It’s an intriguing mystery that is satisfying to reflect on overall, but unfortunately isn’t always executed in an interesting and consistent manner. Alone with the rooms and hallways of her childhood, Nicole begins piecing together how the death of a young local girl named Rachel Foster tied into her and her mother’s flight from the place many years ago, which left her father behind all alone. Having inherited the Timberline after the death of her father, Nicole Wilson revisits the mountaintop retreat one final time before selling it off, only to promptly become trapped there by a violent snowstorm. The story takes place over a period of eight days in 1993. Hoping to rekindle similar magic, One-O-One Games and Reddoll’s The Suicide of Rachel Foster places environmental storytelling at the forefront as players are invited to investigate a dark secret at the Timberline Hotel, accompanying its protagonist as she confronts the skeletons in her family’s closet in an atmospheric, slow burning tale that ends up just a bit too anemic to have as much impact as its premise would suggest. Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick both got excellent mileage out of the Overlook Hotel with its sprawling grounds, multiple floors and several wings of seemingly empty guest rooms. Rachel's story is not melancholic or poetic as the game represents it, it's just irresponsible.Vacant mountainside hotels are tasty fodder for a good haunted house tale, right alongside abandoned hospitals and derelict asylums. I barely know anything about this character apart from the fact that she was groomed starting when she was young, got pregnant by a man three times her age, and then took her own life. No letters, no flashbacks, no pages from a diary, nothing that attempts at giving her any voice. For a character whose name is in the title of the game, I know very little about her. The most damaging aspect of how the game frames this relationship is that Rachel has no voice throughout the entire game. It made me cringe, especially as the game's marketing focuses on Rachel's retainer, an object that emphasises how young she is.
There's a line where Rachel is described as 'mature for her age' as if it's some sort of excuse to her father's relationship with the teenager. An attic with fairy lights hangs above a bed where sketches of the teenager posing naked lie scattered on top. The relationship is even more worrying because it's seen as romantic. It's revealed that Rachel was nine weeks pregnant when she died and clues indicate that she was groomed by Nicole's father from a young age. As the second half of the game begins to delve into the details about Nicole's father and Rachel's relationship, it becomes clear that One-O-One Games is treading into a territory that it is not equipped to handle. However, rummaging through Nicole's belongings and unearthing the history of the hotel is where Rachel Foster gets problematic. I felt like it was heading more in the direction of a ghost story than a mystery, which I was somewhat looking forward to. Another section has you watch the old battered VHS recordings of a ghost-hunting group that captures the crew's terrified reactions to something off-screen. In one chapter the power completely goes out and you have to navigate the pitch blackness using only the flash of a polaroid to guide you. Rummaging through Nicole's belongings and unearthing the history of the hotel is where Rachel Foster gets problematic It serves as a cosy safe haven within the confines of the hotel.
Nicole's room has been kept exactly the same as when she left it. You go from being scared about what around the corner of a narrow corridor, to massive ballrooms, dining halls, kitchens, and lounge areas where anything could be lurking. The hotel uses both its corridors and open spaces to build tension.
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