MASK OF THE ROSE
Why we’re already smitten by this Fallen London spin-off
Developer/ publisher Failbetter Games
Format PC, Switch
Origin UK
Release Q4
The
local
pest
controller
has
a
grisly
tale
to
tell
involving
rats
and
decapitated
ferrets:
it
may
sound
fanciful,
but
given
everything
else
that’s
going
on,
you
get
the
sense
that
there
is
some
truth
to
it
We’re attempting to flirt with a potential love interest when a cloud of bats screeches by in the background. If you had any doubts that this romantic visual novel –a spin-off from Failbetter’s Fallen London – was going to retain the weirdness of its parent game, the first hour of Mask Of The Rose quickly sets about putting them to bed. Not many dating sims open with England’s capital falling through the surface of the Earth; fewer still feature a murder mystery where the victim isn’t actually dead. And if the idea of getting your freak on in a world where tentacles slither out of mouseholes and rats build homemade guillotines leaves you a little uneasy, you can opt to pursue a platonic relationship instead. In a place like this, you sense you might need as many friends as you can get.