FIRST DATE JITTERS

Date squids and solve murders in MASK OF THE ROSE

- Joshua Wolens

Failbetter has the most engrossing, amusing and evocative writing in the business, but it’s got an uncanny knack for hiding it behind mechanics that wear on my nerves. So it must feel like it’s found a perfect home with a visual novel, right? Kind of. Fallen London is as fascinating as ever, but while many of Mask of the Rose’s mechanics are interesting ideas, they often feel underbaked, leaving me without understanding the decisions I’m making.

Mask of the Rose is a dating sim/ murder mystery set just after London's fall, and precisely who 'you' are is open to elastic definition. You have many suitors, but you can make it clear from the off just what kinds of relationships you're open to. Physical, platonic, romantic, it's all there. You can even restrict yourself to being a matchmaker, or breaker, with the rest of the game's cast.

Your relationships, whether platonic, romantic, indifferent or hostile, with the game's cast are the heart of Mask of the Rose, so it's a good job they're rewarding to pursue. So soon after London's fall, all sorts of histories and identities are bumping up against each other in the city's shifting streets. Men and women, highborn and lowborn, Jewish, Hindu and Christian all rattle around trying to find stations for themselves in a new world, even as otherworldly newcomers start making appearances.