I've been wanting to play this game for literal years and it was absolutely worth the wait!
The best part of Rose is the writing, especially the way the characters and the world are so fleshed out. When I realized the story only takes place over 2 weeks, I wondered if the romance would develop believably, so I was pleasantly surprised when none of the routes had any pacing issues - all of the relationships felt that they grew organically, without feeling rushed or contrived for plot convenience. I think it's also the setting that makes this feel realistic - in a modern otome, I don't think I'd find it believable for my character to decide to be in a relationship with or even elope with or marry someone after just two weeks. However, Rose is clearly historical, and the writing really makes you feel that the world of the nobility operates very differently from what we're used to today. The story makes clear that people are pressured to get married early for pragmatic rather than personal reasons, grow up faster and take on responsibility earlier than we do today, and don't have great family lives. Given all of that, the decision to settle down (or even just up and leave) with a particular love interest always feels like it makes sense for the decisions you made and the way you played MC in that particular playthrough.
It's REALLY hard for me to choose a favorite route (which shows you just how good Rose is, since I usually have at least one character I end up solidly disliking), so I won't go into detail about each one. However, I do want to compliment some specific things that stood out to me about the way the F/F romances and the secret romance are handled:
♡ The depiction of the sapphic experience (e.g. the thought that you'll grow out of it one day because it's just "practice" for "real" hetero relationships in adulthood) was super well done. I love how "coming out"/accepting your queerness is represented as a process that can be conflicting, and also as a personal choice that's not always easy to make in the face of others' expectations. A lot of sapphic romances in fiction tend to be written in such a way that the relationship feels "special" only because it's ~forbidden~ or that coming out is presented as a one time big time realization that you're suddenly super certain of, so I'm glad that Rose falls into neither of those traps (something that probably wasn't easy because depicting queer love in historical fiction is a challenge all its own). I think that out of all the ones I've played, Rose is definitely one of the F/F romance games that feels closest to home in that regard.
♡ I love how supportive Frederique is if you're romancing Charlotte or Sofia (especially in Sofia's ending!) - in my experience, it's very relatable to have one specific member of your family who you feel safe enough to be "out" to even if the rest of the household isn't accepting, so I enjoyed seeing that dynamic represented here.
♡ At first I only played the secret route out of curiosity for how it would affect the story and because I liked Frederique as a character, not necessarily because I actually wanted to romance him - in fact, I usually avoid routes of this nature for obvious reasons. I was afraid it would feel shoehorned in for shock value or that it would have a last minute "one of us is actually adopted" plot twist, but the devs [i] really [/i] committed to the taboo premise, which I admire because it takes guts to really go there. I ended up loving the secret romance much more than I thought I would because the writer really takes time to explore how complicated the siblings' situation is without glossing over their struggles or cheapening them. The game takes time to tell us about the unhealthy family dynamics at play here (like siblings being separated too young, discouraged from being affectionate, and growing up isolated from their peers) that led them down that path, but at the same time it never condemns them for it and makes them sympathetic enough to root for. Frederique is so unconditionally loving to MC, and it's clear they've fallen in love because they're each other's only source of support in a very cold family. What I really liked about the portrayal of Frederique is how even if you ignore the secret route completely, and choose to interpret your relationship with him as completely platonic, he consistently looks out for you without any selfish agenda and just wants you to be happy, even if he doesn't necessarily like or agree with your choices. This is honestly the most important thing in any relationship (whether familial or romantic), and it was what led to the secret route winning me over even if I was initially uncomfortable about its implications and hesitant about how it might be executed.
♡ I'm glad that the game sufficiently gates the romance (I wouldn't have known Frederique was even an option if I had gone into Rose blind without looking at walkthroughs and reviews beforehand) and also gives you several chances to end it very early, for the sake of folks who are uncomfortable with the route.
Something else I liked about Rose was how it doesn't demonize the characters who are meant to be your rivals (a trap lots of romance media falls into). The writing never spells this out, but it clearly shows that they're catty because they've grown up in an environment that pits women against each other, and the characterization of them as mean never feels like too convenient or forced in so there can be complications in the plot. The game goes a step further by letting you get in on the mean girl act yourself (through choices like sabotaging the tea party or instigating the fight before the concert) - I have [i] never [/i] before played a romance game that lets you be that petty, and I loved it.
The only piece of criticism I would have had for this game was that the story could've been longer, to allow for more fleshed out endings, and to better explore and tie up the loose ends of the more complex subplots (for Leopold's route especially). However, right after I finished playing, I saw that there's a sequel called The Thorns of War in development. It's not on Steam yet, but it's in early access on Itch. If you felt the endings in Rose were a bit rushed or that the tone was too lighthearted for the tense political climate the game hints at, Thorns might be more to your tastes if you want a game that's more plotty and serious even if it's romance-focused.
Just a few last thoughts:
♡ The fact that you have to get not just your love interest's approval, but also the king's, added a nice bit of a challenge to what was an otherwise relaxing game, especially if you're on Guillaume's route, because I ended up having to strategize and balance being myself in private but still presenting a more socially acceptable image in public at court. It was a big part of what made the cutthroat and tense nature of the setting feel more real (even before I played Leo's route and saw just how unstable Segunda actually is) - even if my character wasn't at any real risk, the fact that I was in a situation where I had to constantly toe the line made me feel that the royal court really is a very dangerous place.
♡ My nerdy self had great fun with the changeable name and in several of my playthroughs I used it as a reference to other fictional or historical women I modelled my MC's personality on.
♡ This is a very difficult choice as stated in the first part of my review, but if I really had to choose a single favorite route, it would be Leo's (although I might be a bit biased here because out of all the love interests, he's the one who's most similar to my real-life boyfriend, personality-wise).
♡ The art is lovely!
Overall, I'd highly recommend The Rose of Segunda to anyone who's interested in a historical otome that's relaxing and quick but still has quite a bit of challenge and intrigue, and I'm really looking forward to playing the sequel!
