“Once Upon A Time”: The Legend of Rule Of Rose

What’s in a name? A rose by any other name should smell as sweet…

Once upon a time, there was a poor, unlucky game: 2006’s survival horror Rule Of Rose. Its story is brief and blunt. It is a tale of controversy, misinformation, and infamy - the game created a legend. But has that legend unfairly overshadowed the game? Is it still worth playing now?

For those of you not burrowed deep in the trenches of sixth generation survival horror, allow me to make a formal introduction. Rule Of Rose was an abstract, fantastical PS2 horror title - possibly the only worthy successor to Silent Hill after Konami condemned the franchise to mediocrity by dissolving Team Silent. The game follows Jennifer, a nineteen-year old woman who is shipped away to an orphanage full of malicious children. Finding herself stranded and alone aboard a strange airship, she is forced to navigate the rules and games of the Red Crayon Aristocrats: a secret society enforcing a strict and vicious hierarchy. The plot is a puzzle-box, a tangled thread of mysteries which unravels as the game goes on.

But most can’t get further than this simple plot summary. Limited copies, cross-continental controversy, and exorbitant prices ensure that (without donning your pirate hat and taking to the high seas) many players cannot experience the game. The beautiful, ornate storybook cover accompanied by that typical triple-figure price tag has haunted the dreams of collectors the world over for years. It is a game sought after by many, remembered by some, celebrated by fewer, and played by almost nobody. 

Rule Of Rose is infamous. But not all publicity is good publicity. 

Every rose has its thorn, and the barb in this game’s side was the legend that began to take shape around it. But how could the notoriety of Rule Of Rose result in fewer people playing and discussing the game? To answer that, we must turn back the pages of the game’s history.

The trouble began in late 2006. The Japanese release of the game in January passed without issue, and the American localisation faced little pushback when it was distributed by Atlus USA in September of that same year - the sole blip on the radar being Sony’s reluctance to distribute the game stateside. However, upon the publication of an inflammatory and sensationalised article by the Italian magazine Panorama in October, controversy stirred for Rule Of Rose. Panorama indulged in the kind of fearmongering reminiscent of Britain’s tabloid journalists during the video nasty crisis. With relish, they described the game’s supposedly lurid violence and sexual content. The finishing touch was the magazine’s title, which proclaimed “whoever buries the little girl alive wins!” Hell of a headline, but of course it wasn’t true. That didn’t stop UK publications like the Daily Mail and The Times from quickly taking up the baton to whip up a similar moral frenzy, and it soon became apparent that the game would not be receiving a warm welcome to British shores.

Keep in mind that this was not an isolated incident. The corrosive influence of video games on impressionable youth was a popular topic of discussion during the mid-00s. Of course, Manhunt did not lead to the downfall of western civilisation, but there were many concerned authorities at the time who genuinely believed it would! In an era of controversies and endlessly recycled talking points, gaming always ended up on the defensive, always having to prove itself to a media landscape pre-disposed to fear and hate it. 

Here, however, there is a twist in the tale. Contrary to popular belief, Rule Of Rose never received a ban. The game’s European distributor, 505 Games, simply decided to cut their losses and cancel the game’s release in the UK. Why? The answer is simple: good business. Their hurried attempts at damage control simply were not working. The PlayStation 2 was approaching the end of its expected lifespan. And, unless your horror game starred Leon S. Kennedy blasting through hordes of bloodthirsty Ganados, it was going to have a limited appeal. Why risk further controversy and backlash for a game that had so little commercial and critical viability? Art for art’s sake proves not to be a viable business model.

Over time, the legend of Rule Of Rose began to strengthen and grow: the claims as to its extreme content were recognised to be false, but the vision of the game as controversial, elusive, mysterious, and banned ultimately began to overshadow it. It was a good story, and the story stuck. Even today, we’re more interested in dissecting the circumstances around the game’s release or lamenting the ludicrous prices it commands on second-hand sites. Interested players are more likely to have seen a playthrough than picked up the controller themselves. Rule Of Rose has not suffered the unlucky fate of being lost to time, forgotten. But it is so often discussed and so very rarely played. 

And - surprise! - I think that you should.

Classic survival horror is a hard sell, I know. So many of the design choices commonplace in the genre seem strange and antiquated to us now, faded memories of a time long since passed. Revisiting any older horror title will result in brushing up against at least one of these issues; Rule Of Rose somehow manages to have them all. You will almost certainly be wrestling with the controls, struggling to decipher the game’s special systems, and getting stuck on the infamous Mermaid Princess fight. Or any of the game’s major fights, for that matter. Combat is the game’s weakest element: it is a stiff, awkward process. The game’s developers, Punchline, were formed of a maverick team who made enchanting, iconoclastic oddities - they had never put together a combat system, and it shows. Some may say they flew too close to the sun, that their ambition outstripped their abilities, but how else do you make a great game? Ambition is essential. Some areas clearly suffer because of it, but the game excels in so much else.

Rule Of Rose is a masterclass in atmosphere: there is little else like winding through the dense, cold corridors of the stately airship; encountering storybook caricatures twisted into bizarre, dangerous monsters; witnessing Jennifer’s vicious bullying at the hands of the Aristocrats. It is a genuinely oppressive universe. One of my favourite little touches is the game over screen, which cruelly proclaims that everyone lived “happily ever after” after your untimely death! Rule Of Rose is twisted and daring and heartbreaking. Plunging into the game’s grotesque fairytale world is an experience all its own, one I would not deny anyone.

The story is the glittering jewel in the game’s crown. It is a cruel tragedy, charting the savagery of children, the failures of the adult world, the power of fantasy, and - ultimately - the importance of hope. Rule Of Rose is a game of layered symbolism, complex characters, and abstract horror, standing amongst the very best psychological stories in the genre. It is the most rewarding of experiences. Every new playthrough, each new revisit, reveals a fresh insight into this story and its characters. Because of this - and in spite of its many, many flaws - it is still well worth playing. But how?

It’s easy to imagine a world in which a dedicated remake manages to bring the game to the admiration and acclaim it rightfully deserves, instead of being mired in the web of controversy and obscurity that it currently is. But this could do more harm than good. If you’re lucky enough to catch lightning in a bottle once, trying to do it again will probably just end up getting you drenched. The game’s legacy would be better served through a remaster. Making the game affordable and accessible will do wonders for Rule Of Rose’s reputation, and this simple act of preservation should be the fundamental standard for all older releases. But… how likely is this really? We must confront the truth: Rule Of Rose’s future is an uncertain one, a fairytale without an ending, the pages torn away at the end of the book.

Twenty years have passed since Rule Of Rose was unceremoniously abandoned by its distributor and transformed into legend; one that has done it more harm than good. Rule Of Rose is a brilliant survival horror title, a shining example of the passion and creativity that the genre is capable of. The gameplay is undeniably flawed, but demanding that every game be polished to a mirror sheen will result in you missing out on a genuine treasure. Rule Of Rose is a triumph in all other areas. Forget the collector’s copies, forget the video essays, and forget the false controversy - dim the lights, and experience it for yourself. You will not regret it.

Developer: Punchline

Publisher: 505 Games

Available On: PS2

Played on: PS2

Demo: N/A

Release Date: January 19, 2006

Do you remember this PS2 Classic? Share with us in the comments.

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