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Release: N.A. 26 November 1996 – EU 1997.
Developer: Sierra On-Line.
Publisher: Sierra On-Line.
Director: Andy Hoyos.
Writers: Lorelei Shannon.
Designer: Lorelei Shannon.
Platforms: MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows.
Genres: Interactive Movie, Point-and-Click Adventure.
Mode: Single-player.
Game released on 5 CDs.
Phantasmagoria: “A Puzzle of Flesh” is not an actual sequel to the original Phantasmagoria, but rather a completely separate game which has absolutely
nothing in common with the first but the name and visual concept.
You play the role of Curtis Craig, a 30 years old man whose distorted childhood is filled with horrors, His dad was involved in an illegal, top-secret
experiment for WynTech Industries, an experiment whose true nature is revealed only as the game progresses, and whose evil nature left Curtis’ mother out of
her wits and eventually drove her to suicide. Curtis’ father was later shot, leaving the poor little boy with serious behavioral disturbances, and eventually
in therapy. Now, a year after having been released from the mental institution, Curtis is employed at WynTech Industries (whose manager, Paul Warner, has
taken it upon himself to take care of Curtis) and tries to find out the cause of his psychotic episodes and the mysterious murders that break out all around
him, all the while finding out more and more about his past life and his father’s fate.
The game utilizes a single cursor interface that highlights when you pass over a hotspot, or changes to an arrow to indicate places or views to which you can
move. Your inventory appears at the bottom of the screen when you move the cursor over it and this also brings up other icons such as your map for travelling
and your 'eye' for examining items in more detail. It is possible to combine certain items in your inventory. Above the game window you can also find the video
playback icon (alas, you can watch that grizzly murder over and over if you like) and the control panel icon from where you can save, load and quit and change
the video and audio options. There is no on-screen text option.
The game is stored on five CDs, each representing a different chapter of the story so there is no need for constant disk swapping. It installs to Windows 95
and, after sorted out some initial problems with Direct X, it ran just fine. It will also run in DOS, though you may need to download the DOS patch from Sierra
first.
Top Cast Characters
Paul Morgan Stetler: Curtis Craig.
Monique Parent: Jocilyn Rowan.
Ragna Sigrun: Therese Banning.
Paul T. Mitri: Trevor Barnes.
Burt Bulos: The Hecatomb.
Cynthia Steele: Dr. Rikki Harburg.
Warren Burton: Paul Allen Warner.
Paul Joseph Standlee: Little Curtis.
V. Joy Lee: The Ratwoman.
Michael Taylor Donovan: Tom Ravell.
Don Berg: Bob Arnold.
Regina Byrd Smith: Detective Allie Powell.
Denise Loveday: Marianne Craig.
Todd Licea: Jonas Craig.
Jason Bortz:Max Michael.
David Simms: Dr. Terrance Marek.
Douglas Mace: Dr. Rikki's Security Guard.
Andy Hoyos: Mental patient.
A psychological horror story from the blackest depths of the human soul.
A compelling story with interesting characters.
An intense atmosphere not meant for the faint of heart.
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