The Suicide of Rachel Foster - PS4 Review

The Suicide of Rachel Foster by developer ONE-O-ONE GAMES and publisher Daedalic Entertainment—Sony PlayStation 4 review written by Izzy with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Before I begin, I want to explain why it’s wrong for adults to have emotional and/or sexual relationships with teenagers. It’s because you’re an adult and they’re a teenager. The concept of an “age of consent” is inherently flawed as it presupposes that because something is legal, it is moral. Now, while I’m certainly not here to be anyone’s moral barometer, I do feel obligated to point this out, as the concept is very much at the core of everything that is wrong with The Suicide of Rachel Foster.

The titular character’s tale is recounted by Nicole, the protagonist whose middle-aged father, Leonard, had an affair with sixteen year old Rachel ten years prior to the game’s beginning. As a result of their tryst, Rachel became pregnant and subsequently committed suicide. The narrative follows Nicole as she returns to her father’s hotel for the first time since those events, and begins to harbour suspicions that there may be more to the young woman’s death than she’d originally believed.

If you’re only interested in the game play aspects involved, then I’ll make it quick. The Suicide of Rachel Foster is a perfectly average walking simulator that doesn’t overstay its welcome in terms of playtime, handles fine mechanically, has perfectly average voice acting, perfectly average dialogue, perfectly average action, a perfectly average setting, and a perfectly average (i.e. predictable) conclusion.

There you have it. If you’re able to ignore the fact that the game attempts to excuse and explain a grown man exhibiting and acting upon predatory behaviour towards a teenager less than half his age, it’ll kill a couple hours, give you a couple decent jump scares, and nab you a few trophies. (Editor's Note: Even if the last one didn't unlock for the Platinum)

If, however, that premise doesn’t immediately put you off, I should let you know that it gets worse. The game goes to great lengths to insist that this was no simple affair. Leonard was “very much in love” with Rachel. So much so, in fact, that he was obviously willing to put his marriage, and his relationship with his daughter on the line, which brings us to the next issue with tSoRF.

Much of Nicole’s personal journey in the narrative is not about trying to reconcile Leonard as her father from Leonard as a sexual predator whose actions and impulses ultimately caused two different families to fracture. No, instead Nicole spends a few days realizing how jealous she was that Rachel was able to command so much of her father’s attention, and how much she resented her for it. The resentment towards Rachel is echoed through Clair, Nicole’s mother, who is also painted as someone who simply couldn’t, or wouldn’t, understand the complexity of Leonard’s feelings.

Despite the fact that the game attempts to paint Leonard as a sympathetic character whose only flaw was his own humanity, it repeatedly reminds you that womens’ humanity is not worthy of any consideration; Rachel exists only as Leonard’s proverbial apple, Clair exists only as a manifestation of jealousy, and Nicole exists only to expose the truth and absolve Leonard of any wrongdoing, even going as far as to try and make Nicole understand how deeply her father truly “loved” this sixteen year old girl.

The only other major character in the game is Irving, a FEMA agent communicating with Nicole by cellphone. Nicole finds herself back at the hotel for the purposes of conducting an inspection in preparation to sell it after her father’s death. Her hopes of getting out of there as soon as possible are dashed when the helpful Irving informs her that a severe snowstorm is on the way and she would surely not be able to make it through the mountain roads alive if she were to hop back into her car now.

Luckily, Irving, the FEMA agent and weatherman, is also incredibly knowledgeable about the hotel’s backstory, layout, condition, supplies, and about both Nicole and Rachel’s family history.

Irving convinces Nicole to stay and conduct the inspection herself rather than wait for the attorney hired to handle her father’s affairs. With his help, she navigates the halls of the old Timberline hotel, becoming increasingly concerned that she may not be there alone. She receives strange phone calls from a supposedly disconnected line. She hears strange sounds coming from the other floors. She gets locked into rooms after doors seemingly slam behind her. She finds objects inexplicably placed within the hotel’s walls. She discovers areas of the hotel that were previously completely unknown to her.

All this bizarre phenomena culminates into questions; Is Rachel really dead? Is some manifestation of her still roaming the hallowed halls of the Timberline? Is someone trying to show Nicole something? Is someone just trying to frighten her? It’s hard to say much more than that without spoiling the conclusion of The Suicide of Rachel Foster, so I’ll just say that if you’ve read this far and have a guess about how it ends and who is behind all the strange things Nicole experiences, you’re probably right.

In terms of narrative storytelling, however, nothing is made whole by Nicole uncovering the truth. Now, I like a convoluted ending. I enjoy stories that aren’t wrapped neatly with a little bow where the hero triumphs and everybody lives happily ever after. While it seems like this is what was attempted in tSoRF, where it falls short is in its execution.

