You won't like this game if you prefer boring, easy games. A Puzzle of Flesh is definitely a good game, but it doesn't hold your hand at all. You'll have to just try everything, in the game, to make progress.
Categorically worse than its predecessor in almost every way: where Phantasmagoria was quite straightforward for a PC adventure game, the sequel is irritatingly obscure at every moment. If you attempt to go through this game without a guide, be prepared for a miserable time. I got stuck for no less than an hour because I hadn't thought of showing every character every item in my inventory. Most of the game's puzzles consist of typing in passwords that are no more logical than someone said them to you in a cutscene once, or, you found the words somewhere in the world. If that sounds like every adventure game ever, you're not wrong, but somehow they're even worse in practice here. At one point you go to a particular location and are turned away by the police in a way reminiscent of any video game telling you "you can't do this right now; try something else", maybe leading any regular person to go elsewhere in the world. Well, not so in this game—inexplicably, the solution is to just click the area again and this time the cop won't be there because ???.
If the puzzles aren't bad enough, somehow the game has a user interface so much worse than Phantasmagoria 1 it's astonishing. Navigating through the world is regularly frustrating, and the mouse cursor might be the worst I've ever seen in a video game. I guess it's supposed to be your workplace's logo, the negative space of a W contained in a circle, but it just kinda looks like pointy teeth to me. It sucks real bad. Navigating through the inventory is a chore, and you will have to play around in there for solutions.
On top of all this, the audio mixing might be the worst of all time in a video game. I'm willing to believe the horrendous mix between the videos and music are ScummVM's doing, but that aside, the dialogue in cutscenes frequently range from an inaudible mumble to loud screams. I felt like I needed a volume knob to ride the entire time.
If I'm being nitpicky to a degree I wasn't for the first game, ultimately the reason is thus: whereas the first game was charming and engaging, there's really not a whole lot here to love. There's some intrigue in the conspiracy behind your workplace, but it's all an overwrought mess that's not all that fun to uncover. The death scenes are fun in a goofy slasher flick type of way, but that's about it. I guess the game does have a scene with a titty or two and some bondage scenes, which I suppose is rather wild for a video game in 1996, but also: so what. However, to its credit, the game does have a kind of surprising gay romance subplot to it that's handled astonishingly sweetly. Arguably the only sincerely affecting scene in the whole thing.
At the end of the day, sadly, this just isn't a very good game. There's certainly some value to it in the way that there's value to a lousy horror movie, but unlike the game that came before it, I doubt you'll be coming out of Phantasmagoria 2: A Puzzle of Flesh with much sincere respect for it.
If the puzzles aren't bad enough, somehow the game has a user interface so much worse than Phantasmagoria 1 it's astonishing. Navigating through the world is regularly frustrating, and the mouse cursor might be the worst I've ever seen in a video game. I guess it's supposed to be your workplace's logo, the negative space of a W contained in a circle, but it just kinda looks like pointy teeth to me. It sucks real bad. Navigating through the inventory is a chore, and you will have to play around in there for solutions.
On top of all this, the audio mixing might be the worst of all time in a video game. I'm willing to believe the horrendous mix between the videos and music are ScummVM's doing, but that aside, the dialogue in cutscenes frequently range from an inaudible mumble to loud screams. I felt like I needed a volume knob to ride the entire time.
If I'm being nitpicky to a degree I wasn't for the first game, ultimately the reason is thus: whereas the first game was charming and engaging, there's really not a whole lot here to love. There's some intrigue in the conspiracy behind your workplace, but it's all an overwrought mess that's not all that fun to uncover. The death scenes are fun in a goofy slasher flick type of way, but that's about it. I guess the game does have a scene with a titty or two and some bondage scenes, which I suppose is rather wild for a video game in 1996, but also: so what. However, to its credit, the game does have a kind of surprising gay romance subplot to it that's handled astonishingly sweetly. Arguably the only sincerely affecting scene in the whole thing.
At the end of the day, sadly, this just isn't a very good game. There's certainly some value to it in the way that there's value to a lousy horror movie, but unlike the game that came before it, I doubt you'll be coming out of Phantasmagoria 2: A Puzzle of Flesh with much sincere respect for it.
Bisexual game of all time
Spoony will never see the gates of Heaven for how he treated this game.
One of my all-time favorites, the peak of FMV adventure games in one of the weirdest, most fucked up packages. The acting on display is actually above and beyond what you expect from FMV games, and compared to Phantasmagoria 1's incredible display of the stupidest people of al time, Phantasmagoria 2 is entertaining from start to finish, and the endgame is a SLAM DUNK winner.
