RULE OF ROSE IS A VERY UNLUCKY GAME
Fuck. This is going to be the first game I give the star rating to after I've finished typing this review. If you're in the know, Rule of Rose is widely considered a work of video game art that is hampered by abysmal gameplay. Specifically combat.
And yeah, that about sums it up.
Though one of the most common narratives surrounding the game is about its controversial release, it is something of a testament to itself that it has overcome this particular bondage and is now widely beloved and considered by fans of the genre to be one of the best pyschological horror games of the PS2. You know, the console that has the most abundant high quality horror library. So that's saying a lot.
The only weakness it will never shake is its dreadful gameplay. Look, unless your name is Resident Evil 4, it is pretty much par the course for survival and psychological horror games to have clunky, unintuitive combat. I still consider Silent Hills 2 and 3 to be some of the best video games out there and they play like your character has a blindfold and was just spun around sixteen times and expected to hit the pinata with a rusty pipe. But Rule of Rose is a particularly bad offender. Jennifer has terrible range with her various melee weapons. It takes her almost a full six seconds (I counted) to get up when she's knocked down. Which is constantly. And if the enemy is already winding up, get ready to wait another six seconds because Jennifer is about to go right back to kissing the floor. Not to mention the INSANELY morally reprehensible hitboxes. And the sheer number of enemies they'll pack into a tight corridor will make you want to tear your hairs out as you get stunlocked into eternity with literally nothing to do except accept your inevitable demise and reload after losing progress and having to do it all again.
The level design is also severely lacking. It's marred by tight corridors with absolutely "too many doors" to check and connecting hallways to get severely lost in. I'll be transparent--I nearly put the game down during the first level on the airship because the back and forth through the sizable length of the zeppelin and checking dozens of rooms for...what the hell I was supposed to be doing, was extremely grating. There's a similar level late game in the mansion where I wanted to sigh until my lungs fell out from boredom. At that point, I was at least highly invested in the story that I pushed through. But "Hey Hebi" you might say, "Don't the Silent Hill games also contain a litany of narrow, same-y looking hallways with TOO MANY DOORS? The answer is yes. But there is a cure in Silent Hill: A fucking map that clearly names rooms and shows you not only which ones have stuff in them, but also which ones cannot be accessed. In Rule of Rose, there is a map screen for both levels. But they are not only intimidating to look at due to the sheer number of rooms and hallways...they are also nearly illegible and contain no vividly colored markers to show you things like...doors you can't open.
BUT. Those two levels I mentioned above? Well, it's no coincidence that those are the only levels in which you lack you're super duper best friend, Brown the dog boy. And let me tell you honestly...I'm not a big dog person (bad history). But Brown is one of the best video game companions. He's integral to the gamplay experience as you give him clues to sniff, wherein that good pupper will just kind of take you to the place you need to get to. And god damnit it's so cute when he starts pawing at the door he wants you to go through. The inclusion of Brown is a godsend and is not only integral to the gameplay of navigating the map, but also to the story.
And now we arrive at the elements that make players laud the game for its artistry. To begin: the vibes. Rule of Rose has an exceptional score. One of my favorites in recent history. It serves as a perfect, reflective brush stroke on the canvas of navigation. I actually prolonged some sections of the game by letting Brown help me find hidden items just so that I could continue listening to the BGM. It's perfectly melancholic at times with complex chord voicings and meditative modal structures.
Its classical and jazz inspirations also lend themselves to the overall aesthetic design choices. The enemy design in the game may be lacking inspiration, but everything else oozes style that reflects both the psychological horror and 1930s modern Victorian English aesthetics.
As far as the story goes, I genuinely find the execution of the psychological text to be up there with the likes of Silent Hill 2. Seriously, this game pulls no punches in its themes of abusive relationships, power dynamics, rape, etc. It is completely unique in its willingness to engage with the cruel acts children can commit. And it does two things that I "extremely respect" that set it apart from most media that attempts to engage with these themes. And get ready for some ranting because I have very strong and correct opinions on some of these matters.
For one, it is incredibly considerate in its presentation. I am often disgusted by media like 13 Reasons Why and this absolutely tasteless desire to "just kind of show" rape and suicide with grotesque realism. You may think portraying acts like this is "impactful" or "bold". You would be stupid. Visually presenting something like rape with high fidelity to make it as realistic as possible is actually the work of COWARDS. The artistically challenged. The cruel. The lazy. Let's call a spade a spade. Media, at the end of the day, is entertainment. It can be challenging and upsetting. Mulholland Drive comes to mind. Showing rape and suicide in excruciating detail isn't more effective than alluding to it in deft, subtextual, creative metaphorical ways. It's just fucking grotesque shock value shlock. Rule of Rose could tell me everything I needed to know with body language. A teenage girl unable to look Jennifer in the eyes as she calls herself "filthy" while located in a sick room bed next to a grown man. We later see said man escorting the girl out of said sick room as she trails weakly behind him, holding her abdomen in clear physical pain.
