The first thing you notice when you play is the Skyrim face thing the NPC does and the dodgy VO and animation. It prepares you for a fun but budget little time looper.

There is very little combat but unlike disempowerment games like Outlast and the like this is not about playing hide and seek. This is more akin to a puzzle game where the puzzles are logic and interpersonal communication.

It is never too hard and the "leads" keep you moving towards results in a way that kept me interested opposite to THE OUTER WILDS which was just annoying to play.

The story is very PHILOSOPHY 101 but the way everything you do feeds and all the quests feed into the moralizing of the narrative was interesting.

I finished the game pretty quickly but it said ending 2 (of 4) and I was like, "oh?" so I kept going and a few hours later I got the one called Canon Ending which was ending 4 (of 4). I felt good calling it there but ended up just looking up the other two endings and doing them because it was easy.

In the end, my order was 2,4,3,1. It kind of reminded me of Nier: Automata but on a much smaller scale. This game is like that, familiar to much but on a much smaller scale. If you can handle that this is a fun little adventure and I especially love that it is only around 5 hours long.

The Forgotten City is a very cool first-person adventure game largely set inside a mysterious Ancient Roman city. Besides obvious comparisons to the non-combat parts of Bethesda games, it plays out similarly in concept to branching dialogue-driven games like Subsurface Circular, with multiple complementary endings and many interweaving story threads to explore, but with the time loop element of Outer Wilds. This structure requires locations and conversations to be approached multiple times with new knowledge. OW skeptics need not be too put off though, since it is pretty streamlined in this game, and you don't need many loops to get the job done.

The game stands out thanks to its interesting, occasionally thought-provoking exploration of big philosophical, religious, and moral questions, as well as some of its big twists and turns, and the great fun of exploring the city and solving its residents' problems. I occasionally felt that the fun of pursuing the game's big questions was more fun than what the actual payoffs ended up being, but by and large it is a pretty satisfying story with some great surprises. The incorporation of the ancient Roman deities in this story is especially neat and leads to at least one shocking moment that reminded me of some of the neater concepts attempted in Assassins Creed.

Besides some of the surprises not 100% landing for me, the one misstep in terms of writing in my eyes are a handful of out-of-place jokes about 2021 current affairs. Some may enjoy these moments, but I was personally not too amused and felt like they were trying a bit too hard, and that these moments will age weirdly.

The game is effectively what you could call a "walking-and-talking simulator," with an extremely light amount of combat (maybe 2-3 sections of it). In my eyes, this game is basically capturing a major part of what I like about Fallout-style games, these big setpiece conversations and interwoven threads. If you enjoy methodically solving quests in those games, and exhausting dialogue options to learn about a cool world/lore, without caring too much about the gameplay, you're likely to enjoy this.

I managed to clear all of the game's endings in something like 6-7 hours. The team behind this game was extremely small, and I feel they earn their $30 USD asking price with this quality product. There are technical areas that could be improved, but you'll likely be too caught up in the great story to worry about them much.

EDIT 12/2021: Watched someone play this over the last couple days after a few months since I played it myself. Looking at it with fresh eyes, I always loved the formula and concept, the pacing, setting etc. but some of the actual content and writing leaves a bit to be desired compared to the best game stories out there. Considering there isn’t particularly great combat or puzzle stuff to supplement it, I think I’ll lower this one from 5 to 4 stars. Still a great game.

yeah, um... i loved what this game was going for, but for what it's worth, what it achieves is a bit of mixed bag... (it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea) still, due to it's fresh elements, and (divinely?)-inspired writing, i consider it a win.

The game plays like your typical adventure game, and has some elements of Death Loop (you're stuck in Groundhog Day situation and looping things over to solve all possible puzzles or exhaust all possible options) overall, i feel it works and drives a story-heavy game forward well.

Also, if you are the next decision making game for your choices as a Portal-like puzzle/Adventure with a narrative-heavy element, i do recommend this one. you solve basic quests through conversation mostly amongst an ancient city of about two dozen or so people. There are also light combat and sneaking elements (but those are minor parts of the game.) its a bit short, but there are 4 multiple endings. You basically get the best ending intuitively by doing everything there is to do in the game. (And its actually a fantastic ending) I got the bad ending first and i think most people will, which will in fact irritate them so bad that they will do whatever it takes and be driven towards the best ending afterwards (another nice design)

It's tempting to rank this a 5. There is actually a lot of detail and workmanship on various bits in the game (dialogues that could be missed, are automatically entered into conversation with an important NPC in critical moments and cannot be skipped), the writing is great and fun stuff with a fresh take on religion, and is even quite well researched, but I refrain because there are some hokey bits in the story (at least IMO) and there are some things in the game that feel a bit wonky or loose. Having just played Dark Messiah of Might and Magic (a game inspired by Thief), I put this on expecting something similar and I spent way too much time looking for treasure, money, and looting every hidden chest I could find, looking for them constantly (Dont do this! Or Maybe do? Maybe that's the lesson i'm supposed to learn from this game?)

