Phantasmagoria (PC, 1995)

This is one of the best "early CD-ROM interactive movies era" adventure games.

It can compete with such great products of its time as Tex Murphy's series were (Under A Killing Moon, Pandora's Directive, Overseer) but it is unique to them in genre (demonic horror) and the very dark setting. I dare to say this is perhaps the most gore game ever created and it even contains some erotic scenes. This is surely not a game for kids despite its somewhat old and thus a still a bit unrealistic graphics.

In the light of today's games the product cannot offer much graphics or sound wise. But for the oldtimers (like me) it was a great nostalgia experience. Also it was one of those great games I missed at its time and I simply wanted to know what it was about.

Generally speaking - revieving a game like this is kind of pointless. If you don't know what Phantasmagoria is already then for gods' sake don't buy it! It is too old now to impress today's gamers. And if you do know it... Then you don't need my description or hints. Except perhaps this one:

The game can be installed and run even on Windows Vista (!). All you have to do is to skip hardware detection. However to play it in the meaningful screen-size you will also have to set your monitor resolution as low possible (ideally 640x480).

Phantasmagoria is a CD-ROM horror-themed video game created by Sierra On-line for the DOS and Windows platforms, and later for the Sega Saturn in Japan. The game was released in 1995 and was followed by a sequel, Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh released in 1996.

Made during the height of the "interactive movie" boom in the computer game industry, Phantasmagoria is notable for being one of the first adventure games to use a live actor as an on-screen avatar. The game was released on seven CDs to accommodate the massive amount of video generated by this process, the creation of which was contracted by Sierra to Kronos Digital Entertainment (who had previously worked on Sierra's King's Quest 6). Large portions of data were repeated on each CD, to avoid disk swapping when playing the game.

My girlfriend played this game back in South Africa in 1996. She remembered how amazing it was and told me. We purchased it on eBay. Wow! The game play was actually fun! I was so suprised for such an old game. However, along with any old game comes poor graphics. But if your not one for graphics, you'll love Phantasmagoria!

4 out of 5 because if the graphics were great, I would give it a 5!

Your Friend,
Daedalas1981

I've had this game when it first came out. It was a blast. My son has recently requested this game for sentimental reasons and because he too enjoyed it. It's not as fancy as today's Wii system, not as realistic as PlayStation or xBox either but it was a very enjoyable game with endless twists and turns which made you think as well as react fast. I highly recommend this game to those who enjoy nostalgia and challenges.

It was far more than I had hoped for. Great item.I thought I was just getting a seven cd set of the first one but also got the set for the newer one. I had this game before but lost it and wanted a new one. Very long game and well worth them time. I left it as is but can be set for a less bloody game.