The House in Fata Morgana: A Requiem for Innocence

Even though I greatly enjoyed the base game, I've always felt like the the last leg of the story had some aspects that could be critiqued, most notably the part where Jacopo's fall was recounted. It was quite the opposite of "show, don't tell", and I thus failed to understand why people held him in such high regard as a character. It was not that compelling, it felt quite "matter of fact". A Requiem for Innocence provides all the missing context and more, and does it well. I have to say that Jacopo's character here is masterfully written, his actions not only merely just "making sense", but also actually being quite defensible. You really do feel part of the weight of the decisions he has to make. [i] This [/i] is how you write a tragedy. The story also expands on Morgana's early life, and the breakdown of her psyche that led to her becoming the witch. Seeing more of "Morgana the child", and witnessing how the events transformed her with more detail is definitely appreciated. However, I do find the main story of A Requiem for Innocence to be weaker than the base game. Put simply, it doesn't hit as hard (with some exceptions here and there). I suspect this is due to the more straightforward nature of the writing this time around; it really got me less in the feels. Moreover, some scenes are quite déjà vu, to the point that they felt somewhat redundant and too close to the base game. Some of the new side characters could have benefited from more love, especially [spoiler] Gratien [/spoiler]. The music is definitely still a strong point, although maybe not as much as the base game. The bonus stories that accompany this visual novel are superb. Frankly, it might be worth buying this just to read them. Even though they are short, some of the best moments in the entire saga are found in them; they do what The House in Fata Morgana does best. 9/10

Surprisingly amazing when I wouldn't have guessed as much from knowing it was a prequel since all the broad beats were already shown in the main game. The extra content and backstage were also really well put together here and packed with more content than I expected, especially Assento Dele. Another masterpiece.

After finishing the base game of THIFM I wasn't planning on playing this prequel since the concept of retelling a story that I already knew how ended and had a proper conclusion on top of that sounded really weird and I couldn't be more wrong about it The key to make A Requiem For Innocence work so well is the shift in perspective of who is telling this story when compared to the base game, getting to know more of Jacopo's motivations and actually seeing the events that molded him in what he becomes unfold with this extra context makes him an even better character, he's still a terrible person and all that but by the end of this prequel I was invested into his character way more than by just playing the base game It also does a great job of adding to the character of Morgana, seeing the day to day with these people that treat her like a normal person and how everything is taken away from her eventually gives more wheight to the end of the base game and how she managed to let go of the hate for a better future The biggest compliment I can give the writers here is that they managed to make a story that the reader should already know how ends be still extremely engaging and emotionally devastating, this is also elevated by another great OST and stunning visuals, I don't really see these aspects being "downgraded" in comparsion to the base game, some of the tracks became my favorites overall from the series The only issue I had with this game was that one of the side stories (Fragment) didn't unlock in my save file for some reason, still unsure on what caused this and couldn't find more informatiom about this issue online either But on another note regarding the side stories, this game also features the "Happily ever ~After~" chapter, which is a very short and cathartic read that beatifully ended this game and should be experienced even by those who don't even want to play through Requiem itself, which I think is a mistake if you enjoyed the base game I was ready to finish playing through this game and not really like it that much but in the end it managed to raise my appreciation for this series even more