Phantasmagoria (PC) - Retro Gaming Review 

Roberta Williams actually considers this her best game. And I disagree with her. While it does have its charm, it probably helped cement the view that FMV games were campy, poorly acted and mostly just bad games (and let's be frank, most FMV games are campy, poorly acted and mostly just bad, with a few notable exceptions, including Sierra's own Gabriel Knight 2).

This game was literally insane when it was released. It came on 7 CDs. That was insane back in 1994.

This is one of the best games I played in my childhood. I was 13 and it scared the shit out of me (it still does).

The Phantom Menace reference was the scariest part of the video...

“What isn’t banned in Australia” she bloody got us there mates! 😂

I find your voice very relaxing and love the way you do these reviews :)

This game was the best ever for its time imo. It took more patience to play but it was evolutionary using full video as game play. The mix of humor and suspense kept a good balance for genuine fright and scares and comic relief. I'd rate this game 4 uncooked acorns out of 5.

My dad made me watch him play it when i was like 6, it has never left my brain since and now i have finally found the name of it.

A college friend who played this with me described it as “like reading a book, but with pages that are really hard to turn.”

They really pulled no punches with gore back then. And people talk about violence in todays games, but damn.

Great job on these old pc game reviews.

Great review Pam, when I saw you had this game I let my wife know because she remembers playing it back in the day too.

Love this game!

I loved this game and played it all the time with different outcomes. My friends thought I was quite bizarre...

CompUSA refused to sell it, yet I bought it at WalMart at the time.

Pam I have just found your channel and I am hooked your videos are awesome. I look forward to getting through them all.

I'm surprised I've never heard of this game as I was big into DOS point and click in the 90s... fascinating.

That intro was great.

This game was awesome in the day, I remember playing it as a kid... blew my socks off

Just found your account. Immediately subbed! Such a great channel and I dig your voice, easy to listen to during the video.

"Mortar is best removed with a narrow, scraping implement". The one line that always stood out to me from this game.

it would be creepy to see a movie about this game...

there really were some puritans in congress back then lol. imagine them reacting to mortal kombat 11 or gta 5

(Congratulations on 5000+!) Your intro to this game was a lot more interesting than the game's actual content it seems! Ah yes, FMV, we remember it well, if not fondly. Not sorry I didn't play this the first time around. Thanks for playing it so we don't have to.

This was one of the first adventure games I played on my first windows 98 PC in 1998. I feel so old. The other was Gabriel knight 2, which is still to this day a favorite.

You are so underrated, wow! :) Awesome intro.

I actually enjoyed phantasmagoria, but you have valid points on the long animations/ lack of commentary by the main character. The sequel is decent, but as far as point and click horror, I prefer shivers 1 and shivers 2.

My parents at the time, got me this game when I was like 15. I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to get the sequel. I was at the computer gaming store with my mom and asked one of the clerks if the game was any good. He looked at my 16 year old self, looked at my mom, looked at the game(filled with gratuitous S&M sex scenes) , then back at me and said, "Yeeah.. i heard it wasn't as good as the first one" Cut to 25 years later me finally buying it on GOG. I was like of course LOL!

I played this game long time ago and I thought It was ok. Back then, there were not very good RPG games. I had fun playing it.

doing a great job. I hope to see classic game reviews soon. God bless and keep safe.

Your facial expressions in this interview get me every time.

Great review, Pam! I remember going over to a friend's house when this came out and being super bored, but then loving the gruesome death scenes... hey, I was a teen...

I remember when I was 18 years old 24 / 7 playing the pc version of the land of the dead road to fiddlers green on my acer windows xp gaming desktop pc 24 / 7 when I was 18 years old 24 / 7!

This game was actually Sierra's biggst selling game ever next to Half-Life. When it was released in August 1995, it sold 1 million copies within the first month (which was a lot for 1995). The next year, however, Sierra was sold to CUC International, and Bob Davidson, co-founder of Davidson & Associates (an educational software company) was put in charge of the combined company (CUC Software). Because Davidson and Sierra now shared a combined sales force (Davidson's sales force, not Sierra's) and Davidson's sales force was used to selling games to educators and even schools, Davidson's people couldn't justify selling this type of utterly graphic game to retailers, so support for Phantasmagoria was severely cut and it became harder to find at market, dramatically undermining sales. The problem was that Bob Davidson treated Sierra as a Davidson studio, rather than treating them as an independent subsidiary like Davidson had done with Blizzard (Davidson bought Blizzard back in 1994). The Davidsons left CUC in January 1997 but by then the damage was already done to Sierra's ability to sell their games, and a lot of Davidson people still ran the product development and marketing at CUC/Cendant Software anyway.

I recently streamed this game and I absolutely loved it!! So glad it works with DOS-BOX

I have an original Win '95 set that I'd now have to set up a dedicated Win '95 PC to run. Will consider.

really good game from the 90s underrated horror and full of atmosphere

So much nostalgia even though I never owned it. I remember I used to buy my PC games from SAMs club back during the time of this, KQ7, and Myst. This always stuck out at me due to the beautiful box art. Nice!!

