Resident Evil and Silent Hill fans...check this out..

[MegaDrive20XX]

http://www.the-magicbox.com/0512/game051216b.shtml

Sony Computer Entertainment just unleashed this movie clip and screen shot of their survival horror project entitled

"Rule of Rose" for PS2

the story takes place in the England in 1930, the protagonist is a 19 year old girl, who missed her last bus at night in the park. She encountered a mysterious boy, who only she can see. The boy handed her a picture book "Little Princess" and ran away, she followed him to a mansion, and been captured by a bunch of arrogant, mean young girls, who threaten the protagonist's life. You must escape from the mansion before getting killed.


After watching the clip, I was extremely surprised by the detail in this game, yet this could be just CG and not actual gameplay. (Then again that's too early to tell)

The game really has a freaky feel to it. Plus when you're stuck in a Mansion, this kind of reminds me of "Clock Tower" just a tad...

Other then that, it really impresses me....

[Ed Oscuro]

Look great!

*spoiler*

THEY'RE BOTH ALREADY DEAD

they were born in the 1920s, after all

[exit]

It looks very interesting, I love me some survival horror and I'll be sure to pick it up whenever it's released here.

[THATinkjar]

Looks good! And, since it is set in England, there is a good chance it'll arrive in Europe first :)

[Six Switch]

wow only a month till release.

anyways those kids look creepy as hell,i will look into this when it comes over here.

[Queen Of The Felines]

"What's that, Baby Button-eyes? You want me to kill mumsy?"



Sorry, that was the first thing that popped into my head when I saw the pics. :P Looks good though!

Kristine

[sabre2922]

Looks good heres hoping for a quick NA release also.

[Ed Oscuro]

Looks good! And, since it is set in England, there is a good chance it'll arrive in Europe first :)
Still waiting for Michigan...here in Michigan.

[2Dskillz]

I am really surprised I have not heard of this. WOW, it looks really good. Something any silent hill fan should appreciate.

Thanks so much for the link.

[AMG]

I love survival horror games. I'll be picking this one up.

[Captain Qb]

Wow, it looks like so realistic..

A bit of scary, but Very nice grafs.

[Cobra Commander]

That's some pretty suggestive stuff in there. The skirt being pulled up, the girls bathroom stall... I hope this game is released in the US, and I hope even more it isn't censored.

[Ed Oscuro]

That's some pretty suggestive stuff in there. The skirt being pulled up, the girls bathroom stall... I hope this game is released in the US, and I hope even more it isn't censored.
I like how you spell out your thought process there... o_o

[-hellvin-]

Dammit, another game I gotta buy =\

Looks really interesting. Seems very silent hillish without a doubt. Normal but dreary world one moment, and then DEMONS.

[Cobra Commander]

That's some pretty suggestive stuff in there. The skirt being pulled up, the girls bathroom stall... I hope this game is released in the US, and I hope even more it isn't censored.
I like how you spell out your thought process there... o_o
Hmm...yes. That did sound fairly off didn't it? I meant not censored for artistic integrity and such. Seriously.
Quit looking at me like that. I'm not a pervert! :|

[2Dskillz]

I seem to be having trouble locating any details on this game beyond the trailer.

If anyone here finds a review or article going into any details about the game. Please post here. This game looks so good to have flew so far under the radar.

[Daria]

I still need to get "Haunting Ground" but that looks awesome.

[pragmatic insanester]

michigan is supposed to be a "meh" title, but i want a crack it it either way. damn cut-throat prices for the one or two copies you can find on ebay (pal, though).

[djbeatmongrel]

i figured id bump since the game is only a few weeks away and the promo discs are showing up in stores. my god this game looks so sweet.

[MegaDrive20XX]

Good call, I'm happy to see this finally being released. According to many Japanese reviews/previews, this game has been compared to Silent Hill more so then Resident Evil....so now my interest has really peaked.

Apparently these girls have power over the adults...a very "Children of the Corn" scenario....

[orrimarrko]

When is the release date?

Those dates are from over 8 months ago.

