Let me be clear: I LOVE 90’s point-and-click adventure games (GK2 being my favourite). But I kept postponing playing Phantasmagoria 2 partially influenced by negative reviews everywhere. DAMN! I LOVED IT! This is one of these games that are so bad that loops around and becomes a cult-classic. Yeah, the game is cheesy but, babe, I’ve got news for you: THE WHOLE EIGHTIES AND NINETIES WERE CHEESY! Get over and embrace it! To be quite honest, the acting itself is quite fair for 90’s FMV games standards. I’ve played far worst games with bad acting than that (see: HELLCAB). As a queer person, I also love that they tackled (even if superficially) bisexuality and homosexuality (a gay kiss would be the cherry on top, but, HEY, it was STILL the 90’s). It’s quite refreshing to play with a character that is not a macho womaniser douche (see: Gabriel Knight 1: Sin of Father). Don’t get me wrong, I love GK1 but, sometimes, Gabriel’s antics pisses me off. Puzzle of Flesh also tackles themes like mental health and sadomasoquism (the cheesy scenes at the bondage club instantly got into my all-time favourite moments in adventure game history ever). Even though the plot line could be straight outta an X-Files episode, I would dare to say I liked Phantasmagoria 2 much more than the first one - which is a bit dense to me, with no much characters to interact with or ambient changes - the opposite of Puzzle of Flesh. Of course there are problems. The mouse cursor can get a bit tricky to spot things, the arrow navigation is a bit clumsy to explore places and I would like to be able to choose things to say in conversations, like GK2) as opposed to just sit back and have no options while interacting with characters. Nonetheless, I had much fun. If you like to have some uncompromising good time with a bit of cheesy 90’s nostalgia, this game is for you. In a nutshell to all bad reviews: Y’ALL IS CRAZY!