Also while the city itself looks great, there are parts of the map that look rushed/have less detail, have lighting issues, clipping issues, etc if you venture off the beaten path and try to explore-for-secrets-that-probably-aren't-there-but-gotta-check. This feels like quibbling but this is a game that will encourage a player to explore since it DOES have hidden chests

I Chose the archeologist background which seems like the canonical or default choice given the nature of the the game.

I'd like to see more games like this. They aren't fully fledged RPGs but scratch some bits of the Kingdom Come or Witcher-itch by presenting you a story-on-a-plate but are at core solid and spirited adventure games (like the classic first person adventure games of yore) but aren't saddled by complex or weird skill-based mechanics, and just have a nice big fancy FPS engine to do it all in... They aren't merely interactive experiences, but they are complete games by giving the player CNC, working towards goals, etc. and are accessible to a wide prospective audience.

I got this game in the winter sale. I had just been on a trip to Rome and was itching for some ancient Rome content. It took me a while to actually play it, but when I finally did I was hitting myself for not doing it much sooner!

Narrative

You are a person who starts next to a river, and a lady with a canoe asks you to go inside the ancient roman ruins behind you because another guy went in there hours ago and didn't come back yet. She wants you to go after him. So you do, and you end up falling through a trapdoor in a shrine inside a huge underground ancient Roman city. Here you meet several people who are trapped in the city. They cannot leave and they cannot sin, because if they do they all suffer and get turned into gold.

Gameplay

It is a narrative game, so the main focus is talking to all the townsfolk and with this unraveling the mystery. You talk to several people, explore places, and do quests. There is also a little, but optional, action quest with some combat (The game actually warns you about is before you start the quest in case you don't want to deal with combat, which I though was a nice touch).

Sometimes it happens, that you or somebody else breaks the law and sins. This means the punishment is triggered and everybody gets turned into gold. Here is where the main mechanic comes in. You are now able to loop back to the start, while keeping all of your inventory and knowledge, and you can continue where you left off. Of course it can prompt new conversation topics now that you've learned more (and reset people you may have pissed off).

Another neat little mechanic is the ability to outsource some of the quests to another guy after you have looped so you don't have to do the same thing over and over and can just continue investigating. In the end, by exploring, talking and looping you solve the mystery of the forgotten city.

Setting

It's set in an ancient Roman city. Complete with buildings like temples, villas and a forum. I thought it all looked really cool and enjoyed the detail of it. The music is very appropriate, it reminded me of the soundtrack of the TV show 'Rome'. I loved to wander the ancient city, and check out all the buildings, most of which you can enter.

Other

Other than the awkward way peoples faced move when speaking I haven't encountered any bugs. One nitpick, once you have exhausted all conversation topics they get greyed out. But if underneath that, a new subtopic pops up, it still remains greyed out. I wasted a lot of time not knowing what to do, because for one person a subtopic popped up but I didn't know because it was still grey. Would be nice if the complete topic becomes white again when a subtopic appears.

Conclusion

I really enjoyed my time with this game. I completed it in one sitting. Took me about 10 hours. With another extra hour later to do the other 3 endings. I was just glued to my screen. The story intrigued me and I really kept wanting to find out the next thing. I really loved it. I loved the setting as well, and the gameplay. It may not be historically accurate or anything but that was not what I was looking for here. If you like narrative games, this is probably something you will enjoy.

My most recent addition to the bucket list, which along with it was shared with Omensight, a different game favorite that shares the time-loop concept for an enjoyable gaming experience. As for The Forgotten City, it easily caught my interest because of such a fun concept but I also enjoyed the Elder Scrolls games (this was originally a Skyrim mod, now overhauled for improvement).

I'd suggest you unfamiliar readers to go blind into The Forgotten City, to make the most out of the experience. The least I can tell is that you are a person from the modern time, who gets drawn into a search for a fellow man who disappeared in a place of ruins. As you delve deeper, you get drawn back in time and discover a small, Roman city with about a dozen people living in it. As you try to find your way out, there are different events and places to explore, which will help you determine which way to go to make progress. Eventually, a fate-bound calamity ensues and you'll be forced to flee into a time portal and start again.

It's hard to find things to complain about, although it'd be best to take game sessions in an adequate size to not get fatigued by new information. Yes, even with things repeating itself in the daily time-loop, the execution helps keep things fresh and there are new options that'll help you progress easier. The world and characters are limited but fairly balanced for the scope of the game concept. There's plenty of running, exploration and conversations but you'll also get some action moments in a few areas, that awakens the Skyrim (or other TES) player in you.

Throughout the conversations, you'll find the game educational about the current discoveries behind the history of ancient civilizations, primarily Roman but also in connection with others, too. When I finished the game, I've had new topics to pick up with my girlfriend, who has an affinity for history. Besides that, some modern culture references add a nice touch to the character interactions, occasionally.

I can recommend this game for people who enjoy some historical references, the fascination for time-loop events and a refreshing adventure to fix problems.