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When I first watched the trailer for Rule of Rose, I was left with an unexplained feeling of unease. It’s not that it was horrifying or anything, but it was just plain creepy. I actually had my doubts about wanting to play it, but I thought something that makes me feel this strongly just from a preview trailer has to be worth playing.
Rule of Rose tells the story of Jennifer, a young woman who has lost her parents in an airship accident. The story begins with Jennifer on a bus, where a little boy comes along out of nowhere and gives her a storybook entitled “The Little Princess”. He rushes out of the bus and Jennifer follows him into the darkness, up a path leading to an old seemingly abandoned orphanage.
The orphanage is the home of a strange and extremely creepy group of children that call themselves the Red Crayon Aristocrats. These children are as disturbing as they are polite, with their polished British accents. They make Jennifer a pawn in their own little game. Jennifer must obey commands or her insubordination will result in death.
Rule of Rose is a different style of survival/horror, and you can tell that right away from watching the unsettling intro sequence. While it does play similarly to Resident Evil and Silent Hill (explore, find objects, solve minor puzzles), the chills come from psychological horror instead of graphical horror. You’re not battling zombies or monsters here, you’re up against a bunch of sadistic kids who like to mistreat, torture and even murder animals and people alike, for their own pleasure and amusement.
A unique aspect of the game is its overall presentation. The storybook given to Jennifer at the beginning is mostly empty, but as the story progresses, the pages will fill in with text and doodles. The narration of events is also done in a storybook-like manner, with Jennifer being referred in the third person as “the unlucky girl”. And unlucky she is, for in no other game I’ve seen a character be buried alive not even half an hour into the game.
Another feature that sets it apart from other titles is Jennifer’s dog companion, Brown. Brown is more of a guide than anything else, as he helps her find items, food and solve puzzles by using his sense of smell. Brown can sniff items that have been in contact with other items and link them together, be it finding what key opens which door or who did a certain object belong to.
There are times where Jennifer will engage in melee combat against strange deformed little children. The weapons vary from guns to dessert forks, but you can also use Brown as a distraction to run away from a fight. Most of the fights can be avoided, and it’s best that you do so due to the limitations of healing items, but some key confrontations must be fought.
The graphics are fairly good, but they especially impress in the CG sequences. The nightmarish in-game world is dark, dull and has a grainy look to it, much like Silent Hill. The music fits is perfectly, giving it a tense and somewhat macabre atmosphere throughout. There are some weird camera angles, which are like a trademark for this genre already, but we can somewhat overlook them.
The events in Rule of Rose are basically a representation of Jennifer’s memories. If you pay attention to your save file, you will notice that there is no chronological order and time will be going back and forth. This is the way Jennifer is remembering things from her past, and in the end it will all make sense.
Rule of Rose is downright disturbing. It’s an intense, thought-provoking experience that you won’t soon forget. Nothing about this game is morally right, and that’s what will make you cringe.