Rule of Rose Achievement Guide - RetroAchievements/guides GitHub Wiki
Set developed by lordpsycho, guide written by benit149
Hello, and welcome to my achievement guide for Rule of Rose, a psychological survival horror game released for the Playstation 2 in 2006. The plot takes place in 1930s England and involves 19-year old Jennifer, an orphan girl caught in a series of unfortunate circumstances that she must overcome through sheer perseverance plus teaming up with her yellow Labrador named Brown to look for items. There had been some moral panic in Europe upon the game’s release due to misinformation about its content, but I’ll just skim over that detail and get straight to the gameplay mechanics and achievements. I played this for both the Halloween 2025 event, as well as being featured in the Playstation 2 Evergreen event, and it was a surprisingly decent experience for me.
It is a short game that doesn’t require too much skill on your part, although the boss challenges are definitely the hardest part of this entire set. Some rare items can only be found in specific chapters as well, and contribute to a chain of item searches in subsequent chapters. If you miss one in a previous chapter, you cannot continue the chain in the following chapters and need to either reset or restart. If you do mess up, I suggest waiting until New Game Plus so you can acquire some costumes and weapons only available if you have the Four-Leaf Clover Key, which is earned after beating the game.
During my research for this guide, I came to realize that, unless you manage your saves well, you will actually need three playthroughs to complete the set. This is due to the five achievements involving wearing a costume and wielding a weapon to kill 100 enemies in a given chapter. You can’t do all five of them in a single New Game Plus run due to complications with having access to the dressing room during specific times in the story. I will cover all of this when it becomes relevant, but needless to say, don’t fret about making too many mistakes in your New Game run for this reason.
GAMEPLAY MECHANICS
There aren’t too many mechanics involved to worry about, although some are implemented well, while others visibly suffer. The game takes places through a series of chapters, seen as months in the save screen. You have your standard movement and inspection of items, as well as a menu you can access with the Start button. In this menu, you’ll see a scribbled drawing of a girl in a dress with a red line next to it. That is Jennifer’s health. It’ll go down when she takes damage in combat, and needs to be kept up by consuming candies and/or sweets you’ll find in various locations.
Changing Camera Angle
This game doesn't always have the best camera angles, and you're not able to adjust them manually like you can in a lot of PS2 games. Instead, you need to press the R2 button to switch the camera's position to be either in front of or behind Jennifer.
Maps
Both the airship and the orphanage have maps. The orphanage's map can be found in the attic in The Little Princess. The airship's map is found in the Spare Parts Room in the same area where you first meet Brown. To bring up the map, press the Select button. The airship's map is intuitive enough and you should get your bearings with enough practice. The orphanage's map is absolutely horrible in comparison. I highly recommend you use a properly labeled map from GameFAQs rather than trying to rely on the in-game map, since nothing is labeled whatsoever and there are multiple rooms marked as a Hallway, meaning you can get lost very easily.
Combat
This is hands down the worst aspect of Rule of Rose, and will take some time and practice to get used to. To attack, have a weapon equipped (Dessert Fork, Kitchen Knife, Ice Pick, etc.), then hold the R1 button to go into ‘combat mode’ and attack with the X button. It actually is optional to fight enemies the vast majority of the time, but there is one instance where you need to hunt down enemies to open up a new area. Other than that, it’s mostly the few boss battles you need to worry about, and each one of them has their unique quirks that I’ll cover as they come up.
Finding Items With Brown
When you first meet Brown (after seeing him in a very disturbing state, especially if you’re a dog lover like me), you’ll be given a short tutorial on how to use the Find system to have him sniff out hidden items. Jennifer cannot find these items on her own – Brown has to be the one to spawn them on the field once he finds them. The game explains this mechanic well enough, but just to cover my bases, go into the menu with Start and choose an item. A mini-list comes up with options like Find, Use, Equip, and so on. Set the item to Find, return to the game, and press Triangle for Jennifer to command Brown to go searching. Brown will have two reactions – a positive one where he’ll bark and start looking around, or a negative one where he’ll whine in confusion and do nothing.
Brown's path-finding isn't always the best though. If he gets stuck during a search and cannot progress, he will behave as if no item is around and stop looking. He likewise does this if he's caught against an object that's blocking his way to the item on the other side of it. If the area he's sniffing out is accessible in that chapter, you need to manually guide him through a different route before trying again. Early on in the game, Brown will also paw at a door that you can't open yet. If that happens, just ignore him and carry on until you reach the chapter where you eventually access that area.
