The Suicide of Rachel Foster is
a 1st person horror mystery game developed by ONE-O-ONE GAMES and
published by Daedalic Entertainment. It's available for PC, but I played
it on PS4.
This game would be described as
a "walking simulator", similar to games like Dear Esther, Gone Home, and
What Remains of Edith Finch. But, unlike those games, where you
literally are just walking around, here you have a little bit more
interaction and a little bit more to do. There are no puzzles per se,
but you do have an objective to complete each day. You have to go here,
you have to go there, do this, do that. For me it's a perfect balance
between walking simulator and traditional adventure game. You won't get
bogged down with tricky puzzles or inventory items, but you also won't
feel like you're on rails.
So, you play Nicole Wilson. Your
mother is dead. And your father just died. You have to go back to the
hotel that your family owned, which you left in somewhat of a hurry 10
years prior. You gotta get it ready for sale. Jenkins the lawyer is on
his way with some paper work, but he gets delayed because of the storm,
and the incoming 70 million inches of snow. You have arrived just in
time to become trapped there for however long it takes the Montana snows
to clear. Your only friend is Irving, a FEMA agent, tasked with
supplying the hotel in times of emergency. He talks to you on this new
fangled device called a "cell phone". The game is set in 1993, so the
cell phone is not really that new. Plus, it's one of those massive brick
style phones from the 80's, so it's like "Come on, Irving, why you so
excited about this phone thing, dude? Get out of the office a bit more!"
Anyway I digress...
Let's talk about the story,
because unfortunately, it's very very weak, and this being a walking
simulator, mystery, solo exploration game, that's a bit of a problem,
since that is where these games are supposed to excel. When the game
starts we're given a pretty stark warning that this game deals with the
issues of suicide and grooming. Great, you might think. You're prepared
for a deep foray into the darkest recesses of the human mind, spirit,
and whatever. But, I mean, really, aside from mentioning the reason 16
year old Rachel
Foster killed herself, that's about as far as the story goes with the issues
of suicide and grooming. Actually, I don't think there even is any real
mention of grooming at all. There are some subtle hints...at
something...maybe...but they're far too subtle to matter. And that's the
problem. This games can't decide what it is. Is it is a daring and
thought provoking exploration of those aforementioned dark themes, or is
it a haunted hotel ghost story? It doesn't know. It can't decide. It
wants to be the former, but it just doesn't get there. It wants to be an
onion that is slowly peeled, revealing layer after layer of subtle
characterisation and "hmmm" moments, but there's NO onion! It's an
orange! It has one layer! And it isn't peeled until the end. By which
point you're just kinda bored of the smell of....unpeeled orange! Why am
I having a dream of a retainer stuck in the snow, as I call out to
"daddy?" Why have I put up a Christmas tree? What is the significance of
my dad being some kinda astro-physicist? What does Rachel's reverend
father have to do with it? Why do I play hockey? Why is it important
that my mom was some kinda great cook who cooked soup for the townsfolk
at Christmas? Why did those ghost hunters come to the hotel? Just so I
could watch their old VHS tapes? Is Rachel still here at the hotel,
haunting us for some reason, or isn't she? Do I care? Well, I guess I
care a bit, because I know there's more to the mystery than what I
thought, otherwise there wouldn't be a game, but I'm not feeling that
intrigued. I just want some of that orange! Get it peeled already, so I
can know what happened! This ain't no onion!
Ok, maybe I'm being a bit harsh.
I was just expecting more. If you're going to warn me about the issues
you're exploring, then I have certain expectations. I expect to be taken
down a certain road. I expect to get something out of this story. And I
didn't. Nothing at all. And that is a shame, because as a haunted hotel
mystery game...it is very very....GOOD! Omg! This is a creepy game. It
looks beautiful. And the sound design is perfect. There is one section
where you're using a special microphone that the ghost hunters left
behind when they fled in terror. You have to follow a weird sound to its
source. And...well, there are other sounds along the way. Make sure to
use headphones because these sounds will make you literally turn your
head as if they were right beside you. It was awesome. This was easily
the best thing about the game. All throughout the game there are ominous
noises. It's just enough to keep you chilled but never terrified. I
don't like games that terrify me. I avoid them. Avoid them like a can of
10 year old beans from the hotel freezer. But I DO like to be chilled
almost to the bone. That's what I got here. Couple that with the eerie
water damaged nature of the upper floors, and YES, we have a great and
creepy haunted hotel game. And THAT is what this game should have been
from the start. Just come up with a suitably mysterious story about who
or what is haunting the hotel, and you would have a great game. 10 out
of 10 for sure. Leave the in depth exploration of the difficult issues
to those who are clearly better at exploring them.
That's about it, I guess. It
probably took about 5 hours to complete. I had some issues along the
way. The game uses an "auto save" feature, which you need to be aware
of. Basically it only saves after each "day". So if you quit before the
day is done, you're starting that day again when you return. Very
annoying. I have no idea why developers do this, but they do, so we just
have to live with it. Luckily, the days aren't that long so it's not a
huge issue. But it's something to be aware of. Also, I had some dialogue
audio issues. The dialogue audio would cut out at various points,
dropping out entirely at one stage. I don't know what caused this, or if
it's something that affected everybody (I couldn't find out much about
it), but I quit the game and restarted, and the issue went away. Just
something else to be aware of.
Overall, and in conclusion, I
would say play this game if you like creepy hotels. There is very much a
Shining feel to it. If you HAVE been affected by the issues the game is
supposedly about, I would say you should be cautious, but I think you'll
be safe enough playing. Seriously, unless I missed something, these
issues were not explored in any great depth. Go in at your own risk
though. That's all I can really say.
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December 2020
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