The game is part of Digital Eclipse's Gold Master Series of interactive documentaries, which are presented as a historical timeline, featuring interviews with key people in the development of Tetris such as Alexey Pajitnov and Henk Rogers, alongside several playable games.
Tetris Forever includes several different Tetris games. These include a recreation of Alexey Pajitnov's version of Tetris for the Electronika 60, the 1988 Apple II version developed by Spectrum Holobyte, and several other Tetris titles developed by Bullet-Proof Software between 1988 and 1998, some of which have never been released outside of Japan.[3][6][7] A new game included in the compilation is Tetris Time Warp, which supports up to four players. During the game, special pieces will drop that changes the gameplay style to an earlier Tetris version, and the player must clear a challenge to return the game to normal.[4]
Games
The following games are included in Tetris Forever:[6][8][9][10]
Tetris Forever was developed by Digital Eclipse, who had developed similar interactive documentaries in the past.[3][4][5] It was first announced during a Nintendo Direct stream on August 27, 2024; while the collection excludes games developed by Nintendo, their NES version was revealed to be heading to Nintendo Switch Online in the same announcement. In October, Digital Eclipse revealed that the MS-DOS versions of Tetris by AcademySoft and Spectrum HoloByte would be included in the release. Chris Kohler, the game's editorial director, said these additions involved "a lot of work went into being able to make this simple announcement."[9] Additional games are planned for inclusion via free updates, beginning with the MS-DOS version of Welltris in December 2024.[11]
Critics commented on the documentary portion of the Tetris Forever, with Ollie Reynolds of NintendoLife saying it was "certainly the best breakdown of the franchise's creation and evolution so far."[5] Christian Donlan of Eurogamer wrote that the best parts of Tetris Forever was when its documentary "steps away from the familiar story, the familiar falling shapes, the familiar talking heads and talking points, and makes Tetris feel really weird again."[13]
Willem Hilhorst of Nintendo World Report complimented the emulation of the games, noting that they even captured the slow down of the original versions.[14] Critics generally found the game lacked some key titles to play, such as titles developed by Nintendo.[13][14][15]
In December 2024, Tetris Forever was nominated for a 2025 British Academy Games Award for Game Beyond Entertainment, an award for video games which "raise awareness through empathy and emotional impact, to engage with real world problems, or to make the world a better place."[19]