It's just as evocative without needing to both traumatize me, and retraumatize victims of this kind of horrific abuse. And it requires actual consideration and creative thinking. I mean, just imagine the difference between the kind of person who writes these implied moments in Rule of Rose. Now imagine the kind of person who sits down and types out a brutal scene of abuse and all of the horrific details. There is nary a single moment in Rule of Rose that shows any form of abuse in grave detail. It challenges the audience to put the pieces together. Sometimes it's a little on the nose. But it nonetheless asks us to confront these themes and contextualize them within the greater message of the story.
The second thing I adore is its commitment to empathy. Every character in this game has done something terrible whether actively or passively. And yet, aside from one character (the pedophile and rapist), the game does not outwardly severely judge a single one of them. At one point or another, each and every character has a moment where they are shown to be a victim themselves. The game's story may be tragic. It may not even ask you to forgive the acts. But I find it beautiful that it examines the pain and circumstances that led to them. I can't bring myself to outright hate (minus the one absolutely irredeemable character) any of the girls, despite how horrific some of the actions they take are. And I find it extra bold to examine this through the lens of children. What's more, the text offers us a tragic but very true understanding that the cruelty of children is just another form of innocence to some degree. Especially when said children are living within the confined mansion-ed walls run by a predator.
Rule of Rose may have frustratingly unpolished combat. It may lack any semblance of challenging puzzles. It may not be very scary and be devoid of tension when it comes to the monsters. But it is clear the developers intended the narrative to be the dominant centerpiece. They've stated in interviews that they wanted it to be, essentially, an interactive film. And in that way, they knocked it out of the park. I was deeply affected by the story and its characters. I cried a lot at the end. I feel emotions just thinking about certain moments and scenes.
Video games may have still been in their childhood development stages in 2006. But I think games like Rule of Rose exist as true testaments that video games can contain the narrative complexity and thematic consideration of even some of the best novels and films.
I mean...I have one clear, definitive example. Lord of the Flies is considered a classic and is required reading in most schools. Rule of Rose is Lord of the Flies, but about girls and twice as good.
Fuck. This is going to be the first game I give the star rating to after I've finished typing this review. If you're in the know, Rule of Rose is widely considered a work of video game art that is hampered by abysmal gameplay. Specifically combat.
And yeah, that about sums it up.
Though one of the most common narratives surrounding the game is about its controversial release, it is something of a testament to itself that it has overcome this particular bondage and is now widely beloved and considered by fans of the genre to be one of the best pyschological horror games of the PS2. You know, the console that has the most abundant high quality horror library. So that's saying a lot.
The only weakness it will never shake is its dreadful gameplay. Look, unless your name is Resident Evil 4, it is pretty much par the course for survival and psychological horror games to have clunky, unintuitive combat. I still consider Silent Hills 2 and 3 to be some of the best video games out there and they play like your character has a blindfold and was just spun around sixteen times and expected to hit the pinata with a rusty pipe. But Rule of Rose is a particularly bad offender. Jennifer has terrible range with her various melee weapons. It takes her almost a full six seconds (I counted) to get up when she's knocked down. Which is constantly. And if the enemy is already winding up, get ready to wait another six seconds because Jennifer is about to go right back to kissing the floor. Not to mention the INSANELY morally reprehensible hitboxes. And the sheer number of enemies they'll pack into a tight corridor will make you want to tear your hairs out as you get stunlocked into eternity with literally nothing to do except accept your inevitable demise and reload after losing progress and having to do it all again.
The level design is also severely lacking. It's marred by tight corridors with absolutely "too many doors" to check and connecting hallways to get severely lost in. I'll be transparent--I nearly put the game down during the first level on the airship because the back and forth through the sizable length of the zeppelin and checking dozens of rooms for...what the hell I was supposed to be doing, was extremely grating. There's a similar level late game in the mansion where I wanted to sigh until my lungs fell out from boredom. At that point, I was at least highly invested in the story that I pushed through. But "Hey Hebi" you might say, "Don't the Silent Hill games also contain a litany of narrow, same-y looking hallways with TOO MANY DOORS? The answer is yes. But there is a cure in Silent Hill: A fucking map that clearly names rooms and shows you not only which ones have stuff in them, but also which ones cannot be accessed. In Rule of Rose, there is a map screen for both levels. But they are not only intimidating to look at due to the sheer number of rooms and hallways...they are also nearly illegible and contain no vividly colored markers to show you things like...doors you can't open.
