Phantasmagoria

Phantasmagoria was a CD-ROM horror game released by Sierra Online in 1995.

Made during the height of the "interactive movie" boom in the computer game industry, Phantasmagoria is notable for being one of the first and only adventure games to use a human being as an on-screen avatar. Actress Victoria Morsell spent months in front of a bluescreen filming the hundreds of actions players could direct her character to perform. The game was released on 7 CD-ROMs to accommodate the massive amount of video generated by this process.

Phantasmagoria was a notable departure for designer Roberta Williams, best known for her family games like the King's Quest series. Featuring graphic gore, violence, and a rape scene, the game stirred controversy over age restrictions and target audiences in the maturing game industry. It was banned in Australia, and CompUSA and other major retailers refused to carry it.

In 1996, Phantasmagoria 2: A Puzzle of Flesh by Lorelei Shannon was released. Dropping the unique adventure game style interaction in favor of an interactive movie format, the sequel was more expensive to produce and less popular with audiences tiring of video clip-driven games. The game was a financial failure, and no further titles in the series were produced.