The Suicide of Rachel Foster

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS- Ok, so there's a huge elephant in the room with this game. It's low rating? It's because of one of the main plot-points. *MINOR SPOILER*- There's a romance between a 16 year old and a older pedophile. Now, I'd like to say that the big misconception of the game is that the relationship seems to be promoted as a good thing because of the word "love." I do not believe this to be the case. Yes, one of the characters seems to be upset because of Rachel's alleged suicide, and rightfully so I might add. Suicide is not a fun topic or experience for those left behind. I don't want to give everything away here... But to quell the taboo about this game let me say that I did not get the feeling that the whole point was to condone pedophilia. I think it actually was a pretty good message about how NOT to treat the victims of pedophilia. The victim DOES have a voice in the game, it just isn't in a way that is expected. *MAJOR SPOILER*- The game does not try to cause you to sympathize with a pedophile. It makes you feel sorry for a girl that got killed because of her terrible relationship with a pedophile. Murder isn't ok. The girl is not painted as a victim, so it rubbed people the wrong way. I do not approve of pedophilia, but I can appreciate a game that causes you to think about all the facets of who gets hurt when such horrible things occur. As far as actual game-play goes it's a great atmosphere. Yes, a walking simulator with a couple of terrible scary moments, but mostly just creepy old hotel rooms and such. It creeped me out. Pretty badly actually. Graphics were great and voice acting was great. I only docked it a star because of the abruptness of the transitions between days. Other than that I think it was a fun game. Those who enjoy a good story might enjoy this game as well.

The game map is well built and quite beautifully designed. Voice acting is good but it's not amazing. I was impressed with the build in tension and some of the experiences are certainly unnerving. Overall I would recommend if you like detective/exploration type games. I read a lot of reviews before buying this game. Some say it excuses pedophilia but I actually found it to be highlighting the issue of the predator's family not believing the predator could be responsible until the evidence is literally right there in front of them.

I expected something like Layers of Fear but instead I got a pure Firewatch clone. Unfortunately there's by far not as much to do as in Firewatch and the voice over while still being good is not as exceptional as it was in Firewatch (imo Firewatch had the best VO ever). The story is starting a bit slow but it develops a mystery vibe after a while and the player is starting to try to puzzle things together. The environment looks beautiful and there's no doubt the developers were big fans of Shining and Kubrick in general (red/white toilet, overlook, carpet and of course the general theme). I am a slow player and it took me 4,5 hours to finish the game. Unfortunately there's not anything to explore outside your to do list so you are basically just following the narration. It's also a bit annoying that you are moving really slow if you don't run (and there's no always run option available). Still if you are playing the game for what it is (a narrative experience and nothing more) you still might enjoy it the same I did. One word to those "the game glorifies pedophiles" and "the victum did not get a voice" ... that's not true. The game does not glorify anything it simply tells a story about love, society, family, loss, tragic events and how people cope with those. The pedophile father itself is also not glorified at all. Those people who think this might have missed a few conversations inside the game. Anyway: short, enjoyable and it could have been better gameplay wise - but still a nice narrative experience with some great looking environment and a nice but tragic mystery plot.

The game's atmosphere (sound and visual design, aesthetics) are incredible - it is, in general, a deeply immersive and mysterious narrative. But the themes it discusses are put in a controversial, misogynistic light (in the least) - which I find negative. The plot's good, the pace's good - the way it develops, though, falls short and doesn't realize the game's full potential - quite the opposite, actually. This negative aspect of the game shows itself more patently and strongly in the end. In sum: there are some topics writers gotta make their sane characters name "ABUSE" and not "LOVE", because the second really isn`t acceptable.

I enjoyed the game so much. The story is great and the atmosphere is very tense. You have to play it yourself to see if you like it or not. At first, I thought that is a Firewatch clone too but it ain't (except the talking with another character on the phone). It's different from Firewatch. Play this game, you won't regret.