As mentioned above, some items that Brown can look for are set in a strict series of collectibles, and everything must be acquired in that specific chapter before you can move on. Furthermore, Brown’s search radius varies depending on the item you’ve set to Find. Some items have a huge radius that allows him to investigate numerous rooms, while others have such a small range that you’d need to know where to actually be before commanding Brown to look. These low-radius items tend to be rare stuff, so I will point out what these are as we go along in the main guide.
Aside from the Find command with Triangle, Jennifer can also give two other commands to Brown. One is to stay, with the Square button. The other is to come, with the Circle button. Having Brown come to Jennifer allows him to follow her without him looking for items. Conversely, having Brown stay allows him to remain further away from a dangerous enemy, since he too can take damage like Jennifer can. There are items to replenish Brown’s health, but they are few and far between compared to what Jennifer can use. Brown’s healing items include Small Bone, Bacon and Drumstick. To see Brown’s status in the menu, pay attention to the scribble of the dog next to the girl’s drawing. Brown does not have a health bar like Jennifer does, but just seeing the dog’s behavior is enough to tell if you need to heal him. It's not a game over if Brown is knocked out, but you lose access to the game’s most important mechanic, so it’s smart to know when to let him hang back.
Gift Box
So you’re having Brown sniff out a bunch of random items, and you’re getting junk like Ribbons, Marbles, Socks and Clothespins. What are you supposed to do with all of this crap? Simple. The story introduces the gift box, located in the First Class Guest Sector. Jennifer is forced into making offerings to the Red Crayon Aristocrat Club each month, or else the other children will kill her if she doesn’t obey. You have Brown hunt around the airship looking for a series of items until you find the required offering for that month to the progress the story. Think of it as a tithe to a religious organization, only with Jennifer’s survival on the line.
Aside from the story-related items, these optional items can be offered to the gift box as well. Someone will tell you that you’ve donated X number out of a total, and when you reach that total, they will give you a high-quality consumable like Shortbread to help with surviving battles. I like to donate as many as I can, then hang on to at least one item so Brown can find more later on. All of the possible exchanges are such, in alphabetical order:
- Baron + Earl + Marquis + Viscount + Duke knives = Rusty Sword (must be transferred to New Game Plus for the next exchange)
- 3 Broken Robots = Shortbread, plus unlocking the Rag Doll costume
- 1 Chocolate = Candy (worst exchange ever, don’t ever do it. Candy is the worst healing item, while Chocolate is the second-best. Candy is needed for finding the Spring Perfume and King Coin though, so don’t consume all of them)
- 8 Clothespins = Shortbread
- 1 Drumstick = Animal Bone
- King + Queen Coins = Stick of Justice
- 12 Marbles = Shortbread
- 4 Ribbons = Minced Pie
- Rusty Sword = Knight Rapier (only in New Game Plus, else the gift will be rejected)
- 6 Socks = White Chocolate (best healing item for Jennifer in the entire game)
- Spring + Summer + Fall + Winter Perfumes = Secret Room Key, granting access to the Revolver and the ability for Brown to look for Bullets
There is an extremely important caveat you need to know regarding the 5 Knives -> Rusty Sword -> Knight Rapier exchange, and what had screwed me over for an achievement in my own runs. I had forgotten to get all five knives in my initial New Game run, so I got them in New Game Plus and immediately exchanged them for the Rusty Sword, then again for the Knight Rapier. However, while the Rusty Sword can carry over into a New Game Plus run, the Knight Rapier cannot, meaning you'd have to find all five knives again. Needless to say, that was very frustrating for me to find out the hard way. If you're in a similar situation as me, don't exchange the Rusty Sword for the Knight Rapier right away. Wait until your next New Game Plus run for the Rusty Sword to carry over, then you're free to exchange for the Knight Rapier.
That should be everything you need to know as far as gameplay mechanics go, so now let’s dive into the main walkthrough and go through everything chapter by chapter.
From here on out, there will be story spoilers involved. If you wish to enjoy the story for the first time, please stop reading here.
