Phantasma VR Director's Cut

A buggy janky mess

Puzzles are not challenging, just needlessly difficult and the solutions make no sense. Walk back and forth down a hallway until you don't die when you touch the same door that just killed you 5 times in a row. What? Why? Because I used my left hand? That's not a puzzle. Hey, you accidentally finished this level, Congratulations, you die anyway. Not fun, bad puzzles, horrible movement controls. Very disappointing.

game starts up and I can tell I will like it, now the but,I cant snap turn, I think ok I give it a try and deal with my cable rapping around me but thats no good, I am now trying to work out the order of doors, unfortunately its stressing me out,not the puzzle it self even though I haven't worked it out yet, my neck hurts and my brain and I loose the will to carry on, just finished the room VR and loved it, Im quiet happy to play a game with teleport but no snap turn just makes it to much of a pain, same as seem like a good game. Oculus Rift S im using.

I finished this game feeling very angry with the game itself and the people who made it.

As a first impression, you start the game in one of those standard videogame creepy hospitals. After a doctor talks for a while over a speaker and the creep factor slowly ramps up, she gives you a knife and tells you to stab yourself in the chest. But you don't have a chest, because it's a VR game. What you *actually* need to do is stab yourself in the *face*. And that's the simplest and most intuitive puzzle in the game. I had to look up solutions for more than one of the surreal challenges that followed. The in-game hint-system is generous to begin with, but sometimes it can be misleading and by the end of the game it will actually insult you. This was frustrating for me.

The story is either that you've been through the plot of They Live, or that you're a serial killer who only *thinks* that's what happened. The game never really commits fully to either of those explanations. This, too, was frustrating.

The horror is decidedly not subtle, Almost every environment is creepy and weird, and the story is punctuated with occasional jumpscares. The tension never winds down - only up. I've seen a lot of videogames make this mistake - if you don't give the player room to breathe occasionally and let some sense of security return to them, eventually they get innured to horror. Or, in the short term, they get frustrated.

And the game ends on a very intrusive and unsatisfying note, with Flappy breaking the 4th wall, acknowledging that you're playing a VR game, and then threatening you. Then the game suddenly exits with no credits or anything. It's like the writer *wanted* to try to induce nightmares in the player. Go to hell, Flappy. My last act in this game was to drive my virtual fist through your intangible skull.

Flappy is my Hero,
This is one very weird game, So weird that I love it.
Think it is based on a true story. Flappy is real and Flappy does exist.
Glad I made this purchase

Phantasma VR has the most elaborate and interesting puzzles among all VR games I've played so far. Add to that very disturbing imagery and ambiguous story and the result is one of the best VR adventures.

Very enjoyable experience. Lasted about 4 hours total from start to finish, very good puzzles without being too easy, has a nice build up of the scary side.

So i would give this game a 3.5 of 5. But the Dev. could easy to get that score up.
Game play itself ws fun, I got to the third scene before I turned it off.
Puzzles are engaging, and took a bit of thinking to get through.

Here are my Criticisms. All of which could probably be fixed easily.
1) If I dropped a paper on the ground, I could not pick it up. There are alot of sketched pages all around, but If I picked one up, and mistakenly dropped it, it was essentially out of play.

2) Locomotion. There are two different common ways to move around in VR, one is to walk around using the pad to manually walk, the other is to teleport. My game kept switching between the two. It was quite annoying, as the walking around kept moving without me wanting too. It was like, make up your freaking mind already, how am I to move!

3) Which brings us to the next thing, I could not figure out how to open a menu. Give me a menu with a few settings, like movement, maybe volume, or music.

4) Lastly, How the game starts up. when you hit Launch, you jump right into gameplay. Can I have a start menu? I don't usually start a game from VRHome, I start it from my desktop, especially when I'm streaming, i want to make sure everything is working, and OBS is picking up the game properly. Give me a starting Splash page where I can hit Go. I'm not sure yet if my game was saved or not, so here is an opportunity to have, Load Saved Game, or Start a New Game. maybe a settings menu for movement, and sounds.