This game rules, Curtis is one of the top 10 best gaming protagonists, Blob Gang Rise Up.
One of my all-time favorites, the peak of FMV adventure games in one of the weirdest, most fucked up packages. The acting on display is actually above and beyond what you expect from FMV games, and compared to Phantasmagoria 1's incredible display of the stupidest people of al time, Phantasmagoria 2 is entertaining from start to finish, and the endgame is a SLAM DUNK winner.
This game rules, Curtis is one of the top 10 best gaming protagonists, Blob Gang Rise Up.
Though it works within the restrictions of a mid-'90s FMV game, its writing, acting (mostly from the protagonist), set design, special FX, and relatively mature themes could pass it off as a solid Cronenbergian B-horror.
I feel like once I hit play, my life was forever changed! No going back, this is the path I chose. If I never played this, I think I would be a completely different person right now. I don't know if its good or bad, I don't think that even matters honestly. Either way, I think the best way I can describe Phantasmagoria 2 is that it's like the equivalent to my favorite "young adult book" that I read all the time as a teenager and still, to this day, I can think back on Phantasmagoria 2 and say "God damn, that's a Story with a capital S.".
It's cheesy, but the sense of mystery of what the heck is going on is actually really well done.
ill admit it fellas i did not play this because my computer is slow as hell but i watched a 4 hour playthrough of it and its epiccc it reminded me of The Fly 2
pending more writing, I'll say this:
It's not a good game, but it is a great game.
It's not a good game, but it is a great game.
"A Lackluster Sequel That Buries The Franchise"
Wow. I didn't think a sequel to the original Phantasmagoria could be just as terrible as the first, but here I am complaining about it. I wasn't at all a fan of the original game, since it contained a confusing and boring plot, annoying puzzles, and terrible FMV acting. This one takes all of those elements, and choose only one to slightly improve.
Let's talk about the one single improvement in this game over the first - the dialogue. I don't know if its just me, but I enjoyed the dialogue here a bit more than the first game. It doesn't ever really move the plot forward, but it feels a bit more natural, and it seems as if the main character is actually trying to "act". I liked some of the character interactions, and smiled a bit at how some characters presented themselves. Welp, that's about it for the positive stuff!
The negative is pretty much all of the rest of the gameplay. Almost every action results in a cutscene, the plot makes no sense, and the pacing is horrendous. I was intrigued at first by the improvements in dialogue, but ended up quitting after only an hour into the game! This sequel does nothing to change the experience in a substantial direction, and only makes a bit of the conversations / character interactions more intriguing.
This is a failed sequel, and a truly bad game. I would Not Recommend checking this one out. It contains some pretty dated graphics, mostly subpar acting, limited gameplay, and a boring plot that moves at a snail's pace. There are much better games out there that combine adventure / point-n-click gameplay along with horror themes.
Final Verdict: 2/10 (Bad)
Wow. I didn't think a sequel to the original Phantasmagoria could be just as terrible as the first, but here I am complaining about it. I wasn't at all a fan of the original game, since it contained a confusing and boring plot, annoying puzzles, and terrible FMV acting. This one takes all of those elements, and choose only one to slightly improve.
Let's talk about the one single improvement in this game over the first - the dialogue. I don't know if its just me, but I enjoyed the dialogue here a bit more than the first game. It doesn't ever really move the plot forward, but it feels a bit more natural, and it seems as if the main character is actually trying to "act". I liked some of the character interactions, and smiled a bit at how some characters presented themselves. Welp, that's about it for the positive stuff!
The negative is pretty much all of the rest of the gameplay. Almost every action results in a cutscene, the plot makes no sense, and the pacing is horrendous. I was intrigued at first by the improvements in dialogue, but ended up quitting after only an hour into the game! This sequel does nothing to change the experience in a substantial direction, and only makes a bit of the conversations / character interactions more intriguing.
This is a failed sequel, and a truly bad game. I would Not Recommend checking this one out. It contains some pretty dated graphics, mostly subpar acting, limited gameplay, and a boring plot that moves at a snail's pace. There are much better games out there that combine adventure / point-n-click gameplay along with horror themes.
