The Sundew
The Sundew
Game
Game2020
The Suicide of Rachel Foster
Developer ONE-O-ONE GAMES
The Suicide of Rachel Foster is a 2020 adventure video game developed by One-O-One Games and published by Daedalic Entertainment. Set in December 1993, the story follows Nicole Wilson returning to her family's hotel to inspect and sell it. Ten years prior, Nicole and her mother left the Timberline Hotel after learning of her father's affair with the teenaged Rachel Foster. After being forced to stay longer than… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
241 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy, Mastodon) · newest Nov 5, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
54
Mixed
111 positive · 94 negative
95% range 47–61%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 111 | 94 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 8 | 7 | 15 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 1 | 2 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Mixed
2,186 of 3,617 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
54% recommend · 107 yes, 92 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 199 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Mixed (4,706 of 6,910 positive).
Players praise the game's atmosphere, visuals, and sound design. [1][2][3] Many reviewers criticize the game for its handling of a relationship between an adult and a minor. [4][5][6] Some players find the gameplay sluggish and buggy, with glitches that force restarts. [7][8][9]
Representative posts
- [5]
Well that was terrible. I hated that. There are so many leaps in logic and feels pro pedophillia with how things are portrayed. The whole story is literally the consequences of grooming. Then we have the ending, which amounts to Kill yourself or become crazy. Stuff this game and the people that made it.
- [6]
As many others have said in their reviews, this game is beautiful and entertaining to walk around the hotel, but the plot is very off-putting. I don't hate that I played it, but I won't be playing it again or recommending it. Without going into spoilers, the game discusses a relationship between an adult and a 16 year old in a way that leans more towards them being misunderstood lovers than an abusive p*dophilic …
- [12]
Let me preface by saying that this game is meant to upset you. It is a PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR GAME. You are not meant to walk away with a smile. It is telling a very dark tale with heavy emotional themes that will draw you into the depravity. If you are not interested in that, this game is not for you. Personally, I loved this game. It touches on some very heavy themes in a somber light and tells a familiar story …
- [4]
I really enjoyed this game , the story, the mystery and the plot twist were incredible the atmosphere and the vibe is so immersive however ... i hated the normalization of pedophilia and painting it as a love story rather that grooming i was beyond disgusted when i found out rachel was a minor and not a mistress it was truly repulsive , but other than that everything else was great good experience
- [2]
The Suicide of Rachel Foster is a beautifully atmospheric narrative experience that clearly takes inspiration from games like Firewatch, while still creating its own unsettling identity. As someone who enjoys walking simulators, this game was right up my alley. The gameplay focuses mostly on exploration, light puzzle solving, and interacting with objects, keeping the experience immersive and story-driven rather than …
Summarised from 34 of the 237 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 10, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
54% of the 199 Steam reviewers we collected recommend The Suicide of Rachel Foster. The complaint that keeps coming up: controversial portrayal of pedophilia. Deal-breaker or nitpick?
Critics, per Wikipedia
According to review aggregator platform Metacritic, all versions of The Suicide of Rachel Foster received "mixed or average reviews". OpenCritic reported that 34% of 60 critics recommended the game. The setting—the Timberline Hotel—and the sound design were praised. Jens Bremicker of ProSieben Games and Jerome Joffard of Jeuxvideo.com complimented the hotel's design. Rachel Watts of PC Gamer viewed the environment as engaging and capable of creating tension, while Eurogamer's Edwin Evans-Thirlwell described the hotel as scary and its design as "predatory". The sound design was praised by Bremicker for creating an appropriate atmosphere, and by IGN Hungary's Péter Nagy for creating a sense…
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 241 · most liked firstStrange game that cant decide what it's trying to do. Has some weird themes and seems to try and defend some messed up ideas. Not worth the time or any money
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →You know what I hate? This game! I cannot put into words the amount of seething frustration I have for the 5.7 hours of time I wasted playing this game, but I'm going to try, because anyone who is contemplating playing this game needs to know the facts. Spoilers ahead. So, I dare to disappoint you dear gamer, that if you have spent any amount of time in the reading world, and have a knack for solving puzzles, the "twist" if you could call it that is pretty figureoutable from the opening…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Visa and Mastercard don't seem to care much about The Suicide of Rachel Foster! A game literally about the "tragedy" of a relationship between a grown-ass man and a 14yo with a serious learning disorder who was raised and educated in a secret room nobody knew about But hey, they were unrelated
negative · AI labelView post →Well that was terrible. I hated that. There are so many leaps in logic and feels pro pedophillia with how things are portrayed. The whole story is literally the consequences of grooming. Then we have the ending, which amounts to Kill yourself or become crazy. Stuff this game and the people that made it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The gameplay and the story were horrible in my opinion. Just so boring because you do like one thing and then the day moves on but it's long because your character walks at the speed of a damn snail. You can't even run. Everything is spoon fed to you, the "scares" were boring, and the investigating was abysmal. It didn't really feel like investigation. One thing that really annoyed me was that one of the first objectives is to check the 2nd floor and you go through, notice like 2 or 3 things,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This will be long and will have spoilers. Gameplay - Best way i can describe it is sluggish, i had to restart some days due to the game glitching and not letting me do anything which got annoying. The dialogue constantly lagged which resulted in characters talking over each other and me missing some. It's so hard to actually know where to go to the point that when i got to about day 4 i pulled up a guide. Story! oh boy - Disgusting, it frames the 16 year old as a mastermind against the 50 odd…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →this game straight up glorifys a pedophile and encorages suicide and infantalises disabled people. DO NOT PLAY if you are curious there are some analysis on youtube but otherwise turn around and go it is not worth it
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →As many others have said in their reviews, this game is beautiful and entertaining to walk around the hotel, but the plot is very off-putting. I don't hate that I played it, but I won't be playing it again or recommending it. Without going into spoilers, the game discusses a relationship between an adult and a 16 year old in a way that leans more towards them being misunderstood lovers than an abusive p*dophilic relationship. Perhaps that was intended by the developers and perhaps not, but…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →(SPOILERS AHEAD!!) It's gross. Really one of the only positives I can say is that the game looks nice and that the plot was actually promising in the beginning. Than the devs decided that they wanted you to sympathize with the protagonists father, who is 49, the man who decided to have an affair with a 16 year old Rachel Foster who started it because he was tutoring Rachel because she had dyslexia. And to top it all off, got her pregnant. A groomer, pedophile, and a rapist all at once the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'll be short and sweet. The villain of the story is justified at the end and portrayed as a victim after having literally abused a minor. Don't play this pedo game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Never ask a woman her age, a man his salary, or the ONE-O-ONE GAMES writers to show you their search history
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →People saying this game romanticizes pedophilia are NOT lying, that's enough to avoid recommending this game. The only quality I can give to the game is that it's gorgeous. The story isn't that good, not very engaging. The game design goes from boring to confusing. The save system is very frustrating, even more when the games glitches at the final scene making you replay the chapter from the start.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →No, just no. The story… how can they treat an affair with a minor so lightly? Another point is that the game deletes the save file if you finish it. So no rollback if you choice the wrong *ending* and miss the last story achievement. You need to replay the whole story.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →decent execution, but the game's story romanticizes pedophilia. actually disgusting.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game had so much potential to be impactful, powerful and it falls flat. It does not handle the serious subject matter of the grooming and sexual assault of a minor appropriately. No one in the story seems to be able to condemn Leonard's disgusting actions. Even Irving, Rachel's own brother, refers to her grooming as "love". It is so tone deaf to what happened to Rachel, and not to mention the ableism and infantilization just because she's dyslexic. This could've genuinely been a really…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Played it. Finished it. Will never play again. The game started off strong, and I was enthralled with where the game was going, however the whole "Lolita" reveal in the second half ruined any sense of wonder I had and left me with a feeling that I shouldn't be playing this. There are better walking simulators out there; preferably ones that don't try to rationalize statutory rape and victim blaming. Play What Remains of Edith Finch or Gone Home instead.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Spoilers ahead! The setting for this game is great. I loved wandering the empty halls of the hotel and exploring to the sound of the ambient creaks and cracks of a forgotten building. The problem with the setting is half of it isn't utilized. The game only leads you through some parts of the building. There's no reason to go to the dining room, or the museum area. It's a shame. The story itself is horrifying, because we, as the players, have morals and standards we adhere to. While I was…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →story feels like the writer read lolita and thought it was a love story -Makign the father of the main protaganist groom a 16 year old and showing it of as a "dark romance" is disgusting the only thing good about the game is the level desing which is a shame, that its tied to this
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game looks beautiful! I really can recommend this game if you want a little walking simulator with a great atmosphere and a deep story! However, I would only buy it on sale because it's not very long.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've never been a fan of "and then everybody dies" narratives, frankly. And I'm not sorry for spoiling that potential ending, because I just saved you a lot of time and some very creepy emotional incest, among other things. That kind of ending CAN work, I've seen it, but you need a very deft hand at the wheel for writing, and this ain't it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →::SPOILERS:: The mechanics of the game were... sketchy at best. The movements felt glitchy & the overall gameplay left a lot to be desired. Every aspect felt like it was being spoon fed to me, not a lot of actual investigating. Not to mention the game froze & I had restart multiple days from the beginning. I found the subject matter to be... questionable as well. I would be concerned for a teenager to come across this game as it glorifies & in some ways it felt like it... defended?…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →(also, the time played isn't accurate. I had left the game running when I was working outside so it's probably about half the hours of actual playtime) I have to say, I enjoyed this game right up until the end. The ending was obvious pretty early on but that was ok with me. There was a minor plot twist, although I had already suspected something was up with irving since the very beginning of the game, I just didn't know the details. So, ultimately, the ending was no a surprise. That, though,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →“I’ll be honest... the game looks pretty, the details around the hotel are nice, and the atmosphere is really, really unnerving, which is impressive for a walking simulator. However, I can’t, for the love of God, recommend this game to anyone. While the story is fine and does grab your attention after a short while, it actively promotes pedophilia... something I don’t think should ever be explored.”
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pedophilia is not "pure love". End of story. I feel gross after playing this.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Bruuuhhhh. Literally all they had to do in order to make this game good is not glorify pedophilia. It felt like it was leading up to a good conclusion- but no?? The only man that understood the bullied 16 year old was the local hotel owner who had a daughter the same age??? Like the pacing and the build up was all so good, but they had to waste it on a pedo.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Let me preface by saying that this game is meant to upset you. It is a PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR GAME. You are not meant to walk away with a smile. It is telling a very dark tale with heavy emotional themes that will draw you into the depravity. If you are not interested in that, this game is not for you. Personally, I loved this game. It touches on some very heavy themes in a somber light and tells a familiar story through multiple perspectives in a fresh and unique way. It does not shy away from…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just play Night in the Woods. If you want a game with a similar "ooo is there a supernatural mystery or is there not??"-type vibe but actually well-written and with a lack of pedophilic themes then just play Night in the Woods. This is just a poorly written disappointment which in all honestly feels an unreal engine asset flip, not to mention the horribly handled pedophilia. A waste of 4 hours of my time, and about an hour of those four was spent dealing with the game's various bugs.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →this missed the mark very hard. when you write about themes like the one this game is trying to explore, you should pay extra attention to how you present it all. on one hand, i can give the benefit of the doubt to the writer, because the "pure love that was not accepted" narrative is coming from, to put it mildly, morally compromised people, i.e. the player is not meant to believe them/agree with them. on the other hand, the game is clearly trying to paint a picture where something unique and…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Terrible game, terrible terrible TERRIBLE story. I think the story writers must be creeps.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Analyzing traumatizing events using a grey scale rather than a clean cut black/white separation is a skill that must be honed. Some might say it's more of a "cursed gift", a sort of scar a writer bears within themselves and by virtue of having lived through it they can actually put their thoughts and life experiences to paper. Oldboy's ending (no spoilers here, but still, watch the damn movie) was visceral not just on a visual level, but also because of how it managed to make us sympathize to a…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a bad game. Not because of its subject matter, but because it tells its story very poorly. I personally did not get the feeling that the game was endorsing the relationship between the older man and the underage girl. After all, it clearly destroyed both families and everyone involved. There is a character that actively defends the relationship, but they're clearly messed up in their head. Anyone who's been through high school should know that a character, narrator and author have…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →honestly the other reviews are over reacting and doing too much virtue signalling u would thing this games is Epstein simulator or smth.but the story is not that good and u better off just watching no commentary walkthrough than buying the game as there is pretty much nothing gameplay wise here
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Suicide of Rachel Foster is that of a cautionary tale where 'bad people do bad things'. The game should not be censored just because people don't like the subject matter.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →(spoilers, but you should read cause its not worth playing) An ''What remains of Edith Finch'' wanna be, trying to pretend to be ''Lolita'' (the book) but failing MISERABLY (by the MC and other characters glorying the pedo). The entire ''twist'' is everyone calling the minor ''a young woman'' and wife blaming the groomed minor :). Its only fun to wonder around + some aspects of the sound design. The map is interesting but everything around you feels lacking. Some small details around might be…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Schedule! Wed: Trine 4 with Joni and Gabriel! It's gonna be a LONG STREAM! We'll finish the game! Thu: The Suicide of Rachel Foster. Bit disturbing walking simulator! Fri: Labyrinthe collab with Deserada, Mannytsu, Milis, VaaraTheApocalypseAdvisor and YeehawLimbo! 🔗: www.twitch.tv/thedivis
neutral · AI labelView post →I don't care what they told you at the internet school, this game does NOT promote nor EXCUSE pedophilia. The biggest sin this game made was to assume that people will have critical thinking, and will see that what it tries to convey, is the damage and suffering caused by the stupid decision of an adult. From ruining a teenager's life, to ruining his own, his family's and her family's life and to some extent the whole community. At no point, it felt like the story was excusing or promoting…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I sit down, play through the whole game. Is it a walking simulator game? Yes. It is mention about "taboo topic" aka Pedophilia and also romanticizing suicide (?) ? Yes. Did I read other reviewers and still buy the game to try out? Yes. Did I regret it? No. Would I recommend this? Yeah, why not? If you don't like it or any of the topic the game has, then don't play it. Simply add this game to your ignore list and never talk about it again, easy.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is quite boring. Writing is not good and it is not about Rachel Foster, that girl is just a base for a hollow story. Also with questionable morale.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Worst game ever it made me want to die to avoid having to play a second longer. Completely unbearable. No gameplay just a walking sim, and the calls and dialogue are endless and won't shut up and you can't skip them so you're just standing there at the next objective waiting for them to shut up so you can continue the game. The game holds your hand through it and doesn't give the player any agency or room to solve things. The story has so many plotholes and the only way it makes sense is if…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is not meant to be a game that makes you feel good. I think that is the main reason for so many negative reviews. If you come into this game expecting a happy story and a good mystery you will only get one of those. This is a game about heavy topics and it handles them tactfully. This game is meant to make you uncomfortable and make you think and it does both of those things well IF the player loses the expectation of a feel good ending. It doesn't treat disability, mental health, grief,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game romantacizes an exploitative pedophilic relationship, bullying, and suicide. There are ways to address these topics with a lot more thought and sensitivity. I would not recommend it at all -- some engaging voice acting and sound design cannot make up for an incredibly ham-fisted attempt at Daddy Romeo and teenage Juliet. It goes from mildly interesting to incredibly gross. Very disappointed.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The first 4.5 hours are amazing. I wish I had stopped playing it then. I also hope the writer of this absolutely horrifying (and not in a good way) drivel of an epilogue never ever touches another game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →spooky ~4-hour walking sim. I love horror but not in the form of 1st-person video games, unless it's all mood and atmosphere and I can explore and puzzle (if applicable) in peace, no monsters chasing, batteries running out or other nonsense. this is like that, sans puzzles. there's constant chatter on the phone, a'la firewatch but not nearly as good. the flirting was annoying, even the lady thought it was too much, we said shut the ♥♥♥♥ up at the same time. the game starts with a grim fandango…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This review is based on my opinion & experience. I really wanted to like and enjoy this game, and it does have some strong points. The athosphere is quite unsettling, and the sounds are 100% the highlight. The creepy noises, actually managed to make me feel paranoid, creeped out and almost like i was being watched in real life. Sadly that's all the good i can say about this game. The dialogue is not that great. It often feels poorly written, overly long and just dragged to the point where…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i’m gonna be real. This game is one of those games that proves people don’t even understand what they’re playing anymore. This game is about story. it’s about emotion. it’s about atmosphere. the hotel .the silence .the voice acting . everything pulls you in. i felt connected the whole time. it’s not some action horror game. it’s slow .heavy. and it actually makes you feel something. that’s rare. and yeah. let’s talk about the .controversy because people love crying about it. the game talks…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Suicide of Rachel Foster — A Beautifully Built Hotel Housing a Deeply Broken Game Not Recommended I originally played this years ago and dropped it. Recently, I gave it another chance on Linux (Proton), intending