The Forgotten City

A fun time loop game with an intriguing mystery at its heart. Most of the game is dialogue, so be prepared for that, but the voice acting is solid and so is the writing. the game is a little janky but given that it was developed by a team of three, it is to be expected. Overall, a good, story-focused experience.

Some of the best writing I've seen in a game, and the ending sequence will remain as a core memory for years to come.

I played the Skyrim mod and loved it; then I saw they made a game! When the game came out I bought and played it. When I did my initial playthrough I got ending 1 and 2 and I thought "Man this was an amazing story and game" as someone who loves history they did a good job portraying the subject matter. Years later (This month) I wanted to show my GF this game and how cool it was, so we went for the "Canon Ending" (Ending 4). Let me tell you how EMBARRASSED I was when we got to the "Canon Ending". The second you meet the "Creator of the Goldren Rule" the entire game feels worthless and it ruined EVERYTHING I loved about the game. I am not going to spoil anything but the "Canon Ending" of this game is genuinely one of the WORST endings I have seen to a game. I was planning on 100% the game with my GF but after we got the "Canon Ending" I uninstalled the game and I will never touch it again. It is such a kick to the face and it is executed so poorly. The game had me actually invested in who made the rule, why, and how. Once I walked into the room where we get those answers the first thing I said was "Fuuuuuccccck, this is going to be stupid". I was right, after about 4 mins of exposition I started to just skip dialogue and it still took like 10 minutes to get past that absolute dump of information, If you see this review I still would recommend this game BUT FOR THE LOVE OF THE GODS DO NOT GO INTO THE GREAT TEMPLE, YOU CAN NOT GO BACK.

