Forbidden Solitaire

Forbidden Solitaire is at its best when it’s being a new old game, perfectly capturing the look and feel of a spooky, experimental FMV horror game made for PCs in the 1990s. It’s at its worst when it’s trying to be a metatextual tribute to creepypasta-style storytelling. And in the middle, there’s a pretty good take on Tri Peaks solitaire that uses modern roguelike-style mechanics without just being another roguelike. And as a bonus, the story about business and creativity clashing in the middle of the cheeky horror and meta stuff is much better than the stuff it’s sandwiched between. With a pitch-perfect runtime this experience doesn’t come close to overstaying its welcome, and ends up being one of the more memorable games of its ilk as a result. If you like card games and horror stories that play in the bizarre, and you’re sick of roguelikes and everything being 30 hours long, Forbidden Solitaire is a bullseye.