The House in Fata Morgana – Every “Door” Ranked

When looking for my next story-driven game to play, I looked up the “best visual novels” and the top pick seemed to be “The House in Fata Morgana”. It didn’t have much gameplay as far as I could tell, but I decided to give it a go anyway.

… My god. If you haven’t already, please play (or “read”) this game. It’s one of the most incredible stories I’ve ever experienced, with some of the most complex characters. There are going to be intense SPOILERS ahead from now – literally from the next paragraph onwards.

I was shocked to discover that there were more than four “Doors” (this game’s version of chapters) hidden behind key choices, and I have many thoughts on each. How would I rank them all?

Before we begin, you can check out some of my related blog posts below:

OK

8 – Door 1 (The Siblings)

In hindsight, it was a weird creative choice to start the game with Mell and Nellie’s chapter. Not only is it the weakest and slowest chapter in terms of its story, but its uncomfortable contents are bound to put off the vast majority of players. Even I considered dropping the game after the first Door.

This Door follows the sibling pair of Mell and Nellie Rhodes – two young nobles whose lives are turned upside-down by the arrival of a mysterious White-Haired Girl. Mell starts to fall for the stranger, but Nellie gets jealous that another girl is taking her “prince” away. As the story goes on, it becomes increasingly clear that Nellie’s love of her older brother goes beyond what all would deem to be appropriate.

Am I being harsh by only calling this Door “OK”? Perhaps. It’s well written, the intro with the Maid and the mysterious Master is intriguing, and the White-Haired Girl poses an excellent early mystery. I had to learn early on that “The House in Fata Morgana” was a story that would take its time – for other Doors the pay-offs felt worth it in the end, but here it felt like too much of a slog to read through.

I guess Door 1 acts as a litmus test to see if the audience is comfortable continuing. If you don’t like the slow and methodical pacing, and if the sibling twist makes your stomach churn, then this story won’t be for you.

It only gets more upsetting from here.

Good

7 – Door 4 (Michel and “Giselle” … kinda)

Before entering Door 4, you’re warned by an odd painting in the Mansion that the contents of the upcoming Door will be too good to be true. Though the three Doors so far have been storylike, none of them have verged on pure narrative fantasy – until now.

The White-Haired Girl – who’s apparently named “Giselle” – stumbles upon the Mansion, where a mysterious white-haired man named Michel is residing. She wants to live with him, but he warns her that he is cursed.

Michel cannot touch another living being or they’ll wither and die. Despite this, Michel and “Giselle” foster an unlikely romance that culminates in a tragic farewell atop the Observatory Tower.

It’s a touching story. It’s a very standard fairytale romance, and you buy the ill-fated relationship for what it is – despite the fact it’s far too neat and tidy compared to the three horrific stories we’ve seen thus far.

As it turns out, this Door is shrouded in half-truths. From this point on, the story of “The House in Fata Morgana” gets turned up to eleven.

6 – Door 2 (The Beast)

The second Door was a hundred times more violent than the first … so I’m ashamed to say I found it far more interesting and engaging as a result.

It’s a huge tonal shift compared to the first Door – the first chapter opens with two siblings playing in the sun, whereas Door 2 starts with the Maid finding a formless, tenebrous Bestia in the Mansion’s cellar. By means we don’t yet understand, the Maid is forced to call this Bestia her new Master.

Bestia tries and fails to be more human-like, succumbing to his beast-like intuition and brutally killing all that enter the Mansion … except for the White-Haired Girl. This Door takes place a century after the first, and yet it seems the same girl from the first story has returned – albeit with no memory of the events of Door 1. Alongside the Maid’s whole schtick, the mysteries are starting to build nicely.

Elsewhere, a girl named Pauline tries to find her missing partner. Her search leads her to the Mansion, where Bestia ruthlessly kills her … but it turns out that Bestia was Pauline’s partner Yukimasa all along. Quite a solemn – yet predictable – twist.

I’ve seen a lot of people put this as their least favourite Door. I can kinda see it – Bestia doesn’t evolve much as a character, always reverting to his vicious instincts without developing in any way, and the side story with Pauline is boring in a vacuum. In the end, the premise of the savage Bestia and the final twist are what bumped this to the top of my “Good” Tier.

Great

5 – Door 3 (Jacopo)

Of the first four Doors with stories that seem disconnected at first, my favourite of the bunch was definitely Door 3.

This one focuses on Jacopo – a wealthy man in an arranged marriage to … you guessed it … the White-Haired Girl, back in her third body and third century. While their love is innocent enough at first, the rifts in their relationship quickly start to show.

This Door is all about miscommunication. A servant named Maria manipulates both Jacopo and the White-Haired Girl against each other, and eventually Jacopo locks his wife away from the world. Even as she writes letters pleading to her husband, Maria edits the letters and makes it seem as if the White-Haired Girl is cheating with other men – something that tears Jacopo apart.

Seeing Jacopo crumble, despite his outward brevado, is really sad. This is a man whose masculinity prevents him from being open and honest with the woman he loves. By the end of the story, it’s too late – the White-Haired Girl is gone, Maria reveals her betrayal and Jacopo is left to grow old and die alone.

4 – Door 5 (Michel and Giselle … for real)

Door 5 starts off with many of the same plot beats as Door 4, apart from the fact that Michel isn’t cursed with a lethal touch. It starts off so similarly, in fact, that I was worried the resulting story would be boring and a waste of my time.

