Rule of Rose, a once-controversial Japanese PlayStation 2 horror game from developer Punchline, has returned to the public eye after a sealed shipment was reportedly discovered in Italy.
The United Kingdom version of Rule of Rose has become a collector's item over the past decade-and-a-half because the game was never officially released in the region. In 2007, Rule of Rose was the subject of a moralist campaign in Europe, with then-European Union justice minister Franco Frattini claiming the game contained "obscene cruelty and brutality."
Frattini's comments were criticised by the relevant EU commissioner who defended the verdict of the PEGI, the standards rating system for the EU. Rule of Rose was released in continental Europe, but Italian publisher 505 Games cancelled the launch in the United Kingdom partially because of Frattini's comments, and partially because of comments by the British media which claimed Rule of Rose contained sadomasochism and underage eroticism. Both of these claims are untrue.
However, the non-release of Rule of Rose has created a market for rare copies of the game with the United Kingdom flag on the back of the box. According to several users on the social media platform X...
