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?).

I absolutely do NOT understand from where people are pulling their reviews of this game, because I wholeheartedly disagree that it romanticizes or normalizes or excuses any of the dark subject matter that is relevant to the story. On the contrary, I think it perfectly shows just how extensive the damage can be when one individual makes a violent, selfish decision. It shows the consequences that others face even after the perpetrator is dead and gone, and the events are seemingly pushed from everyone's minds. I believe these stories are psychologically and socially important to be told, even despite their heavy-on-the-conscience topics. I personally say well done to the devs for the narrative, the gameplay, and the soundtrack and design. The game itself is quite beautiful, the main characters are charming, and the suspense can definitely get tense. Despite there not being any explicit horror, there were some moments that really gave me the heeby-jeebies. The overall emotional and thought-provoking effects were also something I appreciate at the end of a story. Finally, there's no unnecessary ambiguity in my opinion. You don't get every detail outright, but you get plenty enough to feel that the ending is complete.
Side note replying again to other critical reviews: there is a VERY clear disclaimer at the beginning of the game that describes the kind of content players will encounter and to not play if you are sensitive to it. It's totally not fair to judge games or developers about dark themes when you've been warned not just once, but every time you load the game.
If you're into a story and lore-driven experience with deep and dark psychological themes, and don't mind taking a bit of a backseat drive as far as gameplay, I'd highly recommend TSORF.

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 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.

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.

How dark and twisted humans can become,
and how these emotions can intertwine, ultimately leading to ruin.

With every step and every turn, I was half expecting Jack Nicholson to appear with a fireaxe saying "Here's Johnny!"
The game is a walking simulator so don't expect much gameplay as it focuses more on exploration and object interactions. The atmosphere with the tension buildup is nice! It is not great compared to really good Indie horror games but I like how it's set up like a movie with the abrupt ending transition to each passing day and starting the next day in different time and places. The Voice acting is quite good especially the main character, hence it gives the feeling more from of a movie than a game.
Now the cons: The graphics settings ingame is very limited and you would need to tweak out the game files a bit to tone down the visuals and remove the horrible motion blur/effects. I also read a lot of complaints pertaining the head bobbing(although it didn't bother me much) I understand how it can be almost unplayable when coupled with the messed up motion blur. Lastly, A part of the storyline where The ending part decisions makes no sense, kind of dumb actually
Game is quite short but overall I think it's still worth it to add to the memories of horror gaming experience.
P.S. the crawlspaces might give you claustrophobia.