Alright, well I'll be playing again, as I haven't beaten it yet. If i have more to add I will.

Experienced on the Oculus Rift with Touch Controllers. Spoiler-free Review.

A bit on the short side, 1.5 hours for me to finish it, but exceptionally well-crafted the entire way through. The amount of work and attention to detail put into atmosphere and world-building really shines through, especially in the videos and environments.

Puzzles are abstract and challenging, but the hint system consistently gives JUST enough of a nudge to get you on the right track.

The story is just as abstract, told only in the barest snippets and bits of background detail, leaving you to piece everything together yourself, as one final puzzle. This is definitely NOT one of those shallow games that spoon-feeds baby bites of plot points to you. It's less about a linear "story," more about peering through tiny holes here and there, glimpsing into a twisted world where things have gone horribly wrong, and have been that way for a long time.

Highly recommended while it's on sale. It might be a little too short at full price, but that's up to you.

Got my brain a bit of a workout, hade to cheat one time (i suck at english) so i like to say its ok game. The story did not give me alot of exitement and it was a bit boring but the puzzles was nice. The ending wtf!? xD i like to give revenge.

Its a functional game but does not fully work with oculus rift in its default configuration (asks you to turn around which is not supported out of the box with the rift) and it didn't intrest me past the initial room. I wish I could reccomend this because the idea behind it is solid if only the gameplay was a bit more interesting.

I love a good Mindf*ck and this game gave me a good railing.

The game is dark, foreboding, twisted, and delightful. It is an escape the room but with a twist: You are insane. Or are you? Is this real? Am I still playing a game? I'm still waiting for the bunny to tell me.

This game is a wonderful adventure at a very reasonable price.

I would love to see more games play mind games in VR, and I highly recommend this one. The story, music, and overall polish really makes the game feel like the Dev took the time to make the game a personal endeavor. One thing I love about VR is the way it makes you experience things rather than just sit on the sidelines. This game does a fantastic job of pulling you into your own paranoia.

Pros: Fantastic atmosphere and challenging puzzles

Cons: The Second Puzzle and scary Dobermans.

Enjoyable puzzle experience, with a horror theme, quite disturbing.

Puzzles are challenging but not absurd.

No jump scares just an uneasy feel.

God damn that bunny

I purchased this game in support of the developer in making Steam Dolls of which playing the demo I loved. This game being different than that did not disappoint either. Well done.

Phantasma VR is a very good looking retro style adventure puzzle VR game. It was not easy for me as a non-puzzler but it does have hints (if you choose to activate) and visuals to help you along. Don't expect to whip through this fast if you are not much of a puzzle person. Regarless of the puzzle aspect it is a very immersive and pleasing game. It is a bit twisted as you would expect by the conspiracy tag, from the imagery and the text on the various scribblings you read. The bunny always being there is a bit creepy too. Since the game got a price drop I think it is well worth a play through. Games that suck you into your VR experience are the ones that I deem did the job right. This one to me did that with the art style, atmosphere, thinking, interaction, and the bunny?. The game is good for puzzlers and those who want to get their brain working once in a while. My number rating would be a 7/10.

My Specs:
GTX 1070
Intel Core i7-7700k
16 Gigs Ram
HTC VIVE

Phantasma is sick, twisted, difficult and a little bit erotic. I highly enjoyed the experience. These aren't your typical escape room puzzles. They require "outside the box" thinking and are very satisfying when solved. If you're up for a challenge, try Phantasma. If not, just keep calm, watch TV and be a good bunny.

Being a fan of the games mentioned in the "About this Game" section, I was interested in playing, then once I got the demo and went through it, I had to get it.
The puzzles were challenging enough to be a little frustrating, but the Dev was very helpful with hints that gave just the nudge in the right direction without spoiling the fun.
No jumpscares, but that bunny. :)
Graphics are good, and the sound design definintely helped the atmosphere. Some of the sound effects give you the creeps.
Definitely worth it. Was both relieved and disappointed when it was over.
Hope to see more from this Dev.

