Line #5 YMMV/Phantasmagoria


1	* CompleteMonster: The demon, an entity so evil that it has no name, is a being from the Dark Realm that haunts the Carnovasch estate. Summoned by magician Zoltan "Carno" Carnovasch during his time in Paris, the demon [[DemonicPossession possessed Carno]], turning him into a [[HeManWomanHater raging misogynist]] who would go on to [[OffingTheOffspring kill his baby daughter Sofia]] and [[TheBluebeard his multiple wives]] in a [[CruelAndUnusualDeath variety of painful ways]]. Murdering his assistant and his final wife after they tried to kill him, the demon was sealed away after Carno's own demise. Accidentally reawakened a century later by Adrienne Delany, the demon goes on to possess her husband Don Gordon, using him to murder a phone repairman and two farmers, even going so far as to rape Adrienne for no reason while planning to decapitate her.
2	* EnsembleDarkhorse: Strangely enough, the mounted fish in the real estate agent's office, thanks to LetsPlay/{{Slowbeef}} and [[LetsPlay/GamingGarbage Lowtax's]] riffing of the game.
3	* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: The best acting performance in the game comes from Douglas Seale, best known as the voice of the Sultan in ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'', as the supercentenarian Malcolm Wyrmshadow. In contrast to the cheerful but naïve voice he gave the Sultan, here he sounds genuinely ''pained'' when Malcolm describes being forced to witness Carno's demise [[HarmfulToMinors as a child]].
4	* {{Narm}}: The acting and writing are very hit-or-miss. The most notable example occurs during the end of Chapter 6 through Chapter 7, where Don completely snaps and starts giggling like a lunatic. It somehow manages to utterly fail at being intimidating.
5	* NarmCharm: The credits theme, "Take a Stand". It's a cheesy as hell ballad that comes after, among other things, [[spoiler:Don's death and Adrienne being heartbroken]], but it's still kind of enjoyable to listen to, even if doesn't compare to [[VideoGame/PhantasmagoriaAPuzzleOfFlesh the sequel]]'s "Rage".
6	* NightmareFuel:
7	** The visions of Carno's wives' murders are all pretty damn unsettling.
8	** Also the various death sequences in Chapter 7. Even though the game is full of [[SpecialEffectFailure CG that has not aged well]], the makeup effects involved in Adrienne's gory deaths (especially one in which she has ''her face pulled apart'') are quite nauseatingly realistic.
9	* NightmareRetardant: The loud music, cheesy special effects, and {{Narm}}y acting can ruin many of the scary moments.
10	* {{Padding}}: Unless there's a special event or action involved, clicking on chairs, beds, and mirrors often triggers a pointless FMV of Adrienne sitting down and relaxing or combing her hair or checking her makeup. You can even make her go to the bathroom or get a snack or a drink! To be fair, you can skip any FMV with a click and it was likely intended less as padding and more to make the game feel as interactive as possible, but it does get really funny when [[spoiler:you can make Adrienne calmly look herself over in a mirror in the hidden room right after she has a vision of Carno breaking one of his wives' necks with a device still in the room.]]
11	* PortingDisaster: The game was re-released in Japan for the UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn two years later under the name ''Phantasm''. The script was fully translated and dubbed into Japanese, had a remastered soundtrack, included a difficulty setting, and could hold more save files. However, given the hardware limitations, the FMV sequences take quite a drop in video quality, giving the characters a ghostly blue outline and making it hard to see what you're doing. Then there's the fact that some of the death scenes were either cut or heavily edited to censor the gore. The game also had ''more discs than the PC version'', with 8 discs compared to the already large 7 discs the PC version came with. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking And all of the Gregorian chanting was replaced with a stock]] ScareChord [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking track.]]
12	* SpecialEffectFailure: [[spoiler:Don wearing Harriet's bloody scalp]] would be considerably more disturbing if it weren't so obviously [[spoiler: just some generic cheap curly grandma wig]].
13	* ThatOneLevel: The last chapter, Chapter 7. It's understandable in the context of the plot, but for a point-and-click adventure game that was pretty straightforward, especially by the standards of the time, it can be a sudden jump in difficulty particularly for those new to the genre. Not taking certain paths and actions in previous chapters that weren't mandatory for finishing those chapters can keep you from taking on arguably more obvious or at least more heavily foreshadowed solutions here (i.e., it's easy to miss that you have to get the crucifix from the antique store owner before you start Chapter 7, largely because the game won't let you keep a needed item in your inventory until a certain time). Plus most of all it's the first time you can get yourself killed.
14	* ThatOnePuzzle: In the first chapter, you find a bricked-up hearth with another room behind it. You're likely lugging around a fireplace poker and a hammer by this point and would assume either one of them would be your means of entry, but nay; the former just doesn't work, and Adrienne refuses to use the latter because it "would make an awful mess". The solution? [[spoiler:Examining an onyx figurine and pressing a button on its head to make a letter-opener blade pop out. which she then uses to delicately carve through the mortar. Note that you only interact with your inventory in this fashion one other time: to open the cameo brooch's pin to prick Adrienne's finger.]]

Context YMMV / Phantasmagoria