09/30/2026 - Besu's Best Games
Besu Tadesse is back with another horror game review! This week, he brings us his thoughts on The Cursed Forest.
Some spoilers ahead... proceed with caution.
THE CURSED FOREST
reviewed by Besu Tadesse
Released in February 2019, The Cursed Forest is a first-person adventure puzzle horror game developed by KPy3O and Noostyche and published by Grable Team. You play as an unnamed protagonist trotting through the aforementioned cursed forest on a mission to find out where your family has disappeared, finding yourself among the trees and avoiding the trapped spirits that lurk.
The atmosphere and vibes are right – the environment is inhabited by dark entities that take on the shapes of various woodland and swamp creatures. A cursed rabbit, a dark stag, frogs and other sea creatures that lurk around you. The gameplay is rather slow at first as you rely on the environment and pathways to guide you. Finding your way can be difficult at times (as to be expected by a cursed forest), and there are several save points to help you find your bearings and sustain your progress. Gameplay feels slow at first as your gather yourself, but toward the end of the first section, you begin to get dragged deeper into the world. There are several ways to find yourself killed by the forest, many of which result in gaining a new Steam trophy – a nice touch by the developers to make your inevitable missteps feel like you’re unlocking something new. The game is also supported in 8 languages, a good touch for those that want to chat with international friends.
There are some slight issues with the game that are admitted openly by the developers. The environment has some texture issues at times, and the movement can be occasionally sluggish. In my initial playthrough, there were times where I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to take a risky move and court death, or if that was the intended play (fun fact: the reward system for dying proves it’s all intended play). Still, there were plenty of fun jump scares and shadow creatures darting around as you collect human bones and juicy lore to keep the momentum going.
The Cursed Forest is available on PC via Steam. It’s very generous to those that have only a few minutes to spare for a game session, so give it a try. Enjoy!
MORE ABOUT BESU TADESSE
An author based in Maryland, Besu Tadesse loves to write horror and speculative fiction. He has published two books – The Ghosts of Poplar Valley, a paranormal horror novella about our history’s echoes into the present, and Broken Persons, a short story collection that deals with broad themes of grief, trauma, and speculation on the future.
His short stories have been included in several works, including Devour the Rich!, Arsenic and Grandma’s Refrigerator: Horror Told in Colours, Dark and Dreary: A Basement Horror Anthology, A Chronicle of Horrors: An Anthology, Recipes for Newlyweds: Stories of Marital Bliss, With Teeth: A Dark Fiction Anthology, and several upcoming projects. He also works as a gaming writer and reviewer for Calcopia and Uncomfortably Dark.
You can find him on all social media platforms under the handle @stickybearartist.
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