![]() Furthermore, it’s a narrative built around the fragile bonds formed between survivors of abuse, and how desperately some cling onto those hoping to give their life some sense of purpose.īut see – that’s not marketable. In a 2006 interview, the game’s director was explicit in his intent: “We wanted to create a different kind of fear It’s the fear that comes out of children being genuine and without boundaries.” The game’s producer went on to describe the game as “from the heart,” stating that “the main theme is really about trust and fealty.” When actually playing the game, those statements ring true – Rule of Rose is, at its core, a story about the confusion that comes with adolescent yearning and the difficulty expressing that in clear terms. Punchline wasn’t out to ruffle any feathers, though. Really, the driving force behind this game being campaigned against so hard probably has something to do with the fact that it addresses queerness and PTSD in children – a double taboo by 2006 standards. And while the imps Jennifer kills are childlike, they’re a far cry from the photorealistic babies found in stuff like Doom 3 or Dead Space 2. Most of the violence is implied, and the sexuality alluded to. It’s worth noting that, while Rule of Rose does have some pretty bleak and troubling content, it’s not exactly pornographic or heinously violent. To date, the game hasn’t seen a release in these territories. ![]() European justice minister and noted religious zealot Franco Frattini took up a moral crusade against the game’s content, alleging that it was adjacent to child pornography and featured “children buried alive underground” and “in-game sadomasochism.” Despite these being entirely spurious claims, Frattini was able to whip up enough of a frenzy to scare away 505 from putting the game out in Australia and New Zealand, and eventually the entirety of the United Kingdom. Early prerelease info in Italian gossip rags spread to UK tabloids, and quickly turned the heads of certain politicians. Sony’s official stance was that the game “ wasn’t really in sync with their corporate image,” and wanted it to be a “little tamer.” Eventually, 505 Games and Atlus stepped in to take over publishing duties in Europe and America, respectively, but neither were exactly powerhouse publishers at the time – almost ensuring the game would wallow in obscurity.Īt least, it would have, had a moral outrage over the game’s content not put the title front and center for a hot minute. Despite being a Sony venture in Japan, and despite being a game that Sony commissioned specifically because they wanted a horror game, both the European and American branches of the company took a hard pass on the title. Which was why Sony Computer Entertainment refused to publish it in the West. The game gives credence to the sexual orientation and sexualities of literal children in some deliberately uncomfortable cutscenes, and enables players to actually murder child-like creatures called “imps.” It’s the sort of thing Lars von Trier would probably make if he were in the business of making video games, and the type of content most publishers wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole. That goes double for the way most of these issues are depicted in-game. It’s the sort of thing that would be difficult to get funding for today, and it’s almost unbelievable that it could get made when it did. In 2006, Punchline dealt with heavy topics like suicide, child abuse, queer sexuality, and gender dysphoria, contextualizing all of them in the framework of a psychological thriller. This is the most barebones descriptor of the plot possible, as the actual narrative content is among some of the most tragic, twisted, and flatout bizarre in the medium. They verbally and physically degrade her, as she tries to both unravel the mystery of the group and uncover a series of repressed traumas. She’s then forced into indentured servitude by the Red Crayon Aristocrats, a terrifying group of preteen girls who basically exist to make Jennifer’s life a living hell. On a nice afternoon out, she finds herself trapped in an abandoned orphanage and promptly knocked unconscious and dragged to an abandoned warehouse. Released in 2006, Rule of Rose follows Jennifer – a young woman in 1930’s England.
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