[h2]“The point is... that you are under a misconception that Forgotten City is a time-loop puzzle game. It is not. What it is really, is a fetch-quest game.”[/h2] The first half of my review is spoiler-free, after which I will leave behind a detailed account of the flaws in Forgotten City and its plot. Some of the names might be wrong because they weren’t memorable enough to remember. I was attracted to Forgotten City because I wanted to fill the void left behind by Outer Wilds, an exceptional video game with a time-looping mystery at its core that requires thought and attention. Forgotten City however is the opposite. On the contrary I walked away from the experience puzzled as to how the game can maintain such a high score AND be compared to other excellent time-looping stories like Outer Wilds. To me, it doesn’t even stand on the pedestal astride these excellent games. Forgotten City lures you in with a polished, visually stunning exterior and an interesting setting that takes place in a small Roman town frozen in time. Its citizenry are diverse and represent the cultural and racial diversity of the Roman Empire. Upon starting a fresh save, you are presented with an intriguing mystery, and numerous pathways are presented to you to find a way to open the puzzle at the game’s core. There’s the intrapersonal relationships you must build with the townfolk, then the political element of an impending election to swear in a new town magistrate which has polarized the town into two opposing camps; and even that of the religious, in which numerous religions are struggling to co-exist peacefully. Midway through the game, several reveals occur that set up the endgame. It's here that Forgotten City falls flat on its face and commits it's most heinous sin: the bait and switch. Your objective then changes. No longer do you need to worry about the time-loop, or stop the bad guy from winning the election. The real objective all along is to find four McGuffins that will unlock the final area so you may confront "the Man in the Room." 1 requires you to complete all the character sub-plots, 1 can be found in the world through exploration and 2 require you to complete the Priestess' story. All of that culminates in a lazy stupendous ending that obliterates the historical authenticity the game spends so long trying to set up. In summary, this is NOT on the same level as Outer Wilds. Do not come here looking for that experience, you won't find it. ++SPOILERS BELOW++ [spoiler] The fundamental issue with Forgotten City is that the characters and your relationships with them don't matter. At first I thought doing favours for them would allow you to influence the election (More on this later) but really they only serve as "checkmarks" on a list of variables you need to get one of the McGuffins ie the "election substory." The politics in this game was the single most disappointing element and I need to break it down into two parts. First, after Sentius reveals he retains his memories with each wipe, the game sets the stage for an epic metaphysical showdown between you and a virtual opponent. His demeanour changes, for he knows you can't defeat him. You could start and restart the game at will, pump him full of arrows or bullets, sway the votes against him, but the Golden Rule simply allows him to undo your efforts and cling onto power. After this reveal, I was left stunned. How could I possibly defeat an enemy like this? Somebody who negated my overwhelming advantage by abusing the rule of the very prison that kept everyone locked away!? This was a phenomenal reveal, almost as epic as realizing Vivec in Morrowind didn’t want to fight the player because he knew you could reload the game and fight until he died. And what happens after that? Nothing. After the reveal I became too focused on hunting the four McGuffins that I actually forgot to talk to Sentius again. He gets swept to the sidelines and ceases to matter. Second, once you unlock the main “story gates,” Galerius, who is a game mechanic originally designed to help save you time in doing the tedious fluffwork to open the story gates, is the small marble you flick to activate a very intricate Rube Goldberg machine that finishes with him getting elected as magistrate. The ONLY PHYSICAL INPUT FROM THE PLAYER is to ask the Priestess to start the election. That's when you realise the election story only exists so you can fetch McGuffin #2 of 4 required to open the temple. You don’t even need to leverage your relationships with the townfolk to build a political coalition to support Galerius, they just automatically fall in line behind him. So to sum up, your relationships with the townsfolk DON'T MATTER AT ALL. Malleolus and his gladiator minion, set up to be the initial antagonists are comically brushed aside. To achieve the canon ending, you only need to open 2 story gates: 1. Successfully elect Galerius once and free the village idiot, opening up McGuffin 2. 2. Receive the underworld reveal from the priestess (to do this you just need to ask 3 NPCs about their origin stories and report back to the priestess.) After this, the remaining 3 McGuffins can be achieved freely. McGuffin #1 can be found in the Christian cave which if you’re not careful like I was and jump in like a commando, triggers the Golden Rule because you violated Octavia’s NAP. McGuffin #3 and 4 are in the hands of a soyboy Egypt nationalist who is happy to criticize Rome and Greece for stealing Egyptian gods and culture, but gets butthurt when you make the point his gods and culture were stolen from the Sumerians. Credit where it’s due, the catacombs that migrate through the four different architectural time periods was phenomenal, showcasing how each culture evolved and changed over time. Clearly the map, environment and settings were created by someone with passion for history. Also the beautifully designed world does promote exploration, and I was able to find most of the final areas in the game relatively easily. After that, all that’s left is to open the Temple which reveals one of the stupidest laziest endings I’ve ever seen. Effectively, the arbiter of the game's mystery is an omniscient being, who in all his alien might, was forced to babysit a town of idiots because his girlfriend gave up her powers to be among them. I cringed so hard when I walked into his chamber and saw his stupid ass appearance. In my first run I did try to find a way to reason with him on moral or philosophical grounds, but instead the game shoehorns you into initiating a stupid fight and has to tell you to take Persephone's crown (when at no point was her crown EVER mentioned in the game beforehand. You then restart the loop, come back to his throne room and then "Stephen Strange" him into being your time prisoner, AND THEN HE JUST ACCEPTS IT AND LEAVES. Just like that. Replayability is a joke because 2 of the 4 endings are variations of the same. The only difference is talking to Galerius first. The substory of Sentius' daughter makes ZERO SENSE. It's only there to serve as an alternate ending. Ending 1 can be achieved within the first 30 seconds of a save by simply shooting Galerius, and then Sentius when he comes running past. The different “class” options at the start are dumb. I picked the historian trait thinking it would come in handy by opening some secret areas, dialogue options and pathways when all it did was add some useless prompts. “Do you know what this place is?” “Um yes it’s a duat! *nerd emoji*” “Ok. Moving on.” When I saw the game gave me the option to bring a literal GLOCK with me, I automatically assumed the other options would be just as strong in other elements of the game. I was wrong on that. [/spoiler]

