![]() All other significant characters are already dead when the game begins. Anyone Can Die: Irving and potentially Nicole both commit suicide at the end.This might have been the reason for Rachel's attraction to Leonard. Abusive Parents: Rachel's father Reverend Foster is described to have been a very strict parent who placed high expectations on Rachel.Some of the technology in the hotel is even older, given how it's been on the decline since The '80s. Nicole has to use a radio telephone to communicate with Irving and has no other way of contacting the outside world. The '90s: The game takes place in December of 1993.Spoiler warning: due to the mystery nature of the story, even the trope names can spoil. To advance the story, you have to achieve certain objectives, from mundane things such as finding food to investigating the past. Most of the playable area is available for explore from a fairly early point, but new areas become available progressively as you reach the conclusion. The gameplay is typical that of Environmental Narrative Games: you explore the hotel and try to find out what happened from Story Breadcrumbs along the way. As time progresses, things become more and more weird. Someone calls over the, supposedly dead, main-line telephone telling her that Rachel didn't commit suicide and warning her not to sell the hotel. Soon enough, weird things start happening. Nicole's only companion is a FEMA agent named Irving who she talks with on a radio telephone. Unfortunately, a huge storm arrives, cutting off the hotel from the world for several days. After the death of her father, Nicole returns to the hotel to inspect it before selling it. The game's events begin 10 years later, in December 1993. Once the relationship is revealed, the girl jumps off the cliff, and Leonard's wife, Claire Wilson, leaves the place with their daughter Nicole, also 16. Leonard McGrath, owner of Timberline Hotel, a mountain hotel in Lewis and Clark county, Montana, has an affair with the much younger, 16 year old, Rachel Foster, daughter of a Reverend. It was developed by ONE-O-ONE Games and published by Daedalic Entertainment, released in 2020 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Rachel's story is not melancholic or poetic as the game represents it, it's just irresponsible.The Suicide of Rachel Foster (TSORF for short) is a Psychological Thriller Environmental Narrative Game. I barely know anything about this character apart from the fact that she was groomed starting when she was young, got pregnant by a man three times her age, and then took her own life. No letters, no flashbacks, no pages from a diary, nothing that attempts at giving her any voice. For a character whose name is in the title of the game, I know very little about her. The most damaging aspect of how the game frames this relationship is that Rachel has no voice throughout the entire game. It made me cringe, especially as the game's marketing focuses on Rachel's retainer, an object that emphasises how young she is. There's a line where Rachel is described as 'mature for her age' as if it's some sort of excuse to her father's relationship with the teenager. An attic with fairy lights hangs above a bed where sketches of the teenager posing naked lie scattered on top. ![]() The relationship is even more worrying because it's seen as romantic. It's revealed that Rachel was nine weeks pregnant when she died and clues indicate that she was groomed by Nicole's father from a young age. As the second half of the game begins to delve into the details about Nicole's father and Rachel's relationship, it becomes clear that One-O-One Games is treading into a territory that it is not equipped to handle. However, rummaging through Nicole's belongings and unearthing the history of the hotel is where Rachel Foster gets problematic. I felt like it was heading more in the direction of a ghost story than a mystery, which I was somewhat looking forward to. Another section has you watch the old battered VHS recordings of a ghost-hunting group that captures the crew's terrified reactions to something off-screen. In one chapter the power completely goes out and you have to navigate the pitch blackness using only the flash of a polaroid to guide you. Rummaging through Nicole's belongings and unearthing the history of the hotel is where Rachel Foster gets problematic It serves as a cosy safe haven within the confines of the hotel. Nicole's room has been kept exactly the same as when she left it. You go from being scared about what around the corner of a narrow corridor, to massive ballrooms, dining halls, kitchens, and lounge areas where anything could be lurking. The hotel uses both its corridors and open spaces to build tension.
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