The Suicide of Rachel Foster

SPOILER ALERT
themes of child abuse and suicide.
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I quite enjoyed the game. I know there's a lot of criticism about it being a "walking simulator" which to be fair is an accurate statement, but I was more invested in the interactions between Nicole and Irving to really worry about the limited gameplay. I enjoyed exploring the hotel and I enjoyed seeing all the little details that expanded on the history of it and the family who lived there.
The main criticism I have is how the developers handled the story, especially the ending. Nicole's father was in an extremely inappropriate relationship with Rachel, a minor. Regardless of the age consent laws in Montana, An adult man in his late 50's (according to the game), sleeping and impregnating a 16 yr old child is beyond disgusting and wrong. But the relationship is never condemned by the characters, in fact, they saw him as a loving and caring man, who showed affection to Rachel when no one else would. In fact, they blamed HER, the victim, for breaking up the family and the shame they endured. Nicole's father took advantage of a young girl in an abusive home and used that for his own selfish desires. That is not love, that is grooming.
Even after learning the truth, they still see Leonard as a misunderstood victim when in reality the only victim here was Rachel. Everyone failed her in life, and now they failed her again in death. It's a shame.
I enjoyed the experience and I'm glad I finally got to play it, but I felt uncomfortable with the way the themes and subject matter were handled and I think it could have been done better.

TW; grooming, pedophilia, violence, suicide. Do not play this game if these are triggers for you. <3
Personally I enjoyed this game. It will make you uncomfortable and unsettled. The story revolves around a woman going back to a family owned hotel that holds an incredibly dark secret. At first the protagonist wasn’t very likable, but as the story progresses I was able to put myself in her shoes and understand her more. There were times were I found the map to be unsettling and creepy, a bit nervous to go in certain rooms and turn a corner. The further you go, the more the story unfolds and shew lord. It’s a good one. The gameplay is very simple to understand and catch on. The dialogue and voice acting seem genuine and real. The animation and graphics are incredible. I would rate this a solid 8.5/10. I think this game moved me in a way where I won’t be able to forget it!
I understand how others are rating this game poorly, but I personally felt they did a good job NOT glorifying the sensitive subjects, rather they make it feel more real which makes it uncomfortable. There was no apologetic behavior towards the bad people/actions in this story. However, it does have incredibly sensitive subjects and if you’re not comfortable to gameplays surrounding them, do not play this game. As it can be triggering!

Short, delicate in its tough themes, with that lovely Shining feeling. Take it on sale, but take it.

---{Story}---
☐ Doesnt have (Not counting historical stuff)
☐ Something isnt nothing I guess
☐ Not greatly told
☐ Average
☐ Good
☑️ Lovely(it can be creepy and disgusting but the story was well written)
☐ Will make you cry or smile a lot
---{Gameplay}---
☐ Try not to get addicted
☐ Very good
☑️ Good
☐ Nothing special
☐ Ehh
☐ Bad
☐ Just dont
---{ Grind }---
☑️ Nothing
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ Insanity
---{Graphics}---
☐ You forget reality
☐ Masterpiece
☑️ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Will do
☐ Bad
☐ Awful
☐ Pixel art
---{Audio}---
☐ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☑️ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ Earrape
---{Audience}---
☐ Kids
☐ Teens
☑️ Adults
☐ Everyone
---{PC Requirements}---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☐ Decent
☑️ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
---{Difficulity}---
☑️ Just press a bunch of buttons
☐ Easy
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Not so easy
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls
---{Game Time}---
☐ Long enough for a cup of tea
☑️ Short
☐ Average
☐ Long
☐ Depends on you
☐ Endless
---{Price}---
☐ Just buy it
☐ Worth the price
☑️ Wait for sale
☐ Maybe if you have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ Dont throw money into a rubbish bin
---{Bugs}---
☑️ Never had any
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Few bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ Ruining the game
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs
---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☑️ 7
☐ 8
☐ 9
☐ 10

Very interesting story< looks like "The Shining"
That's why i liked this game

Experienced on the Oculus Quest 2. VR Review ONLY!
You can view my VR review & gameplay here:
Yes, VR does work! At least it does on the Oculus Quest 2 using link cable. All you have to do to get VR to work "natively" is to type "-vr" in the launch options. If you don't know how to do that simply right click on the game title in your Steam library and click on Properties. From there, under the General Tab at the very bottom you'll see the Launch Options. Simply type -vr with no spaces. I have no idea if this works on any other VR headset. You do not need to start Steam VR.
Okay, so VR works natively, but there is good news and bad news. Let's start with the bad. There's several issues with the VR experience. The biggest issue is the menus & many pop up interactions & loading screens .... you simply can't see them in VR because they are too close or off-screen. However, I recommend using a gamepad to overcome this issue. I was able to navigate the menus without any issues because I had memorized where the menu items and was simply able to click on them by memory.
There's also issues with the opening scene. Just keep moving the umbrella forward. I was below the ground in this scene only, but was able to get past it without any other issues. Lastly, I did have to change the graphical settings to medium graphics on my RTX 3080. I got 90 fps more often (that or 45 fps). Also, the environment at times tends to go out of focus when changing scenes. This only happens sporadically and briefly, but it is noticeable.
The good news is that despite all the above issues, this looks great in VR. It's got a nice atmosphere, good VOs, & would be perfect for VR if they could fix the issues above. Still, if you already own the game, I think it's a no-brainer to try it out on the Oculus Quest 2. However, I wouldn't recommend you go buy it if you don't already own it just for the VR experience.
VR Rating 6.5/10.
If you enjoyed my review, please consider joining my Steam Curator Group. You can join here:

I have a very mixed feelings about this game. For the first time, I wish to be able to choose something neutral, instead of recommend/don't recommend. Buuuut I guess that recommend is more appropriate option.
A lot of reviews don't recommend the game because the game "normalizes pedophilia". I don't think that's what this game does, if you listen more to the story, they made it pretty clear that this situation ruined many lives and even took one. I don't want to break it down here, because it's not possible without spoilers. But the truth is, if you're sensitive about pedophilia or/and suicide, don't buy this game.
I really liked the soundtrack and the voices of the main characters. And the atmosphere was great, an abandoned hotel that makes a lot of weird noises, can send a nice shiver down your spine. The story was fine, though at one point, if one was really paying attention... Even a moron would figure out there's something wrong with that. Again, I don't want to spoil the story, it's just... more or less way ahead of time, you could guess what was going to happen next, which kind of pissed me off.
The game may be too much hand-holding, it's impossible to interact with things until you actually need to interact with them. On the other hand, the hotel is quite big, so it would probably be annoyingly lengthy if you had to figure it out on your own. But you can often interact with totally useless things, and it doesn't make sense because those things don't tell you sh*t. Why can I interact with toothpaste but not a toothbrush? It just... doesn't make sense, sometimes.
However, I... kind of enjoyed this game. I'm glad I bought it on sale, because €17 is just too much for how short and "empty" it is, so just wait for sale, but if you enjoyed Firewatch, for example, you'll probably enjoy this one, too.