Fascination (video game)

Lore & Background

Fascination is a first-person point-and-click game where players interact with highlighted objects and characters to advance the plot. The story begins when stewardess Doralice receives a vial from a dying passenger, Fayard Nichols, and is tasked with delivering it to his boss, Jeffrey Miller. After finding Miller dead, Doralice discovers a tape revealing that the vial is a prototype invention, with two other vials held by Miller's son Kenneth and a thief named Doc. Doralice must retrieve the stolen vials from Doc's underground laboratory.

The plot thickens as Doralice encounters a series of characters, including fellow pilot Rob, chief hostess Prisca, and a wheelchair-bound inspector with a cat. She eventually uncovers that Doc has been using photos taken by Lou Dale for plastic surgery, and that the man posing as Kenneth is an impostor. After being knocked out by Doc, Doralice wakes up to find the inspector, Pedro, who is actually Doc in disguise. She subdues him with formaldehyde and frees the real Kenneth. In the ending, Rob reveals the entire adventure was a role-playing game scenario he designed for his business.

Reader's Guide

Fascination received mixed reviews upon release, with French magazines giving the PC version scores upwards of 90%, while Amiga reviews ranged from 80% in CU Amiga to as low as 47% in Amiga Computing. Retrospectively, Richard Cobbett of PC Gamer called it 'perhaps the stupidest ending of any game in history.' However, Polish scholar Filip Jankowski defended the ending, noting that it predicted the finale of David Fincher's film The Game (1997) and criticized capitalism more explicitly. Jankowski also highlighted that Fascination was among the first video games to feature a female protagonist and adopt her viewpoint, with the ending questioning patriarchal norms. The game's significance lies in its early use of a female lead and its controversial narrative, which continues to spark debate among critics and scholars.

Did You Know?

• The game's ending was criticized by Richard Cobbett of PC Gamer as 'perhaps the stupidest ending of any game in history.'
• Polish scholar Filip Jankowski argued that Fascination's ending predicted the finale of David Fincher's film The Game (1997).
• Fascination was among the first video games to feature a female protagonist and adopt her viewpoint.
• The game's plot involves a vial hidden inside a shaving foam can.