The House in Fata Morgana

An amnesiac spirit wakes inside an old mansion. They are greeted by a Maid, who attempts to help them recover their memories by exploring the mansion's past; in the hope that they will recognize themself in a past life.

She first takes them to 1603, where the mansion is inhabited by young aristocrat siblings Mell and Nellie Rhodes. One night a mysterious White-Haired Girl with pale skin and red eyes arrives at the mansion; Mell catches her speaking to the Maid (who also lives in this time and appears no different) and is instantly smitten. The White-Haired Girl reveals to Mell that her father was a painter for the household but was kicked out and died in the streets. Mell apologizes for his family's actions, and the two begin a relationship. Nellie is driven mad with jealousy and discovers that the painter had slept with her and Mell's mother, resulting in the White-Haired Girl's birth and his expulsion. Nellie reveal this to Mell, as well as her own romantic feelings for him, causing him great grief.

The Maid next takes the spirit to 1707, where the mansion has become abandoned and destitute, though it is now in a different location than in 1603. The Maid, the mansion's only inhabitant, one day discovers Yukimasa, an amnesiac man, in the cellar. However, due to his amnesia as well as abuse he received due to his race and inability to communicate, he came to visualize himself as a savage beast, calling himself "Bestia". While the Maid initially tries to civilize him, he murders the multiple villagers that come to the mansion in retaliation for his abuse. Some time later, the White-Haired Girl appears at his doorstep; while she is a reincarnation of her previous self from 1603, she retains hazy memories of her past life. Yukimasa attempts to kill her, but her lack of fear (which he believes is fueled by her blindness) stupefies him, and the two become friends. Meanwhile, Yukimasa's lover Pauline is searching for him, as she was told he was lost at sea. She gradually befriends Javi, a standoffish young boy whose parents were killed by Yukimasa. The two travel to the mansion, where Pauline finds Yukimasa. Yukimasa flees from Pauline, whom he sees as another Bestia. Pauline chases him into the manor, and in his confusion he kills her. Some time after, Javi rallies the villagers to attack the mansion, resulting in the White-Haired Girl's death. Yukimasa finally succumbs to being nothing more than a beast, slaughtering all of the villagers.

The spirit is then lead by the Maid to 1869. In this time the house is owned by young, greedy businessman Jacopo, and the house has moved to America. He lives with his new wife, the White-Haired Girl, as well as a multitude of servants, including the Maid and his childhood friend Maria. Jacopo, believing his wife to be wooing other men, locks her in a small exterior cottage. The White-Haired Girl frequently writes love letters to Jacopo; however, Maria secretly wishes to destroy the two's relationship, so she alters the recipient names on the letters to address them to other men. Jacopo eventually decides to release his wife, but when he comes to her cottage he finds that she had given up hope and fled. Finally realizing the truth, Jacopo confronts Maria, who reveals her hatred towards him. She shoots Jacopo, wounding him, but Jacopo shoots Maria between the eyes, killing her. Jacopo spends the rest of his life unsuccessfully searching for the White-Haired Girl.

Briefly separated from the Maid, the spirit encounters a talking painting which shows him a memory of an unknown black-haired woman. Shortly after, the spirit is found by the Maid, who takes it to 1099. In this era the White-Haired Girl flees to the mansion from a village that persecuted her for her appearance. She meets Michel, a mysterious hermit who has the power to drain the life from anything he touches. The two fall in love, with the White-Haired Girl revealing her name as Giselle. A bandit attacks the mansion, forcing Michel to drain some of his life. The man escapes, but before he dies he tells the village of Michel and Giselle. Having been cut, some of Michel's blood spills onto Giselle, which appears to cause her health to deteriorate. The villagers attack the manor, forcing the two to flee into the observation tower. Believing they have no chance of escape, the two embrace, causing Giselle to fall limp. Michel confronts the villagers and they skewer him, but his blood dripping from his corpse down the stairs kills all of the villagers. Giselle awakens, Michel's curse having not affected her after all. As she grieves for Michel, she is approached by the Maid, who reveals herself to be a witch named Morgana. Morgana offers her the option to be reincarnated so that she may one day reunite with Michel's reincarnation, which Giselle accepts.

The spirit finally recalls its past identity as Michel, and the Maid explains that the White-Haired Girl had been Giselle's reincarnations. Michel, however, remembers the black-haired woman from his earlier vision and believes what he witnessed to have been falsified. He claims that the Maid is in fact Giselle and demands to see the truth, which the Maid reluctantly agrees to. In reality, Giselle was not the White-Haired Girl; instead, she was a young black-haired woman in need of money for her family. She accepted work at the wealthy Bollinger estate but was repeatedly raped by the Bollinger patriarch, Antonin, scarring her physically and emotionally. When Antonin's wife discovered this, Giselle was to be executed, but instead Antonin had her banished to the mansion where Michel, their son, lived. Giselle cheerfully introduces herself to Michel, but Michel is cold and curt to her, keeping contact between the two minimal. When Giselle enters Michel's room one night, he discovers her and accuses her of being a thief; Giselle flees in terror and passes out in the woods. She is brought to a nearby village where the villagers claim Giselle had stolen money and torture her until she reveals where it is. Out of desperation, Giselle leads the villagers to the mansion so that they may loot it. Michel steps outside, revealing his pale skin, white hair and red eyes. He scares the villagers away and accuses Giselle once more of being a thief. Giselle, fed up with nobody believing her, begs Michel to kill her, baffling him. She reveals that Michel's father had raped her, causing Michel to feel guilty for his accusations and for his father's actions, and the two begin their relationship anew. Over the course of a year, the two become incredibly close, eventually coming to realize that they love one another. Michel receives news that his father has died; after sending a letter to his mother, knights arrive and attack the manor. The two flee to the observation tower, but Michel leaves Giselle trapped in the top room while he confronts and is killed by the knights, his corpse being dragged away.

