The Suicide of Rachel Foster

I'd give "The Suicide of Rachel Foster" overall 6.5 /10 points. It's a game that feels like there should be more to it than there was, but it's still a nice game for a stormy autumn or winter night. As the game is very short and offers no reason for a replay, I recommend buying it during a sale.
Positive:
+ great graphics
+ good sound effects
+ the location feels familiar soon, like a place you have been to before
+ creates suspense and gets you hooked for a while
+ a few little scares, nothing major
+ a short game you can easily finish in a day, so it fits for busy people, too
Negative:
- navigating through the hotel is chaotic, especially in the crawlspaces
- movement is painfully slow (even running)
- despite short total playtime, it managed to feel stale sometimes
- dialogue can't be skipped as far as I can tell
- you can't manually save at all. You can only autosave by ending a day by completeing all tasks
- the game builds suspense , but it vanishes into thin air
- you never see an actual ghost, just sounds or slamming doors or so
- for me, the story was too predictable, so it made me impatient to see it play out slooooowly
- big logic errors in the story. SPOILERS AHEAD!!! No professional would consider a death by hockeystick as suicide. There would be two sets of woulds to discover that look different - the actual cause of death and then post mortem wounds from the fall. It's not logical that Nicky would be so traumatized by events that she suddenly goes insane or nearly ends her own life, too. It's also not logical that her mom would leave the bloody proof of her murder in the hotel for 10 years instead of removing it. I found it questionable as how the relationshipship between Rachel (16) and Nicky's Dad (roughly 40?) is presented as relatively harmless.
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GERMAN:
Insgesamt gebe ich "The Suicide of Rachel Foster" 6,5 von 10 Punkten. Es ist ein Spiel das an manchen Stellen zu Wünschen übrig lässt, aber es ist dennoch ein schönes Spiel um einen stürmischen Herbst- oder Winterabend damit zu verbringen. Da das Spiel leider keinen Wiederspielwert hat, empfehle ich es im Angebot zu kaufen.
Positiv:
+ tolle Grafik
+ gute Soundeffekte
+ das Hotel fühlt sich schon bald vertraut an, wie ein Ort an dem man früher schonmal war
+ spannend und zeiht einen eine Weile in den Bann
+ ein paar kleinere Schreckmomente, aber nichts Extremes
+ ein kurzes Spiel, das man bequem an einem Tag abschließen kann, daher eignet es sich auch für beschäftigte Spieler
Negativ:
- das Navigieren durchs Hotel ist umständlich/ unübersichtlich, vor allem in den Zwischenräumen
- das Bewegungstempo ist unglaublich langsam, selbst beim Rennen
- trotz einer sehr kurzen Spieldauer fühlt sich das Spiel teilweise langatmig an
- Dialog kann nicht beschleunigt oder übersprungen werden
- manuelles Speichern ist soweit ich weiß nicht möglich. Du kannst nur durch das Beenden aller Tagesaufgaben zum nächsten Tag wechseln und so autospeichern
- das Spiel baut Spannung auf...aber lässt sie dann einfach verpuffen
- im gesamten Spiel siehst du niemals einen Geist, sondern hörst bloß Geräusche oder siehst mal eine Tür zuschlagen
- Die Geschichte ist zu vorhersehbar, was mich persönlich ab circa der Hälfe sehr ungeduldig machte
- deutliche Logikfehler in der Geschichte. ACHTUNG SPOILER: Kein Profi würde bei Wunden von einem Hokeystick von Selbstmord ausgehen. Es gäbe Unterschiede zwischen diesen Wunden und denen post mortem vom Klippensturz. Dass Nicky von der Situation ebenfalls an den Rande des Wahnsinns und Suizids gebracht wird, ist unglaubwürdig. Ebenso, dass die Mutter die Beweise innerhalb von 10 Jahren nicht entsorgt haben soll. Fragwürdig finde ich auch die verharmlosende Darstellung der Beziehung zwischen Rachel(16) und Nickies Vater (ca. 40 Jahre?).

It's good and worth your time if you like a narrative walking sim, but I wouldn't recommend playing it if this is a sensitive topic for you. It's a pretty bleak story and it feels cold and unnerving. If you're looking for a quick and suspenseful story, it's worth a look.
Only word of warning I would offer is that if you're an Edith Finch fan, don't compare it to that. It's a different experience.

I can't remember the last time I played a game where the story not only stayed with me well after finishing, but did so because the ending felt so wrong . I get the sense that The Suicide of Rachel Foster has received an overall review of 'mixed' due to how polarised players were regarding the handling of the subject matter - particularly the ending. I would absolutely agree with a number of the negative reviews given, in that I feel that the writers have made some decisions which, although well-intended and I'm sure well-researched, fall very short overall when it comes to the responsibility of handling the type of subjects this game is based on. Let me be clear - I truly feel that the trigger warning at the beginning of the game doesn't go nearly far enough to mitigate the impact this game might have on those who have been victims of child grooming and sexual abuse . I do not recommend this game to those people.
The reason I've ultimately decided to give this game a positive review, is because I was riveted by it and had such strong emotions, negative as many of them were. And for what is essentially a narrative based walking simulator game, that's pretty good right? Agree with some other comments, this isn't going to give you the same vibe as What Remains of Edith Finch , or Firewatch . However it still made me think and feel and mourn. It made me incredibly heartbroken and angry, and at times in awe. For this reason, I think it's a game most people should play.

I see a lot of people criticize this game for its story while praising the presentation. Let me disagree.

The story is about bad people/decisions. You don't have to like the characters or relate to them. They're not role models. I found that to be a compelling point in the storytelling. I feel like people expected a cardboard cutout of a bad guy and an arrow that said BAD GUY to make it extra clear.

Meanwhile, the presentation got praised. What the hell? Yes, the models and textures are all crisp in 4K, but there are so many game design and technical weaknesses.
- Things go dark by proximity instead of the lights of an area being dim.
- You're given a camera with a flash, then quickly after a flashlight, you only need either of those once.
- The microphone bit was frankly annoying, since the directional audio wasn't very good.
- Previously open doors suddenly are locked for no reason, neither game-related nor story-related.
- Lots of areas unexplored, lots of potential unused.
- Place is very convoluted, and this doesn't actually serve the storytelling or gameplay in interesting ways as it could.

It's worth your time since it's short, but don't expect a neon light arrow pointing to what are the bad things people do in this game.

The Suicide of Rachel Foster is a good walking simulator game where you have to find out old family secrets in an abandoned hotel with a weird ambiant. The designs are nice too. I recommend it!!! ❤️

I genuinely don't understand how anyone can play this game and come away thinking that it paints the child groomer as the good guy. And yet so many reviews on Steam and elsewhere seem to think that? Like, where in the game did you get that impression at all?

If you're struggling to untangle a character who wanted their father's affection while also grappling with the monstrous things he did to a child and ambivalence that foments then maybe character complexity just isn't for you. Stick to easier narratives.

That aside, it's fine, short little thriller with some good atmosphere and only one bug that made me replay a chapter (granted I bought it on sale for $1.79 so that certainly helped my opinion).

A good walking sim with a great atmosphere. It tells an interesting story, although the themes are very hard-hitting.
The game looks really nice and I enjoyed exploring the hotel. The voice acting was good and I enjoyed the dialogue between characters. I'd recommend this if you're a fan of walking sims, but take note of the trigger warnings before you play.