WALKTHROUGH
CHAPTERS 1 & 2: The Little Princess & The Unlucky Clover Field
Since The Little Princess is a short introductory chapter with only one non-missable achievement, I’ll skip ahead to the next chapter, The Unlucky Clover Field, where the actual gameplay begins. You won’t be able to do much until you rescue Brown, but once you do, you’ll finally be able to hit the floor running with the game. This guide assumes you’re using another walkthrough to progress through the story, as my primary purpose is to cover what achievements are tied to each chapter and how to get them, along with warning you when the cutoff points are for some achievements.
Find every film in The Unlucky Clover Field
One of the rare items that has a lengthy search chain throughout the entire game are a series of Films that Brown can find. I will let the Rule of Rose Wiki function as my primary resource for details on how to find the rare items. This chapter has five Films to find, and either Chocolate or Bacon is needed to find the first one, Film 8/14. Find all of them before interacting with the Blue Butterfly on the wall. Note that once the Imps spawn in after acquiring the Blue Butterfly, you’re cut off from exploring the rest of the Sector 10 Crew Cabin, so make sure you do your item hunting with Brown before taking the colorful insect.
I’ll stab your heart like a strawberry (5)
Kill 10 enemies using Dessert Fork in The Unlucky Clover Field
AND
Let me peel your skin off, little one (5)
Kill 10 enemies using Paring Knife in The Unlucky Clover Field without getting hurt
Get the Dessert Fork from Olivia (the crying girl) and the Paring Knife in the Cafeteria, then get the Blue Butterfly from the wall to finally spawn in the game’s primary enemies, known as Imps. This is your opportunity to learn how combat works, so start with the Dessert Fork kills so you can get adjusted with dodging enemies for the Paring Knife kills.
Transform Brown into a chair
New Game Plus only! In the Sector 10 Crew Cabin, use the Four-Leaf Clover Key you earn from starting the new run to gain access to the dressing room. Just interact with the chair in the dressing room for Brown to change. Note that Dezke mentions, “Warning: If you go to the Four Leaf Clover Room before you untie Brown, the chair will not appear in the room and you are unable to unlock this achievement.” Since this chapter is the first opportunity you can visit the dressing room, be sure to rescue Brown first before coming here. I won’t dive into the costumes and weapons available here until the next chapter, so read further if needed.
CHAPTER 3: Sir Peter
This chapter is where the search quest starts to get even more involved going forward, which means managing your inventory will be crucial.
Kill 20 enemies using Kitchen Knife in Sir Peter
The Kitchen Knife is found in the Dining Table room. Otherwise, it’s the same premise as with the Dessert Fork and Paring Knife.
Get the Baron knife
The Baron is the first of five knives found throughout this and the following chapters. All of them are needed to exchange at the gift box for the Rusty Sword, which is then further exchanged for the Knight Rapier in New Game Plus, which is the best weapon in the game. If you miss one knife, you will not be able to acquire all five for the exchange. The Baron knife is wielded by an Imp in the 3rd Passenger Corridor. Once the Imp is dead, the knife will appear as a shining item on the ground, so nab it!
You got the short end of the stick, sir (10)
Defeat Mr. Hoffman only using Steel Pipe without being hit more than twice
Here’s the first of a small handful of difficult achievements for this set. First of all, find the Steel Pipe in the Middle Class Luggage Room, near the Filth Room. It doesn’t deal good damage, but has a longer range to make up for it, though it didn’t seem to help me much when dealing with this frustrating boss fight. Despite being so bound up, Hoffman’s attacks are ridiculously sporadic, unpredictable, and accurate, meaning you’ll need something to give you an advantage.
This is where Brown shines, as he is able to ensnare Hoffman for a few seconds before being kicked away. Of course, you want Brown in either his ‘find’ or ‘come’ state, not in ‘stay’ mode. Smack Hoffman two times when he's caught like this, then retreat and wait for another opportunity. Don’t try to get a third attack in or you’ll most likely be hit. It’s better to play it safe when you’re only allowed to be attacked twice during such a long fight. Be sure to bring healing items for Brown so he can last as long as possible.
Once Hoffman is down, no more Imps will spawn in, giving you an opportunity to search around the airship in peace. You’ll want to do this to prepare for the following search-related achievements.
Find Record Aries in Sir Peter
Another category of rare items you’ll be finding are Records, each named after Zodiac signs. This is the first one, found by using a Scone to find the Record Aries in the livestock room with the pigs. I’ll remind you of when to look for more Records in the following chapters.
