Phantasmagoria

In the mid-90's, Sierra On-Line released a computer game compatible with Windows and DOS entitled Phantasmagoria. This game was created during the height of what was dubbed the "interactive movie" phase for the computer game industry. An actress, Victoria Morsell, spent months filming hundreds of actions from which players could select for her character to perform, all in front of a blue screen. The game was released on an amazing seven CDs to accommodate the colossal amount of video generated during the filming process, typical of less modern game creation techniques. If this game were to have been released recently, it might have only occupied one or two CDs.

More amazing facts about the game include that its script for the actors was four times the size of a general movie script and included over 800 different scenes. More than 200 people, including a 135-piece choir, were involved in the production.



You play the character of Adrienne Delaney, a curious housewife who, together with her husband Donald, have purchased an enormous mansion previously owned by Zoltan Carnovasch ("Carno"), a magician into black magic in the 18th century. Her husband, Donald, is a photographer, interested in spreading his wings in the field around town. Upon move-in, Adrienne begins having nightmares. She soon finds out that Carno summoned an evil demon, possibly by accident, that possessed him and caused him to brutally murder his wives. The townspeople know nothing of this history, and cannot give Adrienne much information about the wives or their deaths.