[Lord_Magus]

Yeah, been looking forward to this one for a while now.

Looks very interesting, although for some reason the artistic direction reminded me more of the Clocktower series rather than Resident Evil or Silent Hill.

[THATinkjar]

When is the release date?

Those dates are from over 8 months ago.

Well, in Europe, Play.com have the game listed for release on the 2nnd of September. But Amazon UK don't have any listing full stop, so I am not overly optimistic about that date.

[Daria]

When is the release date?

Those dates are from over 8 months ago.

Should be September 12th. And lookie, it's an ATLUS release.

http://www.atlus.com/cgi-bin/games?action=details&game_id=63

(:

[-hellvin-]

Thanks for rebumping this thread because the game kind of faded from my mind. I'm glad to see it's still in the works! I'll defenitely be checking it out, really creepy ambience to it.

[Alucard79]

Maybe I'm wrong, but if this is the game I'm thinking of, it has been in development for for several years. I thought I remember hearing about a game called Dying Rose back in 1999 or so that was similar to Silent Hill, but it was never released. That really doesn't matter though, the game looks great and I look forward to picking it up.

[slip81]

Looks pretty good. Since it's an Atlus release I may end up getting it around release, to ensure that I actually get it, and don't have to pay jacked up ebay prices three months down the road.

[orrimarrko]

When is the release date?

Those dates are from over 8 months ago.

Should be September 12th. And lookie, it's an ATLUS release.

http://www.atlus.com/cgi-bin/games?action=details&game_id=63

(:

Nice work Daria!

Thanks,
Orri~

[Ed Oscuro]

Good beans. Nice topic, glad to see it again updated with release information! :D

[sabre2922]

Thank u Atlus 8-)

[Lord_Magus]

Since this has somewhat become the official Rule of Rose thread, I decided to post this here. Didnt want to create a new thread just to have it locked :)

Anyway, Kotaku has posted a video preview of the game (http://kotaku.com/gaming/rule-of-rose/rule-of-rose-video-preview-199589.php), which you might want to check out.

Personally, I'm a little underwhelmed so far. The controls seem to be far from fluid and the camera looks like it can easily become a problem in certain areas. The atmosphere seems to be more similar to the Clocktower series, which I found more "creepy" than scary.

I'll definitely be picking this up in the next week when it launches as I'm a huge horror fan, but at this stage I don't really have high expectations from it (then again, maybe its because I've been playing me some Silent Hill lately ;))

[Pico956]

The graphics look amazing for PS2. Reminds me of RE as far as the smoothness of the characters go.

Too bad I don't own a PS2

[slip81]

Yeah, the camera does look like it sucks, but the rest of the game looks so damn cool I'll probably like it anyway.

[RJ]

Cool link- thanks. Too bad the dog cant/wont help out during combat/boss battles. Looks like he needed something to do there...

"Sit! Stay! Good boy!"

[meancode]

I just got this game today. Thich atmosephere. So far so good. Don't know what it is getting slammed for, yet.

[Neo Rasa]

Gonna cut and paste a long post I made in another forum.

Free free to edit the screenshots/anything from this into the original post if desired so people know what the game is like:

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/8998/asdfon1.jpg

http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/9176/s1ba4.gif

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/9956/gl07xb8.jpg

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/7753/s2ee6.jpg

http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/5757/s3cr5.jpg

http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/6112/6ruleofrose9qt6.jpg

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/2915/ruleofrose300223283mqr1.jpg

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/9180/gl06yi8.jpg

http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/613/ruleofrose7hs1.jpg

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/5046/ruleofrose1ej1.jpg








Rule of Rose is a PS2 game developed by SCEI (the people responsible for the two Siren games) That was released in the US this week. It was conceived after SCEI was instructed by Sony to make a PS2 horror game that would appeal more to western/gothic sensibilities and not be as Asian-centric as a lot of their other games. They made it, going for more of a slow burn style building of dread to the atmosphere, and having a lot of said atompshere come from humans doing bad things rather than zombies and demons.(though a bunch of "inhuman" creatures appear).


