5 Days a Stranger

About 5 Days a Stranger

5 Days A Stranger is the first game in the Chzo Mythos series, developed by Ben Croshaw using Adventure Game Studio and released on September 22, 2003 on the Fully Ramblomatic homepage. It centres on the supernatural events surrounding the gentleman thief Trilby and four others who struggle for their lives against an unknown force as they try to escape from their imprisonment in DeFoe Manor.

5 Days A Stranger was originally planned as a standalone title, with 7 Days a Skeptic later being developed as an indirect-sequel following the scrapping of its original plot, which was penned as a direct sequel to 5 Days. It was later retconned into the first installment of the 4-part Chzo Mythos, and later received a prequel game in the form of Trilby: The Art of Theft.

The player takes control of the famous cat burglar known only as Trilby, using a point-and-click interface to interact with the environment and other characters. The story is told over the course of five separate days spent within Defoe Manor. Each day is separated from the next by a dream sequence which require no player interaction.

Trilby, a self-described gentleman cat burglar, comes to DeFoe Manor at the request of an associate after the last heirs have died off and the valuables are up for grabs. Upon entering the manor, Trilby finds himself stuck in the house by some supernatural force along with four other people: Phillip Harty, a self-proclaimed "treasure hunter", Simone Taylor, a correspondent for the BBC who came to the manor to film a documentary, Jim Fowler, a high school student who entered the manor on a dare, and a mysterious man known only as AJ. After all but AJ gather together, the four decide to try to find a way to escape the manor the next morning.

That night, Trilby has a dream where he awakes to find everyone dead, killed by a masked, hulking figure carrying a machete. The killer lifts his mask to reveal that he is Trilby.