Do you ever feel like you’re walking through life without enough mental and emotional trauma fundamentally shifting your personality into a worse version of you? Me neither, but we can easily add to the trauma with The Suicide of Rachel Foster that has just been pushed live on Steam to fantastic review. The atmosphere is heavy as you play Nicole, wandering through the family hotel as an atypical winter storm punishes the region with a harsh wintery frost.
The game is thick with tension and story as Nicole attempts to unravel the mysteries and harsh truths about her family that she abandoned so long ago. If the title wasn’t enough to inform you, it isn’t a game the little ones should be around to experience, as there are rather heavy vibes emanating from the game at every turn.
The story that the developers are willing to offer before players dive into the game is as morose as it is perturbing; Nicole’s father has an affair with a girl Nicole’s age and ends up getting her pregnant. The mother and Nicole leave the father and girl at the family hotel and look to make a new start for each other.
ONE-O-ONE GAMES and Daedalic Entertainment have launched their new immersive investigation, The Suicide of Rachel Foster on Steam. https://t.co/l6aZtR4zdt pic.twitter.com/ygyarkI89O
— GamEir (@gam_eir) February 20, 2020
The girl ends up committing suicide (you’ll never guess her name), and ten years pass before the father and mother pass away too. Nicole finds herself alone in the hotel while a wintery storm blankets the region, and she begins to put everything together herself, with the help of the player.
The title never goes feet first into the horror category; you won’t experience ghoulish fiends chasing you down hallways eager to plunge a knife into your skull as you frantically dash to find the exit.
Instead, the atmosphere brings a heavy sensation to the player as they attempt to figure out precisely what occurred, while the storm rages on. The environment is rather reminiscent of The Shining; a vacant hotel that holds untold mystery for the player, the snow locking the player inside with no possibility of escape.
Steam fans are quick to add the tag ‘Walking Simulator’, and that’s a fair assessment of what you’ll likely be spending the vast majority of time doing; slowly plodding the decrepit hotel as you attempt to piece together what remains of your family. Interactions beyond that are few and far between, as the narrative unravels around you instead of you necessarily needing to chase it.
If you found yourself a fan of Firewatch or Gone Home, you can readily expect to immerse yourself into the story of a broken home.
