Red Forest, developed and published by BiscuitPlay, is a small-scale indie horror-survival game that attempts to immerse players in the eerie, post-apocalyptic atmosphere of the Chernobyl exclusion zone. Built around the mythos of a mysterious creature known only as “Rake,” the game places you in the role of an unnamed hunter—enticed by promises of discovery, danger, and financial reward. It’s a premise that holds immediate intrigue: a haunted forest, scientific mystery, an elusive monster, and a sense of isolation in a setting inspired by one of the most radioactive places on Earth. From concept alone, Red Forest presents itself as a horror journey into the unknown, combining suspense, exploration, and survival mechanics.
At first glance, the game’s atmosphere does seem to live up to expectations. The environment is dense with dark trees, unlit trails, and long silences punctuated by the occasional forest noise. There’s an effective use of natural ambience—wind, footsteps, distant animal calls—which helps maintain a level of tension. The setting is cold and remote, with a constant feeling that something is watching you. The idea of a hidden threat somewhere in the woods gives the player reason to tread carefully. For a short time, this is genuinely compelling. Unfortunately, the illusion begins to unravel once you realize how little the game does to support the tension with meaningful gameplay.
One of the main criticisms surrounding Red Forest is how directionless it feels. Once the player is dropped into the world, there’s minimal instruction or guidance about what to do or where to go. The map, if any, is not intuitive, and objectives are vague to nonexistent. While some survival and horror games thrive on minimalism and discovery, Red Forest takes it too far—it often feels like you're wandering aimlessly through repetitive terrain, unsure whether you’ve triggered progress or are simply wasting time. The lack of narrative progression or even environmental storytelling means that much of the playtime is spent in a sort of static limbo, waiting for something—anything—to happen.
The central feature—the hunt for the creature known as Rake—is underdeveloped and inconsistently executed. Despite being advertised as a central gameplay loop, the monster often doesn’t appear, or does so without clear triggers or pacing. Players have reported long sessions without a single meaningful encounter. For a game built on the suspense of hunting or being hunted, this severely undercuts the player’s motivation. When the payoff never comes, the sense of dread turns into boredom. Even acquiring weapons through the in-game arms dealer feels underwhelming when there’s little opportunity to use them. You can gear up, patrol the forest, set out on the hunt—but if the monster doesn’t appear, all your preparation feels wasted.
Technically, the game shows its limitations. Controls feel sluggish and imprecise, which is especially noticeable during tense moments when responsiveness is key. The animations are stiff, and interaction prompts are either poorly placed or completely missing. Graphically, the forest is decent enough in style, using fog and darkness effectively, but the assets are reused frequently and don’t evolve much throughout exploration. There is little to no environmental variation, and the lack of distinct landmarks makes navigation feel like a loop through the same patch of trees. On the audio front, the design does a passable job of building atmosphere, but without gameplay events to support it, even eerie sounds start to feel empty.
It’s also worth noting the game’s technical stability, or lack thereof. Bugs and glitches are fairly common—objects not loading, NPCs failing to interact, or the game simply not responding as intended. There have also been reports of performance issues even on modest hardware setups, which is surprising given the relatively simple graphics. Compounding the issue is the lack of updates or developer communication since release. With many players posting negative reviews citing the same problems over multiple years, it becomes clear that Red Forest lacks the post-launch support needed to fix or improve its core systems.
Despite these shortcomings, there is still a sliver of value here for a very specific audience. For those drawn purely to the setting—the creepy, radioactive isolation of a Chernobyl-like forest—there is a certain allure in simply walking through it. The premise of a hidden, dangerous creature living in the woods has potential, and there are moments where the game almost captures that sense of dread. At its very best, Red Forest can feel like a meditative, eerie stroll through a haunted wilderness. However, those moments are fleeting, and they are far outweighed by long stretches of gameplay where nothing happens, and where the systems meant to engage the player fall short.
In its current form, Red Forest feels more like a prototype than a full-fledged experience. It introduces interesting ideas—cryptid hunting, survival horror in an Eastern European setting, minimalist immersion—but never capitalizes on them. The monster encounters are rare and unmemorable, the objectives unclear, and the game world too sparse to sustain long play sessions. Its low price point may attract curious players, but even as a budget horror title, it struggles to justify the time investment. What could have been a gripping, atmospheric hunt for a legendary creature instead becomes a lonely walk through an empty forest. It’s a game with ambition but little follow-through, and unless BiscuitPlay revisits it with major updates or a full redesign, Red Forest is likely to remain a forgettable entry in the indie horror genre.
Rating: 3/10
