I feel its presence, the icy fingers upon my throat.
I hear its eerie sounds, unsettling my every thought.
I try in vain to slumber, my reveries gripped by violent terror.
My only salvation, the shock of awakening.
Something is very, very wrong here.
Master storyteller Roberta Williams challenge...
I feel its presence, the icy fingers upon my throat.
I hear its eerie sounds, unsettling my every thought.
I try in vain to slumber, my reveries gripped by violent terror.
My only salvation, the shock of awakening.
Something is very, very wrong here.
Master storyteller Roberta Williams challenges you to experience the ultimate interactive nightmare.
A thrilling storyline designed by a professional writer - Roberta Williams
One of the first games utilizing full-motion video technology so well
See for yourself what caused so much controversy around this game!
I bought this game in '96 (I think) and ran it on my then brand new Pentium 166 MHz top-of-the-line PC. Still, it was sluggish at times. Full Motion Video was all the rage then, but it just doesn't feel right in this game. The story is predictable and the puzzles not very interesting.
From what I gather, Sierra re-used part of this game's engine in the second installment of the Gabriel Knight saga: The Beast Within. There it worked much better, and was complemented with a much better story. Sins of the Fathers, the first GK-game, just came out on GOG. If you like FMV games, I'd recommend waiting for The Beast Within instead of playing Phantasmagoria.
Phantasmagoria is certainly a historically important game- one of the first FMV games, one of the first really big games spanning multiple CDs, one of the first to feature adult themes and explicit gore. But that doesn't make it a good game.
The graphics are ugly and terribly fake, not blending at all with the live action parts. The characters inexplicably never change their clothes even though days pass. The acting is bad, really, REALLY bad, to the point where it's almost so bad it's good. The plot is convoluted yet cliche at the same time. The gameplay is a mess, and it's the sort of game where you wander back and forth hoping to trigger something rather than actually working towards a goal.
The entire game seems to go out of its way to portray the main character as a very weak, helpless victim, powerless against her possessed husband and any other dangers she encounters- while this might be a way of building suspense, depending on your point of view, I found it frustrating and slightly offensive, and it gave the whole game an uncomfortable aura. I guess that could be considered a plus for some, but for me, it wasn't.
So what's good about it? Aside from the entertainingly bad acting (I'm thinking of the lady in the gnome hat in particular), there's a reason this game is known for gore. While most of the game's gore is surprisingly tame, the death scenes at the very end are mind-blowingly graphic and merciless, far worse than even the majority of horror movies at the time, or possibly even today. It's actually very jarring and uncomfortable to go through the entire game with this character, only to be suddenly and brutally reminded that she's, well, made of meat. That sudden shock is probably the most effective thing in the game (and, given the game's time limit in the end, you're likely to see it several times), but not worth struggling through the rest of the story to experience. Better to just find it on YouTube if you want to see what made the game famous.
Twenty-five years ago my adolescent life changed when Phantasmagoria arrived in the mail. I still remember the distinct smell of its CD case. Phantasmagoria helped shape me as a gamer but didn’t age well in my heart.
Is it a classic? No doubt. It deserves the attention of every gamer that enjoys history. But just like the classics of every artform, there is a wide shade of gray inside the concept. Case in point.
As with a lot of these 90s titles, I’d give them a 5 Star for historical value alone. Phantasmagoria is Roberta Williams’ tour de force, no question, and I still respect what it did right (graphics, amazing soundtrack, art direction). In my mind it is the ultimate champion of gore from that Era (at least in terms of style).
Robert Miano’s portrayal of Zoltan Carnovash stands alone in terms of acting. His deliverance still resonates after all these years (“Best regards… Zoltan” gets me every time). The man alone managed to turn the ‘Battleship Potemkin’ of cheesy game scenes (the face of a spirit manifesting through green barf, to put it mildly) into a memorable moment that I carry to this day. And he did it just with his voice.
I don’t mind the plot in general, perfectly in par with the genre. However, the protagonist arch throughout the game aged worse than a nervous, catastrophic first time over a pool table in some sleazy bar. Most people would point to a particular scene at the beginning of Chapter 4. For me it’s not just that, but Adrienne’s motivations and approach to every plot twist in general and how she reacts to the horrors around her. It’s bland, almost like a Frankenstein of emotions stitched together by a line called ‘wtf levels of troping’.
It’d be unfair to go on, I'd have to spoil the game. Suffice it to say that Adrienne alone kills the game for me, at least with my 2020 goggles. Nevertheless, I remain steadfast when it comes to classics, for better or worse: put on your goggles and try it out if you haven’t already.
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