Seventh Lair
From NOVECT, the creators of the highly acclaimed The House in Fata Morgana, comes Seventh Lair, a tongue-in-cheek, but emotional look at the online interactions between an indie game developer and fans!
Story
Dark†Knight, 27 years old, an indie game developer beginning to grow apprehensive about his lack of success. His life is on the bottom rung of society, and his career hangs on by a thread, but it’s all about to take a positive turn when one of his very enthusiastic female fans reaches out.
The creative process was once driven by a vague desire to be recognized, but now he has real inspiration in his feelings for her, and in 2013 he knew he could make a hit unlike any other.
On his website, “Royaume Heaven”, the regulars tended to go overboard with their critique on the forum page. After Dark†Knight’s own involvement took a steep drop, one of the worst trolls, J.B kept pushing and pushing. “Come on you hack creator, hurry up and spit out a new game.”
Then at last, Dark†Knight responded with a single comment.
“I’ll have a new release on April Fool’s”
On the day of April 1st. The newly uploaded game file was entitled “Seventh Lair”. But the moment the download was performed, Dark†Knight and the others were sucked into an RPG-like realm…!
This Meta-Fantasy explores raw emotion and despair, in the context of our interactions on the web.
“A true masterpiece doesn’t ask permission to move people.”
Game Discussion
Steam User 12
The entire plot is honestly pretty absurd but greatly represents Fata Morgana as a franchise in a silly way, in my opinion lol. I really enjoyed this spin-off, I adored seeing the characters again, especially in that strange and intriguing setting. At first the story made me hurt from excessive laughter and later left me with a "I'm in this picture and I don't like it.." sort of feeling. I love how the plot is a lot more complex and twisted than it seems, this "joke universe" of FM has a lot of potential actually!
I honestly can't imagine reading this without being familiar with Fata Morgana and its "quirks", yet at least I can definitely recommend this to all fans! The music is awesome as always and the nostalgic aesthetic with a refreshing new vibe enhance the entertainment and give a fun new (alternative) perspective on the characters in particular.
Steam User 5
I want to write something coherent but I'm emotionally ruined so uh. They're just like me fr.
(Without going into spoilers, this game deals with some genuinely heavy topics of mental illness and suicidal ideation. It's interesting to see how the characters here riff off their counterparts in The House In Fata Morgana, as there are some pretty big differences alongside similarities. It's a very raw and painful read as a struggling creative in his late twenties, but a good one. They're just like me fr.)
Steam User 2
I was expecting a silly funny spin-off but it hit me like a train.
Thank you Novect for such a beautiful game!
Steam User 1
Honestly I was a bit upset when I first stumbled upon this game, mostly because they reutilized characters from Fata morgana to make this, which is a game that holds a special place in my heart, and it felt kinda cheap to just take them from one game and put it in another, but i'm glad to say I was very wrong about that, already knowing these characters and their story adds a sense of familiarity you wouldn't have with brand new characters. After a few months craving more Fata content I finally decided to give it a try, and let me tell you, what a game this is, it’s an incredibly personal and touching story, I don’t want to spoil anything so please do yourself a favor and buy this masterpiece.
Steam User 0
After not knowing what to expect from Seventh Lair, I was at first surprised by its lighthearted beginning. Then, I was gripped by its emotional depth and narrative complexity.
As a fan of Keika Hanada's work, I loved all the allusions to Fatamoru and the unique spin on familiar characters. Don't sleep on this game if you are a Fatamoru fan! You might also enjoy Seventh Lair not knowing any of the related works, if you want to read a story that offers a glimpse into how it feels to be an indie game developer.
(I'm probably a bit weird, playing this game for so many hours. I've read the story multiple times in English and then picked it as my first game in Japanese. As someone who aspires to make my own games in the future, Seventh Lair really spoke to me and holds a special place in my heart.)
Steam User 0
I honestly didnt have many expectations for this game, I just saw it's related to Fata Morgana so I wanted to play it, but I very much underestimated how good it would be, even if you havent played the main game the story is absolutely touching, but of course having prior knowledge about characters adds to the plot twists, in classic fata morgana style.
Steam User 1
I love The House in Fata Morgana so much it makes me sick. If I had kids I'd love The House in Fata Morgana more.
That said, this game is bad. I recommend it because it is really really funny. But it is bad. If you go into it knowing it's bad and any pre-established characters are turned to mulch in my sad, desperate hands, then it is okay and fun. But it's bad. But if you like this game series then unfortunately you must play it. Enjoy. Or don't.