Sierra stressed that it was intended for adult audiences, and the company willingly submitted it to a ratings system and included a password-protected censoring option within the game to tone down the graphic content.

[9][10] Game designer Roberta Williams, co-founder of Sierra On-Line, deliberately made the Phantasmagoria gameplay and interface simple, unobtrusive, and intuitive so it would be more accessible and less frustrating for casual gamers.

Unbeknownst to the happy couple, Carno had practiced black magic when he lived in the mansion and had summoned an evil demon that possessed him and caused him to murder his wives.

Adrienne meets Harriet Hockaday (V. Joy Lee), a superstitious vagrant, and her strong but dim-witted son, Cyrus (Steven W. Bailey), who are secretly living in a barn on the estate.

When a technician named Mike (Carl Neimic) visits the mansion to install the phone-line, Don screams at him in a jealous rage, warning him to stay away from his wife.

While the local townspeople believe all Carno's wives died of natural causes or accidentally, Adrienne learns through a series of visions that he murdered them in grotesque ways.

As a result, she decided to wait until CD-ROMs were faster and could handle real actors, which she believed was crucial for a horror game because she felt the player had to be able to empathize with the character to fear for them.

[24] Williams said she knew the rape scene in particular would be controversial, but she felt it was essential to the plot because it was a turning point that made Adrienne realize something was deeply wrong with Don.

[37] Seibert said bridging the gap between Hollywood and the software world was difficult at first, but after about four weeks of shooting, the two sides had "come to a common language and had a greater understanding of the process.

[2][63] All filming was done entirely in front of a blue screen,[62] and the digitized information was later loaded into the Silicon Graphics computers, which synchronized the relative motion of computer-generated, three-dimensional background art.

[76] For Harriet's death scene, in which she is scalped and her brain is visible, makeup artist Cindy Jordan put a cap over actress V. Joy Lee's head and covered it with mortician's wax to make it look bumpy.

[82] Most of the music is a mixture of real instruments with synthesized and sampled sounds,[63] and unlike previous Sierra games, the score was recorded live, rather than created in the computer.

[95] Phantasmagoria was also ported to Sega Saturn and spanned eight discs exclusively in Japan,[25] where it was fully translated and dubbed into Japanese, and released by Outrigger under the name Phantasm.

[108] It grossed $12,000,000 and sold 300,000 units during its first week-end of release,[39][54] debuting at number four in PC Data's August 1995 list of top-selling computer games for MS-DOS and Windows.

[119][120] In January 1996, Phantasmagoria was the fourth-best seller among MS-DOS and Windows games, behind Microsoft Flight Simulator, Myst and Command & Conquer,[121] and it was number six among all computer software.

[57] Dwight Silverman of the Houston Chronicle declared it the best game of the year,[139] calling it a "masterwork" and "as close as it gets to a film you control," although he said not everyone would appreciate it due to its violent content.

"[1] Kim McDaniel of The Salt Lake Tribune called it "the most sophisticated computer game to date" and "a weird, wild, horrific ride that will make you jump at every turn, even if you aren't normally faint-of-heart."

[12] A Billboard magazine review said Phantasmagoria "lives up to the advanced billing" and "aims to unnerve and succeeds gruesomely with bloody special effects interspliced in trusty scare-flick fashion with daubs of flesh and hints of sex.

"[141] USA Today writer Joe Wilson gave it three-and-a-half stars and called it well-produced, visually appealing, frighteningly realistic and "a much-needed change from normal fare," although he said the plot did not start to become interesting until halfway through.

[94] Gene Emery of The Providence Journal said the game was "an impressive work, a sophisticated mix of live action and a rich computer-generated environment, coupled with a musical score that's spooky without being overwhelming."

[92] A reviewer for Next Generation was pleased with the story, the production values of the cutscenes, and the way the game mixed in full motion video without resulting in slowdown or poor control.

However, he found that the lack of a challenge made it a poor value for experienced players, since they would be able to finish the entire game in a day or two, and recommended it strictly for those who were new to the adventure genre.

"[142] Steve La Rue of U-T San Diego found the game "visually opulent and interesting" with "dialogue a lot better than I expected, given the trite gothic novel plot," but also said he had to adjust to the "gradual, contemplative pace.

"[95] Jack Warner of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote: "It's hackneyed, but the art is so good, the acting sufficiently convincing and the atmosphere brooding enough to keep you going," although he said "precious little happens" in the first few discs.

"[11] Harley Jebens of the Austin American-Statesman said some of the acting was "hilariously bad" and the storyline was predictable, but that the game keeps you engaged, the story draws you in and the controls were well executed.

[4] Fort Worth Star-Telegram writer Andy Greiser said the game was a beautiful combination of live actors and computer-built backgrounds, but said the action doesn't start to pick up until the halfway point.

"[98] Mike Hall of the Albuquerque Journal compared Phantasmagoria to big-budget films with multimillion-dollar budgets and multiple production delays that ultimately failed, like Cleopatra and Waterworld.

[146] The Escapist writer Brendan Main said the game fell short of its ambition to change how gamers experienced horror media, and the juxtaposition of real-life actors on settings that were "ordinary, pixilated fare" was "odd and unflattering.

They suggested a link existed between recent student slayings in West Paducah, Kentucky, and Jonesboro, Arkansas, and the "increasingly violent world many American children enter when they sit down in front of a computer screen.

Harley Jebens of the Austin American-Statesman said by the time it was finally released, "computer games that incorporate video [were] becoming a common sight on the software store racks.