No longer say Novectacle, but Novect. Formerly formed by a band of collaborators who worked on the game in their spare time, the team of The House of Fata Morgana has since professionalized under this name and is doing everything possible to develop a project more ambitious than a visual novel. (even if it wouldn’t occur to me to speak of a lack of ambition in the case of Fata Morgana). The game announcement is meant to show fans what the team is working on, but also to get the attention of a tasteful publisher.
In Project Code Name M, an obviously temporary title while deciding on one with its future publisher, Novect offers us a dive into the depths of modern Japan by making us wear the detective’s hat… and that of the killer. How it works ? “In the detective part, the player pursues the mystery in a point & click adventure game style where he moves around the map, investigates and interrogates people. In the murder part, the player becomes the murderer in a special game where he plans and executes various perfect crimes, such as a murder in a closed room or a fake suicide note“, we are told.
Along with a protagonist who works for a corpse disposal company, the story explores neighborhoods like Asakusa and Yoshiwara to solve a serial murder case in Tokyo. Revolving around more than 20 characters, the story will notably immerse us in the middle of the Japanese underworld. The production moves away from the classic and fixed visual novel formula of a Fata Morgana in favor of detailed scenes and funny animated characters.
Citing obvious references like Danganronpa, Ace Attorney and AI: The Somnium Files, Keika Hanada promises us with this title our regulatory dose of despair and deep subjects, especially on the dark side of Japan, even if certain eccentric characters will prevent the game from always take themselves seriously.
“This work is larger in scale than the previous one, The House in Fata Morgana, and it’s no exaggeration to say that my life and the fate of Novect are at stake. I promise to give it my all. We haven’t set a release date yet (since we don’t have a publisher yet), but the development itself is progressing well, and my personal goal is 2023“, notes the author, who will be present with a demo at BitSummit in August.
On the sound side, it would have been a shame not to find part of the team responsible for the unforgettable music of Fata Morgana, but fans will quickly have known the beautiful voice of the tetem/Gao singer in this trailer. Composed by Yusuke Tsutsumi, also already present on Fata Morganathis song named The Sheep in the Slaughterhouse is available without further delay on streaming platforms. And so much the better, because it kills.
“Yusuke has already become a popular composer in Japan and has written scores for major movies and TV series. So I was afraid that he would no longer want to accept our work (laughs). Tetem’s voice is still so beautiful and the lyrics she writes for the music are excellent. We are working with other great artists that we haven’t included in the trailer yet. I look forward to the day when we can announce their names“, adds Keika Hanada in an interview published on The Mako Reactor website. Note that this title has nothing to do with NarKarma, an RPG project that Novect announced in 2017. The latter is not canceled but it ‘is good Project Code Name M which is now the focus of all attention. It will no doubt have to be confirmed by its future publisher, but the game is aiming for a worldwide release on PS4, Switch and Steam.