Mask of the Rose

Mask of the Rose: A Fallen London Romance

Release Date: June 8, 2023

Adventure, steampunk, puzzle elements, 2D, visual novel, crowdfunding, indie games, alternative history, dating Simulator, 19th century, singleplayer

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Mask of the Rose: A Fallen London Romance is a steampunk visual novel adventure game. During the game player explores the underground version of the city of London, learns about the love stories of its inhabitants and solves conflicts between them.

Plot
Mechanics
Game modes
Technical aspects

Mask of the Rose: A Fallen London Romance is a visual novel adventure game visual novel. The game was developed by Failbetter Games studio, known for such games as Fallen London, Sunless Sea or Sunless Skies.

Plot

According to the title, the game is set in the same universe as Fallen London, presenting an alternative version of the Victorian era in a weird fiction style. The story takes place in 1862, shortly after the City of London was moved underground into a tunnel system known as the Neath. The game tells the story of the residents of a boarding school who have to find their way in this new reality - a world without sunlight, where not all neighbours are human and the metropolis is ruled by a mysterious organisation known as the Bazaar, which gained the position by rescuing Queen Victoria's beloved.

The plot is largely focused on the romance aspect. Players explore London, collect the love stories of its inhabitants and help resolve conflicts between them. Also, our character will be able to decide who to give his heart to. There are many candidates. We can romance eight characters in total, starting with Griz's roommate, through Harjit, a policeman, up to a mysterious gentleman with connections to hell named Milton.

The story isn't just about romance though. We must also help solve the murder of the doctor who performed the autopsy on the first murder victim since London's transformation into an underground city. We will also try to uncover the secret of the city's new rulers - powerful beings who seem particularly interested in collecting stories of great human affection.

Mechanics

Mask of the Rose: A Fallen London Romance is an adventure game in visual novel type. So the gameplay focuses on exploring the world and holding conversations. We also have to make important decisions on a regular basis, which shape the attitude of the characters towards us and influence the further development of the plot.

However, the developers did not limit themselves to narrative aspects and included many other game mechanics to make the game more attractive. The key element of the gameplay is the story creation system. In it, we select characters and locations on a virtual board, create relationships between them and motives for their actions. In this way, we create both love stories and theories about crimes.

The player also has to choose clothes for their character, which influences the development of the plot and what kind of stories they will face. It is also necessary to record the learned stories in a diary, which is done as a puzzle mini-game. We do this on order of the new rulers of the city, but proper performance of these duties unlocks additional plots and relationships with the characters we describe.

During the gameplay we also cannot forget about acquiring money and other useful items, which requires us to take various odd jobs.