When it finally erupts and comes to a climax, it isn’t one of overcoming a monster, it’s of finding bittersweet peace with what happened. Jennifer’s life was a traumatic one in her youth, and pieces of that start filtering through all the surreal horror.

Indeed, the tale being told seems to be one horrible PTSD flashback. It’s like her mind suppressed all this trauma and now it’s time to explore it again. But the further it proceeds, the more it becomes apparent that Jennifer was once a part of it, and she’s largely re-living the pain of being at its mercy. On the surface, you appear to be a stranger to this sadistic society of children. A lot of the things you fight seem to be nothing more than darkened manifestations of Jennifer’s memories. Rule of Rose is, thematically, about torment, bullying, and cruelty. Stuck in her body, you’ll spend most of your time being tormented, beaten down, and not really fighting back. The fact is, Jennifer isn’t your typical heroic protagonist. Failing to provide these results in a variety of humiliations, like getting a rat rubbed on your face. You find yourself at the mercy of Red Crayon Aristocrats, a group of snotty kids who demand various offerings throughout the game ranging from a pretty butterfly to a mermaid. It’s not quite clear because you’re in a box. Before you can even get your bearings, you’re captured by children and taken aboard an airship. I mean, listen to this: You play as Jennifer, described in the text as “The Unlucky Girl.” You get off the bus on the wrong side of town and find yourself at an orphanage. So if you want to travel into the surreal world of Rule of Rose completely naked, now’s your chance to disrobe and abandon article. A lot of things are clarified in the epilogue, while the narrative itself is presented in a cryptic fashion that isn’t easily understood. I’m going to be careful so there are things left for you to discover, but Rule of Rose is the sort of game that doesn’t play its hand until the very end and I’m going to show you a few of its cards. I really need to put upfront here that this article is going to tread alarmingly close to spoiler territory.

The only reason I went to the extreme effort of seeking it out was that it was made by Punchline, who had previously created my beloved Chulip, and I feel like I owe them a kidney for bringing it into my life. This is partly because I knew absolutely nothing about it aside from the fact it was critically panned. One place where I didn’t expect to find a good poking stick was in Rule of Rose. It’s to the point where I seek them out whenever I’m feeling the big sad and feel like poking myself in uncomfortable spots. Many games of this genre just seem to be very apt at deconstructing the human condition and then savaging you with it. Video games lost their ability to frighten me some time ago, but I straight-up bawled at the end of Yomawari: Midnight Shadows. I’m not sure if this is unusual since I don’t typically discuss “emotions” with other “humans,” but I generally play psychological horror games to feel sad rather than scared.

Finally a game that proves that the real monsters are children

Rule of rose pc