A story of love and death, where melancholy and nostalgia melt into a thrilling ghost tale. With his help, Nicole starts to investigate a mystery far deeper than what people in the valley thought. With the will and determination to put that chapter behind her, she returns to the hotel with the family’s lawyer to audit the decaying structure.Īs the weather unexpectedly turns for the worst, Nicole has no way to leave the large mountain lodge, and finds support in Irving, a young FEMA agent, using one of the first radio telephones ever built. Now that both of her parents have passed, Nicole hopes to fulfill her mother’s last will to sell the hotel and make amends to Rachel's relatives. Ten years ago, teenager Nicole and her mother left the family hotel after discovering her father Leonard's affair with, and pregnancy of Rachel, a girl her own age who eventually committed suicide. LOW Slow exploration between plot points.CONTENT WARNING: This game features themes of suicide and a sexual relationship between an adult and a minor. The Suicide of Rachel Foster is an adventure game published by Daedalic Entertainment (The Pillars of the Earth, State of Mind) and developed by One O One Games.The game manages to tell an enticing and powerful story through simple gameplay mechanics and brilliant dialogue. WTF Playing a quarantine game while actually in quarantine. The Suicide of Rachel Foster takes place in Montana during the year 1993.
She visits with the intention of selling a hotel inherited from her deceased father, but upon arrival, a seemingly eternal snowstorm hits and a sequence of clichéd events follows… The player controls Nicole, a girl who’s returning to the state after leaving with her mother several years before. Rachel‘s story mainly focuses on family drama. Nicole’s dad cheated on her mother with the titular Rachel - a 16-year-old who became pregnant and (apparently) killed herself in the hotel. Nicole hasn’t been back since it happened, but the plan is to sell the property and offer a good amount of the profits to Rachel’s surviving family as a way of freeing herself from the past.įirst-person exploration and narrative titles such as Rachel have been described as walking simulators. I’m not a fan of the term, but I can’t think of a game more closely fitting the phrase. Two borrowed gimmicks drive the experience here. The first is that Nicole uses her cellphone to repeatedly call a FEMA agent who guides her through the hotel to necessary food, energy and entertainment. Their relationship develops from mistrustful to flirting. During Nicole’s time at the hotel, the eerie atmosphere in dimly lit rooms and matching sound effects keep her (and the player) on their toes. This feeling of impending horror is underscored by clues that leave the player speculating about Rachel, whose suicide is… questionable. As Nicole starts experiencing nightmares, things steer into darker storytelling and build towards a revelation. The suspense created by this direction is the absolute highlight of Rachel. The player is aware of many questions relating to Rachel’s suicide, and I was feeling quite tense in several situations where I wasn’t sure what might be waiting for me behind the next door. It’s a shame, however, that the underwhelming visuals limit the fright - lighting effects are decent at best, and environmental props lack both detail and depth.Īpart from the unimpressive graphics, other shortcomings drag the experience down. For example, Nicole’s movement is spectacularly slow. As she explores the hotel, calling it a chore to get around is an understatement.
The hotel itself consists of three floors and a basement with multiple rooms, hallways and hidden staircases, but only a fraction of it is actually explorable or relevant. There’s no clear map of the hotel, and the next goal Many scattered items can be interacted with, but are useless - books don’t offer text or images, electronics don’t work, and most story items are single-use only. Understanding what they meant or missing part of the dialogue for any reason Is usually evident only from dialogue between Nicole and the FEMA agent. Results in endless searching, or even reloading a save to re-watch the scene.Īfter all was said and done, The Suicide of Rachel Foster remains an intriguing story exploration game with great suspense, and I felt that the conclusion justified the journey. The Suicide of Rachel Foster Developed by: One-O-One Games Published by: Daedalic Entertainment Available on: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One I have a friend with a freakish ability to sniff out. However, despite being captivating at times, I did wish the truth revealed would’ve conveyed more of a message and less of a story. The Suicide of Rachel Foster is a tense, thrilling experience for anyone who picks it up.
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