Exchange the Secret Room Key at the Aristocrat's Society
You won’t be getting this achievement in this chapter, but three of the perfumes needed for the Secret Room Key are found here. The last perfume will be found in Rag Princess Sews, which I’ll remind you of then.
Kill 100 enemies wearing the Tennis Instructor costume and using Master Racket in Sir Peter
New Game Plus only! Make sure to have lots of room in your inventory before going to the dressing room. Inspect each of the costumes - Tennis Instructor, Nurse, Octopus, Rag Doll, and Gothic Lolita tucked in the corner - and you’ll receive a weapon in your inventory for each one, those being Master Racket, Master Syringe, Master Tuna, Master Sword, and Master Umbrella respectively. Bring all except the Master Racket to the rubbish bin for storage, and wear the Tennis Instructor costume. If you want to return to Jennifer’s default clothes, just examine the mirror.
During this chapter, you want the Tennis Instructor costume and Master Racket equipped before killing a bunch of Imps. The enemies won’t spawn until you start searching the airship for Sir Peter. I preferred exiting and re-entering the hallway next to the Smoking Room to consistently spawn four Imps at a time. The Master Racket is a pretty good weapon since it suits Jennifer’s flailing combat style. Once you’re done with this task, I recommend you immediately change into the Nurse outfit because you will lose access to the dressing room in the next chapter, meaning you can’t change costumes. In fact, any time you’re done with a costume, always change into the next one whenever you can due to this annoying caveat. Another good idea is to hunt for junk with Brown and make exchanges at the gift box for some healing items, because the next weapon isn’t going to be as good as the racket.
The cutoff point for this chapter is interacting with the gift box door after giving the Warm Bag to Amanda.
CHAPTER 4: The Goat Sisters
While this and the following two chapters can be chosen in any order you want, it is strongly recommended to save The Mermaid Princess for last because it has the hardest challenge in the set. The Bird of Happiness only has a knife from an Imp, so The Goat Sisters is the go-to chapter for any serious item hunting prior to The Mermaid Princess.
Alas, there is the frustrating complication of not having access to the dressing room during certain chapters in New Game Plus, so you will want to manage which chapters you choose at this point depending on if you’re in a New Game or New Game Plus run. You cannot access the dressing room in both The Goat Sisters and The Mermaid Princess whatsoever, so if you’d want to swap to the Octopus costume for The Mermaid Princess, you’d have to do The Bird of Happiness second to make the switch prior to entering that chapter as your third choice. However, you also cannot access the dressing room in either The Gingerbread House or Rag Princess Sews while enemies are around, meaning you’re screwed out of changing into the Rag Doll costume for the latter chapter’s 100 kills.
Ultimately, this means that, unless you manage your saves well, a third run will be necessary to get either the 100 Octopus costume kills or the 100 Rag Doll costume kills that you’re missing. In New Game Plus #1, do the following:
- Sir Peter (do the Tennis Instructor + Master Racket 100 kills, then immediately change into the Nurse costume + Master Syringe combo and remain like this until The Bird of Happiness)
- The Goat Sisters (100 kills with Nurse + Master Syringe)
- The Bird of Happiness (change into the Octopus costume + Master Tuna combo prior to completing this chapter)
- The Mermaid Princess (100 kills with Octopus costume + Master Tuna combo. You’ll be stuck like this until the end of Rag Princess Sews)
- The Gingerbread House
- Rag Princess Sews (dressing room isn’t accessible until the very end, when no more enemies spawn. Change into the Gothic Lolita costume + Master Umbrella combo NOW!)
- The Funeral (Jennifer will be in her ‘scribbled dress’ for the day portion, but will swap to the Gothic Lolita costume for the night portion. Do the 100 kills for the Gothic Lolita + Master Umbrella combo)
- Stray Dog and the Lying Princess
- Once Upon a Time
For New Game Plus #2, do the following:
- The Goat Sisters
- The Mermaid Princess (these two chapters can be done however you want)
- The Bird of Happiness (change into the Rag Doll costume and Master Sword NOW!)
- The Gingerbread House
- Rag Princess Sews (100 kills with Rag Doll costume + Master Sword. If you want to change out of this costume, wait until the very end of the chapter when the dressing room is open again)
- The Funeral
- Stray Dog and the Lying Princess
- Once Upon a Time
Another option you have is to make two saves in The Bird of Happiness – one for the Octopus costume, and one for the Rag Doll costume. Choose one and do your 100 kills in that file, while the other file can handle the other costume’s kills. Just beware that all of this preparation is necessary if you want to master the set.
