Forbidden Solitaire

Highly recommend if you like Solitaire with a battle element and a 90s retro fantasy/horror look/vibe. Really does a great job feeling like something from that era, I like Solitairica on my phone (not the same dev/studio just kind of similar), so I was happy a friend recommended this one to me. They play pretty differently but hits the same spots, and the battle system for Forbidden Solitaire is a lot better. Haven't finished yet, but pretty close atm, and already feel like I will have it installed for replays. Not sure if there are multiple endings, but fun to play even if there aren't (really wanting to finish without looking into it) just for the Solitaire.

I remember my parents telling me about the media frenzy when this 1995 classic hit the store shelves. People love to talk about how indie games "clone" each other, with survivorslikes and roguelike deckbuilders all that, but even back in the 90's, games were copying each other! I mean, clearly, Heartblade Interactive released this game to capitalize on how much people loved [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Solitaire][i]Microsoft Solitaire[/i][/url]. I mean, [i]Forbidden Solitaire[/i] didn't release until 5 years later, but hey, game development took awhile back then, and besides, have you SEEN the graphics? That must've took forever! With all that being said I think somethings off with my copy of the game... Jokes aside, this game is actually pretty great! They did a really great job capturing the themes and atmosphere, with great music and sound effects backing up spooky visuals. Speaking of which, they manage to make things look really cool while maintaining that 1990's-CGI-Style for the environments, which really makes it feel like a game made before higher-end graphics became trivial, as if the developers were pushing old software and tech to its limits rather than purposefully creating lower-quality graphics. The lighting looks fantastic, and the game manages to both have horror-themed visuals while also being very colorful, resulting in things looking both scary and pretty at the same time. Now for the thing you're probably most curious about: The gameplay. At first glance, it looks like a more "normal" game of solitaire: You have a pile cards in front of you, a deck, and a face-up card next to the deck. Click a card that's a rank directly above or below the face-up card to put it on top of it, repeat until you can't anymore, then flip a new one on top from the deck. Repeat until you've removed all the cards from the pile (winning) or you run out of cards in the deck and can't stack any more on your face-up card (losing). Carefully choosing which cards you stack when given multiple choices (as some may be blocking more cards below them and so on) adds a strategy element, and will help determine whether you win or lose. Now, if you're already a Solitaire fan, that might seem good enough. However, you may be questioning if this game is for you if you don't normally play Solitaire (or do, but need more gameplay variance before you're willing to spend money on another Solitaire game). Fortunately for you, [i]Forbidden Solitaire[/i] adds more gameplay elements that help keep things fresh and exciting, regardless of how much of a Solitaire player you are! First, there's the Joker cards, which are cards that you put into special "Joker Slots" instead of your face-up pile when you take them. They can be used to do various things that I wont spoil here, but just know they have a good variety of Jokers with their own effects, and the game has mechanics to encourage you to use them (such as having limited Joker slots), so if you have a tendency to hoard items in games you play, the game helps nudge you into actually using your cool stuff! Second, the game has a mana system. If you chain together enough cards without drawing a new one from the deck, you build up a combo, which fills your mana meter. When it's full, you can cast a "Mana Storm" that destroys up to 4 cards from the pile in front of you, helping you clear the board faster. If used in combat, It also deals a damage to your opponent for each card destroyed this way. This mechanic rewards you for playing well and chaining together many cards, which feels great! ...By this point, you may be asking "Eric, what do you mean 'In Combat'?", which brings me to my third game-changing mechanic: Combat stages! While the game does have your standard 'clear the board before you run out of cards in your deck' levels, it also has about as many levels where you're faced off against an opponent! During these, you deal damage to your opponent for each card you stack before needing to flip one over from your deck (ending your turn). This lowers your opponents life, which you need to get to 0 to win. Instead of winning you the stage, clearing the board in combat stages just sets a new pile of cards in front of you. Your opponent, instead of also playing solitaire, has an action they take after you've ended your turn and dealt them damage, which can be your standard 'deal damage to you' sort of thing (as you have your own life, and lose if the opponent brings you to 0!), but can also be things that mess with the cards to make things harder, or protect the opponent to make you less effective at killing them! Before I conclude this review, I want to also praise a couple more things I didn't get to mention earlier. First, the game has some FMV cutscenes, and they are fantastic! More games should have FMV cutscenes, and in this game, they're just one of several things that benefit from the excellent writing! All the dialogue, narration, etc. was a treat to listen to/read! And while I don't usually mention this sort of thing, I wanted to say that seeing the marketing stuff for this game was also really fun, and did a good job hyping me up for it! They made [url=https://bsky.app/profile/nightsignalentertainment.com/post/3mfhwx5l3p22e]'gaming magazine' style promotional images[/url], had [url=https://bsky.app/profile/nightsignalentertainment.com/post/3mkigxuphzc2l]a whole thing where someone had stuff happen to them after playing the game[/url], and some other cool stuff too! Overall, whether you like Solitaire, horror games, 90's computer games, or any interest at all in anything about this game, I'd recommend you go for it and get your hands on it whenever you can! While far from necessary to have fun with the game, I'd also like to say that it's even better if you turn the lights off for maximum spookiness! Just be careful, for any round of Solitaire in this game... could be your last!

Its a fun puzzle solver with an interesting story. I put in the time to get 100% of the achievements which I vary rarely do, so this game certainly provided me with a lot of enjoyment

Great short game with good ambiance and strong 80/90 theming.

Un vrai bon jeu très prenant et qui est aisé de finir. J'ai apprécié l'esthétique et la narration. Mais surtout le fait qu'aucune mort n'est définitive et que les puzzles dans leur grande majorité se résolvent facilement.

Video games are not art, but this is art

Played for the Forbidden stayed for the REALLY GOOD SOLITAIRE!! I'm amazed at how they kept the gameplay feeling good and fun and engaging all throughout. The story segments are really nice too, really felt like the team had fun with the details. Also my play hours say 42 hours but that's cause it wouldn't close 😂 Total gameplay for me is around 10-12 hours. I think it's a bug, but at this point it just adds to the flavor 🃏