The House in Fata Morgana

One of the most beautiful and best written works i've ever read. 10/10 masterpiece, would recommend for everyone.

Una de las mejores novelas visuales que he jugado. Cuando crees que entiendes lo que esta pasando, hay un nuevo giro en la trama. El unico inconveniente es que para algunas personas puede tardar en ponerse interesante. Todo se empieza a conectar alrededor de las 20 horas.
Altamente recomendado.

An amazing piece of writing that makes full use of its medium. It is a long slow burn of a read, but the pacing works. The few scenes that felt like they dragged on must be on purpose, looking back on them. The art and music were also good. The only critique I could think of are the out-of-place, fanservice-y outfit/CG for one character and some of the audio mixing. Otherwise had a great time with this. The game even makes use of it not being voice acted in a genius way. Absolutely recommended for anyone who likes long, gothic horror tales with a large sprinkling of human drama.

Honestly, I'm not sure I've ever had a story quite effect me as much as this one at times, between the art, music, and story I was more or less moved. Mainly wrote-off visual novels seeing as how many stories can get pushed out without much thought within the format, but this visual novel more or less changed my perception of the genre. Worth for me 100%, I had got this on sale, but even if I hadn't I wouldn't have regretted it. I will be getting more visual novels, next time there is a sale, and it will be because of this one.

This story was life-changing—it was truly a beautiful experience.
From the characters to every internal and external conflict,
It explored the meaning of life, the importance of never giving up,
And the beautiful dynamic between Michel and Giselle.
It also taught how important perspective is—
Because The House in Fata Morgana shows us how different a story can be
If we never try to understand others fully.
Without seeing every perspective, we can never uncover the truth.
They were always misunderstood by one another.
And the art of forgiving those who have wronged you—
Because holding on to hatred gives you nothing.
If you stay in anger, you remain controlled by it; you are never truly free.
It also explored understanding one another and learning to endure.
Even though it was difficult, they managed—
Even for a hundred years, a hundreds hundreds more.
In conclusion, this was a story worth every moment of my life.
You should definitely take the time to read this wonderful visual novel—
It's truly one of the greatest works of fiction of all time.

Greatest of all time. Zenith of the medium. Hallmark of media. Gold standard of storytelling. Apogee of creativity. Vertex of invention. Crest of ingenuity. Acme of imagination. Pinnacle of innovation. Epic of epics. Legend among legends. Peak fiction.

If you have eyes that can read the text, ears that can hear the music and a few dollars to spare, you have to try out this visual novel. An emotional tale that uses different perspectives to show the full depth of the story perfectly. Truly an experience of a lifetime.

Exceptional VN with a harrowing tale full of hope and despair, tragedy and comedy, sin and redemption. Visuals are beautiful, music is fantastic, characters are engaging and the plot does a great job of revealing its layers with perfect pacing and suspense. I had this in my library for a while now and I'm so glad I got around to reading it. Looking forward to checking out the other titles in this series.

Fan of narrative in every way, this is one of the best story ever told to me.

10/10. Tragedy sets the stage, but forgiveness directs the finale.

perhaps one of the most beautiful stories i've ever read, legit binged this in a week

Can't describe this in words, it's some of the best fiction I've come across in quite a while. Definitely 10/10.

my heart feels like it's been pulled out, stepped on then put back into my chest.

Michel Bollinger is the top character in media

Absolute cinema. Peak fiction.

This is a visual novel. Usually, I praise a good story-focused game for doing something that would be impossible in a book. This one, however, wouldn’t work as a book—not because of its structure, but because I doubt anyone would have published it, at least not without heavy editing and cutting its length in half.

The game features both mystery and romance. It attempts to depict multiple historical settings and does so relatively well, mainly because it avoids focusing on historical details and keeps the language modern without doing the usual tired attempts at ye olde Anglo speech. It doesn’t even explicitly name locations, though it’s usually obvious what they’re meant to be. The story is structured as a collection of loosely connected short stories, each of them a Shakespearean-style tragedy, all thematically similar. This repetition is clearly a deliberate choice, but by the time I reached the fifth story, I couldn’t handle it anymore. It felt like reading five raw drafts of a short novel exploring the same idea—without ever getting a fully realized novel out of it.

I’m used to people calling a game’s writing "great" when it simply doesn’t offend the senses. This one isn’t exactly bad—the book lover in me never felt pain while reading it, just boredom.

