Having already played Fata Morgana on Steam, I'm glad it's made its way over to GOG. This visual novel's on the shorter side, clocking around 30 to 35 hours, but holds its own against behemoths like Umineko or the Nonary Games series. The game comes with sufficient save slots, useful options, and a text backlog (check this every chapter!). Expect a lot of reading, with rare menu choices (mostly by late-game) that can lead to alternate endings. That said, you'll really want the true ending this time. Fata Morgana's a gothic romance epic in every sense of those words. It's a beautiful but challenging story of stories, all playing into each other as the game progresses. As fantastic as the plots and binding premise become, the writing's very authentic and unwilling to settle for Japanese media cliches. The protagonist will end up more than just a mystery, just as The Maid and other characters become more tragic and relatable over time. Almost no amount of nuance, grey morality, or uncommon characterization is too risky for this story! The game's difficult to talk about without spoilers, and I credit that to how it carefully uses twists and worldbuilding. Themes and situations rarely if ever explored in other video games appear here, contextualized with much empathy and brutality. Love lives quake, individuals question their beliefs, and trust both withers and revives. The cyclic nature of human life as tragedy dominates here, albeit with silver linings. Overall, this game isn't for the faint of heart, nor content to revel in suffering for the sake of it. Novectacle did an amazing job setting the right atmosphere for Fata Morgana. Detailed, precisely human character art contrasts against hazy visions of the world. Soundtracks between chapters range from melodic and structured to cathartic and interminable. It's a powerful mix of story and audiovisuals, generally well-paced and accessible to anyone. I highly recommend Fata Morgana for anyone new or familiar with VNs!
Of all the great releases in 2017, I can't think of any already this underrated. Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection (originally Zwei II) is Falcom's 2008 Windows-era swan song, a game which they poured a lot of effort into only for it to bomb in Japan. While it's too early to guess the impact a lesser-known Falcom classic can have now, I highly recommend fans of ARPGs and nostalgic adventures give this a shot. This game's a standalone sequel to Zwei!!, an earlier game from 2001 which revitalized Falcom and led to greater adventures including the revival of the Ys series, the Trails/Kiseki franchise as we know it, and standalone adventures like Gurumin and Xanadu Next. You absolutely do not need to play Zwei!! to understand or greatly appreciate the sequel which we've just received in English for the first time. Ilvard Insurrection evolves its prequel's mechanics, structure, and uniquely humorous and heartfelt style of writing. You'll meet and learn all about a motley assortment of people and new friends, trek through seemingly repetitive but well-designed dungeon stages, and defeat appropriately fell beasts and villains to save a floating continent. The game revels in surprise, from unassuming wordplay and snark to some rather moving parts of the plot and character development. Because of the game's unique EXP system which lets you control how fast or slow you outmatch foes, the game's well-paced and encourages you to master simple but skillful combat. By the game's end, you'll have combo-ed many an enemy, solved a beguiling gallery of puzzles, and discovered the secrets of Ilvard. Both protagonists grow with each other in style! I wouldn't compare this game much to Ys or Trails, like apples to oranges to bananas. Nor is it much like Gurumin despite sharing the same engine (which explains why, until XSEED's fix arrives, the visuals run at 30 with inputs at 60). On its own merits, Zwei: II's evergreen and colorful, and I'd hate for it to go unnoticed like Xanadu Next.