Defeat Mary and Sally using only the Ice Pick without being hurt
The Ice Pick is found in the Freezing Compartment, so equip it before challenging these two. The white goat Mary has a pitchfork, and the black goat Sally has a pair of gardening shears. Of them, Sally is the more dangerous one since her range is better than Mary’s, so I suggest taking her down first. Regardless of which one you defeat first, the other should be easier to manage. They are slow, but their range plus your poor accuracy with the Ice Pick makes this rather tricky.
If you’re not good with this mini-boss fight, it can be rather annoying to reset due to the lack of access to a nearby save point. As I mention in this achievement’s comment section, “the kids block off access to the Filth Room's save point, and the Cafeteria's is blocked off by rope wrapped around the stairs in the 3rd Passenger Corridor, but there is the save point in the Sewage Treatment Room that's inside the Generator Room.” Unfortunately, it is your only option, so be sure to brush up on your combat skills before attempting this.
During this chapter, you want to find the following items:
- Record Taurus
- Film 1/14
- Flim 2/14
- Earl knife (for some reason, I keep getting the Viscount knife if I choose this chapter first. I assume the order doesn’t matter since the final knife is in Rag Princess Sews anyway)
Caring For Goats and Imps Alike (10)
Kill 100 enemies wearing the Nurse Outfit costume and using Master Syringe in The Goat Sisters
New Game Plus only! Hopefully you followed my advice to switch to the Nurse outfit in Sir Peter. Equip the Master Syringe and go to town with some Imps. Sadly, the syringe is a much crappier weapon compared to the racket, so you’re likely going to take more damage while going for this. Hope you got some healing items in Sir Peter, because you’ll need them here. The best spot I found to farm my kills was in the Kitchen, since it’s very close to the save point and rubbish bin in the Sewage Treatment Room. The cutoff point is finding the torn letter inside the grandfather clock after defeating Mary and Sally.
CHAPTER 5: The Bird of Happiness
There’s only one missable thing to worry about here in a New Game run, which is the Viscount knife from an Imp in the 1st Passenger Corridor. Other than this, you may complete this chapter normally. If you're doing the costume-related kills in New Game Plus, this chapter is essential for allowing you to change costumes, since this is the only one of the three selectable ones where you have access to the dressing room.
How to Kill a Rockingbird (10)
Kill every enemy at Central Stairway C during Bird Of Happiness with the Knight Rapier
New Game Plus recommended! In this section of the airship, there are some seriously strong bird-themed enemies that will harass you, and are next to impossible to kill without a good weapon. In New Game, you just want to ignore them and move on. The achievement is actually looking to see if you kill the enemies regardless of what weapon you use, but it is impractical to use anything other than the Knight Rapier due to the enemies being damage sponges that hit you frequently. Since you can only get the Knight Rapier in New Game Plus, save this achievement for then.
If you’re in New Game Plus, you will want to swap to the Octopus costume and Master Tuna at this time.
CHAPTER 6: The Mermaid Princess
Make sure you look for the rare items before challenging this chapter’s boss, because defeating her is the cutoff point. You need to look for the following:
- Film 3/14
- Film 6/14
- Film 13/14
- Marquis knife
Knife Goes In, Guts Come Out (25)
Defeat Mermaid Princess only using Meat Cleaver without healing
Oh god, I despised this challenge. It’s hands down the hardest achievement in the set, so once you get this, you can breathe a tremendous sigh of relief. First off, find the Meat Cleaver in Sector 2 Maintenance and equip it. Go through the door in Central Stairway A and meet the “mermaid” boss (read: a vomiting woman with rope tied around her entire legs). She always starts off dangling over the bed where you can’t reach her, so wait until she is raised and dropped down elsewhere.
You’ll want the audio on for this fight because the volume of her screaming as she is lowered indicates where she’s going to appear in the room. Yes, it sounds annoying as hell, but just put up with it. If it sounds like she’s further away, don’t bother chasing her down and wait for her to appear somewhere else. She has two main attacks – an arm swipe that reaches surprisingly far, and an acid-like vomit spray that damages Jennifer multiple times if she’s standing in it. This greenish substance also pools on the floor where the boss will also drop in, so that could be considered a third attack. You always want to move away slightly from where you’re standing once you hear her screaming to avoid this pool of acid-vomit.
