Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh

 PC
Metascore
tbd

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User Score
6.7

Mixed or average reviews- based on 21 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 21
  3. Negative: 4 out of 21
  1. kuehnau
    Oct 4, 2015
    2
    The original Phantasmagoria was a unique and interesting concept, the use of live actors superimposed on to game environments was justThe original Phantasmagoria was a unique and interesting concept, the use of live actors superimposed on to game environments was just beginning to become a thing and that is part of where it's charm came from.

    As for the second game, A Puzzle of Flesh, it brings nothing new to the table and actually suffers from a lot of other problems. This time around the backgrounds are much more realistic looking then the first game.

    To begin with, the movement in the game is awful. I don't know if it's the layout of the rooms, the context sensitive areas for the arrows or the angles, but moving around in A Puzzle of the Flesh constantly feels painful.

    Other terrible issue with the game is the amount of inane events in the game. While Phantasmagoria had interesting events and plot devices you can optionally reveal through the progress of the game, either during chapters or special events, A Puzzle of Flesh has a ton of content and events that all rely on worthless actions such as calling someone from a phone or flipping one of your co-workers the middle finger.

    This wouldn't be so bad, if it weren't for the fact you have absolutely no context on what you are supposed to do next to actually progress the story line. You simply have to slog through a mountain of garbage until you find the right action that will send you on your way.

    A number of the puzzles, while using loose logic are completely unnecessary. A great example is when you first play the game, before you leave your apartment you need to find your wallet. If you search under your couch, you'll find your wallet, but in order to get your wallet, you need to use your pet rat. But your pet rat won't come out from under the couch, so you have to use a granola bar to lure him out to get your wallet to leave your apartment.

    The above described puzzle is all fine and good, but the entire time I am doing this, I am asking myself, "why didn't he just reach under the couch?" or "why didn't he just move the couch", instead we have to rely on a basic logic puzzle that is stupid in order to get a wallet that would have taken 10 seconds otherwise.

    Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh failed because of dumb writers and a director who didn't realize a large portion of their game was unnecessary and annoying.    … Full Review »
  2. kultigin
    Nov 17, 2020
    10
    I still want to play this game from time to time. Crashed my pc and my archive to play it in the 2000s. Wish they make a new Phantasmagoria game.
  3. truerock
    Jan 12, 2019
    8
    This is a rare live-acted movie, point-and-click adventure game. The acting is probably among the best of any PC game. The setting is veryThis is a rare live-acted movie, point-and-click adventure game. The acting is probably among the best of any PC game. The setting is very 1996 and the writing is very specific to that time period. My score of 8 is within the context of mid-1990s PC video games. There will never be another attempt of this genre because it is very expensive to create the live acting material.
    2019 Update:
    So, Bandersnatch has been released on Netflix and this represents the first live action, point-and-click movie I've seen since Phantasmagoria Puzzle of Flesh. I would rate both the game and the movie an 8 because they represent uniqueness in story telling approach - even though they are very different in their approach to the genre.    … Full Review »
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