After the success of The 7th Guest and its sequel The 11th Hour, Trilobyte sought to make a similar game that was more "kid-friendly". Enter the 1996 game Clandestiny, a tale of Andrew and his girlfriend Paula who receive notice that Andrew is the 13th Earl of the MacPhiles. He has inherited a castle in the remote Scottish highlands, but when he arrives, he discovers that the ghosts of his ancestors are haunting the place. But there is treasure hidden within the castle, and he must confront the beast within to fulfill the clan destiny.
Like its predecessor, Clandestiny relies on video sequences thanks to CD-ROM technology. But instead of the Full Motion Video, the game is comprised of animated sequences. Players explore Castle MacPhiles and solve puzzles to unlock rooms, advancing the story.
Clandestiny provides examples of:
- All There in the Manual: Both the game manual, and the in-game guide provide extensive backstories for the entire MacPhiles clan.
- Anti-Frustration Features: Every puzzle can be immediately bypassed after going through all of the hints.
- Bookcase Passage: In the library. Also a wine-cellar passage, a coat of arms passage, and many other hidden passages opened by manipulating an object on the wall.
- Brave Scot: Averted. Clan MacPhiles is well-known to be cowardly.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: In several cutscenes where Andrew and Paula run off, the ghosts will turn to the player and ask them to solve their puzzle.
- Chess Motifs: While there's an actual chess puzzle involving moving a knight across a board, there's also a puzzle where you move soup bowls around as if they were chess knights.
- Claustrophobia: Andrew says he has it.
- Creator Cameo: In the Great Hall, one of the paintings comes to life, showing a rare Full Motion Video sequence of the creator.
- Creepy Cathedral: The chapel, in which you can hear a girl locked away on the floor above singing a haunting melody.
- Cute Ghost Girl: The little girl in the graveyard.
- Extra Digits: Andrew has six fingers on both hands, which is the "mark of the MacPhiles" that the ghosts see him with.
- Failed a Spot Check: Especially early on, Paula fails to see many of the ghosts that Andrew sees because she's looking elsewhere.
- Friendly Ghost: Several of the ghosts are actually pretty nice, such as the little girl.
- Haunted Castle: The entire game takes place in one.
- Hint System: Each puzzle has a Tips section.
- Lovable Coward: Andrew, especially from Paula.
- Minigame Game: The game uses the same formula as The 7th Guest, you're locked in an empty 3D castle, and by solving puzzles you unlock other rooms and more of the story.
- Ominous Fog: One appears as Andrew and Paula drive towards the castle.
- On One Condition: Andrew only inherits the MacPhiles estate if he spends a night in it.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: Twelve ghosts appear from twelve different generations of MacPhiles.
- Samus Is a Girl: The knight.
- Self-Deprecation: The motto on the MacPhiles' coat of arms: "Faint-hearted. Milquetoast. Indecisive."
- Sequel Hook: Andrew and Paula are still not married, and head off to return the Stone of Scone while a Raven that followed them at the beginning follows them.
- Silly Spook: While Andrew and Paula are scared of the ghosts (at first anyway), ultimately they come across as more cooky than genuinely terrifying.
- Solve the Soup Cans: Given that it's a spiritual sequel to the trope namer, it's to be expected. Moving soup bowls like chess knights, moving actual chess knights, rearranging books, making words out of alphabet soup, and other bizarre puzzles.
- Unexpected Inheritance: Andrew and Paula seem pretty surprised that Andrew is the heir to the MacPhiles.
- Will They or Won't They?: Will Paula and Andrew get married? Paula really wants to, Andrew seems not so sure. Comes to a head when the two are about to drown and he finally asks her to marry him. Her answer: "Hell no!", given everything she's been through that night.
- World of Ham: All of the ghosts.