I was actually pretty excited about the recent rerelease the game had, even if it is horrible. On another related note, I've never seen your channel before and for some reason YT kept recommending your videos today so I finally gave in and watched a few. Good stuff, best of luck with it.

This game is amazing, it is a immersive game. For 1995, it did feel amazing

Thank you for covering this game. And it was interesting and good to know what happened to some of the actors careers. This game was pretty hyped up when it was released due to the multiple CD-ROMs back then. It was a 'novelty'.

You are right on the money here. I played this when it first came out and was like, are you kidding me? This is a landmark achievement? Sierra had been biting off more than it could chew in the technological front. It was one of the first studios that abandoned DOS in favor of Windows, which turned out to be a couple of years too early. They spent all this money for the CGI and movie sets, and all that money showed up only in those incredibly pixellated FMV scenes. The technology at the time was just not up to par. If they had today's technology it would be different. But nowadays no one would spend that kind of money on an adventure game.

I was soooo happy when I saw you bring up Tex Murphy at 5:05 The Tex Murphy series is my all time favorite! Played through the whole series again last year and it held up well. :D

Great job, Pam. Man, what a tedious game. these FMV games certainly had their place in history but they seem so hard to go back to. I think it's cool though that they hold a special place in your heart.

That scene struggling with the lock......ha. There's such a harsh reset when actions are completed. "Put arms at sides, and stare blankly off in some random direction." It's like Adrian is a robot waiting for her next command. I realize it's a result of tech limitations, because she had to be posed in SOME static way when awaiting for player input. Also, I want to know more about the real estate agent.

I love this pam!

Thank you for such an in depth and thoughtful review! Subbed :) PS I'm curious in which game you make a moustache out of cat hair and maple syrup? XD

While I enjoyed the game (in a guilty pleasure way) , I found your criticisms spot on, there was a lot of padding and I was surprised that Roberta Williams said she thought it was her best game

The craziest part of this game is how everyone only owns one pair of clothes.

This game gave me nightmares as a child and I need to see someone do a complete playthrough so I know what happens and it no longer taunts me.

Your facial expressions really make this, got a lot of laughs at the opening gag.

Played this game , it was so fun those days back in 1995 , with soundblaster turn on to full blast , it’s really a fun game

i like the intro-theme of your vids :)

great video! :)

Wow I forgot all about this game man what a throwback

I love full throttle cheers for craming it in here.

These games blew my mind with the live actors, I kind of wish this had stayed a thing

One of the behind the scenes interviews with Ridley Scott on Alien, he mentioned something like gore doesn't create horror, it creates disgust. And as much as I see the usefulness of gore in horror stuff, yeah this game looks more gross and not really that scary. Entertaining review however and am happy to now be backing you on Patreon. :) -Mad Wolf

its a good game

To be fair, we didn't have an R-18 rating for video games back then. It wasn't until 2013 that we got it the R-18 rating. Bloody politicians.....

I remember seeing this when it came out, but never got a chance to try it.

This game even has a listing on IMDb with a 8.2 / 10 rating. November 2023

cant lie, that intro segment was pretty funny haha

I'm about 5 years late to this party, but .... Great review! I enjoyed it. I can't be the first person to ask this, but have you tried Phantasmagoria 2? I never played it, but I've seen the longplay. Gameplay still looked pretty stale, but the story was honestly quite riveting in my opinion. Very different with genuinely unexpected and satisfying twists. If you decide to make another retro adventure game review, give it a thought.

The actress was hot!

i subscribed because you made this scary morbid game seem friendly and wii sports so its really cool

Got me as a kid stuck in my mind love fmv games

OMG... I remember PC Magazine doing a review on this game when I was a kid...

I've always wanted to play this, lol

I just played through Little Misfortune, which had a location named Phantasmagoria. I wonder if it's a deliberate reference, seems likely since Killmonday also makes point-and-click adventures.

I loved this game growing up

Say, Phantasmagoria! Nice review, I concur with your critique. And the 20 CDs it took to play it! The humanity! Still, the campy horror and watermelon stunt-doubles wig me out on a primal level. Shouldn't have watched my big bro play this when I was, like, 7 or something. Yeow.

Well....guess I’ll have to take this off my Steam wishlist

loved this game! Tex Murphy games were the upper tier of FMV in my opinion

I am jealous of you Sega Saturn collection! Also your gorgeous!

That intro was great

I remember playing this when I was 17 years old I felt sick after the deaths

I remember feeling a little confused about the characters and tone, but for some reason loved this game at the time as I didn't know what I was getting myself into at the time. The graphic scenes are pretty cool though but the rape scene was just awkward. I remember playing this with my dad on our first PC as we picked the Mature 18+ option xD Adrian kinda annoyed me and she was so prim and proper but as you say, completely oblivious despite seeing all that crap! I still have fond memories though. Great review! I love your voice hehe Thanks for the video!

