When indie horror game Death of Rose was announced earlier this year, it quickly developed a niche following of horror fans. The game's announcement trailer was filled with cheesy horror gimmicks and fun dialogue, connecting with horror fans in the same way a cult B-movie does. However, fans were heartbroken when Death of Rose was eventually canceled after its developer Artur Łączkowski pulled the plug shortly before the game was supposed to launch. Artur Łączkowski, however, appears to have changed their mind.
In a post to Twitter, Artur Łączkowski says that "Death of Rose is back!" However, instead of the staple premise of two horror-loving teenagers inspecting a haunted building, Death or Rose has reinvented itself. Łączkowski says Death of Rose is a completely redesigned experience inspired by the 1980s and Stranger Things. They also provided four screenshots of the game, as well as a promise of a brand new trailer soon.
Death of Rose's Steam profile has also been updated to better reflect the changed game. The new description says Death of Rose still features two teenage main characters, Scott and Beth. Only now, Scott and Beth run a high school radio show. Each night they receive listeners' calls to the show, but now the calls are different than usual. There are chilling events going on at their high school for the teens to uncover.
The new version of Death of Rose's features will include a "beautiful story" with plenty of "deep dialogue," the exploration of Scott and Beth's personal relationship, plenty of puzzles, as well as "photorealistic, dark visuals." While a horror game at its heart, the focus on dialogue options implies a more mechanical game than first implied.
This time around, Łączkowski isn't providing a release date for Death of Rose. The game's Steam page now says "Coming Soon" and hopefully it will stay that way until Łączkowski is more confident in the horror game's development and launch.
Death of Rose's initial cancellation was a matter of some rumor and speculation. The game's composer was even surprised by what happened, and ultimately took their soundtrack to another game. It'll be interesting to see if those fans return to give the new Death of Rose a chance to provide itself.
Death of Rose has no current release window but is confirmed for the PC.