It might sound like I dislike the visual novel genre itself, but I’ve enjoyed some in the past. While I have plenty of criticism for this game, I wouldn’t say it’s bad just because of anime tropes, unlike some other VNs. In story-driven games like this, the true strength often lies not in the writing alone but in how it leverages the unique tools of the medium. Unfortunately, this game misses the mark there as well. The art style is interesting, but many images feel like rough drafts, with broken perspectives, incorrect body proportions, and other issues. The background art is even worse—cheap-looking, heavily blurred photographs. There’s no voice acting. The game does have choices, but they all boil down to either "See Bad Ending #X" or "Continue the Story," so while there’s a mystery, you don’t actively engage in unraveling it. There are some spoiler-ish mechanics that wouldn’t work in a book, but they’re minor, and if you don’t notice them, you won’t miss much.

One genuinely great aspect is the music—it features a lot of vocal tracks, all performed exceptionally well.

The game clearly has a huge following, so don’t take my thumbs-down too seriously. Aside from some of the art, I can’t say anything in it is outright bad—it just didn’t resonate with me (except for the music). That, of course, is entirely subjective. It’s not a game for me, and I gave it a fair shot, playing more than half before putting it down.

If you decide to play it, I recommend using the Remaid of Dreams mod—it significantly improves the technical and visual aspects. Naturally, the game runs well on Steam Deck.

Just ended it. And I'm no native speaker but writing this in spanish would be pointless as the novel doesn't have (an official) translation.

Anyway this was a drawn out project for me. Started reading it years ago while my life was on an ever increasing, painful melancholy that I'm still slowly accepting. I see now the parallelisms of this game and my situation but the start of this story was more like a pulp horror to me, where twists are thrown cheaply for shock factor. I wasn't very optimistic of the outcomes of those first doors as it seemed rather disjointed. I wasn't paying much attention too. It however punched me on my feelings, seeing how that fantasy love was twisted by petty misunderstadings and wanton curses. Oh yeah I related to that.

On recent times I walked the later half of this and I'm impressed at the coherence, depth and beauty of it all. I can't really convince you if you haven't played it yet, and if you have this is maybe redundant, but every character gets such a lovely treatment of their wishes, fears and yearnings that I don't think I'll forget them anytime soon. The walls of the mansion soaked me in and they felt alive, that's just how good the relations between its elements is.

Yeah this is getting a bit fanboyish. Maybe the pacing is a bit drawn out, maybe the plots are a bit too exposed and too explained, not leaving much room for mistery once you get to the heart of it all. Honestly I think these are tiny flaws because the core of the experience was made of some pristine darkness that allowed me to reflect about my also turbulent life, giving me a renewed sense of hope and love for the important things on life, mainly people.

I truly mean it when I say that The House in Fata Morgana is one of the best stories I have ever read in my entire life, and I would go as far as to say it IS a perfect story, it actually has 0 flaws, I recommend it to anybody, I went into it blind, with absolutely no context and I believe that is the best way to experience it, so, what are you waiting for?

I can't even begin to explain how much i love this game. This is an experience like no other and I highly recommend to everyone. Truly a must read!

the most beautiful visual novel i have ever read in my entire life, with the type of story that haunts you months after finishing. incredibly bewitching prose tied together with breathtaking imagery; the house in fata morgana has truly raised the bar for this genre.

It's an interesting read—nothing special, though. It's definitely not on the level of The Lord of the Rings.
I think I would have appreciated it more as a teenager. The story wasn't always engaging for me, but the artwork and music are great.

One fun thing I noticed is that they initially tried very hard to translate the game with an old-fashioned English literature style but gave up after a few chapters, switching to more regular American English.
In the first chapters, they came up with a new synonym for almost every word to avoid ANY repetition, but in the last chapter, they repeated "implore" about four times. So, the translation is rather inconsistent, but it's not a big deal.

I have only completed the first chapter, but I just can't stop thinking about it. I'm so glad I decided to give it a read all of a sudden. This visual novel is gonna ruin my life.
Will update this review once finished.

Uma visual novel das mais brabas. Desenhos lindos, personagens cativantes, apesar de alguns serem rasos e irritantes só "porque sim", hehe. A música é um dos destaques, por bem ou por mal, porque tem uma interpretação interessantíssima de letras em Português por alguém que talvez não tenha noção nenhuma da língua, o que faz com que os versos sejam um pouco reconhecíveis, mas meio alienígenas? É difícil de explicar, mas foi uma sensação muito interessante a primeira vez que ouvi o diacho da música do passarinho.

