| Shivers | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Sierra On-Line, Inc. |
| Publisher(s) | Sierra On-Line, Inc. |
| Designer(s) | Marcia Bales |
| Composer(s) | Guy Whitmore |
| Platform(s) | Windows, Mac OS |
| Release date(s) | September 30, 1995 (USA) |
| Genre(s) | Adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: T ELSPA: 15+ USK: 16+ |
| Media/distribution | CD-ROM (1) |
Shivers is a single-player horror-themed PC adventure game, released on CD-ROM by Sierra On-line on September 30, 1995.
Contents |
The Player steps into the shoes of a teenager who is dared by his[1] friends to spend the night in the grounds of a haunted museum - Professor Windlenot's Museum of the Strange and Unusual.
Once the player enters the museum through a secret underground entrance, he quickly realizes that something is not right with it. He soon finds the body of Professor Windlenot, famous archaeologist and museum curator, who has been dead for 15 years. The professor has also drawn the symbol of the "Ixupi" in the sand where he lay. The player is also attacked by an Ixupi as he crosses the underground lake of the museum. When the player reaches the other side, there is a strange pot on the ground. The player opens the pot, and out comes the ghost of Professor Windlenot, who tells the player to leave the museum immediately because the Ixupi are so evil and powerful, that he himself was killed by an Ixupi, and tells the player that in order to capture an Ixupi the pot and the talisman must be together and used head on.
The player must then investigate every part of the museum in order to collect pots and talismans that will capture the 10 Ixupis still haunting the museum.
The puzzles range from simple (such as realizing that to find each elemental spirit, you have to go to an object or location connected with of the appropriate element), to entertaining (e.g. piecing together information from different areas to solve a puzzle), to relatively difficult (e.g. one of the puzzles is the classic peg solitaire which is rather difficult to complete).
The manual for the game has answers to some early puzzles secretly scattered throughout the pages along with some cryptic quotes that may point to answers for other puzzles.
The game was created using scans of watercolors - some 2500 of them - touched up in Photoshop, along with 3D Studio Max and Ultimatte. The game is notable for its impressive 74 minutes of special effects, background music and other audio. The game's Twilight Zone-style voicework creates a familiar voice commenting on the player's success or failure as he or she navigates the game.
Unlike other Sierra games which were (with the exception of Phantasmagoria) considered safe for almost all ages, Shivers contains locations and situations designed to shock the player - for example, if one stands in the wrong place for too long or touches a deadly object, the game may come to an abrupt and premature end. However, it is very simple to start off from the moment in which one made a fatal mistake, so some may consider it entertaining to lead to the untimely death of the protagonist.
Playing in first-person perspective, the game is remarkably similar in style to the Virgin Interactive/Trilobyte production, the popular 7th Guest, which introduced this style of gaming. Specifically, the numerous complex puzzles tied into the 7th Guest audience, which contributed in part to its popularity.
Shivers was followed in 1997 by Shivers II: Harvest of Souls, which used the same idea and style, but is set in a desert ghost town.
Easter Eggs found in the game:
Moving Shadows
In some frames of the game, a shadow will sometimes move off screen.