[h1]Beautiful and Mysterious but Dumb[/h1] The game starts with the line: [quote]This is a mystery adventure with multiple endings. It rewards thoughtful conversation and exploration, not brute force. [/quote] The reason I don’t recommend this game is because it’s the exact opposite of the intention - brute force: explore everything in the city, talk to everyone, exhaust all dialog options. As you do that, new dialog options with other characters appear (or some other items become interactable) - run around the map to find those, exhaust those as well. Repeat. There are only a few clever puzzles. [h2]Dialog[/h2] At times the game tries to pull off “let’s do a clever debate” type of thing: the “correct” sequence of answers leads to progression. At the same time it’s really not clear what the game expects as the said “correct” sequence and in case of an “incorrect” input the corresponding character “blocks” (refuses to talk to you) until the rest of the day, so you either need to wait until the next loop or (as I did) quick-save quick-load. Sometimes this “debate” has a workaround. In case of Rufius, I think it doesn’t, so I needed to reload numerous times. [h2]World setting[/h2] doesn’t make sense. There will likely be social division even in the society of just 23 people, but I don’t think it’s possible to have division to the extent shown in the game (I am not an expert in this regard, so don’t quote me on that). Furthermore, our world only recently came to the state where only a tiny fraction of the population work in agriculture. At the time of the game events most people worked in agriculture. Soldier, bodyguard, servant, merchant, vestal priestess, etc. There is only a single person in the game who produces food! What?! Most people here should be fishin! “5000 denarii” from the outside wouldn’t mean anything in a city where food is the bottleneck. [h2]Pseudo time-loop[/h2] is [spoiler]mostly[/spoiler] fake. It (mostly) makes sense story-wise, but it bears almost [b]zero influence on the gameplay[/b]. The only notable exception: it took me some time to realize that [spoiler]unlike other time-loop games, the items carry on to the next cycle and it’s completely ok to “fail” the loop to get the item(s) for the next cycle[/spoiler], but this aside the entire game could have a normal time flow. I initially wanted to call it “[i]mostly[/i] fake”, but then I realized that in one important case (when you discover [spoiler]Sentilla[/spoiler]) some unrelated events ([spoiler]the magistrate Sentius coming in[/spoiler]) happen just right after your discovery … or don’t happen at all if you don’t initiate the “trigger”. This kind of “progression with coincidences” are common in normal (non time-loopy) games, but are very cheap in what is supposed to be a time loop. And there is no excuse in circumstances for this specific case: the game could make the aforementioned discovery different depending on what time of the loop you discover it in (similar to “Outer Wilds” - top-notch implementation of a time-loop game). [h2]Ending[/h2] came so abrupt. I wasn’t ready for it. As soon as you stumble on something, you get ending #2 and get revealed the main culprit(s). For me it happened before I even met all game NPCs. Then it immediately becomes clear how to get ending #1 and by the “power” of a new dialog option simply appearing for one of the characters, without any extra thought, you get ending #3. Ending #4 requires finishing the game tasks (of which there aren’t many) and then you are rewarded with a 40+ minute end dialog - what?! It’s good that it explains stuff and connects everything, but it should have been more evenly distributed across the game and it would be nice if it also required some thought to put everything together. Instead, everything’s just explained to you in one big dump at the end. Then you get a “postgame”. Game tells you about the grim fate of “the main culprit(s)”, but also shows you how all the other characters (many - really shitty culprits themselves) do well. Am I supposed to sympathize for those pieces of shit? Do I need to be glad for the killer [spoiler]Khabash[/spoiler]? [h2]Good[/h2] [list] [*]Everything is voice acted [*]Atmosphere, the city art and layout [/list] [h1]Conclusion[/h1] It shows that this game is not big-studio quality in various aspects (poor face animations, mediocre walking animation, etc.). Still it’s impressive that it was made by a core team of just three people. The game starts promising, but in fact falls very short in its most fundamental aspects (world-building, detective puzzles, real time-loop interactions). Around ≈11-13 hours (Steam seemed to remove ≈2 hours of play time) to complete and get all endings.

This game is 99% dialogue. Could be good for gamers really into story, or people that think about the Roman Empire too much. For me, there was not quite enough in the way of gameplay or unique atmosphere to keep me hooked. It does not overstay it's welcome though, and is a short and concise experience. 5/10

love the game, straight 9 outta 10, not 10 because it was a bit short but honestly i don't think it could stretch more without ruining the story's quality! thank you for this

An excellent, memorable adventure. Everything it needs to get right, it gets right. Well worth the full price.