The game’s end sequence (where you will have a choice to make on Nicole’s behalf) feels much more like something that was meant to shock players rather than something that is true to Nicole as a protagonist. Then again, I made the shocking choice so I guess it was effective.

Summary

I know it may seem difficult to believe, but I didn’t actually hate the game. Aside from the issues I have with it from a narrative standpoint, it was fine, and therein lies my struggle to recommend it outright: It’s just fine. There is nothing particularly special or interesting or revolutionary in The Suicide of Rachel Foster that you couldn’t get in any other walking simulator without having to simultaneously excuse a story that explores predatory behaviour in a way that is questionable at best, and seriously harmful at worst.

Score: 6 / 10

Editor's Note (2023): If you think you or someone you know is at risk, trained counselors with the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline could help you work through any signs you’re experiencing or seeing. To increase its accessibility, every state will roll out 988 as the new lifeline starting July 16, 2023. The current number is 1-800-273-8255 (TALK), and it will always remain available to people in emotional distress or suicidal crisis, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

National Alliance on Mental Illness: 1-800-950-6264 or text NAMI to 741741

National Youth Crisis Hotline: 1-800-448-4663

Crisis Line in Canada: 1-866-996-0991

https://www.nami.org

www.take-this.org

https://cmha.ca/

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Weakless - PC Review

Weakless by developer Punk Notion and publisher Another Road—PC (Steam) review written by Susan N. with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes 

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Weakless is a simple puzzle game that has players traverse through their home region to save the almighty tree of life. Each character played is an outcast of their society. One is deaf and the other is blind. Both must work together to reach the tree in order to save it from resin which seems to act more like molten lava. In fact, it is so disastrous that it has ravaged much of the Weavelings home region.

After finishing the game, I found myself enjoying the short experience, but it does have some minor points that I'll cover below.

Gameplay

Weakless has very little controls to work with, and even though I received a copy of the game on PC, I used a controller to play the entire game. Players first have to know that this is a puzzle game very similar in style to The Witness, where they can move, interact with certain objects, but cannot do much else. Depending on the object, the player can only interact with the objects using one of the characters. For example, certain puzzles require the blind one to move a pillar so that the deaf one can reach another location. (And before anyone makes the assumption, I am not calling either character the blind one and the deaf one to be heartless, I distinguish the characters this way because neither is given a name!) The blind one can also interact with various musical instruments that are strewn about the area. Another predominant feature that the blind character has, is the ability to echo-locate through use of its staff. The object not only serves as a walking stick, but as a way to solve music-based puzzles.

The character that is deaf can use his plant light orb to 'power' the plants so that they move out of the way of the blind one's path. Through the course of the game, this character often sits down to draw or paint. It is also capable of climbing onto planks. That said, if players climb up onto these planks, they cannot go back down.

My previous point leads to one of my issues with the Weakless. While it never explicitly tells players where to go or what to do, except in the guise of paintings on the walls, the story has only one direction. There is no way to kill your character by falling off an edge, nor does entering an area that you cannot go backwards mean you're stuck. Any side paths will either lead to an instrument for the blind character or a bench for the deaf character to draw. In fact, the game is so linear that it ends up being a short game because there is nothing else to do!

Now, there are side areas that I missed when playing through Weakless, I don't feel like it's worth going back for another playthrough to find the other musical instruments or painting areas since there isn't much purpose to their existence. Yes it does show that these two characters have some depth to them, but we are given little else after the first couple of instances. Sadly, those elements are placed in the game for achievement hunters and not for anything else, which is unfortunate really.

And on the topic of those musical instruments you can find, let's talk about music.

Music and Audio

When I think about the music, I find myself rather conflicted. On one hand, the music consists of drums and wind instruments, but no string which gives it a tribal feel - something that is also shown at the beginning of the game during the ceremony. On the other hand, I find that the music can be disjointed and doesn't mix well - even though tribal music doesn't always have the same elements as modern day music does.

So let's talk about tribal music a bit. When I think of that style, I think of music that unites a group of people together in a more cathartic way. In other words, I think back to times when slavery was still prevalent in society. And entertainment was sought in the form of music during the times when opposition came at a hefty cost. In Brazil, enslaved citizens learned a 'dance' known as Capoeira. This dance style was actually used as a way to mask the fact that it was a martial arts style. At the time, people would be deemed criminals if they practiced this 'dance' style. Not only is the Capoeira a style of martial arts but it hinged upon constant movement, unpredictability, and movement that flowed with the musical accompaniment. The music itself is played a huge role in this style of martial arts.

Anyways, today, the Capoeira is mostly a dance movement that focuses less on its martial arts component. The music in Capoeira is fluid and unpredictable but is composed in a way that works extremely well together which is why I'm using it as an example of when music works and when music doesn't. There are points during gameplay where I felt like Weakless' music, while it has moments of fluidity, sometimes has a disjointed accompaniment. However, oddly enough, the music only seemed to fail me when players used the musical instruments. The ambient music would set the tone of the game and the musical instruments would be thrown overtop with no rhyme or reason. And while it would make sense that the deaf character would not know the proper time to join in, the blind character most like would because it has heightened senses. I can't help but be bothered by the fact that the blind character didn't go a little crazy if its musical timing was off to the rest of the environments timing - but that is just the musician in me being picky.