So this horror game made internally by SCEI to be released in the US failed the approval process. It was deemed too controversial by SCEA by the rampant child endangerment and the amount of antagonistic action taken by children in it. Atlus is a ballsy company (they even released the game here with that awesome cover, ensuring that no one will buy it since it doesn't have a collage of all the main characters vomited onto the cover OR a subtitle) and is awesome so they took a chance and published it here in the US.

So far I find it most comparable to Silent Hill 2 (though not nearly as good overall). You spend a lot of time walking around in environments letting the sound or situation get to you. There are enemies, but your primary concern is the children.

You play as Jennifer, a girl who's parents are killed. You're sent to an orphanage where it turns out there's almost no adults, and everything is run by a group of young children following their own heirarchy and doing whatever horrible things they feel like to keep their "society" running properly. This is where the controversial aspect comes into play, to paraphrase the designers, the children do a lot of things, that, to an adult, would be awful or inappropriate, but to the children, are simply the way it's done. And you have to fulfill their ludicrous demands and rules in order to survive. This aspect of the game is handled pretty nicely so far.

Eventually, you also find a dog that helps you out. The dog is great as he can be used to attack enemies for you (Jennifer herself is pretty frail in combat), search for healing items, and even search for items related to a chosen item in your inventory. The typical stay put and follow me commands are also present.

The real star here is the presentation. The game is set in the thirties, and everything is told in the form of a simple fairytale. Your introduction to the item box of the game is a text blurb along the lines of "The rubbish bin cried out to the unlucky girl, 'I shall help you!' And thus the poor girl came to understand she was trapped." with a frilly letterhead above and below the text "box." All storyline/flavor/expository text is presented in this manner, making things pretty immserive. It's appropriate, as the whole thing has that slow burn sort of pacing that Edgar Allen Poe or Bram Stoker could weave into a short story so effectively.

A pre-order bonus existed for the game, a soundtrack cd. It's extremely short because there's very little in-game music, it's mostly either pure silence or ambient sounds.

The main reason I compared it to Silent Hill is because the pacing does a good job of not revealing too much at once but still holding your interest. I've only put a few hours in so far but I will be finishing the game from what I've experienced so far. Hopefully it keeps up the good work.

Game progression is a mixed bag. It's a very linear game, but there isn't too much that's blocking your progress to different areas. As an example, very early in the game there's a point where you enter a home. You only really need to follow a very specific route to pass it and continue the game/story, but you can also enter pretty much every room in it and look at various objects/background stuff to get some flavor text. It's a pretty effective way to lose yourself in the game, but at the same time there are points where you want to move forward and end up having to do a lot of backtracking because you wandered so far off course and are never really given an indication of where you should be going outside of some specific situations.


Unlike Siren, the localization is flawless. Voices were done in English from the getgo and everyone puts in some great work here. The text is kept simple as everything is presented like an abstract fairytale. It's very effective at maintaining the mood.


Unfortunately, this is a PS2 game, so while the grainy presentation covers up a lot, there are tons of loading points, even surpassing the embarrasment of Silent Hill 4: The Room. The load times are short, but you're going to be changing rooms/corridors every ten seconds or so unless you're REALLY taking your time. This combined with the backtracking can get irritating.


This game really does harken back to the really old style adventure games in the way its setting is so consistent and that the majority of your gameplay is spent issuing commands to search/etc. Lots of running away from enemies will ensue also. Don't play this for fast action of tight controls.

Personally, so far I find the atomsphere and what's done with the game's premise makes it worth playing despite its flaws. I don't know yet if I'd say it's worth $49.99 for anyone but it's definitely a game I would recommend without hesitation once it drops down to twenty dollars. Atlus published it though so that day may never come.


So I'll be trying to play through this as much as I can. If the game takes a sudden downward spiral or has some twist that makes it game of the year I'll update this. For the time being though I'd say anyone who likes the Silent Hill or Fatal Frame games might want to give it a shot, though it has some of the most nagging flaws of this sort of game in it I'm really enjoying it.