Forbidden Solitaire
Main game
3.21 average rating based on 14 ratings
- Developers
- Grey Alien Games
- Publishers
- Grey Alien Games, Night Signal Entertainment
- Events
- InterfaceX26 Showcase, Second Wind Games Showcase - Spring 2026, +6 moreInterfaceX26 Showcase, Second Wind Games Showcase - Spring 2026, 2025 Indie Game 15 Second Showcase, The Horror Game Awards: Halloween Showcase 2025, Clemmy's Best Indie Games Fall Showcase 2025, IndieMania 2025 The Sequel!, Games To Get Excited About Fest 2025, Six One Indie Showcase - May 22nd, 2025 less
- Platforms
- PC (Microsoft Windows)
- Genres
- Card & Board Game, Point-and-click, Strategy, Visual Novel
- Themes
- Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Survival
- Steam
- View on Steam
Release Dates
User Stats
How Long Is Forbidden Solitaire?
Fantastic throwback
This review is for the PC (Microsoft Windows) version
Wow, what a great little game. Brings me back to the old days staying up way too late playing dungeon crawlers on the living room PC, as well as the strangely mesmerizing fun of Windows 98 games like Lose Your Marbles, Dino Cards and--obviously--Solitaire.
Fun premise, very fun execution; this one is just absolutely teeming with charm. The graphics are perfect, the exact era it was once so easy to lose yourself within, which is always funny considering how much more difficult it can be to immerse in ultra-realism graphics nowadays. There's just something about this era of art that made your imagination truly run wild.
The card play itself is nothing overly complex, but it stays fun straight through both endings; this isn't a deck builder or card-game, it truly is Solitaire, however there is a system of power cards (jokers) and such that bring strategy into the mix, if you so choose.
There's not much else to say beyond how much I sincerely loved my time with this one. Been a good while since a game grabbed me so quickly and made me have to stay up late to finish it.
Watered down Inscryption
Well, this game turned out to be exactly what I expected. After my experience with the dev's last game, Home Safety Hotline, I was pretty conservative with my excitement. That is a game that should have been a home run for me - I am a sucker for PC simulator type games (Cyber Manhunt, Greyhat, Simulacra), and I also love horror / found footage type games. But it just... didn't really go anywhere.
Here, you have a great concept for an almost Inscryption / Among Ashes / Buddy Simulator 1984 / Pony Island type game - a abandoned 80's cd-rom game of Solitaire that was banned after parental complaints.
The game plays like a text-based dungeon crawler with 90% of the playtime being straight up solitaire. And yes, the game does expand on the Solitaire mechanics with wild cards, curses, combat, and other variations - but it just never really hooked me.
Unlike Inscryption, which single-handedly made me fall in love with deck builders and SIMULTANEOUSLY was an incredible meta horror game, this just... does neither very well. The Solitaire gameplay is just easy and mindless, and the added complexities only made it more tedious and confusing rather than challenging …
Well, this game turned out to be exactly what I expected. After my experience with the dev's last game, Home Safety Hotline, I was pretty conservative with my excitement. That is a game that should have been a home run for me - I am a sucker for PC simulator type games (Cyber Manhunt, Greyhat, Simulacra), and I also love horror / found footage type games. But it just... didn't really go anywhere.
Here, you have a great concept for an almost Inscryption / Among Ashes / Buddy Simulator 1984 / Pony Island type game - a abandoned 80's cd-rom game of Solitaire that was banned after parental complaints.
The game plays like a text-based dungeon crawler with 90% of the playtime being straight up solitaire. And yes, the game does expand on the Solitaire mechanics with wild cards, curses, combat, and other variations - but it just never really hooked me.
Unlike Inscryption, which single-handedly made me fall in love with deck builders and SIMULTANEOUSLY was an incredible meta horror game, this just... does neither very well. The Solitaire gameplay is just easy and mindless, and the added complexities only made it more tedious and confusing rather than challenging and exciting.
But the meta horror stuff? Very tame, very expected. If you've played other games in the genre, I just don't think this did anything different than I have seen before. Granted, I bailed before the ending... but that was after playing hours past I had lost interest.
If you want a truly amazing and mindbending meta horror game - Among Ashes all day. Incredible game that gets under your skin and fully utilizes the meta aspects of the narrative. If you want amazing addictive gameplay combines with an interesting and unique horror game - Inscryption. And I guess if you want a watered down and easy solitaire meta horror game... play this.
2.5/10
This game is like peanut butter and chocolate. Except it's Solitaire and crack.