Phantasmagoria

(copying my Steam review here~)

Let's be real, if you're willing to play this game in 2021 it's probably because either you played it when it came out in the 90's and want some nostalgia or you find FMV / old point-and-click games pleasing in some way no other game is (that's me). Phantasmagoria is actually a pretty decent horror P-a-C with a basic yet intriguing story, full of clichés and an absolutely horrific ending.

I find the game to be somewhat confusing at the beginning because the house is just so big and there's too much to do, and you can't be really sure what are essential story interactions. To fix this, I recommend using the built-in guide (the red skull on the bottom left), it will give you the major answers to what to do and where to go to advance. If the skull just give some cryptic useless anwser, use an online guide, sometimes it's better than wasting minutes just walking in circles. The pacing is a little weird since some chapters feel empty compared to others, like chapter 2, so I'd suggest really exploring from time to time to do extra interactions. IMO the plot is pretty basic but can hold your attention quite nicely, albeit I'm not that big of a fan of the ending, it feels a little rushed and every little detail of the story is just thrown in your face in a way that I surely find odd.

The acting on this is pretty decent if you ask me, I've seen so much worse, the main actress is good, although at times you'll want to laugh. I have a thing for MIDI soundtracks so I really enjoyed the music on this game, indeed I even downloaded it myself (which was a pain because the compilations out there are really low quality and not tagged at all). I experienced some minor bugs but I've seen that the community does offer tweaks guides, so maybe they fix everything wrong, which by itself is not that much at all.

There is just one puzzle right in the ending of the first chapter that I can't for fuck's sake forgive. Spoiler alert, that cat turning into a letter opener is just... bad. You don't use that mechanic of seeing items closely AT ALL in the game but this part, the skull tip is really useless and I don't think anybody would figure it out on their own without wasting a good chunk of time walking around the house a gazillion times searching for something else. It's a really frustrating puzzle right at the start that might turn so many people off.

All things considered, I still liked playing this game, maybe the ending was tacky but was worth it. Would I recommend this for everyone? Absolutely not, but if you're looking for an enjoyable old school point-and-click FMV horror game, this fills the gap.