A Rose in the Twilight [Game Review]
Sometimes in the hustle and bustle we miss good things. Lootboxes – Lootboxes, the new bad Sonic game, Nintendo’s game of the year, PUBG is the most fun degradation on PC this season, and so on. What can we say, some games do not receive not only a review, but also a page dedicated to them. There is not enough time for everyone in this eternal tedious bustle. Even if these are very good games without decent advertising. When the studio Nippon Ichi Software (tactical RPG “Disgaea”, a survival horror duology a la “Silent hill for children” by Yomawari) released their new game in the genre of adventure puzzle platformer A Rose in the Twilight, some passed by, others did not notice. You’ll say, "We already have Little Nightmares"! Was there really something better in this niche this year??"Maybe…maybe. I will answer: “Let’s find out whether it was or not!?»
They are so different and yet they are together.
The main character of this very cute but creepy game, a little princess named Rose wakes up in one of the dilapidated rooms of a mysterious castle. How she got here and who she was in a past life is unknown to her. The castle, like our girl, is under the influence of the curse of thorns, which is why the game world exists outside of colors and time. Only red and white colors. The main mechanics of the game are built on this concept. Rose has a white rose growing from her back, which, by pressing one key on the keyboard, sucks blood from objects, making them inactive. The same thing with opponents like terrible monsters that we come across here and there. Blood you can both absorb and impart it to objects. And if at first the game is poor in the number of types of such objects, then at the next stage very interesting tools appear. For example, such as a watering can, a cannon, a barrel, daggers, large springs for jumping and other interesting mechanisms. With each subsequent room of the castle, the authors offer the player more and more new objects for interaction.
We learn the mysterious past of the little princess and how she got here by taking blood from the corpses of the castle inhabitants who died from the curse. It’s like you’re putting together a puzzle, piece by piece reconstructing the events of past days. To get to the hard-to-reach places where the so-called “bloody memories” in the game are located, you will have to think carefully. Having absorbed the “bloody memory”, we will see an episode from the heroine’s past in the form of a video stylized as a theatrical scene.
Run, little bun with funny little legs! Run-and-and-and!
The stone giant with a spiral for a face, whom Rose meets at the beginning of her journey through the castle, is also playable and is the girl’s faithful assistant. The girl is afraid of him and even thinks that he can harm her. Despite their fears, they are both connected by one goal – to leave the cursed castle, and, no matter how you look at it, she won’t be able to do it alone. The relationship between them is an important part of the plot. You will witness a single cute scene where a scary stone giant is trying to earn the trust of a timid little princess. We play as both characters alternately, switching between them. Where strength or immunity to dangerous obstacles is needed, we take control of a stone giant. Where there is a narrow passage ahead or the ability to control blood is needed, we take control of Rose.
Explore life through death.
What does one of the official https://galaxyspins.uk/ slogans of the game sound like: live, die, repeat?. I know, I know, somewhere you’ve already heard this. You understood correctly, our girl Rose, like Tom Cruise’s hero in one famous movie, learns from her mistakes, ending her life. This is part of the main character’s curse and game mechanics. Moreover, at certain moments, the authors force us to sacrifice Rose and unwittingly watch her death on the executioner for the sake of advancing in the game. But this is not violence for the sake of violence, this is necessary for the local story, which, despite its simplicity, turns out to be very memorable and extremely exciting. At least that’s how I found it for myself. In this respect, the game is like a rose that blooms over time. At first there doesn’t seem to be anything special about it, but then when it blooms, you’re amazed!
But you can mistakenly end the game ahead of time, like I did. There are three endings, two of which are false. That is, after the first imaginary ending of the story, you will be shown a cutscene and returned to the menu. Then I quit the game for a week, thinking: “hmm, what a short game”. But then I saw a video walkthrough on YouTube of thirteen episodes and suspected that something was wrong here. There’s some kind of catch here. And so it turned out.
At such moments, my heart bleeds.
The second time you will be shown two final cutscenes. Which, as you already understand, is also a deception. But the third ending cannot be confused with anything, because in order to get the true ending you will need to beat a very difficult boss, equally using the abilities of both the little princess and the stone giant. Fans of mind-blowing complexity will enjoy the final stages of the game.
The rose is beautiful, the thorns are sharp.
The game has an amazing visual style and sound design. There is a downright enchanting atmosphere of a scary bedtime story here. This is expressed in the visual style and in the storytelling and music. She’s beautiful by the way. I even added a few tracks to my playlist to listen to on my computer. But what I especially liked about A Rose in the Twilight was the increasing difficulty of the puzzles and platforming.
The first time you spend in the game you won’t experience any particular difficulties, and you might even get bored. The puzzles in the first rooms of the castle are simple. Probably even a child could handle them. But the closer you are to solving the curse of the castle and getting to freedom, the more “prickly thorns” there are, i.e.e. difficulties will come your way.
The bunny seems to look and think: “Oh, what a horror!»
In fact, some puzzles at the last levels of the game were completely incomprehensible to me. I’m not the only one, believe me. After spending about an hour on one of these, I went looking for a walkthrough on YouTube. There is a person who went through this moment, just like me, for a long time also did not know what to do, but was able to find a solution to the puzzle. The girl from the walkthrough video came up with some kind of awkward and almost insane plan, which in the end surprisingly worked. As she later said with uncertainty: “… it turned out? …Really!?»
After that, I tried her method – it didn’t work. And then I had to come up with my own solution to this puzzle. I beat the game, so my method also turned out to be effective… though it’s simpler and not so crazy.
In short, some puzzles in the game have multiple solutions. Depends on your imagination. One will do this, another will do that, and when you play through this game, you will also get your own unique experience. As Vasily Galperov would say: is it a bug or a feature?? So, I don’t think that this is some kind of game design mistake, although they seem a little strange. I’ll chalk this up as a plus for the game. For me this is definitely a feature and very cool.
The Japanese are very smart and talented people. Some people draw anime, others make games, others compose the most talented music. All Kojima! To be honest, I feel like a fool, because I can do neither one nor the other… nothing. That’s why I admire the guys from Nippon Ichi Software so much. Their video game A Rose in the Twilight is not only as good as the much-hyped hit Little Nightmares, but even better in terms of its simple but interesting plot and creative puzzles. Of course, my personal opinion. And, in my opinion, “A Rose in the Twilight” deserves a strong..
Pros: The last levels of the game are very difficult and interesting. Great work by the artists. Creative puzzles. Interesting story. Super good music.
Cons: The last levels of the game are very difficult, but interesting. Some puzzles are absurdly tricky. The ending of the game’s plot is devoid of a feeling of complete satisfaction. The first levels of the game seemed boring to me.
Completed the game on PC. Purchased from STEAM. Travel time 7 hours 55 minutes.