Interviews

Today’s generation
of survival horror games have evolved into immersive tales as compelling
as any horror film and focus more on
story, characters and sustaining fear than past games, such as the
Resident Evils et al, that were more concerned with quick, cheap
moments of fear and blowing away scores of zombies with increasingly
potent guns and weapons.

The highly anticipated
Rule of Rose has raised the genre to new levels in Japan where
it has been compared to the revered Silent
Hill series. Rule of Rose is set in 1930’s Britain as a young
girl named Jennifer finds herself held captive in an orphanage by
a group of deranged children known as the ‘Aristocracy of the
Red Crayon.’ As Jennifer – assisted by her dog – you
must find and offer gifts to your demented captors to keep yourself
alive and buy time as you search for in time to try to escape your
nightmarish captivity.

Rule of Rose’s musical
score is by Yutaka Minobe (Panzer Dragoon Saga, Skies
of Arcadia)
and the game features 50 minutes of award-nominated
CG scenes (Official Selection of the Annecy 2006 International Animated
Film Festival).

Atlus – the North American Rule
of Rose publishers – offered
JA a rare opportunity to speak with the game’s project lead,
Carl Chen.

A lot has been
written about the similarities between Rule of Rose and
Haunting Ground. Are these similarities on purpose?

In both games you play
as a teenage girl and have a dog as your partner. Beyond that,
there are very few similarities. The dog in Haunting
Ground is
used for
attacking whereas the dog (Brown) in Rule of Rose is more of a puzzle-solver
and guide.

Is
fighting a necessary option in the game or can you choose to not
fight?

As with most survival
horror games, it’s recommended that you don’t
fight. Jennifer can hold her own most of the time, but she won’t last very
long when faced with an endless swarm of enemies. Action enthusiasts need not
be disappointed, though, because the game does have its fair share of action,
in addition to some traditional boss fights.

Is
there a specific reason that Rule of Rose is set in the 1930s
and what
steps were taken to recreate 1930s Britain?

There is reason, but
I can’t get into that without going into spoiler territory.
Let’s just say that the time period is very important to the story. The
developers at Shirogumi/Punchline did an absurd amount of research on everything
from building structures to what crayons looked like in the 1930s. It’s
hard to believe that this game is Japanese-developed, because everything feels
so authentic.

Comparisons
can be made to such movies as Children of the Damned and City
of Lost Children. Did either of these films influence the game developers?

Not that I’m aware of. When I asked them directly what their influences
for this game were, they said that inspiration came after reading an article
about British airships in the 1930s. There are several references to airships
in the game and one airship in particular, the R101, plays a major role in the
story.

What
types of puzzles can we expect in Rule of Rose?

Your dog, Brown, will
be your main tool in solving puzzles. For example, let’s
say your objective is to find a girl in the mansion. Brown will be able to pick
up her scent if you give him an object related to that girl. Sometimes he can
lead you to places you normally couldn’t visit. In a sense, the puzzles
are like the LucasArts adventure games of the 90s, but with more intuitive gameplay.

In
the screenshots and trailers we’ve seen, the characters are
very lifelike.
Do you think this adds to the ‘fear factor’ of
the game?

Absolutely. I mean, who
didn’t get chills down their spine when they saw
the fat freckled girl smear lipstick all over her face?

Why
are the Japanese so much better at crafting survival horror games
than their
North American counterparts?

I think their approach
to game design is a bit different from ours. Before this project
started, I doubt the developers
knew
much about
orphaned
British kids
in the 1930s. People are always afraid of what they
don’t know, and I think
the devs wanted to tackle this issue head-on. Rule
of Rose explores this concept
by showing how scary children can be from an adult’s perspective.

Were
there any problems with English localization?

No major ones. Things
are going pretty smoothly. Actually, the developers have specifically
stated that this game was intended
for
the American market. There was already a huge chunk of the script in English,
and all of the
voice acting
was recorded in English.

Rule
of Rose has been highly praised in the competitive Japanese market.
How
difficult is it to release a successful game
in Japan?

Gamers are extremely
smart these days and you need to release something unique and fresh
to
stand
out. I think
the developers
at Shirogumi/Punchline
set
out to create something original, and succeeded.

The
trailers for this game are, to say the least, disturbing, how difficult
is it to sustain horror in a video game that
is played over several sittings and
how does Rule of Rose accomplish this?

Rule of Rose accomplishes
this by keeping that feeling with you even after you’ve
finished the game. The story is very deep and you’ll want to play through
it again just to catch the little things you missed the first time.

The entire score is non-electrical and consists mainly of stringed instruments.
Was this done to create a specific mood?

I believe so. I think
Yutaka Minobe did a fabulous job and it’s in my opinion
one of the most original scores in this genre.

Would
you consider Rule of Rose to be more psychological horror that
delves into
the subconscious realm of children’s
imaginations or traditional survival
horror that usually involves a violent,
weapon-based gut reaction to terror?

It’s definitely more psychological horror, although there are a few instances
of traditional survival horror thrown in to mix things up. Much of the fear factor
in this game is accomplished through things that you can’t see. Anticipating
what’s behind the next door or wondering where Brown will lead you next
are things that will creep players out.

Does
Rule of Rose do anything unique to advance the survival horror
genre?

In my opinion, yes. It’s a thinking man’s game in the purest sense.
Not only does it advance the survival horror genre, but it helps redefine games
in general as being an artistic medium. Please look forward to it this September!