Unlike in the Hoffman fight, Brown is of no help here due to the mermaid boss being suspended in midair, so command him to stay so he isn’t in your way. You might think that a slow and careful approach is the way to go. Not necessarily. My successful attempt actually had me use an aggressive strategy where I got in close and attacked like crazy once I found my chance. While damaging her was good, the real reason was to cancel the boss’ attack animations as much as I could. Once she takes a set amount of damage, she will be raised and lowered again, so canceling her attacks is critical to surviving with minimal damage. The huge issue is that Jennifer’s accuracy is complete trash, so don’t be surprised if you need to try this fight several times for that reason alone.
Under the Sea, a Pleasure to Kill (10)
Kill 100 enemies wearing the Octopus and Crab costume and using Master Tuna in Mermaid Princess
New Game Plus only! Other than this costume being utterly ridiculous and out-of-place for such a serious story, it’s the standard 100 kills as you’ve been doing. This has to be done before fighting the mermaid boss. This is mutually exclusive from It’s Payback Time, Little Piggie as you’re forced to either change into the Octopus costume or the Rag Doll costume during The Bird of Happiness. If you get this achievement, you need to save the other for a subsequent New Game Plus run.
CHAPTER 7: The Gingerbread House
This is an unusual chapter where Jennifer is in a run-down house with the Mysterious Man you’ve seen previously. The only thing to worry about here is finding the Shovel in the Garden for the To Plant or to Bury? achievement. Otherwise, proceed with the story as normal.
CHAPTER 8: Rag Princess Sews
The non-linear portion of the story is done, and now you need to find a TON of rare items both here and in the next chapter to complete the majority of your collection. Refer to Rule of Rose Wiki’s Search Quest list to cover almost everything you need here and in The Funeral’s two segments. You will be completing the hunt for the 4 perfumes, 5 knives, and 12 records here, and starting a new hunt for 2 coins, 4 broken robots, and 20 bullets. Regarding the Rusty Sword exchange for the knives, you cannot give the Rusty Sword itself for the Knight Rapier if you’re in a New Game run. That needs to wait until New Game Plus.
Kill 20 enemies using Sledgehammer in Rag Princess Sews
I had missed this in my New Game run because the guide I used never explained how to get the Sledgehammer. It is found in Engine 3, which is accessible by ladder from the Engine 3 Maintenance Passage. The Maintenance Passage can be reached from the port side connecting corridor between the Cargo Bays of Sector 7 and Sector 8. This is off the beaten path quite a bit, so you’d have to actively find it. You’ll find an Imp wielding the Sledgehammer, who discards it to get away from Jennifer. Equip it and kill your 20 enemies.
Exchange the Stick of Justice at the Aristocrat's Society
The King Coin and the Queen Coin are rare items exclusively found in this chapter, and need to be exchanged at the gift box for the Stick of Justice. Just toss this in the rubbish bin, as it isn’t a good weapon.
Get 4 Broken Robots in your inventory
Just like the two coins, the Broken Robots are also rare items exclusive to this chapter. You don’t need to exchange them at the gift box – just having all of them in your inventory is fine. The trouble with these things is that Brown needs to be very close to their spawn points for him to find them, meaning you need to navigate the confusing-as-hell Central Stairways. If you want to exchange the Broken Robots, you can give three of them for a Shortbread.
Get 20 Bullets in your inventory
Exchange the four perfumes for the Secret Room Key, then access that room and get the Revolver. It already has one bullet loaded, which does not count for this achievement. Rule of Rose Wiki’s article for the Revolver explains where to find all of the Bullets throughout this chapter, The Funeral’s daytime segment, and likewise its nighttime segment. For all of the trouble you’re going through, the Revolver is not a good weapon and shouldn’t be used.
It’s Payback Time, Little Piggie (10)
Kill 100 enemies wearing the Rag Doll and Stuffed Toy costume and using Master Sword in Rag Princess Sews
New Game Plus only! This is mutually exclusive with Under the Sea, a Pleasure to Kill for reasons explained above. Wear the Rag Doll costume and equip the Master Sword, then go around and kill 100 enemies.
