Commissar SFLUFAN Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 Official site Quote The Forgotten City is a mystery adventure game of deduction that rewards thoughtful conversation with richly detailed, deeply interactive characters and exploration of an authentic, open-world ancient Roman city. Players will grapple with moral dilemmas as they investigate a gripping, non-linear mystery with multiple endings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissar SFLUFAN Posted July 28, 2021 Author Share Posted July 28, 2021 Game Information Game Title: The Forgotten City Platforms: PC (Jul 28, 2021) Developer: Modern Storyteller Publisher: Dear Villagers Review Aggregator: OpenCritic - 82 average - 86% recommended Critic Reviews WellPlayed - 10 / 10 Quote The Forgotten City is a beauty to behold no matter the eye, a deeply contemplative story matched with wonderful puzzles based in classical antiquity. GamePitt - 9.5 / 10 Quote Ironically, The Forgotten City is a game I’ll never forget – it’s a brilliant narrative adventure that requires you to think about how your actions will affect others in order to achieve your goal. I never played the original mod but if it was even half as good as this, I can see why it was universally praised by the three million people who played it – it’s a very unique and well-executed concept combined with an interesting narrative, fun gameplay, satisfying multi-possibility solutions, and trophies that push you to change the way you play the game. All-in-all, it’s a fantastic experience that is best played with no guides or walkthrough, simply set aside a few hours and see if you can solve the many small events which lead up to the big mystery. TechRaptor - 9.5 / 10 Quote The Forgotten City tells an immersive and incredible story. Combined with the beautiful city itself, the secrets of Modern Storyteller's first official release beg to be unraveled. Bazimag - Persian - 9 / 10 Quote The Forgotten City’s biggest asset is its intricate story with so many great twist and turns but as game made by a very small team, the graphics and voice acting are also surprisingly top notch. This is one of those great mods that has become an even better stand-alone game. GamingTrend - 90 / 100 Quote A masterclass in narrative driven storytelling. Every character is important and every choice could lead to your doom. Play it and see if you can solve the mystery for yourself! IGN - 9 / 10 Quote The Forgotten City does a fabulous job exploring interesting moral quandaries through excellently written dialogue and characters. JVL - French - 18 / 20 Quote In the genre, it has been years since such a "confidential" puzzle/adventure game (4 people) had not been so blown away by its script and its mastery of the narrative. Even if the branches are not infinite and the lifespan is ultimately quite limited, the game questions as much as it fascinates. PC Invasion - 9 / 10 Quote Deftly written, smart, and consistently clever, The Forgotten City makes for a rousing, spirited adventure that is well worth taking part in. I wish it were longer, but that doesn't do much to knock what has been accomplished here. TheGamer - 4.5 / 5 stars Quote Ultimately, though, The Forgotten City is one of those games that will inspire other games for years to come. It’s absurd to think it was mostly developed by a three-person team, and yet the clear, unanimous focus a team this small permits is evident throughout the entire game. It is clever not just in terms of its story or themes, but in how it packages and delivers those themes through one of the most inspired and tight gameplay loops I’ve seen in a long time. WayTooManyGames - 9 / 10 Quote The Forgotten City is a game unlike any I’ve ever experienced before. I wasn’t kidding when I said I couldn’t put it down. Then I went back and played it again with a different character. I am truly shocked that this game was developed by only three people! The creative concept, smooth controls, clever time-looping mechanic, and stunning graphics are on par with the quality of work of some major studios. 33bits - Spanish - 85 / 100 Quote The Forgotten City transports us fully to the Roman era and does it with great skill, with a totally engaging story and very original gameplay mechanics that together work wonders. The recreation of the Roman villa is spectacular and we will not stop until we discover all its secrets. To put the negative point, the performance and the graphic section is not his forte. NoobFeed - 85 / 100 Quote The Forgotten City offers a lot of great replay value for those looking to solve compelling story puzzles in multiple ways. PlayStation LifeStyle - 8.5 / 10 Quote The Forgotten City is a consistently engaging mystery that I couldn't help but get trapped in. It features an amazing blend of narrative mystery buoyed by some fun bouts of exploration and light combat, just enough to really break up the pace. It's a game that encourages you to put pressure on its established boundaries to see what you can break and change. There's a brilliant web of mystery within a time loop that you can manipulate, delivering some great and clever commentary around a whole bunch of topics. Seeing how far Modern Storyteller has come from "The Forgotten City" mod to this full game makes me beyond excited to see what Nick Pearce and the team come up with next. PlayStation Universe - 8.5 / 10 Quote Utterly absorbing and rarely anything less than completely fascinating, The Forgotten City is an intoxicating microcosm of Ancient Roman society embedded in a dialogue heavy adventure and wrapped around one of the most smartly designed mysteries and sleuthing yarns to come along in a good long while. Occasional technical creakiness and issues aside, it's a deeply pleasant irony that The Forgotten City will remain long in your memory after the credits have completed their roll the first, second, third and fourth time. Wccftech - 8.5 / 10 Quote The Forgotten City just feels so satisfying to play. You'll constantly be solving little mysteries and discovering new secrets to hit you with some immediate gratifications, all