal experience is on an iPad! as the screen is larger.) NOT COMPATIBLE WITH iPAD 1, iPAD 2 or iPAD MINI (without retina display) Shadowgate is one of the most well-known and beloved point-and-click adventure titles in gaming history. As one of the original titles in the popular MacVenture series that went on to be celebrated on the NES, GBC, and Nintendo 64, Shadowgate quickly endeared players with its fantastic atmospheric soundtrack, perilous locations to progress through, countless puzzles to solve, and more ways to gruesomely die than gamers previously thought possible. Thrust into the role of "The Seed of Prophecy," players travel deep into the living castle, in hopes of defeating the evil that dwells within – the dreaded Warlock Lord. Now, nearly 30 years after the original version haunted Mac and NES gamers, the original development team behind that timeless classic is back with a full re-imagining of the original Shadowgate. Much more than a port, the team at Zojoi has painstakingly redesigned the game from the ground up, adding in tons of new mind-bending puzzles, lots of new rooms with stunning hand-painted 2D graphical detail, and more objects to interact with and help you along your quest. Decide how YOU want to play this new, re-imagined Shadowgate! Want the modern adventure experience? Use the wheel-based icon command system. Want the retro experience? Employ the Classic command system and turn on the retro graphics, soundtrack, text box, and room transitions. Want a more cinematic experience? Switch to Immersive mode by auto-hiding the UI and using customizable hotkeys to explore the castle. Or mix and match the options to satisfy your play style. In Shadowgate, there are plenty of new features and fun throwbacks to the original version to satisfy veteran adventurers and newcomers alike! Key Features: - - Customized UI: Play the way you want! Use modern wheel-based icon commands or the classic on-screen commands. - Difficulty Levels: Four different difficulty levels (from the novice to expert) that actually change the gameplay experience and puzzle structure. - First Person Adventuring: Utilize your inventory, mapping system, and intuitive UI to complete your quest. - Dangerous Dungeons: Tons of beautifully illustrated rooms featuring both new and familiar locations, offering a new gameplay experiences. - Mind-bending Puzzles: Lots of new and updated puzzles that seamlessly expand on the original game. - Retro Mode: Play the game like it’s 1989! Toggle on pixelated graphics, listen to Hiroyuki Masuno’s original NES chip tunes, move between rooms with NES transitions, and enjoy the text in retro format. - Over 50 player achievements to unlock. - Storytelling: Shadowgate features dramatic cut-scenes and all the same great storytelling you expect from the original creators. - Cinematic Score: A digitally-orchestrated, dynamic soundtrack that changes with gameplay by composer Rich Douglas. - Soundscapes: A complete atmospheric and puzzle-based sound design featuring hundreds of sound effects. “If you are a fan of the genre, looking for something difficult to tackle, or wondering why you haven’t played Shadowgate in 30 years, absolutely pick this up.” - 8/10 GameZone “Shadowgate will offer you a journey into darkness, and an adventure unlike anything you have experienced in a long time.” - 8/10 Adventuregamers.com “This new Shadowgate is a superlative remake that should stand as a great example of how to take a cult classic and update it for both new and nostalgic audiences.” - 9/10 Leviathyn.com
The 7th Guest
Step into a haunted mansion filled with puzzles and secrets. This remastered classic features groundbreaking full-motion video, bizarre challenges, and explorable 3D rooms. Experience a terrifying virtual environment with updated controls and enhanced graphics.
- Full-motion video and live actor dialogue
- Bizarre puzzles and games
- 22 explorable 3D rooms
- Touch-screen optimized controls
- High-end graphics upscaling
- Collectable achievements
- Original and remastered audio options
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The famous game remastered in a new 25th Anniversary Edition! The father and mother of all 'Haunted Mansion' games! Winner of multiple gaming awards and “No. 1 Rated Game of 1994”. "Stunning and revolutionary graphics; a slice of history for adventure fans." - Adventure Gamers "The new standard in interactive entertainment." - Bill Gates (Founder of Microsoft Corporation, 1993) Henry Stauf's mansion has been abandoned for as long as anyone dare remember. Stauf was a master toy maker, a maker of amazing puzzles and this strange, eerie, mansion was his greatest creation. It stands empty, rotting ever since children started dying with his toys near them, ever since six guests came and were never seen again. Now, you are in the house, moving from one room to another, trying to remember and trying to forget. Because Stauf's game isn't over. There were six guests the world knew about - and there was one other. The mansion of horror comes to life again and only you can end this mad nightmare and learn the secret of the 7th guest. The game features: - Groundbreaking (90s era) use of full-motion video and dialogue recorded by live actors in a terrifyingly virtual environment. - Bizarre puzzles to solve and games to play. - 22 stunningly rendered, devilishly surprising, 3-D rooms await you in this fully explorable haunted mansion. ‘25th Anniversary Edition' features: - Totally new, much praised, game play controls that were built from the ground up for touch-screens. * Hotspot based with the option to highlight all hotspots in each game screen. * Skip quickly any