Retro Flashback: Forbidden Forest

Forbidden Forest © 1983 COSMI / Paul Norman (C-64)

It's getting to be that time of the year.. you know, where things go bump in the night- the moon is full and there's a noticeable chill in the autumn air... (ok.. It's actually quite balmy). But seriously, what could be a better time to check out one of computer gaming's best examples of action horror?

I'm talking about none other than Forbidden Forest by Paul Norman for the Commodore 64. This is one of the first games I ever played on the C-64.. and while it's not much to look at visually, it did sport a ton of great features for the time it was released. Such as four difficulty levels (Innocent, Trooper, Daredevil and Crazy), six stages, parallax scrolling, context sensitive music, real-time environments (day and night cycles) and a hoard of baddies to slaughter.

From the cassette:

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Your character is an archer armed with a bow and four quivers of arrows per level. You move through the forest doing battle with various baddies such as bees, frogs, spiders, dragons, skeletons, snakes, wizards and the dreaded demogorgon.

These days, horror games are a dime a dozen with both Resident Evil and Silent Hill being the two popular series that most people are familiar with. However, If you're wondering what scary fun was like almost thirty years ago, be sure to check out Forbidden Forest!

Download the game here.