This is a really solid puzzle game with excellent presentation. Puzzles generally have a few layers, often leaving you thinking you've solved them when there is still some subtle clue waiting to pull it all together into a satisfying 'eureka' moment where everything makes sense. Graphics are crisp and detailed and give a great sense of presence.

Generally, only puzzle elements or narrative elements can be intereacted with, so at first I was a bit turned off that many drawers and objects didn't move when I tried to move them. In the end this did help keep each puzzle focused, so that time is not wasted on distracting elements.

More important than anything else, you can really feel that a lot of passion went into this project. The voice acting, video clues, level design, artwork, and overall 'feel' are very expressive and memorable. The developer has also been very receptive to suggestions and feedback, which sees the game getting more polished still with each update. This game is well worth your time if you are interested in puzzle solving and/or narrative VR experiences. I hope to see more of this kind of game in the VR space, and look forward to whatever this developer comes up with next.

Just finished this game and I really liked it. With my playtime it says 3,4 hours but on the second puzzle I had some help from the dev because it was really difficult and spend 1 hour alone there. This is fixed and has a more easier approach now. So 3-4 hours would be an avarage playtime.

The puzzles were great and not to hard (after the updates). I felt satisfied solving them and looking forward to let family and friends solve it. I would say you can compare this game a bit with "A Chair In A Room". Where ACIAR has a bit more playtime Phantasma has the better puzzles. Both games are great in his own rights.

Phantasm has his own psycholgical feeling and even at the end you scratching your head about what was going on. Its not hard figuring out but it keeps you thinking.

Also this game uses teleportation or locomotion so it should be comfortable for everyone.

Overall I recommend this game sloley for its puzzles.

7/10

When I launched this game I really didn't know what to expect. the trailer seemed pretty creepy though and i like creepy so I figured I'd give it a try. This is basically an escape room game along the same lines as A Chair in a room with from what I have gathered so far, a very dark narrative. I noticed in the tags it said "cute" ,.. well if you mean cute like I ate too many shrooms and now my pillow wants to eat me, then yeah,.. cute. I have only played for a couple hours now and at least 90 minutes of that was trying to figure out the Paris level. which brings me to my next point. In this game you have to put away your normal gamer logic. most escape rooms you find a key that opens this door which reveals a strange shaped object which fits in that hole and so on. Phantasma is more of a brain teaser. It reminds me of those MasterMind cards from when I was a kid. You need to be able to think laterally and not so much well this thing does this thing and so on like we are all used to. What's really nuts is that when you figure it out you want to slam your head on your key board because the solution to these puzzles were right in front of you the whole time and then the puzzles seem easy. at least the two I have completed. BTW something happens after the Paris Level,. it takes the darkness of this game to a whole new level. I found while trying to solve the puzzles there are things that kinda drove me nuts,. like the never ending barking of a dog,. I'm a cat person,.. or non stop baby crying. or french music on repeat for 90 minutes. but from what I gather,. this game is about a very deranged mind and it certainly can give you the feeling of going mad. The graphics are really polished. the sound is great if not annoying at times. it's nice that the devs gave us both teleport and free locomotion. I prefer the locomotion as the teleport seems to be a bit out of control and can send things flying in all directions if you aren't carful. Over all I would say that this is a working peice of art in VR. it's a bit ambiguous, but that's ok. I saw one reviewer refering to Salvador Dali and Lynch which I would say is pretty right on the money. The dev says that it will take at least 4 hours to complete the game and since I have only completed 2 puzzles and already have 2 in I'm going to take his word for it. you def get your money's worth unlike some games where you pay 20 bucks for an hour of play.
Pros:
-great graphics
-sound and voice acting
-new kind of puzzles, very challenging.
-options for locomotion
- creepy AF
-plenty of play time for the buck
-great physics
Cons:
-sounds can get repetative and annoying
-teleport is a bit wonky

this is a soild title. props to the devs for giving us something different! you should buy it!

If David Lynch and Salvador Dali would have made a puzzle game without having a high budget, this would have been the result. Excellent graphics, sounds and voice-acting! Featuring both teleport and free (controller direction) movement. If you like puzzles, I highly recommend this one.