Sullivan James was blind as a bat. Sullivan James fell down flat. Sullivan James is withered and blue. Sullivan James is coming...for you!
Black Rose is a horror Web Game, originally published
on Kongregate in March 2013. It is most notable for being made in Unity, and thus being entirely 3D, unlike the 2D Adobe Flash games normally associated with the website. Unfortunately, this also made the game unplayable on the most widely used browsers after they phased out their support for Unity Web Player due to its security issues. To remedy this issue, the creator chose to make the game freely downloadable on Steam in 2016.
The player assumes the role of a woman named Linda, who decides to investigate an abandoned funeral home, where rumor has it, all of its previous employees were brutally murdered by an unknown entity. Upon arriving, the player is locked inside, and must try to obtain the key to escape. Moreover, the player can increase their score by having successful "close calls" with their pursuer. In order to escape an enemy encounter, the player must run away as fast as possible, while also avoiding eye contact at all times.
Not to be confused with another freeware horror game, The Black Rose. It is also unrelated to the 1992 pinball machine and a steampunk webcomic of the same name.
Black Rose provides examples of:
- All There in the Manual:
- In the original version, you assume the role of Linda, investigating an abandoned funeral home after hearing that all the previous employees were brutally murdered by a ghost. However, aside from a few screams from the Player Character, there is nothing that suggests you are a lone female with a case of curiosity.
- According to the teaser trailer for the expansion, the ghost's full name is Myrtle Varnworth. If one is able to decipher the blurred out text from the newspaper article in the trailer, it would appear that Myrtle was suffering from...something. In the full game she was suffering from an inoperable brain tumor.
- Broken Record: You're gonna die-, you're gonna die-, you're gonna die-, you're gonna die~
- But Thou Must!: The original game has an almost linear structure, as the majority of the rooms are permanently locked, while others become locked/unlocked as the game progresses to ensure that you don't spend too much time avoiding the inevitable.
- Subverted in the Story Mode, as the majority of the rooms are readily available from the beginning. All doors, of course, except the main entrance.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Heavily implied, according to the note Myrtle's ghost leaves behind during the Story Mode.
- Creepy Basement: More like catacombs.
- Better make that double for the Story Mode.
- Darker and Edgier: The original game consisted of lightly-colored striped green wallpaper, and Myrtle resembled a normal, Caucasian blonde woman with glowing eyes. An updated version consists of much darker decor colors, and the ghost's flesh is now a disturbing shade of grey.
- The Story Mode takes this up to eleven, with the additional ghosts of Sullivan and Devin, more rooms and areas to explore, and the addition of timed puzzles. Also, when being pursued by Sullivan, everything is shown in greyscale with traces of static.
- Deadly Gaze: Looking directly at the ghost for longer than a second will result in the ghost instantly catching you.
- Death of a Child: It's strongly implied that Devin, the little boy mentioned in the notes, became trapped in the hidden passages beneath the funeral home and presumably died some time later. His ghost can be seen (and especially heard) throughout the game.
- Electronic Speech Impediment: Cry baby blue, you're gonna die, baby~...die, you're gonna die, you're gonna die, you're gonna die, you're gonna die~
- Evil Laugh: The original version has one as soon as the player reaches the second floor hallway. In the revamped Story Mode, one can be heard when the player crosses the bridge toward the second floor hallway, and another after Devin is found beneath the table.
- You can also hear one for each time you incorrectly guess the security code to the morgue.
- Evil Wears Black: Myrtle is wearing a black dress and heels.
- Ghostly Gape: Myrtle's revamped ghost now features one of these, compared to her original appearance...although it looks suspiciously more like a grin.
- Glowing Eyelights of Undeath: Myrtle's ghost in the game's first incarnation shows this more so than the current version, but they're definitely glowing.
- Since the update, however, they change to Red Eyes, Take Warning, but only when she's chasing you.
- Sullivan also has these too, but unless he catches you, they're very difficult to see.
- Devin too, but rather than glowing white, his eyes glow purple.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: There's a newspaper with the headline stating that Sullivan James blinded himself after Myrtle's death, and was promptly hit by a train soon after.
- Guide Dang It!: Most players are unsure of what to do after the ghost's first appearance, so much so that they tend to overlook certain locked objects in previously locked rooms...