O jogo entra em temas que eu sinceramente não esperava e que, honestamente, não imaginei que poderiam ser abordados como foram. Dado todo o contexto de produção e até da própria era onde se passa a história, foi um take até bem gentil e empoderador pra esse tema. Não falo o que é porque é um mega spoiler, mas valeu a pena.

Ótima história, músicas interessantíssimas e arte belíssima. Recomendação facílima se você gosta minimamente de visual novels.

Nota naval: C9

Alright, I do not mind visual novels. I loved Fate Stay night, though I did not get that hear.This one though, is ughh. The story starts off with incest. Then it goes into someone who gets way too sword happy. Everyone tells me it gets good, but I do not know when, and honestly I have too many other games in my library to play to figure this out. Rule of thumb, is if something does not intrigue you by the third hour, third chapter, or third episode stop watching/reading/playing. I'm sure there are probably a bunch of great plot twists I might be missing, I just do not care. Like, it is seriously hard to care about any of these characters.

First 8 hours or so took me weeks to get trough, but the latter 16 hours I completed in one day. Peak fiction in every sense.

this fatamoru sh*t serious, get ready to die behind it...

It's peak writing.
I'm not too familiar with visual novels so this felt quite long but the "reveal" made it worth taking the time to properly digest the scenes. The music is awesome. The art is awesome. The story is so beautiful. There is simply nothing bad left to be said about this game.

The story was so depressing I had to stop playing. I don't mind dark narratives, but I felt like this game treated it more like a gimmick -- as if somebody dared the writers if they can make things even worse than they are every time they stopped.

NOTE: My play hours are well above 10, probably 30 or 40. Not sure why Steam bugged out on counting them, check my achievements.

Music is great, visuals are nice but the story is... bland. Each door comes up with the same trick of "Bully the author's beloved Mary Sue. Things look better. BAM! REDDIT TIER PLOT TWIST BABYYYYYYYYYYYY!" Rinse and repeat. The time wasted having to click through "..." or "hm..." is abysmal. If I had a dollar for every time the writer mentioned how beautiful and stunning the MC is, I'd go buy a better visual novel. Door 2 (I think) with The Beast, is actually very good, but goes down from there quickly.

I almost couldn't get through the first door, the pacing, the annoying characters...
I promise you, stick through it and you'll be rewarded with one of the greatest stories told, one of the best MC's I've ever experienced, absolute transformation and drop-dead gorgeous artwork.

Yes there are pacing issues at times, but this is one of the few times I can forgive the game for it's flaws, because the story is utterly captivating. I'm so glad I finished it.

The beautiful art style is what got me into this game. It is really atmospheric and lures you right into its world. The vibes overall are eery and gloomy which I liked a lot!
It has beautiful soundtrack and is extremely story rich. You'll need around 30 hours just for the main story which was a big bonus point for me since most VNs nowadays are rather short.
Story is very good with a lot of unusual plottwists and connections you make later on.

Definitely a recommendation for VN fans and lovers of everything gothic and gloomy! ࣪ ִֶָ🥀.

This is a game you cannot describe, it has to be experienced to be understood. One of the most beautiful pieces of fiction I have had the pleasure of playing. It brought tears to my eyes and made me reconsider so much of what I thought of myself as a human being. Please do yourself a favour and play it!

This VN emotionally manipulated me like 20 times.

Recommended 👍

Life changing, glamorous, extravagant, exquisite, perfect, beautiful, amazing, glorious, pretty, outstanding, rich, splendid, terrific, superb, insightful, excellent, delightful, fabulous, first-class, fantastic, gorgeous, electrifying, lovely, interesting, marvellous, thoughtful, wonderful, poetic piece of work.

This VN has ruined my life but ig its pretty good

Incredible story and great gameplay. If voice acting was there than this game would be Perfect.

不喜欢这个故事

I don't write reviews, but this one is an exception. To this day after 20+ years of consuming media, this is the best written-story I came across in ALL forms of media. Learned a lot from all of the well-written characters in this novel

A Masterpiece of Storytelling – 10/10

The House in Fata Morgana is nothing short of an absolute masterpiece. The writing is some of the best I’ve ever seen, with breathtaking visual descriptions that bring every scene to life. Each character is crafted with masterful attention to detail; their thoughts, actions, and emotions feel incredibly real and deeply human. It's important to note that, for being a Japanese-written story set in hundreds of years ago Europe, this is also one of the most forward-thinking pieces of writing I've ever read.

