Schizm: Mysterious Journey (DVD-ROM)

by Dreamcatcher

Product Features

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

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005TQ0X
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: November 15, 2001
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,562 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

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

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For Hard-Core Adventure Gamers Only, January 23, 2002

By 

Michael Paul Sebek (Georgia, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Schizm: Mysterious Journey (DVD-ROM) (CD-ROM)

Usually I write a review to "gush" all over a product, but for me this game is the exception. In my opinion, some gushing and some caveat emptors are in order for Schizm: Mysterious Journey. First, a review I read before I purchased the game said it best: "Albert Einstein on his best day could not beat this game without a walkthrough!" Plain and simple, some of the the puzzles in Schizm are HARD--VERY, VERY HARD. Second, although other reviews I've read complain about the acting (it's really adequate for a computer game), one main reason I buy an adventure game is for the artwork, graphics, and atmospherics. In Schizm, these elements are "drop-dead gorgeous!" I have never seen an adventure game so beautifully rendered. Also, the music and sounds compliment the game perfectly. Finally, I strongly suggest that anyone purchasing this game buy the DVD version (presuming your computer is so equipped). I'm told that the DVD's graphics are far better than that of the CD-ROM version. So in sum--if it's easy puzzles, a great story line, and "award winning" acting that you want in an adventure game, keep looking. However, if you value REALLY HARD puzzles, a gripping plot, super graphics, marvelous sound and ethereal music, buy the DVD version of Schizm: Mysterious Journey. But beware: it's one for hard-core adventure gamers only.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars definitely worth playing!, December 1, 2001

By 

S. Romano (Partinico, Sicily Italy) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Schizm: Mysterious Journey (DVD-ROM) (CD-ROM)

the reviews to Schizm, varying from the positive to the dismally negative, only make clear one simple thing: we all see and hear complete different things in the same object. So: Schizm has a very bad acting. YES. Schizm has very difficult puzzles. YES. And then? For me Schizm's world is one of the most compelling I ever saw in a computer game, similar to Riven under many aspects but more surrealistic. If you like to explore an endlessly fascinating landscape, if you like a slow and meditating pace, if you DON'T like ridiculous inventory-based puzzles but love to try to solve tough but not impossible logical puzzles, then Schizm is your game. In any other case, if the shooters are yor cup of tea, well, give it a wide berth. Luckily, in the world there's place for anyone and for every idea and taste! For me Schizm is already a classic (and by the way, the DVD version is really better).

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars for those who enjoy solving tough puzzles, July 11, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Schizm: Mysterious Journey (DVD-ROM) (CD-ROM)

i started the cd version on a friends windows computer (i have a mac), but i didnt have adequate access to really give the game the concentration it requires. for this reason, i went out and bought a last year's model windows computer and the dvd version of schizm. of course, this gave me access to many superb games not available to mac, but schizm was the main reason for the purchase. let me also add that the dvd is not more convenient (you have to keep flipping it), but the visual quality is better than the cd, and there is an extra tough puzzle (the telescope). schizm is not a true adventure game, but one that has a rather silly story to serve as a framework for its puzzles (think the myst series)

the other reviews all come to the same conclusion: beautiful and very hard. the scenes are surreal and - i hate to use this word - stunning; whoever thought these up had a hell of an imagination. living floating islands, a city of huge balloons, a partially ruined temple cut into rock, and this is only part. the puzzles are difficult, more so than riven, but i only found one obnoxious, where in a village, you had to enter each house twice, and leave it only once; this was pure trial and error, and i looked up the answer. all the other problems are well within the capability of one who has high school arithmetic, as there is a triangle problem which involves simple proportion, no trig (kind of like pegging off distances across rivers in boy scouts). there is 360 degree panning at all points, with the novel feature of the directional keys causing rotation in 45 degree increments, if desired. another novel feature is the necessity of teaming up by the two characters, even though they cant see each other, in order to solve problems. this game carries a very small inventory, one or two items, and trial and error are not necessary as the use of each object is quite obvious. other reviewers constant gripes concerned the acting, but i consider this unimportant in this type of game; after all, the Millers (sirius, achernar, and atrus(acrux?)) are pretty bad, too, but their games are classics.

it appears from the credits that this game is of polish origin, and there are some areas where it could use some extra polish before it reaches the level of refinement of, say, riven. example 1: for the problem of filling the balloon with gas, the directions are run by very fast and not altogether clearly. if you miss part of it you dont get to hear it again. there should be a log to record these directions for reference. The solution to this problem is very clever. start with zero. example 2: the cut scenes dont always run smoothly, especially the ones of the living islands floating away. they freeze, but i lost no saves or progress on restarting. this may be due to XP, but i cant say for sure. example 3: several times in the game, mystical hand signals are given, when saying directly would have been just as good. when indicating that another pearl was needed, the planetary denizen raised one finger and said nothing. i thought that meant to go upstairs. but it was no problem finding and getting tne extra pearl. another time, bilateral chopping motions were given with the hands to indicate to close a door. the actor could simply have said that a door needed to be closed. (this caused a major hangup in my game).

all in all, this game is one of outstanding beauty, with puzzles to match. if you dont like these very difficult problems, buy the longest journey or syberia (both excellent), but if you liked riven, i think youll like schizm. incidentally, i read a sequel is coming out called Mysterious Journey.