BUT. Those two levels I mentioned above? Well, it's no coincidence that those are the only levels in which you lack you're super duper best friend, Brown the dog boy. And let me tell you honestly...I'm not a big dog person (bad history). But Brown is one of the best video game companions. He's integral to the gamplay experience as you give him clues to sniff, wherein that good pupper will just kind of take you to the place you need to get to. And god damnit it's so cute when he starts pawing at the door he wants you to go through. The inclusion of Brown is a godsend and is not only integral to the gameplay of navigating the map, but also to the story.
And now we arrive at the elements that make players laud the game for its artistry. To begin: the vibes. Rule of Rose has an exceptional score. One of my favorites in recent history. It serves as a perfect, reflective brush stroke on the canvas of navigation. I actually prolonged some sections of the game by letting Brown help me find hidden items just so that I could continue listening to the BGM. It's perfectly melancholic at times with complex chord voicings and meditative modal structures.
Its classical and jazz inspirations also lend themselves to the overall aesthetic design choices. The enemy design in the game may be lacking inspiration, but everything else oozes style that reflects both the psychological horror and 1930s modern Victorian English aesthetics.
As far as the story goes, I genuinely find the execution of the psychological text to be up there with the likes of Silent Hill 2. Seriously, this game pulls no punches in its themes of abusive relationships, power dynamics, rape, etc. It is completely unique in its willingness to engage with the cruel acts children can commit. And it does two things that I "extremely respect" that set it apart from most media that attempts to engage with these themes. And get ready for some ranting because I have very strong and correct opinions on some of these matters.
For one, it is incredibly considerate in its presentation. I am often disgusted by media like 13 Reasons Why and this absolutely tasteless desire to "just kind of show" rape and suicide with grotesque realism. You may think portraying acts like this is "impactful" or "bold". You would be stupid. Visually presenting something like rape with high fidelity to make it as realistic as possible is actually the work of COWARDS. The artistically challenged. The cruel. The lazy. Let's call a spade a spade. Media, at the end of the day, is entertainment. It can be challenging and upsetting. Mulholland Drive comes to mind. Showing rape and suicide in excruciating detail isn't more effective than alluding to it in deft, subtextual, creative metaphorical ways. It's just fucking grotesque shock value shlock. Rule of Rose could tell me everything I needed to know with body language. A teenage girl unable to look Jennifer in the eyes as she calls herself "filthy" while located in a sick room bed next to a grown man. We later see said man escorting the girl out of said sick room as she trails weakly behind him, holding her abdomen in clear physical pain.
It's just as evocative without needing to both traumatize me, and retraumatize victims of this kind of horrific abuse. And it requires actual consideration and creative thinking. I mean, just imagine the difference between the kind of person who writes these implied moments in Rule of Rose. Now imagine the kind of person who sits down and types out a brutal scene of abuse and all of the horrific details. There is nary a single moment in Rule of Rose that shows any form of abuse in grave detail. It challenges the audience to put the pieces together. Sometimes it's a little on the nose. But it nonetheless asks us to confront these themes and contextualize them within the greater message of the story.
The second thing I adore is its commitment to empathy. Every character in this game has done something terrible whether actively or passively. And yet, aside from one character (the pedophile and rapist), the game does not outwardly severely judge a single one of them. At one point or another, each and every character has a moment where they are shown to be a victim themselves. The game's story may be tragic. It may not even ask you to forgive the acts. But I find it beautiful that it examines the pain and circumstances that led to them. I can't bring myself to outright hate (minus the one absolutely irredeemable character) any of the girls, despite how horrific some of the actions they take are. And I find it extra bold to examine this through the lens of children. What's more, the text offers us a tragic but very true understanding that the cruelty of children is just another form of innocence to some degree. Especially when said children are living within the confined mansion-ed walls run by a predator.
Rule of Rose may have frustratingly unpolished combat. It may lack any semblance of challenging puzzles. It may not be very scary and be devoid of tension when it comes to the monsters. But it is clear the developers intended the narrative to be the dominant centerpiece. They've stated in interviews that they wanted it to be, essentially, an interactive film. And in that way, they knocked it out of the park. I was deeply affected by the story and its characters. I cried a lot at the end. I feel emotions just thinking about certain moments and scenes.
Video games may have still been in their childhood development stages in 2006. But I think games like Rule of Rose exist as true testaments that video games can contain the narrative complexity and thematic consideration of even some of the best novels and films.
I mean...I have one clear, definitive example. Lord of the Flies is considered a classic and is required reading in most schools. Rule of Rose is Lord of the Flies, but about girls and twice as good.