Forbidden Solitaire

DO NOT PLAY THIS GAME. you WILL die. but at least your corpse will be an intersting puzzle for people trying to figure out how you died. 10/10, would play again.

While thrifting at a local store, Will Roberta discovers an old CD-ROM of a gore-filled solitaire game from the '90s. Nostalgic to try out the game he vaguely remembers from his childhood, Will rushes home to install it and message his sister, Emily. Like many games with disturbing elements from the '90s, Forbidden Solitaire was banned at the behest of parent groups for the outlandish claim that it was "evil." As Will boots up the clandestine piece of lost media, he's about to discover those claims may not have been so outlandish. The narrative of Forbidden Solitaire plays into a popular horror trope in games where a character carries out a solitary task while the narrative is fed to them by a lifeline to the outside world. When the protagonist, Will, boots up the game, the intro suggests that the secret to eternal life can be found at the bottom of a legendary dungeon. As Will begins descending into the dungeon as The Wizard, it's not long before Emily contacts him with troubling details about the game's development history. Despite the overblown outrage around Forbidden Solitaire's marketing campaign, several suspicious suicides were reportedly tied to players who had worked on or beaten the game. Already entranced by its addictive gameplay loop, Will delves deeper and deeper into the dungeon. Without spoiling anything, Forbidden Solitaire's premise sets it up for immediate success as a delightfully campy concept for a video game. As Will descends into the depths, there's an increasing sense that something is amiss; however, the game is often very tongue-in-cheek with its approach to horror. Forbidden Solitaire is also quite humorous at times, as it takes aim at inexperienced game directors who entered the industry during the '90s boom—often wildly overselling their games while simultaneously floundering to properly manage their development teams. One fun Easter egg was naming each character after an influential figure in early games development. Over the course of its short six-hour narrative, I found myself eager to learn the fates of Will, the Wizard, and the Forbidden Solitaire development staff. I'm glad to say that I found all three stories came together in a satisfying conclusion. The gameplay of Forbidden Solitaire was so addictive, I really felt like I'd been possessed by a piece of cursed lost media. Like classic Solitaire, the player can pull cards off the table that are greater than or less than the top card of the deck. When there are no cards on top of a face-down card on the table, it can be flipped over. As the Wizard explores the dungeon, he's often obstructed either by puzzles or battles. Puzzle stages typically involve clearing every card from the board, often featuring additional gameplay elements to add complexity. In some levels, the Wizard is being pursued by monstrosities, so a radar scans the table, limiting which cards can be safely pulled. In other levels, the Wizard is trying to unlock a door, so certain cards are locked until cards with matching suits are pulled. This creates a nice variety in the gameplay, offering scenarios where certain strategies are more favorable than others. During battle stages, the Wizard fights against monsters with a health pool. Successively pulling cards without ending the turn adds iterative damage dealt at the end of the hand. Furthermore, as cards are drawn, the Wizard's mana pool gradually fills up, which can be used for a range of actions like activating Jokers or trigger mana storms to remove cards from the table. Jokers are wild cards added to the game either by purchasing them from the shop or by progressing the story. The Jokers are kept in hand and can be played for a variety of effects, such as changing the suits of the cards or rerolling the top card of the deck. Paired together with the gems from the store that augment abilities, it all comes together in a very endorphin-triggering gameplay experience. Overall, Forbidden Solitaire comes with a strong recommendation for most gamers. The developers found a compelling method of blending together the addictive gameplay loop of solitaire with a fun story that doesn't overstay its welcome. While you may not be afflicted by a death curse, you'll certainly feel as if you've been possessed by demonic forces when you try to put it down. Play the game, Emily.