A Rose in the Twilight Review – A Dark Enigma of Death and Time

<p>The use of color is a great way to implement game mechanics&period; Games such as <em>Portal<&sol;em> and <em>Mirror’s Edge<&sol;em> have used color in unique ways to aid you in reaching your objectives&period; With <em>A Rose in Twilight<&sol;em>&comma; the color red &lpar;and blood&rpar; is used to solve puzzles&period; The absence of color signifies a mystery or puzzle waiting to be solved&comma; and it is up to you to unravel the game’s secrets&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A <em>Rose in the Twilight<&sol;em> puts you in the role of Rose&comma; a girl that awakens in a castle with no color or passage of time&period; Rose meets a sleeping giant&comma; and together they must work together to figure out why Rose is cursed&comma; and to solve the mysteries within the castle’s depths&period; The first thing that I noticed while starting <em>A Rose in the Twilight<&sol;em>&comma; is that it is a very atmospheric experience&period; Everything in the castle is void of color&comma; and static as if frozen in time&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Rose has the Curse of the Thorns&comma; a curse that apparently afflicts her&comma; and gives her the ability to absorb blood from things&period; This curse somehow relates to the time displacement in the castle&comma; as she is able to use blood she has absorbed to return color to items in the environment&period; Items frozen in time are static&comma; while items she returns color to return to their original state&period; One issue with the game&&num;8217&semi;s monochrome aesthetic is that there are times where it is easy to miss an object that you can interact with&comma; or are meant to return blood to&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;123600" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-123600" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-123600 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;04&sol;04013026&sol;A-Rose-in-the-Twilight-SS-7&period;png" alt&equals;"A Rose in the Twilight&comma; NIS America" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"544" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-123600" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">A Rose in the Twilight&comma; NIS America<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The controls for <em>A Rose in the Twilight<&sol;em> are fairly limited&period; You move&comma; Jump&comma; and look around&period; You also have the capability to absorb blood&comma; read notes that give you details about Rose’s past&comma; as well as the past of those who once dwelled within the castle&period; The haunting music&comma; and the notes you find slowly help you piece together the sad melancholy that the game’s story entails&period; When absorbing blood&comma; you also can find Blood Memories&comma; which give Rose a glimpse into the death of the inhabitants of the castle&period; These deaths also help you piece together what happened there&comma; though it does so in a rather morbid fashion&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The blood memories within <em>A Rose in the Twilight<&sol;em> almost remind me of the sequences in <em>Valkyrie Profile <&sol;em>where you learn about the lives of your Einherjar&period; These blood memories aren’t quite as detailed&comma; and you don’t get to see the personality of the person involved&comma; however&comma; it does give you a glimpse into the fact that this once lively castle is now barren&comma; forsaken by time and color&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Along the way Rose awakens a Giant who then is able to assist her in completing puzzles&period; The Giant can move objects with color and time&period; He can also lift and carry Rose so that if there is a ledge she cannot reach or a jump she cannot make&comma; he can aid her in progressing&period; There are a lot of hidden blood memories to find&comma; and through using blood crystals&comma; &lpar;or rather&comma; by absorbing the blood from them&rpar; you can figure out which memories you’ve missed&period; Finding the blood memories is crucial to getting the entire story of the game&comma; however&comma; if you just want to complete the puzzles and wander through the game&comma; they aren’t entirely necessary&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;123601" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-123601" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-123601" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;04&sol;04013142&sol;A-Rose-in-the-Twilight-SS-16&period;png" alt&equals;"A Rose in the Twilight&comma; NIS America" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"544" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-123601" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">A Rose in the Twilight&comma; NIS America<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p><em>A Rose in the Twilight<&sol;em> is a difficult game&period; It requires a lot of thought and strategy&comma; as well as trial and error&period; You will die&comma; over and over&semi; but the game is fairly forgiving with its checkpoints and none of the puzzles or deaths seem unfair&period; Interestingly enough&comma; Death is actually a mechanic at some points in the game&period; You may come across doors that require you to sacrifice Rose’s own blood in order to open the door&period; Usually&comma; there is a checkpoint nearby&comma; so as soon as you respawn the door remains open&period; There is no handholding to speak of in the game&comma; and instead&comma; you may find yourself dying to enemies or obstacles a few times before you figure out how to progress&period; This can be frustrating&comma; but it does lend to a sense of accomplishment when you succeed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Despite there being no dialogue or voice acting in the game &lpar;aside from the noises Rose and the Giant make when they move or interact with things&comma;&rpar; <em>A Rose in the Twilight<&sol;em> maintains a great sense of atmosphere and storytelling&period; It is not necessary for Rose to speak&comma; as you can easily understand the growing friendship between her and her giant friend as they venture through the castle&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>A Rose in the Twilight<&sol;em> is not a game suitable for children&period; The death scenes are graphic&comma; and will likely even unnerve the most steadfast gamer&period; Despite this&comma; I would recommend this game to anyone that enjoys dark fantasy puzzle adventures&period; <em>A Rose in the Twilight<&sol;em> is not an easy adventure to complete&comma; but for those that enjoy the genre&comma; you won’t be disappointed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><strong>A Steam Review Key for A Rose in the Twilight was provided by NIS America for the Purpose of this Review<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;