79) The Suicide of Rachel Foster (2020)

As the name may suggest, The Suicide of Rachel Foster is a game that deals with a few very heavy topics that could be deeply triggering for some people. Over the course of the narrative, there's a continued focus on a young girl's suicide and the events that lead up to it, which include grooming, sexual abuse of a minor, teenage pregnancy, and a host of mental and emotional damage surrounding everything. While the game handles these topics with respect and nuance, I feel it best to mention it up top as I feel there is a fine line between psychological horror and triggering one's PTSD. These topics are used effectively to make the player uncomfortable and are never glorified or made to seem like anything other than the traumatizing events that they are.

Set in the distant year of 1993, we play as Nicole Wilson, a young woman who begins her journey after reading a letter from her deceased mother instructing her to inspect the Timberline Hotel in Montana and sell it. The hotel, which once belonged to her recently deceased father, serves as the setting for our adventure. Upon arrival at the abandoned building, a sudden snow storm prevents us from leaving, forcing Nicole to stay and explore the hotel, learning more about the events that led to her and her mother leaving years earlier. Our only companion in this journey comes in the form of one of those new fangled celluar phones, with a helpful guide named Irving offering us both human interaction and some pretty spot on information about the hotel.

The game is primarily a walking sim as the team wanted to focus on the narrative, which itself focuses on many real life topics. The secluded hotel was designed to make the player feel claustrophobic and instill a sense of unease, with heavy inspiration coming from the classic film The Shining. Like the Overlook Hotel, the player comes to see the hotel as both familiar, yet also unreliable. As we explore, we find ample evidence of the horrors that had been committed years prior which led to Nicole and her mother leaving. While the game offers several different perspectives, it wisely avoids trying to justify or glorify them.

Years prior, when Nicole was a teenager, her father had owned the hotel and had begun tutoring the eponymous Rachel Foster, a 16 year old daughter of the local priest. This relationship between her father and Rachel eventually became sexual in nature, with Rachel killing herself shortly after discovering she was pregnant with his child. As this came to light, Nicole and her mother quickly packed up and left, leading to Nicole rightfully thinking the worst of her father. As we explore the hotel, we learn more about this relationship and slowly unravel the true nature of the events of the past.

The Suicide of Rachel Foster is fairly short but deeply unsettling experience, leaning into truly horrible events to set the stage for some of the more unsettling emotions the narrative elicits. As a walking sim, there isn't much to the player's agency outside of choosing dialogue options and guided exploration. Still, I applaud the game for instilling a sense of unease and dread without relying on cheap jump scares and monsters. The topics covered, while deeply unsettling and traumatic, are handled with care and grace while also helping keep the horror grounded with some sadly very real monstrous behaviors. The game is certainly not for everyone, but I enjoyed my time with the game, finding myself feeling a wide range of emotions. If you're in the mood for a more grounded horror experience, I recommend the game with the caveat that you know what you're getting into. The topics covered aren't for the faint of heart, and could be very triggering for some, so use caution when considering this gem.