CHAPTER 9: The Funeral
This chapter is split into a daytime segment and a nighttime segment. Daytime is when you want to do all of your searching for the remaining rare items with Brown, as once nighttime happens, you will be swarmed with Imps everywhere. This is where you will finish finding the last of the 14 films, and also start a new search for 7 records that are separate from the zodiac-themed records.
Find every record in The Funeral
This chapter features seven unique records, all named after days of the week. You start with the Sunday record and end with the Saturday record. Once you get these and the final remaining films, you are officially done hunting for rare items with Brown.
Kill 50 enemies using Lumberjack Axe in The Funeral
Find the Lumberjack Axe in the orphanage’s Cell of Remorse, where a certain other secret item will be found later. Equip it, transition to the nighttime phase, and kill a bunch of Imps. There are specific animal-themed Imps you need to kill to access the door to the Courtyard, so take that into consideration when farming kills. The axe is the best weapon in a New Game run, so keep it equipped for the next chapter’s boss fight.
Kill 100 enemies wearing the Gothic Lolita costume and using Master Umbrella in The Funeral
New Game Plus only! If you’ve done your preparations as I explained before, you should be in the Gothic Lolita costume wielding the Master Umbrella during the nighttime phase. You will still appear to be in Jennifer's 'scribbled dress' outfit seen during the chapter's daytime phase, but the Gothic Lolita costume is indeed being worn in the background. Just like with the 50 Lumberjack Axe kills, defeat 100 enemies for this. The Master Umbrella is a really good weapon that can one-shot the basic Imps, so you should get this in no time.
Chapter 10: Stray Dog and the Lying Princess
This is a really short chapter, only involving a boss fight plus plenty of plot threads finally coming together.
Stray Dog won’t hurt us anymore (10)
Defeat Stray Dog without being hurt
The first Stray Dog encounter is a significantly easier boss fight compared to Hoffman and the mermaid, but he can still knock Jennifer around if you’re not careful with timing her attacks. Oddly enough, this achievement appears to be bugged in your favor, resetting the counter if you go into the menu and back out of it.
What a Pitiful, Unlucky Girl (5)
Kill someone you were not supposed to
How you’re supposed to progress the plot in the second Stray Dog encounter isn’t very intuitive. You’re given a new gun after some dialogue, then you’re supposed to wait for Stray Dog to get on his knees and hold out his hands while speaking briefly. During this animation, go into the menu and USE the new gun as if it were an item. You can go into the menu regardless of how close or far away you are from him. If you’re too slow to do this, he’ll go back into attack mode, but will perform the animation again eventually. Presto – good ending achieved.
Here, you want to get the bad ending by defeating Stray Dog in combat. Simply attack him several times with the Lumberjack Axe until he dies.
CHAPTER 11: Once Upon a Time
You are inexplicably playing as Young Jennifer now, and all of the usual gameplay mechanics have been stripped from you. There is no more threat to your life, so explore the orphanage before leaving for the Rickety Shed and finding Puppy Brown there to initiate the credits.
Find the October Ticket
This is an easter egg hidden in the Cell of Remorse, but the way to get it is truly bizarre for this game’s standards. You actually need to run through the builder’s table on the far left of the screen, then look for the ticket somewhere in the corner of that table. It looks like you’re performing a strange glitch, but I promise you that this was purposefully implemented. Once you have the ticket, hang on to it in your inventory for the remainder of the game. Don’t put it in the Filth Room’s rubbish bin. This will allow you to unlock the Octopus costume for New Game Plus.
Everlasting True Love, I Am Yours (10)
Gather all your memories in Once Upon A Time and finish the chapter
One last headache to deal with before moving on to New Game Plus. There is a total of 62 memories scattered throughout the orphanage that you need to find as Young Jennifer. I have compiled a comprehensive checklist of where all the memories are found, including ones not counted toward the total. You will need 59 memories discovered before leaving the orphanage proper. The last 3 are outside, one of which is speaking to Wendy in the yard.
STORY EXPLANATION
This is a little bonus I decided to throw in since I had some difficulty understanding what the actual storyline was supposed to be. If you didn’t figure it out by now, the whole game is a figment of Jennifer’s imagination, comprised of warped memories of events and characters from her life at the Red Rose Orphanage. You’re supposed to piece together the real story using clues that these warped memories give you. If you’re familiar with Umineko no Naku Koro Ni, the storytelling method is very similar – a multilayered series of illusions and fantastical elements designed to hide the real story from the reader. Luckily, Rule of Rose’s story is nowhere near as complicated as Umineko’s, so this is a way more straightforward explanation. Think of it as post-World War I England and its economic depression meeting with Lord of the Flies’ unspeakable cruelty between unsupervised children.
