Fantasy Opera: Mischief at the Masquerade

this is the kind of game i generally love, queer-positive fantasy with a customizable pc and a puzzle-y aspect that isn't too hard but feels satisfying. you play as a detective investigating a planned theft at an opera premiere in fantasy venice. you have a bit less than two days before the theft is supposed to happen, which keeps the size of the investigation small.

nonetheless, there are (what feels like) a lot of colorful characters to meet, with hand drawn portraits and everything. i can take or leave character portraits usually - ive liked some vns but it's also nice to be able to imagine characters the way i want to - but here i think the art is very nice and really creates a unique look/vibe for the game.

despite the time crunch, the vibe is pretty low-key and chill, and you have plenty of time to fully investigate all your leads. there's an rpg-ish stat system with dice, im not always that into randomness in an investigation type game but this seemed pretty forgiving, with multiple ways to get the same information based on different stats. im not very smart and did need a hint, but i solved the mystery and got 90 points!

i was excited by the romance genre tag but it was just a little bit and entirely at the end. it was cute but didn't feel integrated with the rest of the plot. i guess it would be hard to integrate it more with the timeline but idk i was kinda disappointed. that's why this is 4 stars instead of 5 but maybe that's unfair bc i think it could've been 5 if it didn't list the genre that way... mb ill change it later! but it just wasn't what i expected.

This is my third and final Lamppost Projects game to play during this competition, and it is quite different than the rest in some ways.

All three games are set in a D&D-lite world with orcs, half-orcs, halflings, tieflings, magicians, and a setting a little later in European history than most fantasy I've dealt with (this one seems to be around 1600s or later, maybe even 1700s).

All three games also feature watercolor-looking art and a collection of four or more romanceable characters per game, of varying races and genders.

Where this game differs from the rest is that you have skills and animated dice rolls; the others had no randomness at all. The animated dice rolls look really satisfying and seeing the numbers and the target difficulty (and the way the game encourages you to try and fail and keep trying, just like a good GM) makes this a much more pleasant randomized experience for me than most.

You are a private investigator brought into to protect an opera from a threat of robbery. You have to meet the various performers and backstage people and take careful notes, while making use of the background knowledge you chose beforehand. I focused on observation but made myself clumsy, so I did great in conversations but pretty bad when trying to sneak peeks at things covertly.

One outstanding feature of the game is that you can guess the truth of the game at any time starting near act 1, and the game rolls with it if you get it right, which I did right at the end of act 2. You have to pick the right suspect, motive, means, etc. and what's great is that you only have to be mostly right (I had the wrong motive, but otherwise succeeded). If you succeed most of your rolls for your good skills, the villain is fairly obvious, but the target and motives eluded me at first.

I think I like this game best of the three despite a few rough edges (there is romance but it's all packed at the very end of the game and feels separate from the rest), because I have a personal fondness for detective stories, and deduction is very hard to model but this system is one I'll mention in the future when others ask about mystery game advice in the future.

An anonymous informant leaves a tip about an upcoming crime which will take place at an opera house. You have been brought in to investigate. Furthermore, an appearance of normalcy must be maintained, so simply trying to cancel the show is not an option.

As with Sylvan Gardens, the production values here are top notch, although I think there isn't sound in this one. The art is nice, the interface is well-designed and professional looking, characters are interesting and you get a good mix of choices. There is a simple stat system which can be used to glean additional clues, but the use of RNG for some of these checks adds a bit of luck to the mix.

Sadly, I was unable to solve the mystery on my first attempt, although I had some of the pieces from reading the clues and trying to figure out which names showed up a little more often. The game gives you a hint if you are unable to solve it, and also gives you the entire solution if you really can't solve it, although your (perhaps unimportant) game score will take a hit. That said, even after having the mystery revealed to me, I was still struggling to make sense of the evil plot.

Spoilers follow from here. You were warned.

This was the plot. (Spoiler - click to show)Lord Vulpetti is plotting to rob the audience using the cornetto (or the aria), and he's motivated by his desire for revenge against Angelo.

Now, I have some questions. Spoilers here too. You were warned.

1.(Spoiler - click to show)Why did Lord Vulpetti order the flowers and the taunting message IN PERSON at the florist? Even if the crime was carried out successfully, the not-so-subtle message card could easily be traced back to him. The florist knew him, and his name was on the buyer records. Even a semi-competent criminal should have known to use a proxy or a fake identity to buy those flowers and make the delivery.

2.(Spoiler - click to show)The note on the bouquet ostensibly hints that Lord Vulpetti plans to rob the audience, but this seems like a huge leap of logic to make. Maybe there is evidence elsewhere which I missed, but this doesn't seem like much to go on.

3.(Spoiler - click to show)The lyrics make reference to a horn and a magic note, but it also seems like a huge leap of logic to infer that Lord Vulpetti plans to enchant the cornetto with this. Not to mention, the magic in the horn could be detected by the other characters (evidenced later on) and could easily be traced back to Lord Vulpetti even if the crime was successful.

4.(Spoiler - click to show)If all Lord Vulpetti wanted to do was to humiliate Angelo, why work with thieves to rob the audience? He didn't want money. Putting everyone to sleep would already have achieved that goal. The thieves don't seem to have contributed anything to preparing the plan and would likely have been happy to backstab him if the relationship went south. A mass robbery would only result in more serious investigations and place needlessly greater heat on Lord Vulpetti.

Anyway, after completing the mystery, you have the option to dance with someone and romance them. It feels like something added on later, but I actually liked it. The ending sequences were a nice way to wrap up the investigation. This game still has the charm and sweetness of Sylvan Gardens.

Despite all I've said, I'm still giving four stars, as there were many parts of this game which I liked.