![]() If the first thing and the last thing you see are what you remember most, however, developer Punchline took pains to make sure you took the perversity with you after you left the game behind. The hierarchies and the cruelty and the infatuation are based on real life, but amped up for the small screen. The scenes of titillation are unsettling because the children are so young, but truthfully, it falls into the realm (okay, the outskirts) of what little girls actually do. Are you actually stabbing kids to death with a paring knife? But if they are kids, why do they keep coming - and how can the Fish Imps flop around like that? The first wave of enemies looks like patented Silent Hill-brand Dead Children, but later Imps wear costumes modeled on animals, much like (living) children would play in. At first: Why doesn't Jennifer fight back against the girls? Where are the adults that should be running the orphanage? How does the fishtailed airship seen in the cinema fit in? Later on, it gets more confusing but no less fascinating. The player is presented with miles of questions. ![]() There were frequent lulls in the gameplay, but I filled many of them with speculation about what was real and what imagined, the motivations of various characters, and how one particular event related to another. Like a good movie, it kept me fascinated until the very last, poignant screen. ![]() If you are into story above gameplay, this is a four-star must-play. Why and how a mysterious child leads her to the building is left for the player to unravel. The story begins with her sleeping on a bus ride sometime around 1940 and continues through scene after scene of Jen being mistreated by the pre-teen inhabitants of a bizarre orphanage. The protagonist is a weak, timid, conservatively dressed young woman named Jennifer, who is much more a damsel in distress than an action hero. Surprisingly, the game holds more appeal for feminists than for guys in sticky raincoats. There are definite sexual undertones to some of the action - the cinema that runs before you start the game revels in it - but anyone looking for a socially acceptable hentai substitute should look elsewhere. If you know anything about Rule of Rose, you probably think of it as "that creepy pedo game." The fact that the back of the box features a closeup of a girl's mouth sucking on someone's finger doesn't do much to dispel that perception, and neither do the widely published images of that same leering pubescent girl juxtaposed with scenes of bondage and humiliation. Overall, it's quite an accomplishment, except for one thing: it's decidedly lacking as a game. The engrossing story and imagery have the feel of a well-crafted arthouse horror film and the themes of lost innocence and friendship gone wrong left me wistful and nostalgic. Rule of Rose is an ambitious, provocative, and satisfying work when taken as a whole.
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