Tales of the Black Forest

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Trapped in a cursed Japanese town of yokai, the way out lies in its past.

Platforms: PC
Stores: Steam
Price: Paid
Rated: Overwhelmingly Positive on Steam (98% of 15,555 reviews)
Length: about 3.5 hours (Digital Fantasy Diary review)
Players: 1
Controls: Keyboard (arrow keys to move, confirm to interact) or mouse
Made by: Shiying Studio (拾英工作室)
Released: 2019

What frightens High school student Kihara Kashin is trapped in Kuromori-cho, a near-empty Japanese town overshadowed by a surging dark power and full of yokai, and can only escape by travelling into its past. Rainy night streets, a shuttered theatre and a fogged forest of will-o'-the-wisps set the mood, and a critic describes chase sequences and graphically violent, disturbing scenes set against its gentler mome
Content: violence, disturbing imagery, chase sequences.

Tales of the Black Forest is a pixel-art horror adventure made in RPG Maker by the small Chinese team Shiying Studio. A schoolgirl who can see yokai is trapped in the dark town of Kuromori-cho and must travel back through its history to escape, meeting spirits, cats and something much worse along the way.

About Tales of the Black Forest

Tales of the Black Forest was released on Steam in September 2019 by Shiying Studio (拾英工作室), a team the store describes as two developers; the maker has said in an interview that he built it in RPG Maker. It is played in English, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, and Japanese.

High school student Kihara Kashin is trapped by an unknown force in Kuromori-cho. There she runs into Kiritani Yuki, who tells her the only way out is to travel into the town's past. The story, set in Japan's Heisei era and told in three chapters, mixes historical events with the makers' own invention, and leads into the secrets of the town and its world of yokai.

You walk the town's streets, stations and shops in top-down pixel art, talk to its strange residents, and solve puzzles and riddles to move on. The store page also promises plenty of cats and Easter eggs. Critics note that the tone shifts sharply: cosy, cute scenes sit beside chases and graphically violent moments, and the story's darker turns come without warning.

It suits players who like story-led RPG Maker horror in the line of Ib or Misao, with a Japanese setting, yokai folklore and a mystery that is unpicked by visiting the past.

How to play Tales of the Black Forest

Walk Kihara around Kuromori-cho and examine anything that stands out.
Talk to everyone you meet; the story and many clues come through dialogue.
Solve the puzzles and riddles that block your way.
Travel into the town's past when the story allows it, and follow each of the three chapters through.
Run when something starts to chase you.

Screenshots

Tales of the Black Forest screenshot: Kihara stands in the rain at the taped-off entrance of the Kuromori-cho theatre at night

Tales of the Black Forest screenshot: a figure on a forest path in thick fog, between rows of lanterns and blue will-o'-the-wisps

Tales of the Black Forest screenshot: a woman in a green kimono greets Kihara in a pixel-art cat cafe

Tips

Save often, especially before you enter a new area.
Read notes and signs; riddles often answer themselves in the text around them.
Look around for the Easter eggs and bonuses the makers scattered through the town.