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.