the while working on the larger puzzlers and tangled storyline to reach the end. PC Gamer - 84 / 100 Quote An intriguing mystery adventure with outstanding writing and performances. COGconnected - 80 / 100 Quote Choices matter, both in life and in The Forgotten City, which uses ancient Roman beliefs about morality, ethics, and law to subtly comment on our present-day conflicts. But it’s never heavy-handed and what you’ll mostly pay attention to are the characters and their needs, your own objectives, the mysterious city, and the clever way time loops and puzzle-solving work together. Whether you play it once or try for the multiple alternative endings, The Forgotten City is a unique adventure. GameSpew - 8 / 10 Quote Based on a mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, it’s great that The Forgotten City has been expanded upon and given a chance to truly shine as a standalone product. The writing is stellar, and the whole affair is so unique and interesting that you can’t help but get sucked in, attempting to find a way to put an end to The Golden Rule once and for all. Not all of the endings available are particularly gratifying, but follow The Forgotten City through to its true ending and you’ll be left with an experience that you won’t soon forget. Stevivor - 8 / 10 Quote The Forgotten City expands upon the original concept of a small mod and has been developed into a rich and well-balanced experience. While its gameplay is simple, its narrative and atmosphere shine through. A great game from start to end, The Forgotten City is a perfect gem for gamers who love a mystery. More than that though, it’s a fantastic game that explores the complexity of morality and challenges players to do the same long after its completion. Twinfinite - 4 / 5 Quote With that said, I still highly recommend that anyone who loved the original mod that inspired The Forgotten City or anyone that just likes a good story-driven title play this game. The time loop mechanic, evolving dialogue, and myriad of choices and scenarios that occur make for one hell of a narrative ride, just keep your expectations of the combat low, or else you may be disappointed Windows Central - 4 / 5 stars Quote The Forgotten City is a fantastic entry in the oft-forgotten mystery-adventure genre, but a handful of flaws slightly detract from the experience. PowerUp! - 7.7 / 10 Quote It’s a masterclass in storytelling and a great first release for Modern Storyteller. Noisy Pixel - 7.5 / 10 Quote The Forgotten City brings out the adventurer in all of us and showcases just how capable mods can be. While the runtime is kept short, multiple endings increased replay value for a few more days spent in the ruins. In addition, there’s an impressive degree of detail put into these characters that only falters in some aspects of the general gameloop. Regardless, I’m looking forward to what this game encourages modders to produce in the future. XboxEra - 7.5 / 10 Quote While I was not keen on the narrative function of the time travel, it worked as a good gameplay mechanic and added to the individual stories of the people within the secluded Roman city. The action was unnecessary, but the horror was welcome. But even in the face of that, The Forgotten City is easy to recommend for story-centric players. “Caveat emptor” does not apply here. Hardcore Gamer - 3.5 / 5 Quote Clearly The Forgotten City is a game that speaks to those who revel in conversation. Those RPG fans who’d prefer not to fight or lash out, but converse and take a more steady, expository approach to finding a solution. It’s no exaggeration to say that the mythos Modern Storyteller both utilize and borrow from here is both surprising and satisfying with where it ends up heading. And while the narrative’s conclusion can come off too immersion-breaking or plain ridiculous for one’s taste, the caliber of writing for the most part is no less impressive for a game of this physical scale. MonsterVine - 3.5 / 5 Quote I burned through The Forgotten City in a single session, fully intrigued by the game’s world but I just wish the game’s mechanics had a bigger influence over the story it was trying to tell. Slant Magazine - 3.5 / 5 stars Quote The Forgotten City certainly doesn’t need to answer the philosophical questions that it poses before it’s allowed to examine them in a narrative context, but the ludicrously tidy conclusions to the main story and most side quests feel like substitutes for any deep engagement. The game handily transcends its mod origins and tells an ambitious and thought-provoking story, but it eventually reaches a point where it doesn’t seem sure how to end. GameMAG - Russian - 6 / 10 Quote The Forgotten City is a project that came to be from the fan mod for Skyrim. It's a game with an interesting concept and narrative, that suffers from weak visuals, pacing issues, and shoehorned action sections. Skill Up - Unscored Quote Video Review - Quote not available Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stepee Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 I might have to start making a remember for the deck list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissar SFLUFAN Posted July 29, 2021 Author Share Posted July 29, 2021 Updated the reviews post with the latest from OpenCritic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted July 29, 2021 Share Posted July 29, 2021 On 7/27/2021 at 8:13 PM, stepee said: I might have to start making a remember for the deck list. Add this to my Steam Deck Wishlist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legend Posted July 29, 2021 Share Posted July 29, 2021 Never knew of the mod. This has my interest! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissar SFLUFAN Posted July 29, 2021 Author Share Posted July 29, 2021 One final update of the OpenCritic reviews post for good measure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaxick Posted July 30, 2021 Share Posted July 30, 2021 The reviews of this one have me very interested in giving it a spin, I always blew it off as eurojank based upon the cover, never expecting the review scores its been receiving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaysWho? Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 On 7/27/2021 at 8:13 PM, stepee said: I might have to start making a remember for the deck list. On 7/28/2021 at 9:34 PM, Commissar SFLUFAN said: Updated the reviews post with the latest from OpenCritic. On 7/28/2021 at 11:08 PM, legend said: Never knew of the mod. This has my interest! On 7/29/2021 at 11:11 PM, vaxick said: The reviews of this one have me very interested in giving it a spin, I always blew it off as eurojank based upon the cover, never expecting the review scores its been receiving. Please play this game. The long-short is: a woman you're with asks you to go find a friend who was with the both of you, and you're stuck in this loop in a city from 2000 years ago and trying to get out. And you don't have to figure it out in any set pattern: the first mission that opened for me ended up being a mission that others didn't get until the very end after they've figured most of everything out. So your progress is entirely up to you where you're not actually stuck doing anything, and you'll utilize the time loop to use items/information from one to complete tasks in the next. I bought this on PS5, physical copy (which I'm not sure how a team of three was able to make a retail version of this game available, but I'm not complaining!), and got two of the endings, including the canon ending, and I really loved it. It's an "open world," but think of it more like Yakuza, where you can travel through a city. This game's loop relies more on discovery within the city, and finding out characters and motivations through conversation and exploration. I'm honestly impressed as hell that three fucking people developed this game. Think about how three people can take an engine like Unreal 4 and make a game that looks like this. It's obviously not "best graphics ever!" but the fact that you can have three people make this world is very cool. This is an "indie" game, but it's no different than a "bigger" game on the PS2 or 3. Lovely game. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legend Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 1 hour ago, SaysWho? said: Please play this game. The long-short is: a woman you're with asks you to go find a friend who was with the both of you, and you're stuck in this loop in a city from 2000 years ago and trying to get out. And you don't have to figure it out in any set pattern: the first mission that opened for me ended up being a mission that others didn't get until the very end after they've figured most of everything out. So your progress is entirely up to you where you're not actually stuck doing anything, and you'll utilize the time loop to use items/information from one to complete tasks in the next. I bought this on PS5, physical copy (which I'm not sure how a team of three was able to make a retail version of this game available, but I'm not complaining!), and got two of the endings, including the canon ending, and I really loved it. It's an "open world," but think of it more like Yakuza, where you can travel through a city. This game's loop relies more on discovery within the city, and finding out characters and motivations through conversation and exploration. I'm honestly impressed as hell that three fucking people developed this game. Think about how three people can take an engine like Unreal 4 and make a game that looks like this. It's obviously not "best graphics ever!" but the fact that you can have three people make this world is very cool. This is an "indie" game, but it's no different than a "bigger" game on the PS2 or 3. Lovely game. Thanks for reminding me about it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaxick Posted February 13, 2022 Share Posted February 13, 2022 On 2/11/2022 at 7:56 AM, SaysWho? said: Please play this game. The long-short is: a woman you're with asks you to go find a friend who was with the both of you, and you're stuck in this loop in a city from 2000 years ago and trying to get out. And you don't have to figure it out in any set pattern: the first mission that opened for me ended up being a mission that others didn't get until the very end after they've figured most of everything out. So your progress is entirely up to you where you're not actually stuck doing anything, and you'll utilize the time loop to use items/information from one to complete tasks in the next. I bought this on PS5, physical copy (which I'm not sure how a team of three was able to make a retail version of this game available, but I'm not complaining!), and got two of the endings, including the canon ending, and I really loved it. It's an "open world," but think of it more like Yakuza, where you can travel through a city. This game's loop relies more on discovery within the city, and finding out characters and motivations through conversation and exploration. I'm honestly impressed as hell that three fucking people developed this game. Think about how three people can take an engine like Unreal 4 and make a game that looks like this. It's obviously not "best graphics ever!" but the fact that you can have three people make this world is very cool. This is an "indie" game, but it's no different than a "bigger" game on the PS2 or 3. Lovely game. I purchased it when GameStop had it on sale for $15 for the PS5, but haven't started it yet. Your description is making me think I should probably play it soon. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaysWho? Posted February 13, 2022 Share Posted February 13, 2022 11 hours ago, vaxick said: I purchased it when GameStop had it on sale for $15 for the PS5, but haven't started it yet. Your description is making me think I should probably play it soon. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLeon Posted February 13, 2022 Share Posted February 13, 2022 It’s on Game Pass. Once I wrap up the couple of games I’m playing now, I think this is next on my list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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