Revisiting Rule of Rose and its sad, depressing world of torment [Destructoid]

I’m not sure if this is unusual since I don’t typically discuss “emotions” with other “humans,” but I generally play psychological horror games to feel sad rather than scared. Video games lost their ability to frighten me some time ago, but I straight-up bawled at the end of Yomawari: Midnight Shadows. Many games of this genre just seem to be very apt at deconstructing the human condition and then savaging you with it.
It’s to the point where I seek them out whenever I’m feeling the big sad and feel like poking myself in uncomfortable spots. One place where I didn’t expect to find a good poking stick was in Rule of Rose. This is partly because I knew absolutely nothing about it aside from the fact it was critically panned. The only reason I went to the extreme effort of seeking it out was that it was made by Punchline, who had previously created my beloved Chulip, and I feel like I owe them a kidney for bringing it into my life.

Read more…