• Price: $49.99 USD (digital & physical)
• Developer: Idea Factory
• Publisher: Aksys Games
• Release Date: November 13, 2025

A review code was kindly provided by MMPR on behalf of Idea Factory and Aksys Games. We thank them for allowing us to cover something they’ve worked so hard on.

Content warning: Rated T; mass murder, child abuse, abuse of authority, non-consensual interactions in 2 bad endings, power imbalance

I wouldn’t consider myself an expert on Fae folklore, but I’ve read a few things about it here and there over the years. So I was intrigued by Mistonia’s Hope -The Lost Delight-, a new otome that tells the story of a young demifae woman set on taking her revenge on the ones responsible for her suffering.

Born Aprose E. Randolph, our heroine takes the totally different name of Rose, changes her hair color, and dons some glasses à la Clark Kent as she infiltrates the household of a major figure in the Fae nobility to work as a maid. As a maid, Rose should fly under the radar as she listens in on important conversations that could provide her with insight into the affairs of her key suspects.

Besides the standard intel gathering methods, Rose also has the ability to see echoes of memories and feel the emotions felt by the owner of the memory. A large part of the common route chapters consists of snooping exploring the household to locate shards that, when combined, allow you to view conversations people would have been careful not to have in front of Rose or other staff members.

As many reality TV show competitors would say, Rose isn’t there to make friends. She’s professional and polite, showing proper deference to the nobles who frequent the household while also keeping her coworkers at a distance. Her coworkers are shocked at how quickly and competently she completes her tasks (with the exception of her one weakness, which no one is willing to tell her about 😂).

I think Rose is pretty unusual for an otome heroine. She doesn’t approach “Mary Sue” territory, as she does have some flaws. Sometimes she makes rash decisions that could end very badly for her, and she is ruthlessly, single-mindedly determined to achieve her goal of revenge.

She keeps herself closed off, not wanting to make connections with others and risk losing focus on her revenge. This gives her the capacity for great cruelty, should she feel betrayed or like her revenge has been foiled.

The bad endings in this game are also unusual in that most bad endings in otome seem to happen to the heroines. Here, Rose often takes control and causes them deliberately herself. Because of the revenge theme, many of these endings are pretty messed up and shocking. In a way, the bad endings are so bad that they’re good, if that makes sense. And a few of them are actually rather amusing in their own ways.

I just really appreciated how capable Rose is as the heroine. She’s hardly professionally trained as a spy, but I think she does a decent enough job of gathering information and getting things done. Rose is pretty sharp, quickly making connections based on the limited information at hand. Additionally, I was so hyped about her ability to defend herself using her ability to create illusions as well as a KNIFE!!! 🔪

Despite Rose’s aloofness, people just can’t seem to stop themselves from liking her (or at least finding her interesting). Her coworkers warm up to her eventually; I absolutely loved Evelyn and Charlotte’s “slumber party” interactions where they give Rose a chance to relax and teach her how to have proper “girl talk” about things like romance.

As far as the love interests are concerned, I liked most of them, or I at least didn’t end up disliking any of them very much. Lucas was probably my favorite love interest when it comes to personality; I always love the prickly guys who are secretly big softies. I laughed a lot in Lucas’ route, and thought he and Rose had good chemistry.

Alfred’s route could have been stronger as far as the plot is concerned, but he was one of my favorite characters. At first I really disliked playboy Ascot, but his route was one of the more interesting ones, and I was extremely surprised when I found myself liking him as his character developed more in his route.

I don’t think they did enough with Linus’ storyline, and he was just okay for me. His route felt like a missed opportunity. Edward’s route was a bit tame for my tastes, but I still liked him. With John, I figured out his secret pretty early on, and thought that they could’ve done more with his story as well. But he, too, was likable.

Although Rose has exactly zero experience with romantic love and has no idea what she’s doing, I thought the romance was written pretty well. Rose is no swooning damsel in distress who falls in “insta-love” with her potential suitors; if they want her love they’ll have to work for it!

I was especially impressed with the romance because due to nature of her investigation – and her desire for vengeance – Rose often feels really conflicted about her feelings for them. Can she trust these men? Were they involved in the source of her suffering, and will they get in the way of her revenge? 🤔

I like variety in my otome heroines, so I like the ones who are friendly with the love interests from the start, but Rose starting off as a more apathetic love interest is an interesting change of pace. The writing was also a good example of how there’s “a thin line between love and hate,” because I thought that Edward and Ascot had both the best Dawn (good) endings and the best messed up Clown endings. There are also a few love triangle (“bad”) endings.

While I appreciated the way the characters’ personalities and the romance were written, I did think there were some issues in other areas. For one thing, there are some typos. Also, the common route is rather repetitive, and I believe it only had a handful of new options when playing through it again.

The country of Grand Albion is dealing with 4 main issues leading up to an important event; these issues are explored in the different routes, but this was another area where I felt like they didn’t take things far enough. The resolution of these issues felt very “surface level.” (Also, where has Rose been for the past 8 years, and what has she been doing?)

The bad endings for each love interest, known as the “Clown” and “Astray” endings, are all devilishly delightful, but there are some brief generic bad endings in John’s route and the True Ending route that felt unnecessary. The True Ending kind of seemed cobbled together, and like in many otome it felt a bit rushed.

I also thought they could have taken advantage of the Fae theme more. We don’t get to see Tir na nOg, the dimension that’s home to the “purefae.” They could’ve written some neat bad endings by having Rose eat food there, trapping her in that realm or putting her in the purefae’s debt. The whole “true name” concept would’ve been interesting as well, considering that Aprose uses a different name in her cover as a maid.

That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy the story as a whole, though. Overall I had a great time with Mistonia because it had a unique theme compared to the otome I’ve played, it has a strong heroine, and it has a great cast. I appreciated the extras as well; you can also unlock 2 short stories for each love interest, which are either entertaining or provide the reader with more insight into the characters and setting.

The art is fantastic in my opinion, with gorgeous character designs and elaborate costumes for everyone down to the servants. The characters’ eyes and mouths are animated like in most otome, but they also animated the fae characters’ wings when they appeared on the character portraits, and there are some basic attack animations too. I liked the soundtrack as well – especially the opening theme.

Mistonia’s Hope -The Lost Delight- isn’t without its flaws, but I did find it to be a “delight” nonetheless. This is another one where I definitely want a fan disc! Be aware that it comes with some dark themes, but if you like stories based on folklore, a strong female protagonist, and stories full of complex motivations and emotions, you may enjoy this one. 🧚‍♀️

8/10