|
Inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen King, Roberta Williams blended
the elements of modern fiction with the best of nineteenth century literature to create Phantasmagoria. After trading their noisy Boston condo for a bizarre mansion on a small
island along the New England coastline, Adrienne and Donald Gordon are slowly enveloped
in a mystery of boundless, supernatural proportions. What is the secret that is locked
inside this place, that infects this house? There is the previous owner, a famous
illusionist who died inside its walls a hundred years ago. What kind of magic was he
really into? What happened to the many wives who shared his shadowy world? Didn't he
have a couple of children, a little boy and girl? As you take on the role of Adrienne,
you are doomed to become the center of attraction for this horrifying entity. This
haunting tale of a terrifying world of isolation, illusion, and insanity gave birth to the exciting new genre of interactive horror as never seen before, for it was most frighteningly believable adventure game ever created. A mega seven CD game, it was Roberta's largest project by far. It was also her first game that incorporated real life actors. In fact, the feature-film actors were captured on the most film footage ever included in any game up to that time. Phantasmagoria is mainly aimed as an adult game due to the graphic nature of the violence and the several explicit adult scenes. However, the game does have a censored mode that blocks such graphic and/or explicit scenes for the younger audience. It was quite controversial and banned in places like Australia. Made during the height of the "interactive movie" boom in the computer game industry, Phantasmagoria is notable for being one of the
first and only adventure games to use a human being as an on-screen avatar. Actress
Victoria Morsell spent months in front of a blue screen filming the hundreds of actions
players could direct her character to perform. |