You have to realize that when you go in one direction it may curve. For example, you may go west from a location which then enters the next location on its south side.

just because you go one direction in zork does not mean u can go back that way. paths are not always straight lines

Ok so I came here with the same question, but when I go from the house to W into the forest, then none of the 8 directions will lead me back to the house (neither does in/out/up/down/etc).

I am randomly typing out directions and none of it makes sense. Impossible to map out.

Mapping is very tricky in these games. Going west from "west of house" is a one-way trip to "forest". From "forest" you can go north to "clearing" from which you can go south to the "forest path" and from there south again to "north of house"; or from "forest" you can go east directly to "forest path"; or from "forest" you can go south which then takes you to a different "forest" location from which if you go west you'll be back at the original "forest" location, or if you go north from this new "forest" location you'll be in a different "clearing" which is directly east of the house "behind house" (note if you go south from this "clearing" you be back at the second "forest" location. If you go north from this second "clearing", you'll be at yet a third "forest" location).

Mapping becomes an art. Many find it easier to map if you drop objects at locations to be used as landmarks.... but in some of the infocom games, the devs are devious and may put a NPC in the game who picks up the objects you drop :-)

Thank you. I spent 2 hours mapping out the starting region (forests, clearings, house, up to canyon) and noticed the one-way directions and equally named locations. I have stopped playing, this is just too much for me to handle and not enjoyable.

Interactive fiction games are not everyone's cup of tea while others get immense satisfaction from solving the riddles (mapping being one of the riddles). I too found it frustrating when I came across one-way paths with no obvious reason for being one-way (for example, jumping down from a higher height).

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/750340704824530042/0838A9E87FC3CBEF1C66CD2F81B33FE64E6D8D70/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

https://archive.org/details/zork-i-ii-iii-maps

it took me actually forever to figure out that stuff curves and that theres some one way stuff, even using a map loll

https://web.mit.edu/marleigh/www/portfolio/Files/zork/transcript.html

http://www.eristic.net/games/infocom/zork2.html

https://struckus.tripod.com/Zork3walk.htm