VERY GOOD story. A lot of games today have poor writing, this was definitely refreshing, the only thing I'd like to kindly request is a way to confront the Creator about his flawed plan regarding the coins and how he spread em out for his test. you can call him out on a lot of things, but this is one that bugged me the most, and ,at least from what i can tell, i couldnt say anything about it Definitely recommend

A great riddle with a deep, nicely intertwined story and some good mechanics to reduce repetitive tasks.

[h1]You got some nice imagination there friend(s)[/h1] [i][b]>winks at Modern Storyteller[/b][/i] Considering it's AA title, this is a fricking fantastic project. I'd say, never watch someone play it, read nothing, not even reviews here, I am serious, dive in blind and have a good-ass adventure.

I played two hours and took a bit of a gamble from there that the game probably wasn't worth my time. After reading some spoilers, I was right. For all the story potential that was built up from the start of the game, this is a truly awful plot with a ludicrous ending. It's not even a fun game to play; the game does all the detective work for you and all you need to do is follow the quest markers until you eventually figure out what's going on. I'm not sure what people saw in this game that I didn't, but I can only say that I think you'll be disappointed.

Honestly loved the story telling part of the game and the graphics made it so in-depth. If you like visual novels but want to be able to make your own choices I would say this is the game for you. I would say just try and get it on some sort of sale as it only has about 8hrs of gameplay but still worth it.

One of the best games period. I did a google search on reddit for similar games and gonna play them now, that's how good this is.

good but i was so disappointed by the ending i got. it was such a mindblowing game until it turned into plot-twist philosophical slop.

What a cool game! Great use of the time-loop mechanic, and it brilliantly cuts out the tiresome repetition of a lot of time-loop games: at the start of a loop, you can tell a guy to go run around and do all the errands that need doing. With respect to all the core mystery and exploration mechanics, it is a masterclass in accessible, user-friendly design. It's hard to get stuck or frustrated, but it's not excessively hand-holding. (The "combat" mechanic is a little clunky, but it's a relatively small part of the game). Very solid writing, lots of good twists, and a lovely canon ending. I'd recommend to anyone who enjoys detective games (like Case of the Golden idol) or exploration games like Outer Wilds.

Beautiful game, engaging story and intriguing mysteries to solve! Well worth the price - and ill definitely continue playing to see the alternate endings :D

I enjoyed a majority of my time with The Forgotten City. Finding out the personal stories and foibles of all of the characters was very interesting. I also liked the mechanic of having to replay the day over and over to accomplish everything. I achieved three of the four endings; however, I didn't particularly care for any of them. (I agree with many of the longer negative reviews about the endings.) After slogging through the canon ending I decided I was done playing. I don't plan to go back to try to get any more achievements. The game works fine on Linux with Proton GE 9.26.

What I liked about this game. What I liked about this game was that. What I like about this game is that it makes you. What I liked about this game is its genius. What I like about this game was the way it builds upon itself.

8.5/10 Amazing game. unique characters, great story and engaging quests. While very simple mechanically, it has great depth for a game made by only 3 people.

Short but deeply engaging, with quality voice acting for such a small team/project. Highly recommend.

10/10 amazing game. great characters, great plotline, beautiful world and worldbuilding, fun quests, and easy to grasp mechanics. I actually felt like a cool time traveler.

I don't usually write reviews, but this game is really worth one. I started a little skeptical regarding what to expect of this game, but I realized I've found a "hidden gem", how come this is not more popular? I don't know. The game plays very well with the idea of time loops and each time it feels like it's worth investigating and does not make you waste time, it has a clever way of handling the previously solved events, the story is really solid and well done, it makes great use of various mythologies and uses them to create a great atmosphere across the story, the voice acting is great as well. The game leans more towards being more of a "dialog game" but it's handled great with interesting conversations and details. there's a section that's well developed with a little horror and action and balances out the rest very well. Considering it was a small studio that did this is great and I'd love to play more games like this or from this studio. -------------------------------------------------------------- TL:DR If you like games where conversation is important and the main focus, a good story, anything related to greek/roman mythology and solid gameplay, this is a no-brainer, it's really worth it and it proves that small studios can make great and interesting games.