Giselle is spoken to by a disembodied voice which calls herself the Witch, Morgana. Morgana explains that while she is unable to bring Michel back to life with all of his memories intact, she can have him be physically reincarnated. Morgana curses Giselle's body so that she no longer ages, effectively rendering her dead. Giselle waits in solitude for Michel's reincarnation to arrive for hundreds of years, eventually donning the garb of the Maid per Morgana's recommendation. Eventually Mell and his family move into the house, and later the White-Haired Girl arrives. With her memories hazy, Giselle believes the White-Haired Girl, her actual name being Michelle, to be Michel's reincarnation, but Michelle has no memories of her. Giselle becomes emotionally numb, watching the tragedies of the mansion unfold with little reaction. Michelle's continual reincarnations only serve to torture Giselle further, until Morgana convinces her that she's always been the Maid and that her past memories with Michel aren't real.

The Maid, having regained her memories and original personality as Giselle, is suddenly dragged away by Morgana into the observation tower. Michel is instructed by the talking painting to convince the spirits of Mell, Yukimasa and Jacopo, all of whom are also trapped in the mansion, to give him three keys needed to ascend the observation tower. As he climbs, Morgana reveals her past. As a child her blood was believed to have healing qualities, so she freely gave it to the needy. Her mother sold her to a local lord who mutilated her body to extract blood. She was freed in a slave uprising and brought to a brothel where she was cared for, but bandits invaded and abducted Morgana. One of her fellow captives, a swordsman, managed to break free and kill their captors, but in his frenzy he slaughtered his fellow captives except for Morgana. Morgana made her way to a cottage and lived there for three years, until a boy came to her requesting she heal his sick sister. She willingly gave him blood multiple times, until he came to the cottage with the swordsman who severed her arm. She was captured and brought back to the lord, who kept her imprisoned in an observation tower where her blood would be sold through the church below. Though Morgana eventually died from her wounds and weakened state, her spirit lingered on, wishing to curse the three men who had caused her to suffer.

Michel makes his way to the top of the tower and finds an illusion of Giselle, who calls him disgusting and claims that he is actually a woman. Michel, known as a child as "Michelle", was born intersex and was originally thought to be female. Growing up he felt conflicted about society's expectations of him as a woman, preferring the masculine activities of his brothers Didier, a knight, and Georges, an artist. In 1086 his voice deepened and his body became masculine. Feeling at peace with himself for the first time, Michelle renamed himself "Michel" and claimed himself to have always been male. However, his mother, adoring him as her only daughter, considered him cursed and had him locked in his room until he could be "cured". He languished for two years until he was freed by Didier and Georges, who told him that their father intended to have him killed. With a fond farewell, they sent him to live in the mansion where he could be safe until Georges claimed the family name and they could welcome him back. Upon his father's death, Michel had written to his mother requesting her acceptance of him as a man. In her hysteria, she had sent the knights to claim his life, with Didier leading the procession.

Morgana claims that the White-Haired Girl was the reincarnation of Michel that Giselle had asked for, thus proving him to be female, and mocks him for being unable to remember Giselle in his other lives. The real Giselle accepts Michel for everything he is and remains confident that the White-Haired Girl was not Michel. Michel, encouraged by Giselle to save Morgana's soul, physically travels to the distant past when Morgana was alive. Believing changing the past may be able to save Morgana from her fate, Michel convinces the past versions of Mell and Yukimasa to set her free by revealing their parts in Morgana's captivity to the past versions of Nellie and Pauline. He then travels into the memories of the past Jacopo, learning that while he is currently the lord, he was not the same lord as the man who had mutilated Morgana for blood. Instead, he was the slave who had saved Morgana and cared for her, and he had eventually fallen in love with her. Overwhelmed with guilt and self-loathing, Jacopo agrees with the other three men to free Morgana. When they climb the observation tower, they find her on the verge of death and speaking to herself, her mind having been split in two. Michel stays by her side and comforts her as she dies; when he attempts to leave the mansion with her body, though, he instead sees the events that had originally taken place following Morgana's death, revealing that he was not changing the past but merely reliving it.

