Voyeur and Voyeur II were Interactive Movies released in 1993 and 1996 respectively. The first game was originally released as the "flagship" product for the short-lived Philips CD-i multimedia system/video game console. DOS and Macintosh computer ports were later released and the sequel was only available for those computers.
In the first game, you are a private investigator hired by a member of the wealthy Hawke family in order to gain enough evidence to bring down the corrupt Reed Hawke, a wealthy CEO who has gathered his family together for the weekend to prepare for his announcement that he will be running for President of the United States. You control various hidden cameras located through the Hawke family home in an effort to gather enough evidence to destroy Reed Hawke's career.
Depending on the evidence that the player gathers, he or she can go to the police or feed information directly to a Hawke family member, and he or she also has to move through and collect evidence in real-time. Thus, leaving one scene to investigate another and coming back can mean missing a lot of information. Hence, the game had Multiple Endings, six scenarios in all.
In 1996, Philips Media (same company, new name) released a sequel to Voyeur. This time hidden cameras were placed on an isolated mountain cabin where various people have gathered for the reading of a will that is expected to give Dr. Elizabeth Duran control of a lucrative research institute. All of the cabin guests want control of the institute and the player's goal is to watch the cameras in order to find out which one is a murderer before he or she kills Dr. Duran.
The format of the game was similar to that of the Digital Pictures full motion video games such as Night Trap and Double Switch, with two important differences. The first major difference was that Voyeur's full motion video included female nudity and simulated sex scenes giving the game a warning label on its box about its mature subject matter. This is in contrast to full motion video games such as Night Trap where everything was kept within the equivalence of a PG-13 rating. The second major difference was that the playable character's client was different every game and thus the storyline would change slightly. While Night Trap and Double Switch did have multiple endings, most of them if you failed, the storyline did not change.
This Video Game contains examples of:
- Almost Kiss: Between Lara and Chloe.
- Becoming the Mask: Masa was once an Eco-terrorist named Seiko Takamori that is wanted for involuntary manslaughter. Thanks to his love for Jessica, he turned over a new leaf.
- Bittersweet Ending:
- Someone in the Hawke family is dead, but Chloe/Zack/Margaret's murderer is brought to justice. However, the family would still be broken although the man who brought the entire family so much misery is gone and locked up.
- Reed is killed by his sister but his sister would be brought for justice for manslaughter or murder. Chloe is revealed to be Reed's daughter. Although the truth was put forward that Reed is a murderous incestual cheating child molester, the family is broken. Chloe survived.
- Creepy Uncle: Reed is not only attracted to his niece, Chloe, but apparently raped her when she was fourteen.
- Dark Secret: Virtually everybody in the game has one, which the player finds out through their investigating.
- The Dragon: Chantel. She killed Zack and Chloe but not in the cases of Jessica and Margaret. Chloe would either be killed by Chantel or Reed depending on the choices.
- Green Aesop: Hawke's daughter is interested in protecting the rainforest, while her unscrupulous father has his own plans.
- Hardboiled Detective: If you send a tape to the police, the detective that shows up
◊ looks like he stepped right out of a 1950s Film Noir movie, complete with the iconic fedora and half-chewed cigar. - He Knows Too Much: In the bad ending, Reed would eventually learn about the 24/7 security and send someone to kill you.
- Jerkass: Unrepentantly, Reed is happy to do anything to keep his power to the point of murder.
- Job Title: Protagonist Title One-Word Title, as an observing Private Detective.
- Karma Houdini: In some of the endings, Reed Hawke gets away with murder, incest, rape and/or corruption and become the president. His partner, Chantel, gets away with the murder unless she is caught off-screen because there was video evidence of Reed either talking to her through phone or in-person about the victim's would-be murder.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: In some of the endings, Reed would not be able to get away with (attempted) murder, incest, rape, and/or corruption. Either through the hand of his sister or his niece with the help of video evidence.
- Love Dodecahedron: Let's see, we start with the normal couples, Jessica Hawke & Masa Endo, Zachary & Lara Hawke and technically Chantal Pousette and Frank Stewart. Throw in Chloe Hawke, who has flings with Lara and Masa. And then throw in Reed Hawke, who has an incestuous relationship with Margaret Hawke, tried to make a pass onto Lara and sexually abused Chloe
- Make It Look Like an Accident: Reed ordered Chantel to make Zack's murder explicitly like this. It's implied Chloe (poison), Margaret (by staircase), and Jessica (strangulation) ended looking like this too because Reed told in a press conference they were killed by a suicidal man.
- Multiple Endings: The game has six endings in all, depending on what you record and when you call the detective.
- Offing the Offspring: Reed, depending on the motive, is happy to kill their daughter, and a few others, Jessica, Chloe, and Zack.
- One-Word Title: Protagonist Title Job Title, as an observing Private Detective.
- Parental Incest: In an ending, Chloe is revealed not to be the niece but the daughter of Reed. It's revealed in Margaret's route that she was raped by her father who was later murdered by Reed.
- Private Detective: The protagonist is this, hired to spy a Reed Hawke by a different member of the Hawke family.
- Protagonist Title: One-Word Title Job Title, as an observing Private Detective.
- Shout-Out: To Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window with someone watching a literal Soap Opera rather than various film genres through the window and camera.
- Sibling Murder: Margaret killed Reed in one of the endings. Reed himself will kill Margaret before his sister gave the implications Reed actually killed his father.
- Soap Opera: The character performances, the story twists, and more all function as a sort of Affectionate Parody of American soap opera programs, particularly ones such as Dynasty.
- Surprise Incest: Depending on choices made in the game, the player will either find out that Reed Hawke is in a relationship with his sister, and/or that he abused Chloe, his niece / daughter.