I got hooked so hard on this game. Brilliant use of history & mythology (even if I disagree on the theology!). Phenomenal writing and design. The time loop conceit is so cleverly written, and it was really fun to pull at threads to see what shakes loose and then go “aha now I can do this”. I never felt the need to look up anything except for a very obvious election bug where an objective completed but didn’t change the election because a conversation bugged. Reloading fixed it 1st try. This is my 2nd favorite time loop game after Outer Wilds.

It's a very well made game that aims to deliver a very specific experience to players. It is a solid 9/10 from me. I think my only complaint is that it is a bit short but it aims to give quality over quantity. It is for people who enjoy puzzles, talking to people and figuring things out. It helps if you like time travel but I don't think that is necessary. I strongly suggest not watching someone play or watching the visual of a review (listen instead), the experience I think is easily ruined with knowledge of the contents. Suffice to say that if you enjoy games about mystery and uncovering secrets and history then this is definitely for you.

Amazing game, glad i spent 6 or 7 hours playing it. I'm not sure how much it cost but it was the same entertainment of a good movie, so for 7 hours I think that is eeesaily worth $20 or $30. Make sure to go for all endings!

Excellent and unique game; The cannon ending is a nice touch.

It`s one of the games you stumble upon... a friend tells you to play it.... and unfortunatly it`s one of the games you want to delete your memories afterwards so you can play it again. As a mythology lover all around the past cultures i had so much fun playing this one. Awesome story, great soundtrack. Couldn`t ask for more.

'The Forgotten City' is an amazing detective game on puzzle-solving and morality that has sent me into a contemplative spiral more than once. It does get a bit spooky (the golden statues turn their heads to look at you when you're not looking at them), but it is doable for even the most skittish of players. The twists and turns are well done, and the game handles the time-loop style very well. The 'true' ending was immensely satisfying to me, and I enjoyed every bit of it. 10/10. A highly-recommended game for puzzle-lovers and history nerds alike.

Solving the puzzles is rewarding. The story is good but not the best. The dialogues are a little bit corny but still interesting. I just love the [spoiler]time loop[/spoiler] mechanic and hope to see more of that.

Engaging story, attention to historical details, multiple endings

Свои 200 рублей по скидке стоит, НО - 2 и 3 концовка отличаются одной фразой и, в целом, плохо сделаны - Элемент детектива ощущается куда хуже чем в оригинальном моде. Может быть, просто у меня больше нет чувства новизны, хз - Все финальные диалоги пропитаны эпиком и имеют кучу фраз на выбор, при этом все они ведут к одному и тому же Вывод: Попытались улучшить и расширить оригинальный мод в виде полноценной игры. Вышло так себе. Для тех, кто в банке - игра основана на одноименном моде для Скайрима от тех же авторов.

Really great short form mystery. Great writing and research, I feel like I learned a lot about Roman history and life in ancient times. Wonderful environments and ambience too. Strong recommend if you like dialogue and discovery over action.

Very interesting story about history. The movements a little janky, but the complexity of the time loop makes up for it.

Enjoyed this game quite a bit and would recommend for time loop story enthusiests!

Very good game. Wish more games like this came out in recent times, alas, more live service slop it is.

The forgotten city has a nice mystery that kept me hooked during the whole experience. Each revelation felt fair and satisfying. I highly recommend going in blind and not looking up any guide or information. The ending is adequate but the weakest part of the whole experience. I think the game was perfectly spaced out and ultimately didn't overstay it's welcome.

Cool concept. Love games that introduce story through talking with people and don't deliver the broad picture so fast. Also a huge fan of thought provoking, mystery games that like to make you question what is even going on. Need more games like this, I am so glad the indie scene is catching on to what the people actually want. Double thumbs up

I put off playing this for a long time because I don't typically get into mystery and/or story-driven games. I also assumed there might not be any action in this one. Turns out, I loved it. The story was fantastic (particularly the final 1/3 or so) and the gameplay was quite enjoyable also. I would recommend this to almost anybody.

