Phantasmagoria 2: A Puzzle of Flesh

I heard that, Curtis...

When you think Adventure you thing logical if sometimes wacky puzzles which are connected in some sort of net or chain. In the 90's, however, the genre's popularity had considerably cooled off. The puzzles had become to wacky for their own good. The plots too stupid. And the cardinal sin of the Adventure genre had become too widespread: Correlation instead of Causality. Causality is helping out the dancers so they can do their rain dance, which in turn flushes out the big scary monster spider from the sewers so you can get through them. Correlation is merely solving all the quests in the area so something new happens in an unrelated area which wasn't triggered - speaking in in-universe terms - by your actions. There's simply a new guy to talk to to trigger the next quest chain, or the shop that's always been closed now is open for no reason. Lucas games was always good with Causality. Sierra, on the other hand, was all about Correlation. Can't get the plot to move on? Well, in Phantasmagoria 2 you should have known to drink TWICE from the water dispenser than just once! And that's just the tip of the iceberg. The "wacky" puzzles are completely out of place for a game with such a serious setting. Want to get your wallet from under the couch? No, you cannot move it aside; you have to put your pet rat under the couch and then lure him out once more with a piece of cheese in order to get the wallet. And all of that from a game where people are murdered grizzly and the protagonist has violent S&M sex at one point. The plot doesn't make much sense as well, and goes the silly [SPOILERS] "aliens=magic, we don't have to explain anything!"[/SPOILERS] route. And at the very climax of the story you have to solve a literal puzzle of alien mechanical/biological parts, the eponymous "puzzle of flesh". Few things were more boring than this game. The prequel had problems as well, but at least the plot and presentation were gripping. Watch this one as a LP, but don't buy it.

I remember this ... although its seems awful now at the time it seemed ok although it does have its faults for a point and click horror. The acting isnt as good as you would expect and the story could be better although I still do not recall fully understanding what went on but since it had an 18 BBFC if i recall due its themes and some sceens in it at the time in 1997 for EU release ... ?? was it only released then, seems far longer but thats whats on wikipedia. There are some moments which will or did make me jump and I had played through more than once which I expect was to try and understand the story as not everything was clear on the first play through as well as it has two different endings.

An experience that must be played to be believed. I know the top reviews don't make light of the game and it's true but beneath the bad parts lies a journey full of blood and gore, sadism, sex, terrifying and scary experiences and a crazy story.

I got this game because of that ONE let's play, but even without the commentary, I thoroughly enjoyed the cheesy and funny and lovable game. I blazed through this game until the end, but it's definitely worth a play, if you're curious.