Phantasmagoria (video Game) - Release and Reception

Release and Reception

Phantasmagoria was a notable outing for designer Roberta Williams, best known for her family games like the King's Quest series. Featuring graphic gore, violence, and a rape scene, the game stirred controversy over age restrictions and target audiences in the maturing game industry. It was banned in Australia, while CompUSA and other major retailers simply refused to carry it. The game was never banned in Germany but had an 18-Rating. Phantasmagoria was Sierra's best-selling game in 1995 and one of the best-selling PC games of the year.

The game was met with mixed reviews upon release. Reviewer Arinn Dembo writing for Computer Gaming World gave the game 4 and a half (out of 5) stars, and the game received an Editor's Choice Award; Computer Game Review (now defunct) applauded Phantasmagoria with its Golden Triad Award. Jeff Sengstack of GameSpot, however, gave Phantasmagoria a 6.0 "Fair" rating and commented that "experienced adventurers will find Phantasmagoria generally unchallenging, the characters weak, the violence over-the-top, and the script just lame."

Phantasmagoria was also ported to the Sega Saturn. This version, exclusively targeted at Japan, was developed and released by Outrigger Corporation in 1997. Renamed Phantasm, it featured eight CDs and was fully translated and dubbed into Japanese. A boxed set of both Phantasmagoria games was released in 1999, called Phantasmagoria Stagefright.