I very nearly gave up on this one like five minutes in because the opening didn't hook me, and I always get annoyed when I have to name a character and there's no default name. I'm glad I didn't though because it got a lot more interesting very quickly after that. The real strong point is probably the characters and their writing/performances. Their different backgrounds and perspectives on the situation are the main thing driving the story forward, so it's important that they're well done, and luckily they actually are. The way the mystery unfolds is pretty satisfying too, and it's definitely one of the better time loops I've seen recently. Huge bonus points for being able to get someone else to do all the repetitive stuff for you on subsequent loops instead of having to do it all yourself, and a few more bonus points for even managing to work that into the narrative too. That one feature solved my biggest problem with stuff like Majora's Mask or Outer Wilds, where I inevitably get sick of having to repeat stuff before I finish the game. The final true ending was my least favorite part of the whole thing, but it was still ok, and this can go next to other games where I liked the journey more than the destination, like 13 Sentinels.

A perfectly paced detective-type game in the vein of Outer Wilds. For something that was written about morality and different time periods, thankfully, it almost entirely avoids being preachy and woke, treating the past with a good deal of respect. One of the cooler things about the game is that the first few endings, while saving your own life, only give you half the story. Full recommend and I'm eager to see what games these fellows produce in the future.

I got this game for $6 first ending took me 6 hours, this game is well worth it with it's grand story about time looping. highly recommend 8.5/10

It isn't The Outer Wilds, but it definitely scratches the itch. Check it out

I really enjoyed this game, it's like Majora's Mask meets ancient Rome, something I think we've all been waiting for. The story and design is very good, though the writing I think can let it down at times. In many areas it really strives to be authentic but in others the writers put too much of their own opinions into the dialogue options or they impose a modern slightly political slant on these ancient characters which broke my immersion a few times. I think given the nature of this game, it would have been better with a rigid, almost brutal attention to accuracy in the characters. That's my only gripe though, all in all it's very well designed and produced.

Surprisingly interesting plot that was very fun to unravel. I was very surprised by how fun this game actually was, there were no boring segments that you needed to grind through, it was just 10 hours of really interesting story. Perfect amount of time for a video game. Most of the gameplay is talking to NPC's which can be overwhelming in the beginning because some NPC's really have a lot to say. Some are fun to side with and some are clear targets for you to prank. I'm not a fan of history, let alone Greek/Roman history but this game still really felt great to play all the way through. It reminded me a lot of how old school TES: Oblivion felt to me with how some of the side-quests played out. Similarities end there, as its not open world and is strictly a time loop based game similar to Outer Wilds with a few key differences that make it feel very unique. 9/10 - Just a solid and very fun puzzle/time loop game.

An excellent adventure game full of mystery and intrigue marred by a lack luster penultimate ending.

I rarely leave reviews, but this was a stellar sub-10-hour game. Easy to recommend to any of my friends who want something fresh to play with satisfying solutions to various problems.

I have not beaten this game YET as of the time of me writing this review. This is a wonderful storyteller with a captivating game play loop and a well done time loop mechanic and a feature to help you get right back to where you left off, no going back to repeat everything you've already done each time. I came here from the Skyrim Mod and I'm glad to say I've experienced both versions of this. If you're not sure whether or not to buy this game after playing through that mod do it! Otherwise buy it anyways... 10/10 Recommend. You will be thinking about this game for a long time.

The Forgotten City is a bite-sized gem of a game that reminded me very much of old point and click adventure games of the 1990s. But unlike games like Broken Sword 5 which slavishly attempt to recreate the exact experience of those older games, Forgotten City takes the concept and overlays it in an interface similar to games like Skyrim. It'd be good to think of it like a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book with a graphical overlay. Now, the game isn't perfect. There is quite a lot of jank and the graphics look like something from circa 2006, but the story is compelling and the characters are just realistic enough to make you enjoy talking to them. I was able to complete the story in about 8 hours, unlocking half of the achievements, so I imagine if you were a 100% completionist, you might be able to double that time. I bought the game on a Steam sale for about $5, and I'd say it was well worth it. I hope the developers make some more games with a similar kind of feel and gameplay loop. Not all games need to be 140 hour long super immersive slogs. This is the perfect game for someone to pick up for a few hours after work without feeling the need to commit to a long term engagement.

Reminiscent of outer wilds - fun, mysterious, and deeply introspective. Had a great time playing this and really made me think in more than just game mechanics!