Tag: rule of rose

Picture a world with limited internet access, no game magazine subscriptions, just a ride to GameStop every month or so with your birthday money, and friends who didn’t mind lending/trading their games with you. This was my life as a middle school gamer and what ended up being some of the best years of gaming with my friends.

My childhood best friend was into gaming just as much as I was. He had a weird collection of games that later on in life I would realize were precious gems that you can’t find anymore. They were one of a kind, and we had played them together. One of those games became a rare gem for me in my adult life.

Rule of Rose became a bit of an obsession because I couldn’t find it again after playing it all those years ago. It was a game out of its time. It was weird. It was rare. If it didn’t have a cult following, it should have. I never got to finish it because my childhood best friend’s mom read about Rule of Rose in a magazine. According to the magazine it was a “deranged game about lesbians” so back to GameStop it went. And out of my reach.

I thought about it years later, yearning to know just what the hell it was about and how the ending would come about. I searched for it on amazon and found a copy for $500. There was no way in hell I’d pay for that. Within a month I saw Rule of Rose again like a twist of fate, but this time it was in a local used game store. Sitting in the case with a $400 price tag, I asked the guy working the counter how much he’d be willing to negotiate. He said not at all. So I left empty handed.

Thanks to a simulator which I won’t get detailed about as it’s not something I do often personally, I was able to play Rule of Rose without spending $100s. It was exactly as I had remembered it: a hidden gem.

Want to see more of the 30 Day Video Game Challenge? Want to try the challenge yourself? Read this post here!

What is your favorite hidden gem? Let me know in the comments!