Fata Morgana is a comprehensive review of a visual novel game called The House in Fata Morgana. You’ll learn about the love story, how it was developed, and why it’s worth playing
Are you tired of repetitive and dull video games? We invite you to try out something completely different. How about a visual novel with adventure and horror elements? That’s what The House In Fata Morgana offers! This is a dark suspense romance situated in an abandoned mansion. The storyline immerses players in the intricacies of human nature, tragedy, and madness.
Further, we provide The House In Fata Morgana review. The article will help you decide whether it’s worth playing and what’s unique about it.
Full Game Review of Fata Morgana
A spirit regains consciousness in an old mansion. But it has little memories about its past life or personality. Luckily, there’s a maid, who offers the ghost help and invites it on a journey. Together, they travel through the halls of the big house and enter various doors. Behind each lies a whole story of people who lived there before. Through exploring their tragedies, the spirit gradually regains a concept of self.
First location
As the two-time travelers open the first door, they’re taken to the year 1603. In this period, the Rhodes family of aristocratic descent inhabit the mysterious mansion. One of the members, Mell, falls in love with an enigmatic girl with white hair. So they start a relationship.
His sibling called Nellie goes insane with jealousy. She finds out that Mell’s girlfriend is their half-sister. This information is instantly conveyed to him. In addition, Nellie reveals she has a crush on Mell. He is completely devastated by the news.
Second location
The next life story the novel house offers the guests to explore happened in 1707. The mansion looks utterly desolated. The only inhabitant of this gloomy place is the Maid.
She opens the cellar and finds a man with amnesia, Yukimasa. He sees himself as a ferocious beast called Bestia. The Maid attempts to turn him into a civilized person, but all in vain. All the villagers coming to the mansion get brutally massacred by the man. It’s his vengeance for the way they treated him.
Later on, the White-Haired Girl appears in a different reincarnation. She barely has any memories of her previous life. Acting fearlessly upon Yukimasa’s attempt to murder her, she makes friends with him. Meanwhile, the beast has a lover, Pauline, who is desperately looking for him. She comes to the mansion to see Yukimasa. However, he visualizes her as another savage creature. Led by this confusion, he kills Pauline.
After that, villagers assault the mansion and kill the White-Haired Girl. Overwhelmed and mad, Yukimasa dispatches the attackers.
Third location
As the characters enter the next room, the House Game brings them back to 1869. It is a technological era characterized by industrial progress. This time, an ambitious and money-driven businessman named Jacopo owns the mansion. He is an investor in the rail industry sector. However, his family life isn’t as flourishing as his financial situation.
In this plot, the White-Haired Girl was brought to reincarnate as the businessman’s wife. They are recently married and live together with numerous servants. Jacopo’s childhood friend called Maria also dwells in the mansion. Its owner happens to believe his wife cheats on him with other men. So he locks the poor woman in a cottage.
From there, she starts to write love letters to her husband. But unfortunately, they don’t reach the recipient. Maria alters them in the hope of destroying the couple’s relationship. Eventually, Jacopo decides to free his wife. However, by that moment, she already desponded and managed to escape.
Discovering the real state of things, the businessman confronts Maria. She reveals how much she hates him. Then, gunfire occurs between them and Maria loses her life. The man spends the rest of his life in futile attempts to find his wife.
Fourth location
The last room in The House of Fata Morgana reveals the final tale. It’s 1099, and another embodiment of the White-Haired Girl runs away from outraged villagers. In order to hide from the persecutors, she hides in the mansion. Meanwhile, the house is occupied by Michel, who lives there as a hermit.
The two fall for each other and the White-Haired Girl discloses her name, it’s Giselle. The villagers reach the mansion and try to kill the couple. They flee into the nearby tower. Michel manages to hide his beloved one and counter-attacks the oppressors. Both parties of the battle die. Giselle is in deep grief for her lover’s death.
Then, the girl is approached by the Maid who introduces herself as witch Morgana. She offers Giselle to reincarnate her. So that she can be with Michel again in their next lives. The idea is accepted.
Ending
Having seen these four tragic storylines, a player then is free to choose various endings. This is the most exciting part of the Fate Morgana game.
You can actually decide what happens to the characters. To get the most satisfying option, we recommend that you save before each choice. Besides, you need to remember that in some cases the selection time is limited.
History of the development of the visual novel game
Originally, the game Fata Morgana was published by Novectacle in 2012 in Japan. The novel’s creator Moyataro revealed his intention to make it unique. He decided not to follow the “cutesy” anime style, typical for Japanese artists of the genre. Instead, the game employs heavy shading and coloring aiming to present more realistic beauty.
In addition, the authors put a lot of attention and care into the musical aspect. The Fata Morgan game contains 65 tracks written especially for the project by 5 composers. Over half of the songs use vocals. Thanks to that, the overall atmosphere gives a feeling of being in the theater. Most of the time, players hear voices descanting in the background.
The text wasn’t supposed to distract from the process. That’s why the majority of dialogues use modern Japanese. Archaic words make up only a small part of them. The same principle was kept in the international rendition of the game.
It was first localized as a demo version for English-speaking audiences in 2014 by Playism. Two years later, MangaGamer presented a full worldwide release for Microsoft Windows users. The game was adapted for PlayStation (both 4 and Vita) in 2019 with the title completed. It appeared as The House in Fata Morgana: Dream of the Revenants Edition.
Those who prefer using Nintendo weren’t forgotten either. The House In Fata Morgana Switch version emerged in North America and Japan in 2021.
As for the continuation, instead of The House 2 game developers created the prequel DLC. It is called Requiem for Innocence. There’s also the sequel titled Reincarnation.
How long is The House In Fata Morgana overall? You’ll need 15 and 8 hours for both additions of The Fata to complete respectively.
Sum it up with the main storyline demanding around 40 hours of your time. As a result, we have a lengthy game product that requires a lot of time. Especially considering the fact that the DLC unlocks successively.
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Fate Morgana – Reasons to play it and interesting nuances
If the game hooked you, it would be natural to get into every detail. For example, the title may not seem so clear at first.
What is Fata Morgana? It is a foreign term. F a t a translates from Italian as “fairy”, while Morgana is a name. The phrase represents a mirage or an illusory vision above the horizon in the sea. Regarding the game, the expression implies the ethereal nature of our lives and reality.
Those who support or belong to the LGBT community may especially sympathize with some characters. As we follow Michel’s life story, we discover he was raised as a girl. Once he reached puberty, his mother refused to admit the boy’s true nature. She kept treating him like a girl, causing great suffering, so he fled from home. This topic isn’t often highlighted in video games which makes the romance more valuable.
Speaking of its value, the novel is quite diverse from the genre perspective. It is story-rich and adventurous. Undoubtedly, compared to, say, Red Dead Redemption 2 by Common Sense Media, it’s less dynamic. Nevertheless, some elements of action are still there.
Some games in the category have unexpected and even abominable plot twists. A good example is Saya no Uta’s true form in the titular visual novel. Meanwhile, the reviewed product is more psychological, atmospheric, and philosophical. It sets us thinking about the transient nature of life. Through the storylines, we understand that choices matter. And this idea is amplified by an opportunity to see multiple endings following our actions.
Conclusion
The Fata Morgana game is a thoughtfully developed visual story in a game format. It gives us a chance to get the exciting experience of following several personal stories. Along with amazing musical accompaniment and a metaphysical implication, it turns into a real masterpiece. We definitely recommend checking it out!
