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Despite the horror-filled atmosphere, especially at the beginning, the focus here is on other terrors: the things that are hidden within the walls of our very homes. The problem is that these references inspire you to imagine possible scenarios that ultimately lead you astray. With nods like the carpet on the first floor, which has the same geometric shapes as the one in Kubrick's movie, One O One is making a clear homage to the film based on the Stephen King novel. The atmosphere is enhanced by subtle references to horror and psyco-thriller movies, starting with the most obvious one: The Shining by Stanley Kubrick. You have to use the evidence collected as you advance through the abandoned hotel and attempt to put the various pieces of the puzzle back together and thus unravel a mystery that has remained unsolved for ten long years. Essentially focused on exploration and the search for clues (much like the best detective stories), The Suicide of Rachel Foster has the player reconstructing fragments of the whole as they seek clarity about historical events. The Suicide of Rachel Foster explores this by taking us into a thrilling maze of intrigue that is seasoned with some exquisite horror elements, and this blend lets the player create a strong bond with main character Nicole. From Gone Home and What Remains of Edith Finch through to Remothered: Tormented Fathers, there's undoubtedly an interest in exploring our murky private lives, precisely because these are the stories that touch us most closely - they're the same stories that we live ourselves, even in those families that are apparently perfect. There's a trend for indie stories that revolve around family secrets. As she waits for the storm to calm down and with Irving's remote support, the young woman returns to explore the abandoned hotel, discovering that Rachel's death is actually wrapped up in a disturbing mystery. It's just as she tries to get in touch with the lawyer that she receives a call from Irving, a young FEMA agent in possession of a new-fangled radiophone, the only way of communicating in these adverse weather conditions. Nicole struggles to get to the hotel because of a heavy snowstorm that is hitting the county, and, while waiting for the family lawyer to attend to the final details of the sale of the now dilapidated property, she is forced to stay due to the inclement weather. However, she is also fulfilling a promise to her mother: to give part of the proceeds from the sale to Rachel's family as compensation for the pain caused by Leonard's actions. Years later, now that both of her parents have died, Nicole is returning to the hotel for the first time in a decade, to put it up for sale. Tragically, Rachel, after discovering that she was pregnant, took her own life. Ten years earlier, a teenager called Nicole left the family hotel with her mother after they found out that her father, Leonard, was having an affair with Rachel, a girl the same age as his daughter. The events herein take place in the remote Lewis and Clark County, Montana, in the early '90s. It's around this bitter theme that the heavy-hitting plot of The Suicide of Rachel Foster intertwines. Sooner or later that pain, those ghosts from the past, those unspoken words, they can come to the surface and in turn drag blissfully ignorant souls back down into the abyss with them. What family doesn't have them? And how many try to keep them safe and buried under layer upon layer of lies, lies, and more lies.
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