Cosmic and Lovecraftian horror Horror puzzle PS1 horror Short horror

A Place, Forbidden

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Wake in a cursed library that reads you back.

Platforms: PC
Stores: Steam, itch.io
Price: Free
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (85% of 460 reviews); 4.6 of 5 on itch.io (76 ratings)
Length: about 1 hour
Players: 1
Controls: WASD to move, mouse to look, F for flashlight, Ctrl to crouch, left click to interact, Esc for the menu.
Made by: Poison The Inkwell (Conor Walsh, Dennis Müller, Gábor Papp, Aidan Cushing)
Released: 2020

Get it on Steam itch.io (name your own price)

What frightens You wake with no memory in the Library of Ouroboros, a library rumoured to hold knowledge not meant for mortal eyes; something rings in the distance, you feel strangely hot, and far more than one pair of eyes seem to watch your every movement and read your thoughts.

A Place, Forbidden is a free first-person, lo-fi horror-puzzle game. You wake with no memory in the Library of Ouroboros, a place said to hold knowledge not meant for mortal man, and solve its puzzles and read its books while something unseen watches. It takes about an hour.

About A Place, Forbidden

A Place, Forbidden is a free horror game by a small team credited as Poison The Inkwell: Conor Walsh on writing and design, Dennis Müller on scripting and design, Gábor Papp on 3D modelling and Aidan Cushing on scripting. It began as a demo on the 2020 Haunted PS1 Demo Disc and came out in full on Steam and itch.io in June 2020. The makers say it is and shall remain completely free.

You awaken in the Library of Ouroboros with no memory of how you arrived, only scraps of having searched for it. The air reeks of dust, old wood and something harder to place. There may be a distant ringing, or it may be your imagination. You feel strange and hot, and it seems that many eyes are watching your every movement and reading your thoughts like words on the yellowed pages of an ancient book.

It plays in first person with a flashlight, in a lo-fi, low-poly look: a reading room with an ouroboros knot on the wall, candlelit stacks, a staircase that twists and breaks, a courtyard of dead trees on a blood-red carpet, a red, wound-like shape on a wall. There is a variety of puzzles and no small amount of reading; the makers say the notes and books are not always needed to progress, but skipping them takes away from the experience.

It takes about an hour. It suits players who like quiet, literary cosmic horror and old-library atmosphere, such as The Last Door or Conarium, and anyone looking for a free game from the Haunted PS1 scene.

How to play A Place, Forbidden

Download it free from Steam, or from itch.io at a price you choose (Windows).
Wake in the Library of Ouroboros and look around the reading room.
Use the flashlight (F) in dark rooms and crouch (Ctrl) where you need to.
Read the notes and books you find for clues and story.
Solve the Library's puzzles to open the way deeper in, until you reach an ending.

Screenshots

Candlelit book stacks in a dark corner of the Library

A courtyard of dead trees around a blood-red carpet, with a dark figure among them

A staircase twisted and broken in a room strewn with papers

A red, wound-like shape on the wall of a dark room

Tips

Read everything: the makers say skipping the books takes away from the experience.
Keep the flashlight handy in the darker stacks.
Look again at rooms after solving a puzzle; the Library changes.
Play it in one sitting; it takes about an hour.