It's hard to believe it took Failbetter this long to take on visual novels; Failbetter has always had the uncanny ability to write some of the most engaging, entertaining, and exciting writing in the business, but to hide it behind mechanics. Between browser games and roguelikes, the studio's wit is dulled by repetitive gameplay loops. So far, only "Sunless Skies" manages to strike the right balance.

So does this mean that Failbetter has finally found its perfect place in the visual novel genre? London is as charming as ever, but while many of the mechanics of "Mask of the Rose" are interesting ideas, they too often feel under-baked, leaving you groping in the dark without fully understanding the decisions you're making.

While all previous games set in a fallen London (including "Fallen London") have taken place decades after the actual fall, "Mask of the Rose" is set squarely in 1862, after bats have blackened the sky and carried off the capital of the British Empire. It kicks off about 260 days later. This is where and when you are placed in the situation.

Who "you" are in "Mask of Roses" is open to definition. Your upbringing and gender are all comfortably fluid. Furthermore, while the game may call itself a dating sim, you can define from the start what kind of relationship you are willing to accept. You can keep everything platonic, or you can have a physical but not romantic relationship. They can also throw themselves solely into romance by playing the role of matchmaker (breaker) with the rest of the game's cast

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This is brilliantly open-ended and should give everyone room to play without feeling uncomfortable. Even if you have marked "no" to any relationship in Victorian Tinder, the game will regularly check in with you to see what kind of relationship, if any, you are pursuing with the game's individual characters, such as the giant bat or the squid man. [Whether platonic, romantic, indifferent, or hostile, your relationship with the game's cast is at the heart of "The Mask of the Rose." In this city, fresh from the fall of London, various histories and identities collide on shifting street corners. Men and women, aristocrats and lowlifes, Jews, Hindus, and Christians are all scrambling to find their place in the new world, even as newcomers from other worlds begin to appear. [But their ability to do so is constrained by how limited their time in London in The Mask of Roses is. As the game progresses, every choice takes time, and even the clothes you wear to an encounter can alter people's reactions and their dialogue choices on the spot.

The game can be completed in three to four hours, even if you play the full game, but it is inevitable that once the credits are pushed the plot threads will dangle and many relationships will be in a half-baked state. Even with new character backgrounds and several different choices to play through, it eventually felt as if you were repeatedly returning to a particular section of the game to get back to where you left off.

Consider, for example, the main plot of Mask of the Rose. Just like in real life, the game is part dating sim, part murder mystery, and a good portion of the middle of the game is taken up with trying to prove that your friend and roommate has been framed for murder (don't worry, the victim recovered).

The first time I watched it, I had so little time that I was distracted by other plot points and inadvertently left my friend behind: inciting a revolution, taking the London census, trying to seduce someone attractive; the second time, trying to balance my responsibilities, I left none of it half done. The third time I focused and was finally able to assemble one of the many possible cases as to why my own son was innocent.

The third time around, even though I found it the most narratively satisfying of the Phoenix Wrights, I felt like I had to be laser-focused on the murder case at the expense of everything else the game had to offer. I could have ignored it, as I inadvertently did the first time, but I was too busy helping another friend with writer's block to leave my affable Scottish friend to Givette's whims, which feels a bit odd.

You solve the case using the "Mask of the Rose" story crafting system. This is essentially a kind of Mad Lib, where you are asked to choose from a list of protagonists, motivations, and actions (new ones are available as you develop relationships with the game's characters), and to craft narrative solutions to various puzzles. [For example, in creating a storyline for a murder case, you have to choose the culprit, motive, method of committing the crime and many other things, and if you choose one that makes sense, you get a new theory as your weapon, and you can harass people about it to further the investigation.

It's great in theory, and Lord knows it fits impeccably well with the overall theme and atmosphere of Failbetter's London as a studio. I could input a story that I thought made sense, but didn't give me a new story to go talk to people about, or didn't have any of the building blocks I needed to build the theory I had in my head of actual reality.

Sure, I could go and chat with relevant people in the hopes that they would give me what I needed to build my hypothesis, but sometimes chatting did not give me any new story building material at all. Sometimes I would try to talk to someone, but the conversation would get sidetracked and I would never get a chance to talk about what I wanted to talk about at all. Time was very precious, and since the game always auto-saves, I didn't want to waste time chasing clues unless I was almost certain I would get something I could use.

Interestingly, this meant that I had to follow someone whom I was almost certain had not committed a crime, but whom I thought the jury would still find guilty and give me plenty of story building material to build my case. Perhaps this is a scathing comment on something.

Failbetter's London is as fun to be involved with as ever, but between the time pressures, repetition, and flaws in the story-making system, the game that underpins it in Mask of the Rose never quite comes together. It feels like a first draft, or a prelude to an excellent sequel that will come out in a few years. Basically, it feels like "Sunless Sea."

Still, I enjoyed my time with this game just as much as I did with "Sunless Sea." For those who like this worldview as much as I do, I can easily recommend "Mask of Roses". That said, while "The Mask of the Rose" feels like the foundation of some great work, it is not great in and of itself.