I picked up another old school horror classic. Rule of Rose. And let me tell you. This game has an interesting history.

But first, let’s talk about the game itself.

Rule of Rose follows Jennifer, a 19-year-old girl trying to piece together the forgotten memories of her (wildly) tragic childhood. You play through levels that are just different months of 1930 as you slowly begin to piece together what happened to Jennifer. Revisiting the game today, the gameplay is honestly kind of clunky. The combat specifically is, well, rough. There was one boss battle in particular, the mermaid thing (Clara, for those of you who have played the game), that made me want to pull my hair out. Constant stunlocking, only being able to hit her once or twice before she moves, and your only real assistance in combat, your dog Brown, can’t reach her or do anything to help.

Speaking of Brown, both the narrative and the gameplay heavily center around the dog. A large portion of the game is simply following Brown’s nose as he tracks down different scents. Brown cannot die in combat (although he can be injured), but he also isn’t much help. He barks at enemies and kind of…scares them a little bit? It does at least give you an opportunity to swing the steel pipe you found or stab an imp with the kitchen knife.

These imps, by the way, are weird shadowy creatures that Jennifer faces throughout the game. Sometimes they have the head of an animal. Sometimes they just have terrifying visages that might actually start appearing in my nightmares. What they are isn’t really explained in the story, but some interpretations suggest that they are manifestations of Jennifer’s subconscious, trying to prevent her from remembering her tragic past. I will warn you now: the remainder of this editorial will have major story spoilers. If you haven’t played it (and aside from the janky combat, I recommend you do), go ahead and stop reading here.

So Rule of Rose is pretty famous. Or… infamous.

The game became the subject of a massive moral panic in Europe, with reports claiming that it contained graphic child abuse and sexual assault, despite the actual game not containing either of those. The controversy was so intense that the UK and Australian releases of the game were canceled, and several European retailers pulled the game from shelves.

What actually happens to Jennifer, however, is just as tragic (albeit in different ways).

Jennifer’s parents are killed in an airship crash, where she is the sole survivor. She is taken in by a farmer named Gregory, who has lost his mind after the disappearance of his son, Joshua. He forces Jennifer to dress like a boy and pretend to be his son. It is heavily implied that Greg has done this before with other children, killing them when they stop enabling his delusions.

Jennifer eventually escapes with the help of Wendy, a girl from a local orphanage. The two make their way to the orphanage, where the children there have a fun (not fun) little club called the Red Crayon Aristocrats Club. All is going well for Jennifer and Wendy until our protagonist finds a puppy. She names him Brown, and he becomes like a ray of hope for her. New life, sweet and innocent, with nothing but love in his heart. Until Wendy gets jealous of the dog and has all of the girls in the orphanage shove him into a sack and beat him to death.

Jennifer, understandably, loses it a little bit. She slaps Wendy, tells her she will never forgive her (I would have done so much worse), and tells off the other girls for going along with Wendy’s cruelty. The girls agree that Wendy took things too far and ostracize her. So what does Wendy do?

She goes to Gregory, the crazed farmer, and starts dressing like his son. She makes this already unstable man start acting like a dog. She then brings Stray Dog (that’s what he’s called now) to the orphanage, where he proceeds to murder all of the children.

Off-camera, UK retailers, so put your pitchforks away, okay?

 Jennifer then hands the man his own gun, and he blows his brains out in front of her. Pretty awful stuff.

But that is really what makes Rule of Rose so interesting. Beneath all of the strange imagery, creepy enemies, and admittedly frustrating combat is a story about childhood trauma, cruelty, jealousy, grief, and the ways that children try to make sense of things that they simply aren’t equipped to understand.

The game doesn’t always explain everything to you, either. A lot of what happens is left deliberately vague, forcing you to piece together Jennifer’s memories and determine what certain characters and creatures actually represent. It can be confusing, but that ambiguity is a big part of what makes the game stick with you.

Tragic story aside, the game is well made. The visuals, the music, and even the surreal events all come together to form a really incredible package. Aside from the combat. Seriously, the combat sucks, but that was par for the course with survival horror games in the early aughts (see: Clock Tower 3).

But Rule of Rose is a game where the things that don’t work are overshadowed by the things that do. The atmosphere is incredible, the story is unlike anything else I’ve played, and the game’s willingness to leave certain things unexplained adds texture to the experience. You’re not just being told what happened to Jennifer. You’re trying to understand it alongside her. It was truly a unique experience, one that simply could not be replicated through another form of media.

It is past time that we recognize the medium for what it is: art. An incredible, unique, irreplaceable form of art. Games can tell stories in ways that movies, television, and books simply can’t. They make you participate in the experience rather than just observe it. Rule of Rose is a perfect example of that. And while the moral panics surrounding video games have mostly subsided, you still hear, on occasion, how GTA is causing school shootings. It literally isn’t. Get your kid in therapy instead.

Maybe, just maybe, we can stop blaming video games for every problem we have and start appreciating them for what they actually are: a medium capable of telling some truly incredible stories. Even if that story involves you getting your ass kicked by a mermaid hanging from a ceiling.

Tags:rule of rose survival horror video game

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