Rule of Rose coming to Europe

By Ellie Gibson Published 3 July, 2006

It's out on PS2 this autumn.

505 Gamestreet has announced plans to bring psychological horror game Rule of Rose to Europe later this year.

Rule of Rose, which has been developed by Sony Japan and is exclusive to PS2, is set in England during the 1930s. A group of young girls form a club called the Red Crayon Aristocrats, complete with its own set of secret regulations - the Rule of Rose, do you see?

After "a surreal and frightening encounter with a young boy on a public bus" - ah, cursed happyslapping - a young girl called Jennifer finds herself caught up in the Rule of Rose, and forced to endure cruel games at the hands of her "giggling tormentors".

As Jennifer, you have to choose whether to try and work your way up through the Red Crayon hierarchy, or find a way to escape the whole thing all together. The game features different endings which depend on how you play and the decisions you make.

You can expect some lovely graphics, apparently, all painstakingly researched to recreate thirties England, plus "striking, sometimes shocking CG cinematics" from Shirogumi Inc. - who have previously worked on the Onimusha and Genji games.

Rule of Rose is down for an October release.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (12) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Aysir #1 6 years ago

    Played a little of the Japanese version of this. A lot of it was english anyway - so it should be a quick conversion. Good game with lots of atmosphere...well from what little I played of it at least.
    It's a bit annoying how Sony didn't bring this across themselves, though 505 are a pretty good publisher anyhow (not often in thier choice of games but the manner in which they do it)

  • Cappy #2 6 years ago

    I'm happy to hear that 505 Gamestreet have picked this up. If the US version now gets dropped or censored in the wake of hot coffee hysteria there will be a European alternative already in the works.

  • toy_brain #3 6 years ago

    The initial import impressions of this game were not too encouraging, and the fact that Sony Europe passed it up (but didnt pass up Forbidden Siren 2) would suggest that mabye it aint all that hot after all.
    Or it could be the fact that the trailers made it look like a bit of a nonce-fest (though I'm sure its not) and SCEE didnt want the controversy.

    Well, either way I'm a big fan of survival-horror so I'll be keeping an eye on this.
    Hopefully 505 will give it the 'Royal treatment' like they do with their bigger games such as Stella Deus, rather than the 'quick-n-dirty' treatment that their Simple2000 and shootemup pick-ups get.

    I still cant get over that typo on the back of the Homura box......

  • Bragelonne #4 6 years ago

    Good news indeed. I thought this one had fallen by the wayside.
    Edited by 1 at 04/07/06 @ 15:39

  • Blerk #5 6 years ago

    Wow! 505 are fast becoming my most-loved publishing people. Now let's have a nice uncensored version, please!

    /checks wallet

  • Thamuhacha #6 6 years ago

    >I still cant get over that typo on the back of the Homura box......

    Huge demons and cunningr wiches awaits you.

    And a "perilous ourney" awaits
    Edited by 1 at 04/07/06 @ 11:58

  • Hunamster #7 6 years ago

    Sony themselves passed it up due to some of the content being abit too 'concerning' for sony themselves to want to publish, its not due to quality, but if it does cause a stir, SOE/SOA wont feel the backlash

  • absolutezero #8 6 years ago

    I just hope they don't slap the editing scissors out and chop the hell out of the game. Like Michigan, which I was stupidly happy to get but pretty disapointed to find out it was in a edited state.

    It just seems to rediculous for 505 to remove something becuase it was too Japanese. This is the same company that regularly release the Simple 2000 series.

  • Kami #9 6 years ago

    I like how this so far isn't sounding like your a-typical Survival Horror plot. Not often you find horror that doesn't rely on the usual supernatural stuff to provide the cheap scares. Definitely looking forward to this, the horror scene has so far been a tad dry of late...

  • Danj #10 6 years ago

    I wonder what the BBFC will have to say about this? I bet it will get an 18 certificate slapped on, if it even manages to get passed in the UK.

  • Machetazo #11 6 years ago

    I'm really eager to play this game. Nice one, 505; and October can't come quickly enough. :D

  • aine #12 6 years ago

    I just hope they don't slap the editing scissors out and chop the hell out of the game. Like Michigan, which I was stupidly happy to get but pretty disapointed to find out it was in a edited state.

    that was a weird one.. but all the content removed was based on a real actress used to promote the game in Japan, maybe it would have cost extra to use her likeness. or something.

    Of course that's no excuse for the glitch that breaks the movie theatre.
    Edited by 1 at 04/07/06 @ 16:05