- There's also two secret endings to the game, depending on which mode you're playing. Good luck figuring out how to achieve them.
- Haunted House: Funeral home, actually. The Story Mode has a homely feel to it, though.
- Ironic Nursery Rhyme: Sullivan James was blind as a bat. Sullivan James fell down flat. Sullivan James is withered and blue. Sullivan James is coming...for you!
- Jump Scare: There may be one or two thrown into the game...
- Monochrome Apparition: The revamped Myrtle's ghost is now black/grey in appearance.
- Multiple Endings: Between the original incarnation of the game and the expanded Story Mode, there are multiple endings.
- The original ending sees the player escaping Myrtle by leaving through the main entrance after obtaining the Master Key.
- There is also a joke ending where the player unlocks the other locked room with the Master Key, and consumes the liquid on the table at the end of the room. What follows is the player farting, causing Myrtle to choke and die from the smell.
- The Story Mode's original ending sees the player simply escaping Sullivan by leaving through the main entrance.
- And the Golden Ending where the player runs into the basement and approaches Myrtle's coffin. Myrtle and Sullivan are reunited at last, and the funeral home is destroyed. The player then regains consciousness outside, with the rubble behind her, and the black rose by her side.
- The Namesake: A black rose can be found on top of Sullivan James' coffin. On the wall next to the coffin is a note that simply says "DARE YOU, DOUBLE DARE YOU."
- Nothing Is Scarier: Up until the climax, this game uses very little in the way of audio. This has provided many players with chills and startles at the sound of their own footsteps.
- In the Story Mode, the player finds a note that says how Sullivan's ghost will tear you into three pieces if he catches anyone who tries to take his rose. The last thing the player will see when Sullivan catches you his a close-up of his grinning face, before cutting to black as a crunching noise is heard, followed by Linda screaming.
- On the subject of Sullivan's ghost: the moment the ghost rises from the coffin, everything is shown in greyscale. Literally everything outside of your flashlight's scope is invisible to you as it's shrowded in total darkness. The ONLY thing seen in the darkness is the mist trail following Sullivan's ghost.
- Phone Call from the Dead: In the original game, Myrtle uses the baby monitors to lure you, the player, into the basement.
- Please, Don't Leave Me: Myrtle says a chilling variation of this when you try to leave the basement after finding the other baby monitor.
- In the Story Mode, after outrunning Myrtle and escaping the basement after it's locked, the screen goes black and you can hear Myrtle sobbing, before gameplay resumes.
- Then again, she then causes the building to enter 'lockdown', thus preventing you from actually leaving.
- In the Story Mode, after outrunning Myrtle and escaping the basement after it's locked, the screen goes black and you can hear Myrtle sobbing, before gameplay resumes.
- Point of No Return: Once the player enters the lower part of the house in the Story Mode, the player cannot return back to the house until they solve the final puzzle.
- Rise from Your Grave: Or rather, coffin. After taking the black rose, if the player stands close to the open coffin, you can see Sullivan's mangled corpse sit up in the coffin and start gliding towards you. But don't stand too close!
- Scare Chord: One plays when the ghost makes her first appearance.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Taking the black rose from the coffin is what causes Sullivan James' ghost to rise.
- Shout-Out:
- Together in Death: A note found early on in Story Mode suggests that Sullivan killed himself the day after Myrtle died, and a newspaper article confirms that the two were childhood friends.
- Played straight with the Golden Ending, though.
- Undead Child: Devin's ghost is found hiding beneath one of the tables downstairs, followed by an Evil Laugh.
- This laugh can be heard after reaching different checkpoints during the rest of the game.
- Unintentionally Unwinnable: While fixing some of the bugs and glitches from a previous version, Vaxxer temporarily disabled the exit. However, when he uploaded the "fixed" version, he forgot to reactivate the exit, leaving players confused as to why they couldn't leave through the main entrance during the final chase. This has since been fixed.
- Would Hurt a Child: Michael wrote a note to Mrs. Barns to keep her son, Devin, under control or Michael would "discipline" him himself. If the fact that Devin was trapped in the hidden passages and died, and the notes from Miles state that the rusted handle on Michael's desk likely came from the door to the hidden passages, and Michael would not tell him where the handle came from... it is heavily implied that Michael trapped Devin in the passages, leading to his death.
