Phantasmagoria files scummvm2/16/2024 She had been telling tales for nearly a decade and a half and everyone was excited to see what the results would be. Yet this was a storyteller who knew her craft. Fans of the family-friendly fare of King’s Quest were surprised to learn about Williams’ bold step into horror – it was a completely unexpected and surprising turn for the fairy-tale maestro. Instead of using a lantern to project frightening images in theater as its namesake suggests, she would be doing the same with CRTs everywhere thanks to CD-ROMs. And after treating King’s Quest VII to the full CD treatment, Roberta Williams went full bore into the medium with Phantasmagoria’s movie-like production values spread across 7 CD-ROMs, most of which was dedicated to the movies on the discs. Sierra tiptoed into CD-ROMs slowly by offering “enhanced” versions of several of their games that had previously come out on disk, such as Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers (now featuring the voice of Tim Curry). Phantasmagoria, released in 1995 months after this ad ran in 1994, can be said to be a culmination of those efforts by Sierra On-Line as well as an attempt by the storied developer to one-up the competition. The 7th Guest pushed hardware requirements the way that Crytek’s Crysis or Origin’s Strike Commander did in their days, but its use of FMV meshed with notoriously tough puzzles also made it a poster boy for the possibilities that CD-ROM brought to the table. Although Myst was full-CG, it was still a remarkable gateway game whose simple gameplay and enthralling visuals created a new generation of armchair gamers. Other games, such as Cyan’s phenomenally successful Myst in and Trilobyte’s 7th Guest in 1993 had only encouraged others to do leap right into the CD-ROM market. Not every attempt was successful, but stars such as Christopher Walken, Dennis Hopper, Tia Carrere, and Grace Jones would become pioneers in bringing star power to the properties that could bring them to life – something that hasn’t been lost with voice-over roles in today’s high end AAA titles. Soon, gaming’s dalliance with “movie-like” gameplay dominated the early nineties as numerous developers stumbled around trying to find that perfect fusion between Hollywood and gaming. “Dude, it’s DOUBLE the speed!” I also remember how much of a PITA configuring CD-ROM to work in DOS was. I remember seeing CD-ROM 2x speed kits for PCs having the kind of effect on PC pundits and enthusiasts that SATA did for HDs. The idea that CD-ROMs could open the floodgates on a true Silicon Valley/Hollywood hybrid title would usher in warehouses of titles ranging from shovelware compilations to porn. Today, you can grab it for a few bucks over a a digital distribution service like Good Old Games.īack during the early-to-mid 90’s, CD-ROM technology was drawing in the gaming industry with the promises that the massive space crammed onto each plastic disc seduced developers with. No modern discussion of horror games, or gaming tech on PCs, would be complete without Roberta Williams’ Phantasmagoria with its recommendation for only 18 and above audiences. But Gabriel Knight put Sierra’s foot in the door and they went all-out with this cinematic monster. Controversial to a fault, Phantasmagoria was an incredible risk by a company better known for its family friendly games than for adult horror.
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