I’ve reached a game that’s been on my list for a long time, and considering the length of the game and the fact that I can’t easily play it on Steam Deck, I decided it’d be best to take coverage chapter by chapter.

Welcome to the House in Fata Morgana book club.

The House in Fata Morgana is a 2012 visual novel by NOVECT (formerly Novectacle). I remember the game getting a big boost in notoriety in 2021 with the release of its Switch port, and the buncha discourse about the worth of visual novels. I’ve heard a bunch of good things said about the game over the years and I’m excited to play through this. The only kinda spoiler I know is a character being a trans man, but otherwise, this is a trip that’s completely blind.

Now, these posts will mainly be my assorted thoughts on the chapter along with some synopsis (I promise I won’t be full video essayist about it). It will however get into spoilers, so if you want to check the chapter out yourself, maybe do that first.

Is this how book clubs are like? I’ve never actually been in one.

Anyway.

You’ve arrived at the House in Fata Morgana, a mansion in a dilapidated state. You don’t remember who You are, but the mansion’s Maid knows who You are. You are apparently a master of the house? Who are You, really? Well, maybe the normal Maid can take You down memory lane…

The first chapter takes You back to 1603, where You bear witness to the story of previous residents of the house. Mell and Nellie Rhodes are kids that grow up at the house, formerly known as Rose Manor. I’m guessing that this was the period where the house in Fata Morgana appeared to be something prosperous.

Nellie has very incestual vibes toward her brother. What surprised me though is that it wasn’t just vibes: it turns out that she actually has incestual feelings toward Mell and the narrative actually does treat this as something horrifying. Mell doesn’t reciprocate, especially with his relationship toward a mysterious White-Haired Girl that came into his family’s employ. I’m sure it doesn’t turn out they’re secretly related.

Nellie is interesting. She does have that creepy love of her brother and is a bit of a drama queen. However, even with the high status she has, she’s treated as property by her father who’s looking to marry her off to advance the position of the family. It’s reasonable for her to be high strung with the position that she’s in, especially when the one guy that’s shown getting paired up with her fucking sucks.

I just kinda wish that her desire to not get married off was because she’s asexual or into girls and not her brother, but pobody’s nerfect.

As for that brother, he does care about Nellie… initially. It’s obvious that their relationship’s more frayed when they’re older. Despite having more freedom than his sister, he has no idea where he’s going in life – meanwhile, he insists that his sister stick to the path she’s forced down. Maybe he’s become that much of a dick, or maybe he’s just that distracted by a new girl.

On Nellie’s birthday, a strange woman that’s currently just labeled as a White-Haired Girl is brought into the employ of the family. Her father was a painter that the Rhodes father fired, which led to the life of her father getting ruined. But maybe the White-Haired Girl has a shot at a new life. Or maybe just a shot at vengeance against the family. Mell falls pretty hard for her, which I kinda thought was cringe at first. I kinda think he’s a nerd.

What made things start to click for me was when the White-Haired Girl attempts to kill him. She has her hands wrapped around his throat, but can’t fully commit to killing him. And in that position, Mell actually just talks to the White-Haired Girl. They talk about her life, the circumstances that led to her murder attempt, and Mell’s honestly more concerned about her than his own life at that moment. Besides some stuff toward the end of the chapter, I think they have a sweet dynamic. Yes Nellie, you say that she looks creepy, but combining that and the fact that he was almost strangled by her, I think that Mell just likes creepy girls. Respect!

(Maybe I’m just projecting. Whatever.)

Though, it becomes less charming when Nellie makes a shocking discovery. She discovers hidden etchings in the painting that she assumed is meant to depict her and Mell as kids, and discovers that it was a speculative work of art made before she was even born. With that evidence combined with the sudden expulsion of the painter that made it, she realizes that the White-Haired Girl is actually Mell’s half-sister.

Things fall apart from there. Nellie attacks the White-Haired Girl, she comes close to sexually assaulting Mell, and Mell alienates the White-Haired Girl when he’s rude to who he believed was a random beggar. And in the meantime, the Maid of the past and the present just watches on.

And that’s where the first chapter of the House in Fata Morgana ends.

Where do I think the story goes from here? I think maybe the story will step further back into the past to show this painter and maybe the grandfather of the Rhodes family that cultivated the house toward its reputation as Rose Manor. If not next chapter, maybe a future one.

But I definitely think that the Witch that’s briefly discussed to be part of the house’s history will show up at some point. Maybe the painter and his daughter are connected to this witch, seeing as a flower that the White-Haired Girl holds magically changes color. Or maybe the witch is the Maid or she’s related to the witch. She definitely has some Weird vibes since she’s been the exact same between Your arrival and 1603. Honestly, she’s way creepier than the White-Haired Girl.

It feels like love will be a central idea in the House in Fata Morgana, or at least for the first chapter. Maybe romance won’t be a main aspect of the game, but the drama that comes with romantic feelings. There’s the obvious drama of Nellie’s romantic feelings, but also Mell struggling with the White-Haired Girl with how he last treats her and the revelation that he might still be dealing with incest anyway. This drama all started with the love the Rhodes mother had for a painter, and the mother welcoming her estranged daughter into the home; a more wholesome love that’s led toward disaster for everyone involved so far.

But MAN this was a great first chapter. I’m living for all this drama.

Next update will be in… I don’t know. I was recently diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and I honestly have no idea where to go from here with my life. I can barely do my day job anymore, that’s for sure. So I dunno, support me if you think I’m a good cool.