Now, I know that it sounds like the music to the game is a hot mess, but it isn't. In fact, many of the ambient sounds and music used in the game fit extremely well. I quite liked the journey and found it interesting. On top of that, I think it's extremely awesome that the developers paid attention to the fact that hearing people and non-hearing people would perceive sound differently.

At several points during gameplay, I appreciated the musical puzzles, and the use of the staff to echo-locate the character's position. Overall, while music bothered me at certain times, I know that the composer talked a bit about the soundtrack in a developer blog post which can be found here.

Final Thoughts

I've read a number of reviews that said things like Weakless was too short or that it was too linear. There have been other people who expressed their dislike for the game because they didn't understand the point or perhaps didn't finish the story, but I think Weakless' experience was fantastic.

Since puzzle games that don't necessarily have a straight-forward story tend to be my bread and butter, I walked into Weakless with an open mind. The whole idea behind the characters was to understand the struggle, to put yourselves in the shoes of characters who did not start as friends. These two weavelings were strangers to each other and they bonded because they were both outcasts. They bonded out of the need of survival, and I believe that Weakless' purpose was to show that even with the characters differences or flaws that the weavelings can co-exist amicably. Players that took the time to make it to the end of the story saw that the two weavelings saved their tribes great tree of life - which to them is important and is perhaps seen as a deity. I also believe that this is the reason the developers chose to create a tribalesque sound for the game.

Players that jumped into Weakless for anything other than a slightly abstract story missed the comparison that the game makes to real life. Sure, the puzzles could be more complicated. But overall, the goal wasn't to make Weakless a tough puzzle game, it was to show how anyone can overcome their challenges if they work together. While the game could have stood for a lot more in the way of player to character connection, I believe the game was pretty well done.

Overall, while the story was quite linear and while I didn't always like the music combinations, I absolutely enjoyed the experience and the story. If I could make any real criticism about Weakless it would be that the sound and light puzzle at the end of the game wasn't a more prevalent feature shown earlier in the game. I also loved that if players made it to the end of the game, they were rewarded. As such, Weakless earns an 8.5 out of 10 for me.

 

Score: 8.25 / 10

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North - PS4 Review

North, in some ways perfectly confusable with the cardinal point that we based most of our directions off of, is a very interesting take on the storytelling of a person and their trip to a city in the North where things haven’t all gone to hell. Done in a first person and very minimalistic approach, you may not even know what you’re doing or why you’re doing it until after after the fact.

For all intents and purposes I would not call North a game as much as an experience that is a lot more interesting to go through than it is to hear about. If I were to describe it: you move around blocky and often fairly dark areas that have little to no one in them. Every now and then you’ll see an object that can be interacted with and a mail icon popup on the bottom of the screen. That’s about it. Clocking in at about the developer stated hour-ish of a clock, there are no menus and there is no saving. It’s what you do in that hour however that is important.

For every mail icon popup that appears you have the ability to go to a mailbox that can be found around town in order to write home to your sister. This is where the experience really takes place. While you may have moved into an area and looked at it for two seconds, the results are possible pages of a letter from “you” to your sister describing the state of the place, the emotions of the people and the possible frustrations for where you currently are in the city that you escaped to.

These letters aren’t just supplementary information like they often would be elsewhere, they are everything. Without these letters there is no point to North as outside of these letters and looking for more ways in order to achieve them, there’s nothing. North isn’t designed to be some crazy intense visual spectacle. Instead it is rather low key and focuses on the way that they decided to tell the tale of this person that escaped to this northern city.

Now even while extremely short and light on the options there are some technical issues and the lack of instructions don’t help. I won’t go heavily into the details because those would lead to massive spoilers if you decide to embark on this journey but the lack of knowledge can sometimes lead to death.

“You are dead” in a very Dark Souls fashion appeared a few times while trying to perform my daily duties, aka, my job. You have to deal with certain machinery in a scorching hot location. There are safety measures but without some trial and error it could lead to a few more of those dark screened “you are dead” statements. Maybe a little bit more refinement in that area would have been good but the style itself was quite different and enjoyable once you found out about mailing the letters and getting the context.

North won’t be for everyone. If you are looking for something a little different or something to simply pass the time between other titles it could fit the bill.

Game Information

Platform:
Sony PlayStation 4
Developer(s):
Outlands
Publisher(s):
Sometimes You
Genre(s):
Walking Simulator
Cyberpunk
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
Microsoft Xbox One
PC

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Pierre-Yves

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