Forewarning:
Those of nervous disposition, those scared of tall people, those who do not appreciate horror movies, those who were scared by Eversion, and those who do not want to believe in terrible monsters: These games are not for you.

For those who know exactly what the hell I'm talking about:
Link

For those who don't:
Alright then. This post is about a set of 4 different games, 3 text adventures, 4 extremely short books, and a handful of scary people. Oh, and they're made by the same guy that does Fully Ramblomatic and Zero Punctuation. He's awesome.

The games, in order:
5 Days a Stranger
7 Days a Skeptic
Trilby's Notes
6 Days a Sacrifice

Play them in that order. They are not NUMERICAL. Heaven forbid someone plays 6 days directly after 5 days. It's not even in chronological order. Anyways.

5 Days a Stranger:
Meet Trilby, the Gentlemen Thief. He's a nice thief, only steals from those that don't need what he's stealing. The DeFoe lineage just passed away, and Trilby figures they don't need anything any more. And they have a mansion. A deserted mansion. Easy money.

Yeah. Right.

7 Days a Skeptic:
Meet Johnathon Somerset, Ship Psychologist. You're now on a spaceship called the Mephistopheles, on a deep space mission to find alien life. This is 400 years after the events in DeFoe Manor, and is completely unrelated. In fact, I don't know why these games are in the same series. No prize for guessing what's in the box.

Trilby's Notes:
What did I say about these not being in chronological order? Well, Trilby's Notes is set 4 years after 5 Days a Stranger. You're back with Trilby as he hunts down mysterious artifacts, all of which are completely relevant to the story. In a perfectly nice extremely scary hotel. Oh. Beware the Tall Man.

6 Days a Sacrifice:
By now, you should have some clue of what's going on. However, this will take everything you know and smash it against a brick wall. And then clean the brick wall by wiping it off with your brains. You're now a building inspector, Theodore DaCabe. The time is exactly between 5 Days a Stranger and 7 Days a Skeptic, and Theodore DaCabe is currently inspecting a Scientology Optimology headquarters for evidence of illegal construction. Shortly after arriving, he falls down an elevator shaft and breaks his neck. You get to play as him. He's very slow. Sorry.

Still, very good ending. Play it for the ending. You won't regret it.

A Note for those who actually read this far:
The special editions are free at time of posting. Remember to get them, author commentary is worth it. On your second playthrough. Unless you're a spoiler loving bitch.

For spoiler loving bitches:
And then the Prince was once more the Arrogant Man, and the Arrogant Man knew the name of the King.
The very last ending. In case you didn't understand it when you played through it normally. Which you should have. Because it's awesome.

I support this message.

And it was a good series. Deep background, cool story, actual horror.
It is an adventure game though, so you need some imagination instead of being fed eye candy gore. And you must have a brain for logic and enjoy using it.

The only really sad part is the incredible linearity. Rather fatalist game, ironically enough.

On the upside Yahtzee said he'll be making more games in a recent interview.
(video interview somewhere on The Escapist)

Maybe it's me, but I just played 5 Days a Stranger for the first time, and the entire thing was pitifully easy once i figured out that I need to mouse over everything.

I spent around 20 minutes stuck because I didn't realize that the newspaper was a newspaper and I had to click it. Other than that, pretty straightforward honestly. The only thing that was remotely challenging or suprising was the end, but I figured that one out from the hint at the end of the black book.

Pretty great story though, maybe I just didn't find it challenging because I was too busy being creeped the fuck out or enjoying myself as I tried to figure out the story. Hrm.

Also, is it spoiler safe to do author commentary before i finish the series, or do i just need to finish each respective game first?

The author commentary is mostly game specific, id est 5 days had its commentary completed before 7 days really got started, from what I can understand.

Damn!

And as much as I hated the 5 days interface, I wish I had it back now that I'm playing 7 days. The old one was much better for rightclickaphobes like me :<.

Anything I should know before getting deep into this one?

Uhh...

Not really. There's plenty to discuss once you finish Notes, but not much to talk about in 7 days, relatively.

yea, good old chzo mythos... I actually played 7 days first, out of a lack of knowledge of the series.

For some reason the coloration is fucked up as bawlz for me in Notes.
And the control scheme is a pain.