The soundtrack is phenomenal, perfectly setting the tone for every moment and immersing you even further into its hauntingly beautiful world. This is, without question, one of the greatest stories I’ve ever experienced. I really wish I had more to say than just "it's good," but it's really something that needs to be experienced first-hand. If you enjoy visual novels, or even just great storytelling, I couldn’t recommend this enough. 10/10, an absolute must-read.

words can’t express how incredible this VN is! the best of the best, forever my favorite! ♡
the story, the characters, everything about it is amazing!! what a magnificent masterpiece.

finished the main game, requiem, and reincarnation in 33 hours, so probably faster than most. nonetheless, this was my first time ever reading a visual novel and it was amazing from start to finish. it had its flaws, and sometimes the pacing was quite annoying to get through, but it was a great story, very emotional, and each character was brilliantly written. michel and jacopo are goated protagonists, and i loved morgana as an antagonist, aswell as every other character in their respective roles. the artwork is beautiful, but the soundtrack is on another level.

I am around halfway done I imagine with this story, and I love how many times you get punched in the gut.

Best story in gaming

I don't really leave many reviews on games, but after completing this game I cant see why i wouldn't. I initially bought this game a few years back but took a long pause from the game, until recently i finally found the motivation to continue progressing through the story, and God I am so glad that I did.
Just this week alone I've spent more than 4 hours each day, just captivated by the emotionally wrenching stories exploring the depths of human despair and the lengths that one might go for the person they love. The OST is phenomenal, complimenting each and every story and character, and the art is equally as remarkable. This game may not be for everyone however, as this entire game is primarily comprised of reading and is filled with incredibly tragic experiences.
This is one of the first visual novels that I have read, and I'm not too confident that many will top the House in Fata Morgana. To me, this is certainly one of the greatest and impactful pieces of literature I've read, and you're doing yourself a favor by purchasing this visual novel.

I've read a few other reviews, and something that'll stay with me is:
"You were able to bear them because they weren't your tragedies."

10/10.

amazing

i am in severe emotional pain

The House In Fata Morgana is most likely the best modern Shakespearean story in the world and will likely stay that way.

This is a tragic tale from top-to-bottom, it does not hold back anything and will make you observe the cruelest of fates, but, it does make it all worth it in the end. In this story; no visualized character will be forgatten, no untied end will be allowed, no song will escape the perfect scene and no effort will go unrewarded. It is a story that I concider to be extremely close to a masterpiece. It does not linger much like the longer VNs either, it is comperatively short in its full-lenght VN market, where a game could demand 50 to 100 hours.
The few shortcomings for me was some character conclusions felt hollow compared to rest, but that is to be expected if you don't want to leave any character unconcluded.
I would like to share that there seems to be a console remake of this game already released in 2021. And, with a bit of google search, you could find a way to port that version to this one. It does seem to be a much higher quality with renewed visuels, added cg, story... etc. I was not aware of this until the end of my playthrough, yet, it did not bother me and still gave me one hell of a story to share.

This is one of the best written visual novels that I have ever played with multiple stories that appear self-contained but blend into a larger overarching narrative. The writing is beautiful and emotive. Be aware, the story explores themes of abuse. I won't say anything else here for fear of spoilers but if you like gothic stories with dark, twisty mysteries at the center, you will definitely enjoy this game!

this was the first vn game to actually stab me in the gut, twist the knife, shoot me point blank 70 more times, and toss my body out a window into the ocean with how brutally devastating this story was. this was the first piece of media to ever make me cry, sob, get on my knees, and scream and wail like a banshee and i mean that 100% seriously.
this story will never leave my heart

though, i do want to warn that the first few chapters may seem a bit bizarre, dramatic, and wild, but they are meant to be like that. it will all unravel itself, it will all make sense, and all the pieces will put themselves together if you just keep digging further.

with that aside, everything about this was beautiful. the art, the music, the writing, and especially how realistic the characters were. god i've never been slapped in the face with the most gut tearing writing before, hitting me in the back of the head with, "We cry at tragedies because we draw parallels with our own lives" and goddamn it they were right.
my words alone won't do this story justice, but you'll have to trust me that this experience was more than just worth it. this game's narrative and writing is fairly similar to regular book novel writing so even if you aren't familiar with visual novel games, i guarantee you'll be able to enjoy this.

truly, the house in fata morgana has changed my life and perspective entirely for the better

The greatest story of all time please bless yourself by playing it

Its A visual novel

Fataing my morgana rn