It all began when Jennifer’s parents died in an airship accident, but she survived because a man named Gregory Wilson rescued her. However, he had lost his son Joshua prior to the accident, and had become both delusional and suicidal. He essentially abducted Jennifer from the accident, cut her hair, forced her to wear boys’ clothing, and called her Joshua to help him cope with his son’s death. A girl from the nearby orphanage, Wendy, found Jennifer and helped her escape. They made an oath of loyalty to each other and exchanged items – Jennifer’s teddy bear for Wendy’s rose brooch. They also formed the Red Crayon Aristocrats with the other children to help them escape the pain of reality.
In the orphanage, two of the girls were being harassed by the headmaster Mr. Hoffman. Judging by his state in the Sir Peter chapter, it’s assumed that Hoffman was bound and beaten to death by the children in retaliation for his perverse behavior. Jennifer misremembers him abandoning the orphanage since she wasn’t involved in the murder. The maid Martha had also been begging the police to investigate a strange man who had been coming to the orphanage recently, but her pleas were ignored. This strange man was Gregory, whom the children referred to as Stray Dog because he would “give candy, and gobble children who didn’t do their chores”. This was a lie perpetuated by Jennifer and Wendy to make the other children obey their orders.
Jennifer soon neglected her club duties to care for a puppy she found in the rickety shed near the orphanage. She named this puppy Brown, and Wendy became increasingly jealous of Jennifer’s affection for the dog. Wendy tried to learn how to care for animals by adopting a rabbit named Sir Peter, but since she was inherently a sociopath who wanted Jennifer all to herself, she could not understand how to care for her pet and let it loose (or more likely killed it). The situation only got worse until Wendy ordered the other children to kill Brown and bring his corpse to her as the club’s offering for the month.
Wendy thought Brown’s death would bring Jennifer back to her, but it did the opposite. Jennifer lashed out at the others, threw her rose brooch at Wendy in anger, and left the orphanage. She donned her ‘Joshua’ persona and convinced Gregory to become Stray Dog (as in “lose all rational thought and become a wild animal”) and massacre the other children out of revenge for Brown’s death. The game makes you believe that Wendy manipulated Gregory, but it had actually been Jennifer. Basically, replace Wendy with Jennifer, and you get the real events of that night.
Gregory then had a moment of clarity as he realized what he had done, apologized to both Joshua and Jennifer, then committed suicide with his gun. Jennifer thus became the only survivor of both the airship crash that killed her parents, as well as the Red Rose Orphanage mass murder. The game’s events took place in Jennifer’s mind as she struggled to cope with her horrible past, now that she was 19 years old. The media likewise forgot about the orphanage incident, meaning that Jennifer had a new lease on life, but at the cost of so many people dying all around her. The “bad, bad thing” that Wendy-as-Joshua kept trying to remind Jennifer of was this crime that she was trying to escape punishment from.
You might wonder if Wendy-as-Joshua was the actual instigator of the orphanage incident to get back at Jennifer, but then why would she do that if Gregory killed her as well? Wendy also adored Jennifer from the bottom of her heart despite lacking empathy for anything or anyone else, so I don’t see her manipulating Gregory to kill Jennifer. It makes more sense if Jennifer was the real mastermind behind the mass murder since she wouldn’t be thinking rationally due to Brown’s death by her best friend plus all of the abuse she had been enduring until then. She must’ve reached a breaking point and decided to be done with it all by eliminating everyone who caused her suffering – Wendy, the other children, and finally convincing Gregory to kill himself.
Hope that explanation makes enough sense for you. There are some gaps in the story like what happened to Martha or who the mermaid boss was supposed to be (Martha herself?), but this summary should cover all of the important aspects.
CONCLUSION
That should be everything you need to know to master this short but engrossing psychological horror game. I admit that the horror genre isn’t really my cup of tea, but this was both compelling and simple enough for me to get the hang of. Since it’s part of the Playstation 2 Evergreen event, which has no time limit, I highly recommend you give this a chance if only to earn 2 easy points for it. Other than that, it’s my usual outro – happy cheevo hunting!
- Benit149, October 2025