Note: This is for the C64 version.

Forbidden Forest is an early attempt to make a horror game by taking some action elements and taking place in a spooky forest filled with monsters and demons. While the atmosphere is praiseworthy, the gameplay is most certainly not.

The player controls an archer with fifty arrows. The player may move left and right while using the fire button to load an arrow and fire. Between moving left and right the player may aim their bow in a limited arc, allowing some angles of fire. A variety of creatures will run at the player, be it spiders, bees, frogs, dragons, skeletons, snakes, and a fearsome demogorgon. Most of these things will rush you in a heartbeat, meaning your shot has to be perfect or the glacial pace of reloading and moving will mean certain death. This, unfortunately, is paired with very limited aiming that will often miss very small targets for collision and in some cases (especially the skeletons and phantom) zip right through them as if the arrow wasn't there.

What can be said that's good are the graphics. The forest is patched with leaves changing color on the trees, lightning strikes and a surprisingly realistic moon as the night falls deeper, and details that really set the mood for the game. Most enemies are one-hit kills that just tend to swarm the player without warning for a quick kill but the final fight against the Demogorgon is somewhat interesting due to the invisible nature of the demon and the player's need to detect sprite intersections as they move in order to see it. The audio ranges from an oppressive and eerie theme to phantom shrieks that make you want to mute the computer.

Forbidden Forest is a quick game if you know what you're doing, aren't going through all four difficulty levels, and/or have amazing luck because this game is stiff, nasty, and plenty frustrating. Also, get prepared for several loading screens in the form of a lengthy victory dance! In a ten-minute game!