Their dialogue is a lot more confrontational and – dare I say – human. This time, there’s no immediate declaration of love. Instead, Michel pulls a knife on Giselle (for understandable-ish reasons in the context), who flees to a nearby town. The townsfolk turn on her and march her back to the Mansion, where Michel – posing as the Witch of the Mansion – scares them off. Michel is clearly cursed in some way, and he seems to be talking to “The Witch” in his head, but Giselle pays these details no mind at the time.

After all this build-up, their declaration of love is ten times more heart-felt and real. I genuinely wanted these two to live happily ever after … which makes Michel’s death in the Observatory Tower at the end that much harder to watch.

The big twist of this chapter is that the Witch of the Mansion is real and not just an invention of Michel’s lonely imagination. Michel strikes a deal with the Witch, and as a result Giselle is saved from the knights and comes into contact with the Witch.

Again, if you thought this Door was brutal and sad, there’s only worse tales to come.

Amazing

3 – Door 6 (The Maid)

Technically Door 6 just focuses on Giselle’s transformation into the Maid, but I also want to include Michel’s quest for the three keys as well as Morgana’s story. These extra side stories take this segment of the game up a level.

Door 6 picks up right where Door 5 left off – Giselle pleads with the Witch Morgana to be reunited with Michel, and promises servitude to the Mansion for as long as it takes. And thus the Maid was born.

We see how Giselle turns from a light-hearted girl into an austere, charmless worker, as well as her perspective from the first three Doors’ tragedies. After all those centuries waiting, Michel finally returns as the Mansion’s Master … and Giselle (or The Maid) hardly recognises him anymore.

Giselle is seemingly taken away by Morgana, and it’s up to Michel to find her. I really like the interlude where Michel wanders the Mansion to find three keys – the spirits are clearly the three Masters of the previous Doors, and yet there’s still something off about them we don’t yet understand.

Once Michel finds all the keys and makes his way up the Observatory Tower, we’re greeted with the greatest individual story in the game – Morgana’s backstory. Let me tell you, I was staggered by how gruesome and affecting her torturous tale was.

The horrific flashbacks end with Michel finally crawling up the Observatory Tower, where Morgana spills the secret of his “curse” to Giselle.

2 – Door 7 (Michelle and Michel)

Door 6 ends on the most important reveal of the whole story – Michel grew up as a girl (or, at least, he was treated like a girl at first). His “curse” is this deformity he was born with. Door 7 finally gives us a glimpse of Michel’s backstory.

While he was growing up, “Michelle” looked up to his brothers and wondered why he was stuck conforming with female hobbies and etiquette. That all changed one day when he showed his feelings for his brother’s fiancée – something that was incredibly taboo at the time.

During his seclusion, “Michelle” hits puberty and the truth is revealed. He was never a girl. When he reveals this fact to his family, they shun him as a demon. They lock the cursed child away, and his brother’s fiancée tortures him for almost a year. “Michelle” realises that he lacks something that all men should have. He laments his existence, and feels as if everyone he’s ever loved has turned on him.

“Michelle”, now going by Michel, is smuggled out of the house by his older brothers. They leave him in a supposedly haunted Mansion where a Witch is said to reside, and promise to reunite one day. It’s in this Mansion that Morgana latches onto Michel and whispers in his ear for years.

Other than Morgana’s backstory in Door 6, Michel’s story is definitely the individual highlight of the game. There’s many parallels with his and the Witch’s misfortunes, and I played the whole Door with a hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach.

1 – Door 8 (The Conclusion)

Each Door in “The House in Fata Morgana” was a slow-burn story that led to a satisfying conclusion, so it’s no surprise that the final Door of the whole game was as astounding as it was.

Michel seemingly goes back in time to the few days before Morgana’s death, and he’s given the chance to free her from the Observatory Tower. His objective is to find the three key-keepers (all with familiar faces) and convince them to disavow their evil ways.

What follows is a masterclass of writing. First Michel meets Mell, then Yukimasa, then Jacopo – the three protagonists from the first three Doors – and we finally understand why Morgana cursed them all. They’re all complicit in the crime, some more than others … and yet, inexplicably, you end up feeling sympathy for all three of their circumstances.

When Michel finally convinces them all to his side and frees Morgana, it’s too late. Even so, this was all an illusion. The past can’t be changed … but Morgana’s opinions of the three men can.

Michel manages to save himself, Giselle, Morgana, the three souls, the White-Haired Girl and even his oldest brother Didier from eternal damnation. It’s hard to imagine a neater and more perfect wrap-up to the story. Even Giselle and Michel get their happy ending far in the future.

This is the longest Door by far. I wouldn’t say it’s a perfect chapter because it does drag on a bit at points, but the storytelling is nothing short of remarkable. If you haven’t played “The House in Fata Morgana” yet (and if you don’t mind the fact I just spoiled everything), play it. If you have patience and you can stomach the tougher details, you’ll be treated to one of the best, tightest stories of misfortune and enduring love that’s ever been written.

Aaaaand that’s my list! I rambled on a bit longer than I usually do for each entry, but that just goes to show how impressed and drawn-in I was by this story. You can check out some of my latest blog posts below: