Forbidden Solitaire [REVIEW] – Shuffling Through a 90s-inspired Nightmare 

If you spent any time on the internet in the late noughties, you probably stumbled down a rabbit hole of gaming urban legends. Come on, you know the type: a haunted cartridge found at a car boot sale, a computer program that supposedly kills the person playing it, or a banned title hidden away because of its gruesome nature. I know I was fascinated by the concept in my younger years, so seeing that exact nostalgic sense of dread in Forbidden Solitaire ensured it was a game I simply had to play. 

Check out some screenshots down below: 

At its core, Forbidden Solitaire is all about… well… playing a game. You take on the role of Will Roberta, a pretty ordinary guy who gets his hands on a highly controversial, long-lost PC CD-ROM from 1995. Will’s mother had strictly banned it from the house when he was a kid, so naturally, as an adult, he boots it straight up. From there, you are essentially locked into Will’s desktop monitor, playing the titular cursed software while a wider mystery unfolds around you. 

The retro game itself casts you as a wizard exploring a deadly dungeon in search of immortality, battling all sorts of pixelated monstrosities along the way. Sounds like your typical 90s PC adventure, right? However, the actual combat is settled through rounds of Tri Peaks solitaire, giving the game a unique card-based hook that instantly makes it feel distinct. If you are used to the classic setup, Tri Peaks is the variant where you clear a layout of cards by matching them with one that is a single number higher or lower than your current deck card – it’s easy to learn, with even complete solitaire casuals able to get comfortable quickly. 

‘But Mike, isn’t solitaire a bit boring?’ I hear you say. Well, Forbidden Solitaire has implemented clever deck-building mechanics and gameplay refinements that make it incredibly addictive to play, whilst the monsters fight back, of course. They’re a tricky bunch too, afflicting status ailments that actually bring a strategic touch to each showdown to keep players on their toes. 

“Forbidden Solitaire is a brilliantly addictive experience that manages to balance a spooky, creepypasta-like narrative with genuinely fun solitaire mechanics.” 

Fortunately, to counter this, you get to play with a wildly fun upgrade system. As you earn gold, you can visit a shop to buy Jokers, which act like magical spells, each of which brings a unique yet powerful skill to battle that allows you to get the upper hand over foes. You also buy permanent passive buffs in the form of gems, which the on-screen wizard LITERALLY embeds into his own flesh… it’s grim, but in a delightful way that fits the tone of the game perfectly. There’s a lot going on within the gameplay then, and it’s a ton of fun… you certainly can’t dismiss this as just another game of solitaire, that’s for sure. 

Then there are the meta elements that are at play. Will’s sister Emily is doing some digging in the real world, sending instant messages to Will’s desktop with the results of her research into the fictional studio that made the cursed software, whilst you get to see old news reports about nineties moral panics, magazine clippings, and live-action videos detailing the shady, crunch-heavy environment of the developers, which really help flesh out the creepypasta elements of the experience. It pulls you into the world brilliantly, and believe me, it’s hard not to find yourself completely invested in the sinister happenings in the world of Forbidden Solitaire. 

If there is one minor issue, it’s that the game can be a bit too easy at times. I’m not a solitaire aficionado by any means, but it was rare that I felt challenged – especially when I really figured out the gameplay mechanics and got myself some handy upgrades. While I absolutely appreciate a relaxed puzzle experience (and the storytelling and world ensure that Forbidden Solitaire never gets boring), it does lose some of the tension that would normally come from an eerie game like this. 

Check out some screenshots down below: 

Presentation-wise, Forbidden Solitaire absolutely nails the mid-nineties aesthetic, with the retro interface, the muddy VGA graphics, and the spooky synth music all feeling completely authentic to the era. It is a brilliant homage that knows EXACTLY when to lean into the silliness of retro horror, and believe me, if you played some of the spooky games of the 90s, you’d see that this fits in PERFECTLY. 

Developer: Grey Alien Games, Night Signal Entertainment 
Publisher: Grey Alien Games, Night Signal Entertainment 
Platform(s): PC (Reviewed) 
Website: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3414580/Forbidden_Solitaire/