For example, the relationship between Leonard and Rachel is glorified, and yet anyone playing would not consider a relationship with a minor an “affair.” Being that Nicole was the same age as Rachel during this whole situation is also a bit unsettling. You can look it at it from different angles but the topics discussed might be unsettling for some players. There are plenty of issues one might find with the story of this game. Also, click in on the left stick to run, even though I don’t think you’ll ever need to. You walk around snapping pictures for light and it just adds to the overall paranoia that plagues you the entire game. One cool item was a Polaroid camera that becomes a useful tool when all the lights go out during a mission. As you progress through the game, certain items become available to you through the D-pad.
Not every item is important, but pick up the right thing and it’ll lead to more dialogue. The controls are pretty standard when you approach an item it’ll give you the chance to pick up and observe. You might also find yourself memorizing the twists and turns of the hotel as you go from one location to the other.
You have to pay quite a bit of attention to the dialogue between Nicole and Irving because he is basically guiding you through the objectives. The map of the hotel is your most essential tool to not only navigate but also as a task directory. You can tell that the developers at Daedalic Entertainment spent some time focusing on detail and the overall eeriness of the Timberland Hotel. The map of the hotel is pretty vast and well detailed with numerous floors and hidden rooms. The camera moves up and down to give the player the feeling of walking through the hotel, which may take some getting used to if you’re used to the floating camera first-person perspective.
Being a walking simulator, the game gives off all the feels of your basic PC game, converted into a console format. Your one companion is a FEMA agent named Irving who helps Nicole navigate her surroundings via an early Motorola cell phone. The game pretty much leaves you to your own devices. Nicole and her mother then left her father and the Timberland hotel behind. Word then got out that Rachel was pregnant and apparently the guilt of the situation caused her to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff. Leonard was Rachel’s tutor at the hotel, and the two then started an “affair” that ruined his marriage and reputation amongst the community. The drama of this game revolves around Rachel Foster, who was a dyslexic 16-year-old, and daughter of the hotel pastor around the time Nicole lived there. Nicole’s father has passed away, and she is tasked with observing the hotel and making sure it is suitable to sell. Nicole and her parents had once lived in the hotel 10 years prior to the start of the game, but you soon come to realize that there were tragic events responsible for the separation of her family. You play as Nicole, a woman in her mid-twenties returning to the hotel once owned by her late father, Leonard.
Without giving away too much of the narrative, the game is a first-person walking simulator placed in a newly abandoned hotel in Montana during the early ’90s. That was the vibe I received from playing The Suicide of Rachel Foster, and yet there are many aspects of this game that didn’t quite hit the mark. Imagine spending a week in the Overlook Hotel from The Shining, all alone, with a raging snowstorm outside. Which is why a thrilling video game might satisfy that craving for fear.
Whether you are looking for a scary movie or an adventurous haunted house to visit, this year’s Halloween may be a lot different from previous ones. With Fall quickly closing in around us, and the sudden smell of pumpkin spice once again filling the air, you may be feeling that seasonal tinge to explore some horror media.