The Forgotten City

The Forgotten City is a narrative-detective time loop game. According to the plot, you went to an ancient Roman city, the inhabitants of which live according to one single “golden” rule: “The many shall suffer for the sins of the one.” At the same time, no one knows exactly what actions fall under the definition of sin, so you need to be careful even when choosing the next phrase in dialogues with NPCs. One awkward action will lead to the wrath of the local god and all the people will be turned into golden statues. However, after the “golden rule” has been broken, you can go back to the past and, with new items and knowledge about the city and its population, try again to get out of the trap in which you find yourself. The Forgotten City can be commended for its well-crafted game world, it's fun to explore, learn something new or just walk around, as well as the characters that are interesting and fun to talk to. Almost the entire game consists of talking to NPCs and running between them, diluted with jokes in the environment and battles with enemies in some parts of the city. Dialogues sometimes “sin” with the illusion of choice, and the passage of some tasks is not entirely obvious, but I did not find any annoying moments: the game is well assembled both technically and in terms of design. I can clearly recommend The Forgotten City to lovers of good stories and fans of TES: Skyrim from the mod to which this game actually turned out.

Back when I first had Game Pass, The Forgotten City was just fresh on my mind as the new hot game in town. I decided to check it out and I almost fell asleep in the first hour. Not knowing what to expect, I thought that the game had a lot more busywork and investigative stuff that I need to make mental notes of, so I unceremoniously dumped the game in favor of another title. Probably Far Cry 3, where there's decidedly lesser, even nonexistent investigation going on, unless you count looking at the recipe screen to find that lone animal skin you need to upgrade that ammo pouch.

Days and months go by, and news comes in, The Forgotten City is leaving Game Pass. Usually, I let titles leave the service without checking them out, but since the game only takes a few hours to finish according to people on the internet, and it was an uneventful weekend day for me, I decided to install it again the day before it was leaving Game Pass, to see if I can salvage anything before it goes out. I'm really glad I did, so much so that I ended up getting all the achievements for the title.

The biggest enemy of the game for anyone playing it is the first hour. Usually, this is when people, even I, assume that there will be a lot of things that are going to happen that needs a lot of investment from the player, and since that well looked bottomless, most people will probably never see through the game. At a certain point though, the game just clicks. Eventually, everything in the game will come into play, and it's not at all a daunting experience. Every character has their place, and every strand of their plight makes sense into the context of the game.

One of the things that I thought would make the game a chore was when I opened up the game's controls, it showed combat. I wasn't sure how that would fit in a relatively short game like this, but the way the game handled it without spoiling anything is so great.

The story, I will keep under wraps due to the nature of the title, but it's one of the best narratives I've seen for quite some time, with a payoff for the best ending so good it almost borders towards fanfiction. It's just a great payoff that truly will satisfy anyone who takes the time to see through all of the game's endings.

The cons for me aside from the aforementioned first hour is that on the platform I played on, the audio has this weird dual-sounding sound that is annoying at first, but I guess I learned to tune it out. The facial animations could've been better as well, but the cast really nails the vocal delivery so it isn't a big bother. The level design is really great as well.

The game plays with its themes very well and you can see the developers put a lot of thought into everything, the consequences of your actions, the way it ties to the main story, it's pretty impressive.

I cannot wait for the next title from the makers of this game, and if you love narrative/adventure games, don't pass this one up.

One of the better less-gamey games I've played in a while, The Forgotten City started engaging and only got moreso with time. While the presentation isn't much from a technical standpoint, the charm and care taken with the writing and performances and art direction are undeniable, and elevate an already great story that melds historical fiction with period fact, philosophical navel-gazing and even mystery and time travel. Some of the end-game plot twists are a bit too sci-fi and weird to match the setting, but as a story already built on time travel from the off, I'm okay with some liberties being taken, and the writing is just dense enough to be meaty and satisfying, but intuitive enough to make sense for dullards like me, a rare balancing act and something to be truly commended.

And while what little combat there is is stilted and crappy, unlike The Sinking City or so, it doesn't get in the way of a great adventure that doesn't overstay its welcome. Even more ambitious fare like 999 comes out looking better, and the only reason this isn't getting a higher score is because it can be improved upon, but that I want to see this framework revisited and polished is praise enough.

'The Forgotten City' is an atmospheric story-driven adventure, you're placed in a random city hundreds of years ago with no clue to what's going on and what happened to you. Your first discovery is the most important one to kick you into the main plot: there's a "Golden Rule" in this city, which is, if one person sins, everyone dies.

This is one of the rare cases for me that I keep coming back, thinking about how I liked playing this one specific game I did not cared that much about while playing it. I even raised my initial rate for it, which I haven't done before, ever. It's such a good and interesting plot mixed with perfect progression, finishing the true ending in one sit is really effortless.

The writting really shines, every character contributes to the charming experience, every single one has a personality and a purpose, everything story-wise is very cohesive. Discovering the actual main plot is mind-blowing, and really feels like the game's pacing just gets better and better the closest you get to the ending.

Now, as you progress, the game tends to get very philosophical, and can easily be mistaken to be taken way more seriously than it should. As a indie game, of course it contains thoughts and opinions directly from their devs, and the player may or may not agree with them. Even though you may disagree to some extent with some scenes or dialogues, I really don't think it should ruin the experience to play this game, it's fun and entertaining as it is.

Gameplay-wise, it is a buggy game. A lot of polishing could be done, some animations are very clunky, but, once again, it's a very ambitious indie game, and there's nothing game breaking (at least in my experience). Dialogue choices and missions are fine, more action-adventure segments are my least favourite, although they're not bad, just a bit repetitive. Overall, gameplay is decent enough to not be a burden, it is enough to support the good writing and plot.

This is not the perfect game, there are hundreds out there technically better, but there's something about this unusual experience that sticks to you, and I'm hoping to find other fun games with such good story in a not so overly-complex universe.

Forgotten City is a Skyrim mod brough to life as a standalone title, delivering a game that is all about exploration and people skills.

You can tell from the start its humble origins, from the walking animations, to the potato faces and talking heads in speach, as well as the proper talking UI. It feels outdated, but you get used to it as it goes along. There are optional combat areas, and these are very janky and quite honestly mediocre. They give the game some variety.

The setting is really interesting, as you play as a new member of a roman underground city which feels doomed from the start, as the gods will turn everyone into gold if someone causes a sin. Its from this premise that the games writing really shines, as each of the 20 or so characters of the game has a different perspective on the golden rule, and you must explore the world to prevent characters from breaking this golden rule. There is some openess to the way that you solve the games problems, again encouraging you to explore its short but dense world.

As the story unfolds, the game goes deep into discussions about moralism, divinity and politics. The writers have a clear stance on the matter, but truthfully im fine with that.

Overal its an entertaining game, definitly addictive in the later stages when you want to watch the whole story unfold.