EmP's Rule of Rose review

What a terrific review! I now feel less distressed over my failure to play this one myself (though the consensus on the site seemed to be that it's very skippable). I barely even like the good horror games, so missing this one doesn't sound like the worst thing I've ever done... even though it sounds like I've missed out on some potentially neat lore and an aesthetic that would have been pretty cool at the time of its release.

Thank you, Jason. I intended for it to be something a lot less dense, but I got lost somewhere in the material. I hate that I would struggle to recommend the game more; rarely have I wanted to love something as much as Rule of Rose.

Thanks for reading.

Really good review of this one! Even if it brought back some degree of PTSD. I thought I had forgotten about the mermaid and how it was just a horrible slog to try beating it.

But yeah, when it comes to my memories of this game, your review hits the nail perfectly. Just a great vibe and a very subtle story that dances around and through reality to create a twisted fairy tale with grim real world stuff involved. And a clumsy and all-around horrid game built around it where you'll quickly learn to just not ever fight anything unless you're forced to because there is not one single fun aspect to watching an inept teenish girl stumbling over herself while flailing around with a very short ranged weapon.

The mermaid fight was one of the most frustrating experiences I've had with video games.

I'd love to see Rule get a proper rework where they can commit to the strengths of the game and banish the worst parts of it. I can see why they felt combat was required to appeal to the bigger survival horror market, but the game would be a million times approved if they got rid if fighting all together. Maybe tied boss fights into something more interesting with Brown, making it more of a puzzle than a battle. There's really something special buried in there somewhere.