Phantasmagoria (1995)

One of my favourite point-and-click horror games.

I had been looking for other point and click puzzle games for awhile now, and after playing Harvester, I found Phantasmagoria. You play as Adrienne, the main protagonist, who has just moved into this giant mansion with her husband, Don. You play by mainly exploring the mansion and discovering the secrets within it. Judging by the title of the game, I was expecting ghosts and paranormal creepiness, however, it was more toned in occult themes, leading me to believe it was something perhaps theological, or masonic.

“It was made at the peak of popularity for interactive movie games and features live-action actors and footage, both during cinematic scenes and within the three-dimensionally rendered environments of the game itself. (x)” Each action is played out by the real actors, which I love, because it combines a sort of artistic film aspect into gaming. There is also a good balance between actual game-play and story cut-scenes. In all honesty, I was not expecting anything that occurred in the story. I was just as oblivious as Adrienne, except for all the parts where she wasn’t weirded out by ghost ectoplasm or creepy occult imagery in her own house… Without the skull (who is on your tool-bar to give you hints) or an online play-through guide, this game would be pretty hard, and in my opinion, almost impossible to figure out completely on your own. Between chapters 3-7, there were no leads into what you were supposed to do next, not even really a little hint. You click the skull, and he tells you something like ‘the house is awaiting your arrival…’ which works out for some parts, but not all. Especially the times where you need to find random objects at random intervals of the story that aren’t there before or after certain parts (I know…). Besides that, the ending was just as stressful to me as it must have been for Adrienne… maybe a little less. By the time I got every action right, and in the right order, I was biting my nails each second Adrienne took a second too long. Definitely a game I’d recommend playing.