scene. * Completely new map, which can be access directly from the game screen - Completely new game menus and save/load system - Three Music options: The praised, orchestrated, music score re-mastered or the original score in high quality Midi recording or Adlib - Much improved voice acting audio and all-new, optional subtitles - High-end graphics upscaling (xBR filter) for high-resolution displays - 28 Achievements (5 Hidden) to collect! - Optional retro settings: play with original graphics, original music and even the original controls (mouse pointer) - A lot of extras: * ‘The Making of’ featurette * 19 Deleted Scenes and 34 Deleted Audio Parts * Comprehensive Soundtrack: 36 Tracks to add to your music collection! * ‘The 7th Guest’ Novel (157 pages) * The Original Script (104 pages), ‘The Stauf Files’ booklet (20 pages), Original Game Manual (41 pages) - Multiple languages (ALL included without additional payment): English voice acting, with or without English, Portuguese, Italian, Swedish or Hebrew subtitles German voice acting with or without German subtitles French voice acting with or without French subtitles Russian voice acting with or without Russian subtitles The 25th Anniversary Edition produced and developed by MojoTouch © 2014-2019 all rights reserved. Licensed from Trilobyte Games, LLC - the original game developer. An Oregon-based corporation. Uses ScummVM which is protected under GNU-GPL v2. For more information please visit MojoTouch website.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: The 7th Guest at every 5 days against Shadowgate's monthly. The 7th Guest also leads on rating (4.6 vs 4.2) and ratings volume (668 vs 55). Shadowgate's advantage is review sentiment (62% vs 39%) and price ($2.99 vs $7.99). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Shadowgate costs $2.99 and The 7th Guest $7.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
The 7th Guest holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: The 7th Guest has 668 ratings behind it against 55, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 62% of Shadowgate's written reviews are positive against 39% of The 7th Guest's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Shadowgate ships an update monthly, The 7th Guest every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 26, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Shadowgate | The 7th Guest |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 — better | $7.99 |
| Rating | 4.2 (55 ratings) | 4.6 (668 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 62.1% of reviews — better | 38.8% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 55 | 668 — better |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Best chart rank | — | #199 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 12.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1.3 GB | 1.1 GB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Zojoi | Liron Barzilai |
Customer experience
Shadowgate
The 7th Guest
User reviews
Shadowgate
From 55 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🤩 Faithful and nostalgic remake
- ✨ Updated graphics and BGM
- 🎮 Great point-and-click adventure
- 💡 Tricky but not impossible puzzles
- 👍 Immersive story and atmosphere
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes on startup/intro
- 📱 Poorly optimized for phones
- 🤏 Small text and hitboxes
- 🥶 Overheats M1 Mac
- 🔄 Crashes when minimizing
The 7th Guest
From 668 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🎮 Nostalgic gameplay
- 🎨 Creepy atmosphere
- 🧠 Challenging puzzles
Room to improve
- 🐛 Glitches and bugs
- 🔇 Audio issues (no sound/music)
- 🕹️ Problematic controls and navigation
- 💻 Compatibility issues with newer devices
Bugs and requests
Shadowgate
Reported bugs
31 issues- Crashes after intro cinematic
- App closes when minimized
- Force quits on loading
- Game turns black after a minute
- Unplayable on iPhone X
Show 26 moreShow fewer
- Auto reboot when minimizing
- Game crashes after title screen
- Game turns off and kicks out
- Force quits all the time
- Crash on startup
- Crashes after intro animation
- Game crashes after the introduction
- Crashes at the beginning
- App crashes after title screen
- Keeps crashing after the initial title screen
- Crash on startup
- Crashes at the beginning
- App crashes after title screen
- Force quits all the time
- Game turns off and kicks out
- Crashes after intro animation
- Game crashes after the introduction
- Crashes at the beginning
- App crashes after title screen
- Keeps crashing after the initial title screen
- Crash on startup
- Crashes after intro animation
- Game crashes after the introduction
- Crashes at the beginning
- App crashes after title screen
- Keeps crashing after the initial title screen
Requested features
6 requests- Remake Deja Vu and Uninvited
- Add original game as bonus
- Sequel to Shadowgate
- Fix background crash issue
- Add original soundtrack option
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Add original UI option
The 7th Guest
Reported bugs
4 issues- Achievements not unlocking
- Saved games not loading properly
- Puzzles not registering as completed
- App crashes and freezes
Requested features
3 requests- Ability to replay individual puzzles
- Improved graphics and visual quality
- Remastered audio and music
In-app purchases
Shadowgate
No in-app purchases
The 7th Guest
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Shadowgate free?
Is The 7th Guest free?
Which has better reviews, Shadowgate or The 7th Guest?
Do Shadowgate or The 7th Guest have ads?
Which is updated more often, Shadowgate or The 7th Guest?
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