Update Fifty-Four: 28 September 2017

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Wow. You guys. Wow, you guys. Holy fuck, you guys.

This is the best visual novel I’ve ever read.

This is no joke. Not a single god damn joke. There have been other good ones - I’ve a whole list of them. But for some reason or another, in one way or another, something fell short. Maybe the art’s kind of bad, or the translation/editing is a little wonky, or the story is otherwhise fantastic but it’s real fucked up how they’re sexualizing these 10-14 year olds (Higurashi……..).

None of that here. Not a single one of that here. Everything is of the highest quality I had ever seen before. The art is sumptuous and in an uncommon style that fits the tone of the piece like nobody’s business and truly sets it apart. The soundtrack is extensive and ridiculously well-produced - at least 75% of the tracks have vocals and they are all gorgeous. The writing is as tight as a crab’s ass^ and does not let you go. The stakes keep getting raised and nothing feels like a mistake or too much, like there’s never nowhere to go. A labrynthine plot is benefitted by a cyclical story structure - you see scenes several times, from different perspectives and with new knowledge, that makes all the difference in solving this mystery. Also: not a single god damn typo. This isn’t a short VN, either. The localization team for this deserves a fucking medal.

The story is a Gothic horror/mystery, and, swear to Christ, the less you know going in the better it is. There’s a good six or seven layers of ‘story’ I could talk about, but I don’t want to talk about any - the true joy, as I believe in general and absolutely for this in specifics, is in the discovery.

I’ll tell you this, which is what you get in the first five minutes of the game: You awake in a terrifying old manor, with an otherworldly maid watching over you. She talks like she knows you, but you have no idea who she is. In fact, you have no idea who you are. The maid takes this in stride, and offers to walk you around the manor - which you’re evidently the Master of. She believes this will help bring your old memories back. You agree.

This shit isn’t all doom and gloom, neither. At the heart of the mystery of the manor is one of the most soul-crushing, soul-healing romances I’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing. It’s written with such a deft hand, and the participants are so three dimensional and flawed and real. I loved rooting for them, and seeing their coming together and perseverance through literal hell was amazing. Guys, this is just so good, you guys.

I do want to put up a content warning, however:
This game gets pretty dark in its descriptions and depictions of violence and abuse; mental, spiritual, and physical. There are also two instances of descriptions of sexual assault, one of which is out-and-out rape. It’s not graphic, but it does talk about the coercive lead-up as well as showing what the long-lasting after-effects are. While I found it to be very tasteful and well-done, I wanted to tell people what’s in here. It’s not an easy journey, but it’s absolutely one well worth taking.

To provide a fair, balanced review, I’m going to talk about all the things I didn’t like, too: some of the songs got repetitive so I would mute the VN sometimes until the scene changed.

…

That’s it, you guys.

Suffice it to say, The House in Fata Morgana is going right into my Visual Novel Masterlist and, I hope, right onto your wishlists/backlog.
I’m not kidding. If you’re only ever going to play ONE (1) visual novel, make it this one.

Next up: Oooh, another one I’ve been looking forward to!

See you soon!

^and, baby, that’s water tight