Phantasmagoria

About Phantasmagoria

Phantasmagoria is a point-and-click horror adventure designed by Roberta Williams and released by Sierra in 1995. It was one of the first games built on full-motion video: real actors were filmed and set into drawn backgrounds, so every scene plays like a short piece of film. Activision sells it today on Steam and GOG, where it runs through ScummVM.

You play Adrienne Delaney, a mystery writer who has just bought a remote mansion in New England with her husband Don. The house once belonged to Zoltan Carnovasch, a 19th-century magician whose five wives died mysteriously, and Adrienne's nightmares start as soon as she moves in. You explore the house and grounds, look at, pick up and use things, and the story moves on chapter by chapter.

The game earned its place in horror history through controversy. Its death scenes are graphic, it contains a rape scene, and some retailers refused to carry it on release. The store page itself invites you to see what caused the fuss. A password-protected setting can blur the violent scenes.

It suits players curious about 1990s horror and the FMV era, and anyone who liked Harvester or Realms of the Haunting. The acting and pictures are of their time; the violence still lands.

How to play Phantasmagoria

1. Buy it on Steam or GOG and start a new game.
2. Click to walk Adrienne around the mansion and its grounds.
3. Click on people and objects to look at, talk to, take or use them.
4. Use items from the inventory to open the way forward through each chapter.
5. Use the skull hint button if you get stuck.

Tips

• Before playing, decide whether to use the censor setting, which blurs the violent scenes behind a password.
• Explore every room of the mansion between story scenes; new things appear as the chapters change.

Questions