- 7743 – Name of the game.
- Game – Self Explanatory
- Horror – Genre
- Stanislaw Truchowski – Developer
- Turnvex – The name of Stanislaw’s Gaming Company
- Steam – Where I purchased the game.
I own most of the games Stanislaw Truchowski has developed for his gaming company Turnvex. Stanislaw is a one man independent developer. He’s been releasing games since 2016 and he releases quality, horror themed, first person perspective mysteries that revolve around the player. Most entries can be completed in the space of an hour but there have been games that have taken me twice as long or half as long. Sometimes the “size” of the game required me to figure out the layouts and floorplans, or it could be that all of the Turnvex games have multiple endings. 3 or 4 is the usual fare. Maybe I was familiar with some of the premises of the game, perhaps the game was made as a tribute or maybe the game was particularly hard because of tough puzzles or maybe the game was too easy. I point out these seemingly at odds statements because one of the great things about the games Turnvex releases is that there is much in the way of variety. You may find yourself in an abandoned mine, or a secret island with an even more secret past or in the case of this current game, 7743, located in Japan in a traditional Japanese family dwelling (rooms and interior space divided by framed rice paper partitioning with modern doors) out in the country. Though we could quickly and insensitively lump all of the Turnvex games as puzzle solving horror based walking simulators with great atmosphere, story, and location settings , that would do no single game justice. To me they are all good for the challenges they represent and I’ve enjoyed every single one of them. Makes purchasing new software easy đŸ˜‰
Your family is murdered before your own eyes leaving you in a mentally debilitated state. You must now open your mind and accept the truth of what has happened to free yourself from a spiral of emotional degradation.
Steam Synopsis
Well that’s pretty straight forward and immediately concerning. Discomforting I suppose would be an understatement however those are the facts of the matter and how the games plot starts unfolding. One of things I noticed right off the bat were the nature of the puzzles. When starting the game there are a couple of modes: normal puzzle mode and hard puzzle mode. I initially chose the normal puzzle mode and from the start 7743 was a bit more challenging then Turnvex’s previous entries. The puzzles indeed were more difficult even on normal mode and continued to get demanding and at times unintuitive, at least at first.
Another thing that is different about 7743 is the setting. 7743‘s setting seems to be in what I imagine is some old world Japanese highlands. The housing, the feel, and the environment are all Japanese and very good care and imagination were used to build out the world of 7743. One of the things I want to point out as well are that the puzzles are very thoughtfully constructed and a bit more difficult than simply finding keys, though there is a bit of that as well.
So you start out at the Japanese home mentioned above. You search the house and it’s immediate environs to get a handle on what to do. Your in the kitchen and there is a fire going, a cooking area along one wall, a preparation area along another wall and then the stoves. Looks like there’s a well inside as well as outside. The front of the house is gated and for the moment you can’t leave and there’s two small area’s along the sides of the house which are both blocked with wood in the middle so you can’t walk behind the house. As you discover the first hallway of the house you find a sliding door and when entered, it branches off into what looks like a living area and maybe a small storage area. There is also a locked gate off the living area which apparently needs a key. That’s where the game puts you and from there you’ve just got to figure it out.
7743, as well as all of the games available from Turnvex are always available at excellent prices. Generally in the $5 or less range and if purchased through Steam you can purchase bundles which offer excellent deals. There was another game I purchased alongside 7743 named Night at the Office (review coming next) and I was able to get the pair of games for $6.99.
7743 is another great entry in a long, continuous history of great releases by someone I have been enjoying games from for the past 6 or 7 years. Turnvex has a free game which in no way is crippled or less than their other games which is a great introduction to this developers style. That game is called Minds Eyes and you can get it for free on Steam at:
If you enjoy that you will with no doubt enjoy most of the games Turnvex releases and there are plenty of titles available to keep you busy. Plus the games are occasionally on sale plus Steam has great bundle offerings which has saved me over the years.