Back in the mansion, Michel meets the White-Haired Girl, who is revealed to be the half of Morgana's soul embodying her self-sacrificing nature. Being formless until meeting Michel, The White-Haired Girl had modeled her appearance and name after him out of admiration. At her insistent request, Michel permanently destroys her soul, allowing Morgana's soul to heal and become whole again. Finally relinquishing her hatred after having learned the truth behind the three men's actions, Morgana goes with Michel to the spirits of the men trapped in the mansion; while Morgana doesn't forgive any of them, she sets their souls free. Before they leave, Michel retrieves the talking painting, which he realizes was the soul of Georges who had also been trapped in the mansion. The three go to leave the mansion, but Didier's soul blocks their path. Georges blocks a fatal blow for Michel, and Michel manages to bring Didier to his senses and help his soul pass on. Michel, Morgana and Giselle leave the mansion, causing it to dissipate, and all three pass on. In 2009 France, the reincarnations of Mell, Nellie, Yukimasa, Pauline, Jacopo, Maria and Morgana are living ordinary lives. The reincarnated Giselle, having retained all of the memories of her past life, goes to where the mansion once stood, and is greeted by the reincarnated Michel, who has retained his memories as well.

The game was developed by Novectacle and written by Keika Hanada,[2] with art by Moyataro.[3] The developers did not specifically target men or women with the game, and instead just intended to make a game for players who enjoy stories.[2] Hanada spent more than a year planning the story,[4] which was influenced by Tanith Lee's books, and the films Millennium Actress (2001) and The Best of Youth (2003).[5] To keep the text from distracting the player, it was mostly written in modern Japanese, with only little use of archaic speech.[6] To make the game feel unique, Moyataro made use of heavy coloring and shading, to portray a "more realistic kind of beauty" compared to the "cutesy" anime-like artstyle common in Japanese visual novels. Another important aspect in making the game feel unique was its music: more than half of the songs are vocal tracks, intended to make the game feel like visiting a theatre with someone singing in the background. Five composers worked on the music, and wrote 65 different tracks.[7]

In June 2013, the game distribution platform Playism announced that they were interested in localizing the game for English-speaking audiences, as they wanted to bring visual novels to their platform and felt The House in Fata Morgana might be a good place for them to start. They encouraged people to tell them if they were interested in the game, to gauge demand for it.[8] Two days later, they clarified that monetary issues were what caused them to not start localization work right away: Novectacle, being an indie developer, were unable to pay upfront for the localization work. Instead, Novectacle proposed that all revenue from Japanese The House in Fata Morgana sales would go to paying for the localization. As the Japanese sales on the Playism platform were much too low to finance the localization, Playism considered either waiting and seeing if Japanese sales would pick up pace, or launching a crowdfunding campaign.[9] Playism was still working towards a localization in late March 2014, when they released a localized demo.[10] During the Otakon convention in August 2014, the visual novel publisher MangaGamer announced that they had acquired the license to publish the game.[11]

Due to the large range of cultures and time periods appearing in the game, it was important to MangaGamer to decide on a localization strategy early on to avoid an inconsistent script; translator BlackDragonHunt said that making language in historical settings appear authentic was a difficult balancing act, with too modern dialogue breaking immersion, and older English being difficult for modern readers to understand. They decided to follow the same style as the Japanese original, mainly using modern language, with some use of words based on the various time periods and regions in the game to give it a "historical flavor": for instance, the word "bedroom" was replaced with "bedchamber", and "maid" with "abigail".[6]

The game was originally released for Microsoft Windows on December 31, 2012 in Japan;[12] this version was also released through Playism on May 31, 2013 in Japan.[13] A Japanese iOS version followed on May 16, 2014.[14] MangaGamer released the Microsoft Windows version in English on May 13, 2016, both separately and in a bundle with the game's soundtrack.[1][15] A Nintendo 3DS version was released digitally in Japan on July 27, 2016 by FuRyu, as one of the first three games of their Catalyst line,[16] and a PlayStation Vita version was released both physically and digitally in Japan on March 16, 2017 by Dramatic Create.[17] This version includes new content; due to sickness, Moyataro was unable to create the new artwork needed for it, so another illustrator was given the task.[3]

Limited Run Games released the game in North America for PlayStation Vita on May 28, 2019, and released it for PlayStation 4 on June 11, under the title The House in Fata Morgana: Dream of the Revenants Edition; their PlayStation 4 version uses newer artwork as it was the first time the game was available in 4K resolution. They have also released physical versions for both platforms.[18]

The game was a runner-up for Hardcore Gamer's Best Story of 2016 award.[19]

The Steam release had an estimated total of 8,500 players by July 2018.[20]

The House in Fata Morgana Original Soundtrack is a soundtrack album which contains the original soundtrack from The House in Fata Morgana. It was released on May 3, 2013. The album is a compilation by five different artists: Mellok'n, Takaki Moriya, Gao, Yusuke Tsutsumi and Aikawa Razuna.

A manga adaptation of the game, The House in Fata Morgana: Anata no Hitomi o Tozasu Monogatari,[lower-alpha 2] was written by Hanada and drawn by Kanemune. It was published by Akita Shoten in four volumes from 2015 to 2017, of which the last three were released digitally. The manga has been licensed for release by Sekai Project, who released it digitally: the first volume was released November 2017, and the second February 2018.[21]

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• Official website
• The House in Fata Morgana at The Visual Novel Database