Final Verdict: 2/10 (Bad)
Cronenberg vibes
I love this game. It can be cheesy and campy but I absolutely love the characters (and the actors that played them) and the silly story. I only think the endgame section brings this down from being a 5 star for me. Playing everything else up to that point has been such a pleasure over the years and it is one of three 90s FMV games that are on my top 30 favorite games list. I love the silliness of the game, the amazing little details that are worked in (like the email system complete with the tone of email you want to send and the responses you get back from your co-workers), and Curtis' growth over the course of the game.
I won this game through Steamgifts.
I really enjoyed this game! Even though it's a year older than me, it has really stayed great even though the quality is what it is for a game from the 1996s.
I really liked the story, it was interesting and the acting only made it better, because it was really well done. I also loved the ending song Rage by Gary Spinrad.
Even if you decide not to play this, check out the song! It was a jam!
I really enjoyed this game! Even though it's a year older than me, it has really stayed great even though the quality is what it is for a game from the 1996s.
I really liked the story, it was interesting and the acting only made it better, because it was really well done. I also loved the ending song Rage by Gary Spinrad.
Even if you decide not to play this, check out the song! It was a jam!
Perfection.
holy shit, this is basically what lain psx was hyped up to be in my head, god damn. frankly fucking bonkers in how aptly it depicted stuff like intrusive thoughts. absolutely iconic. there's only a handful of character's that are interesting, i swear the rat gets more development than jocelyn, but still wow.
I HEARD THAT CURTIS.
absolute hall of fame endgame idec how rushed it was. mechanisms and items stripped of any intuitive meanings outside of feeling around in the dark w your verbs, harnessing adventure game puzzle indecipherableness to have you completely in tune w the total dissolution of curtis's semiotic world. and no one cared or even thought it was worth evaluating outside of "bad fmv game puzzle" so that proves i deserve video games more than most of you. MY denpa eroge, MY documentary of my life where curtis is literally me and all of this actually happened
Such a strange little game with strange little sets. Trevor is the GOAT though. After a while the protagonist started to become unlikable. Still the places where this game goes are incredible.
Esto es mucho, mucho mejor que la entrada anterior, de una forma ridícula. Los actores, por una vez, están bien dirigidos y grabados, y no se chocan constantemente con un fondo que sabes que no están habitando. La historia sigue siendo ridícula de aquella manera que las historias de Sierra tendían a ser, pero se las apaña para sacar influencias de Clive Barker e Historias para No Dormir de una forma admirable que, para colmo, da lugar a una aventura gráfica agradable de jugar y explorar. Al final, la razón por la que sigues jugando es porque los personajes son carismáticos en extremo. Y eso compensa el horrible loop del primer capítulo (con diferencia lo peor de todo) y el indescifrable puzzle del final.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
This is so, so much better than the previous entry it's insane. The actors are, for once, well directed and shot, and don't clash with a background that you can tell they're not seeing. The story is still campy in the way that Sierra stories tended to be, but it manages to draw influences from Clive Barker and Tales from the Crypt in an admirable way. All that is topped off by a very enjoyable graphic adventure about exploring relationships and a limited number of places. In the end, the reason you keep playing is because the characters are extremely charismatic. That makes it, to me, for the horrible loop of the first chapter (by far the worst thing of the game) and the indecipherable puzzle at the end.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
This is so, so much better than the previous entry it's insane. The actors are, for once, well directed and shot, and don't clash with a background that you can tell they're not seeing. The story is still campy in the way that Sierra stories tended to be, but it manages to draw influences from Clive Barker and Tales from the Crypt in an admirable way. All that is topped off by a very enjoyable graphic adventure about exploring relationships and a limited number of places. In the end, the reason you keep playing is because the characters are extremely charismatic. That makes it, to me, for the horrible loop of the first chapter (by far the worst thing of the game) and the indecipherable puzzle at the end.
very gay, very camp - what if you got child-abused by your mommie dearest (in a terrible wig) because you were an interdimensional alien (read: kinsey 4.5) and then grew up and developed xenogenic psychosis from working for big pharma and dealing with your x-dimensional shadow self that wants to wear you as a skinsuit? and the whole time (barring bondage sex with your unhinged yandere side piece and normie not-gf gf), you just wanted to kiss your gay best friend even though (tragically) he's just not that into you? mwah chefs fuckin kiss that's good fuckin shit
A product of it's time. I'd say this one is better than the first one. My main critique would be the plot being kinda dumb and the amount of random stuff you have to do in this game in order to set flags to progress in the game. The actual plot of the game is eerily similar to Quantic Dreams Fahrenheit (2005). So maybe David Cage is an even bigger hack than I thought.