Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16318 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Dreamcatcher
• Released on: 2001-11-15
• ESRB Rating: Everyone
• Platforms: Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 95
• Format: DVD-ROM

Features

• Nonviolent 1st-person mystery adventure game
• Solve puzzles to understand a deserted planet
• Immersive 3-D environments
• Nonlinear gameplay
• For 1 player

From the Manufacturer
Several exploration attempts of Argilus have failed to reveal the secrets behind its mysterious abandoned condition--a developed planet with absolutely no people.

Previous exploration teams had reported unusual findings, prior to them mysteriously going missing themselves. Their garbled messages speak of a world containing large habitable organic vessels aimlessly floating and abandoned. These messages are the only legacy that remains of a missing race.

Now you must travel to the strange and exotic lands of Argilus. Here you will discover the mysteries and the secrets that, until now, have been lying dormant waiting to be revealed. Embrace the challenge and allow your instincts and ingenuity to help unlock the ultimate mystery.

Customer Reviews

Best of the Myst Clones
This game came the closest in rivaling Myst's amazing sense of aestetics and attention to detail..I also recall being impressed by all the movement animation that played in between clicks, thereby erasing that fake feeling of just magically floating from one hotspot to the next..Some of the puzzles are indeed, infuriating, but there is no shame in using a walkthrough when you have gotten to the point past fun and still have so much left of a beautiful alien world to explore..

Only for the puzzle and math lovers
Like the title suggests, Schizm is a difficult game and only for those who are willing to spend the time and patience to copmlete it. Some parts are frustrating, yes, but this game wasn't meant to be completed overnight, or in the space of a few hours for that matter. This game is well-worth the money - I'm not going to pay for an easy game that can be completed in twenty hours.

The graphics are absolutely gorgeous. It seems so real, with the water effects and the sky and the eye-candy. The producers did an excellent job making the worlds have a deserted and mysterious feel about them. Just as good as Myst graphics. As to traveling, well, sit back and enjoy the game. The producers obviously took their time to make this game seem realistic, so don't just play to complete the game and have done with it.

The puzzles start off easy and become more difficult as the game progresses. (Take time to tinker!) At first it was confusing playing with two characters, but gradually it became easier. That also gave me a break in case I was stuck on a puzzle with one character, I could switch to the other character and continue on. Towards the end there are two especially difficult puzzles, one involving math, the other involving auditory processing. They CAN be done without hints/walkthroughs (I did it without hints!). You just need patience. As for the first above-mentioned puzzle, if you don't have geometry under your belt, don't even attempt it. It requires patience and math skills. The second puzzle requires you to listen to a series of alien words and then play them back, though you have to get them in the right order. Difficult if you can't distinguish sounds too well. Bottom line: difficult puzzles but do-able.

Music was awesome, acting fine, I had no trouble with gameplay. Ran smoothly with the DVD-ROM.

The only thing I didn't like is that if you're half-way through a puzzle and you save, when you return to the game the puzzle restarts. No way to get around that, but it's really only a minor problem.

This game certainly does not deserve the poor reviews it has been getting. I have played the Myst series, Nancy Drew series, and several other logic computer games, and am in the middle of Mysterious Journey 2 (the sequel to Schizm- which is so far also excellent). Schizm is the most difficult so far but so enjoyable and rewarding. I'd rather have a difficult game that challenges me rather than one that gives me the answer. Can't wait for any other games the producers are going to make!

Schizm - Fizm
I'm not a much of a gamer. You may buy this game for the discount price.

I got this for the impressive graphics. I fail to see anyone solving this without a walkthrough or a decade. The puzzles have some logic but are not related well enough to solve. Many reset themsleves if you save the game or leave the area. Even with a walkthrough, I spent too much travelling to get from clue to solution.

I saw better acting in my high school drama club. Some of the verbal/audio clues were not understandable. If it were not for the walk through I would not have had them. I even saved the game and ran through a number of times at these spots with no luck.

Running 2 characters was fine but having to gather them up near the end and keep them together was quite an annoyance.

Then the hangs. I ran my P4 with no TSR's and still had crashes. That required full reboots and killing of the TSR's.

The beautiful graphics and intrique do not make up for the shortfalls above. I really felt that I wasted my time when I had experienced the chopped off poorly contrived ending.

Sad adventure.