The House in Fata Morgana

honestly this game is a buy, but I marked it no as I think it's a bit oversold. I marked this 7/10 when I rated it on vndb after playing, and I think that it stands. I remember liking this game enough to play through it, but when I decided to do my duty and drop a review, I realized I couldn't remember the plot at all, and had to look it up to refresh myself. I guess that's where I stand. It's a game that I played through, enjoyed, then sat aside and forgot about. The lack of a mark it left on me is why I can't rate it higher.

Given the unanimous, overwhelming praise, I found myself surprised to discover this novel's prose is severely lacking—it wants for grace and maturity. Much so that it reads like a teenager wrote it. Most glaring are its pacing issues: arcs are developed in an agonisingly slow burn, then suddenly go from zero to ten. There is this pervading sense the game does not know when to stop—in place of an anticipated conclusion, it introduces a new plot, refusing to deal with consequences. This is especially noticeable with many of the novel's tragedies and deplorable acts: despite their severity, they fail to leave an impact because they come and go in a snap. If they are expanded upon, it is through impassive exposition. Adding on: With undue indulgence, the story is eager to introduce one shocking moment after another. These issues are greatly exacerbated by wasting time on describing the obvious. Simultaneously, the writer has a problem with getting to the point, dancing around subjects with oblique, yet transparent allusions. By and large, there is no subtlety nor nuance. The writing is utterly “tell, don’t show” (sic) in its approach, removed from the reality of how people think or act. Characters are obtuse and overexplain, sometimes without conveying a point. All text is straightforwardly simplistic; in its explanatory approach, it spoils future events long before they happen. When it was not eager to jump to horror and gore, I thought the writing unbearably syrupy. Dialogues are contrived, verbose, and any substance they have is deliberately drip-fed in between banalities. In any case, the writing is melodramatic or downright hysterical in tone, dotted with anachronisms and misfitting vocabulary. Speaking of dots, I must make mention of overuse of punctuation and filler phrases: "…………", "Umm…", "Hmm", "Hehe…", "Hehehe", "Ahaha!", "…Ah.", "…?", "…!", "I-I…". By my count, on average, there is one of these on every two lines of dialogue—they must be clicked through individually, which quickly adds up. Aside from quadruple ellipses, there are other strange stylistic choices: misuse of the multiplication sign, garish sprites, or disruptive and outlandish music with half-whispered, off-key singing. [quote]hahaha×××××××HEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEE××××××××HOHOHOOHOhahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahaaaaaahahaHEEHEEheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeHEEHAH…[/quote] It is all very extreme. And the tragedies are easily preventable—had characters only behaved slightly better than their worst. The “morals” are sermonising and pseudo-philosophical; the characters and interactions between them are divorced from the laws of psychology. For instance, the reaction to one’s love of their life getting scalped is met with: "Oh… yes, Nellie. Nellie did some horrible things to you…" Children act and think irrespective of their cognitive development, using vocatives such as "dearest Mell". Other times, a character proves to be flawlessly clairvoyant or mind-reading, typically in some "Ah-ha! Gotcha!" or "I knew everything all along." moment. [quote]If… If my eyes cause you fear, if you can see in them your reflection, then you are welcome to destroy them. Rip them from me, with your own hands. I have no need of them, after all… Why… would you go so far for me? You… …………[/quote] I must say I truly am perplexed as to why this novel is so popular. Ironically, this mystery is more compelling than anything presented in the story.