I think that the biggest draw of this game are the hilarious mom jeans worn by the main character...and the spooky old "hoose" of course.

Good honest review. In my opinion games like these you cannot really recommend playing based on experience, and it is your curiosity that plays the biggest part here. Similar to some movies. You may know (without spoilers) that they are not that good, but somehow you need to satiate that curiosity and play the game (or watch the movie). This was the case for me with this game. Overall an interesting experience that would not "unplay" :)

Hi, Pam. Nice review.

I remember playing this in 1997 and enjoying it. I thought it was pretty cool but I hadn't seen many games like it before at that time. Watching this video has made me painfully aware that memories can't be trusted sometimes. Looking at this now I'm not sure why I thought this was fun. Just looks tedious. Still, the cheese factor is certainly high (like several Sega CD games) so it at least has that going for it.

Will you review the second game of the series eventually?

All negative aspects aside I still love Phantasmagoria. It has an unique charm that no other game succeed it. Another example is Darkseed.

Hello! Does anyone know the layout of the second floor relative to the first? And as the staircase is adjacent to the second floor. The idea is very good, but I think that in this case it is not possible, a spiral staircase goes like nowhere. Where is located the second floor, and how he is there? It is not clear. But I'd really like to know.

I found (when I played this in 1995 at the age of 13) that the end chase sequence made up for the slow ponderous build up and tonal weirdness - what did you think of it? The weird thing is, the chase is *so* much better the less you prepare before going into the darkroom - if you don't get the items you need (the crucifix, the snowman, etc.) Don will chase you to every corner of the house as you collect them, while testing how well you memorized the layout, and finding ways hurt Don for a couple of moments. I get the impulse to reward the player for being thorough, but really some solid action at that point seems a much better reward! This really stood out in my mind as one of stand out gaming experiences to my young impressionable mind. If you grabbed the book right after macing Don with drain cleaner, then I highly recommend playing it again.

Hey pam have you played this new game called the bunker? if so what do you think about it? its like your modern day point and click game which i think you might like.

Nowadays, it has some "Planet 9 from outer Space" Charme to it. Can you review "Ripper" sometimes please?

I though it was an enjoyable game when I played it last year. I didn't mind the noodling around in it as much because overall it was a pretty short game (like 2 to 3 hours if I am remembering right?)

I think as you go from games of today then try to imagine how it was to play this one, when it was NEW! Big difference, to say the least. This was an amazing game when it came out, not many like it. So now a days this would be considered ahhh not that great! However I would give it 10 stars out of 10. Other than having I believe it was 7 cds and had to change them. However overall it kept you on your toes, and you needed to remember how to get around that mansion with all the neat shortcuts that were there-If you found them. So give credit where credit is due. For the time this game came out was the Bomb digga DEE! HA! As well if you played in a lightly lit room with candles... YAY Pretty Kewl.. Dang I miss those days- This was the only game I finished! Ok enuff- Blessings!

90s cheese at its finest 😂

1:20 Jesus, that game box is like the size of my monitor.

You're just young. That was one of the best PC games that ever come out back in the 90s being that it was a gruesome horror and full motion video was an amazing combination

I liked Phantasmagoria a lot as a child, but I might have been biased as a teenage boy being so delighted by the naughty and adult nature of the game. The FMVs made the violent scenes a lot more dramatic for me, at least at that age, than some cartoon. I might have also not noticed the repetitious nature of seeing Adrienne do things like close doors over and over, since I was going through puberty and might have found that very exciting to watch a pretty blonde woman closing doors or drinking water over and over. I didn't have internet back then! :-D I think I kept trying to make her take a shower or something, hoping I could see something naughty, only to be denied repeatedly and then end up seeing horrific things like her head being split open which I didn't want to see.

Honestly, I love FMV games. They're so unique in a 90s way that can't really be recreated anymore. Ever play Riana Rouge or Police Quest 4?

was that dennis hopper in one scene?

I'm always in the minority when I bring this up, but... Phantasmagoria 2 was actually pretty awesome (especially in comparison). Yes, it was also quite campy, but the characters were fleshed out, the story was well thought out and the whole thing actually played like a movie. (Or... let's say... something like a very long episode of The Outer Limits or The Twilight Zone.) It's great riffing material, but it can be played seriously as well, and both ways work very well. Phantasmagoria 1, however, doesn't have one single redeeming factor in my book. The atmosphere is nice at times, but in general it's just a bad game overall.

I get why Roberta would be proud of this. It was ambitious, it sold well, and like you said, there was some impressive technical prowess here, but it just doesn't hold up. Too slow in ways that add up, not enough engagement, and too little charm hurt it.

I was trying find a copy of this game bec i wanted to play older type pc horror game. i beat alot games in the passed. i honesty wanted to play dark seed 2 but cant get it to work. anyway i looked up your review sounds like i should get the game. I saw this game on the shelf when i was a kid lol but havent played it. what do you think i should try then this game? i beat games like 7th guest and all lucasart games.

Only me that thinks that your voice seems a lot like with the main actress?