to finally finish it and make a proper review. I gave up again after about two hours. This game is a perfect example of how strong atmosphere and technical craft can be completely undermined by bad design decisions, poor pacing, technical issues, and a story that is not just…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What works: "Oh, it's like Firewatch, but in a creepy abandoned hotel. Fun!" Great atmosphere, visual design, sound design, and voice acting. Level design is a little bit confusing but okay. There's bones of a good, atmospheric walking simulator here. I wanted so hard to give this a thumbs up. But: What doesn't: "It tries really hard to be Firewatch, but the writing, oh GOD." Granted, the game is upfront about the fact that it deals with serious topics, but ultimately, it handles them with all…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i got this on sale for less than $2 and i still wouldn't say it's worth it. i had to use a guide because of the lack of direction, i hated the audio jumpscares, and the story kinda sucked. i was really interested at the beginning of the game but it just doesn't end in a satisfying way, and i REALLY hate how there's no real message about the grooming and pedophilia (it's described as love)
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Spoilers, though youll see it all coming from just the first minute: the ending literally sucked. it had cool potential for the most part, but dang dude. that really just blew. i suffered through two saves messing up and having to replay two levels just for a painfully obvious "body was inside the house!" ending that wasnt even handled well. On top of that, apparently Nicky must now attempt? the whole tone was that she wanted to break the cycle. even her subconscious agreed. THE DAMN GHOST…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A beautifully crafted hotel with a great atmosphere, but the writing and gameplay fell short. I would recommend it to everyone if: It was a fairplay mystery. There's currently no way to rule out suspects before the finale. The solution didn't have selective amnesia & needless lying. The suicide and abuse were written with more finesse. There wasn't a bug on day 9, forcing you to replay the longest part of the game. You weren't constantly waiting for dialogue to end, just to open doors…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Suicide of Rachel Foster is a beautifully atmospheric narrative experience that clearly takes inspiration from games like Firewatch, while still creating its own unsettling identity. As someone who enjoys walking simulators, this game was right up my alley. The gameplay focuses mostly on exploration, light puzzle solving, and interacting with objects, keeping the experience immersive and story-driven rather than action-heavy. The game is fairly short, taking around four hours to finish,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A good walking simulator with excellent sound design and a strong overall atmosphere. The story is controversial and may not appeal to everyone but id still recommend the game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →With the full arc of the story taken into account it's almost impossible to recommend this game. You'd be better off playing (or replaying) something like Gone Home.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →6/10 The game has an eerie atmosphere and a sad, creepy story. But the story feels like it had a lot of missed potential. And the well-known last day bug still hasn’t been fixed, even after all this time.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really wanted to leave a negative review for this game, due to the fact that the game is locked to 60 fps & due to the bugs and glitches, one of which forced me to restart the entire last chapter which wasted 30 minutes of my time. The story does come together at the end and is interesting. This game also tackles some sensitive subjects. I feel most games now a days try to play it safe in every regard and end up being uninteresting. There are some lite horror elements here as well, so if you…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →very good game up until the final day, everything was tense and there was alot of build up for what is a very lacklustre reveal at the end and honestly romanticizing pedophilia isnt really the best thing to do
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really enjoyed this game , the story, the mystery and the plot twist were incredible the atmosphere and the vibe is so immersive however ... i hated the normalization of pedophilia and painting it as a love story rather that grooming i was beyond disgusted when i found out rachel was a minor and not a mistress it was truly repulsive , but other than that everything else was great good experience
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The story is confusing, the timeline is glitchy (I told an NPC about a dream I had when I actually didn't have any, then had that dream like a day or two later completely out of context??), the message of the game is horrible and the game is also bugged - twice I ended up with a black screen and had to replay the whole day. You can't skip cutscenes either so you just sit there twiddling your thumbs. And after finishing the game I was like - wait, what? That's it? The premise is interesting and…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I love this! It's a very interesting walking simulator where you get to unfold secrets! I loved the storytelling and the graphics!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have now completed "The Suicide of Rachel Foster". People were right about one thing: this game sucks. I strongly disagree on the *why*, but yes: it sucks.
negative · AI labelView post →
Posts are quoted from public profiles with links to the original. Want yours removed? Contact us.
