The Forgotten City

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Critics Recommend

Average Score

Total Reviews: 57

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The Forgotten City is a consistently engaging mystery and masterclass in narrative driven storytelling.

Play It

Critics Recommend

Critic Reviews: 57

Critics Consensus

# Reviews: 57

The Forgotten City is a consistently engaging mystery and masterclass in narrative driven storytelling.

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Critic Reviews for The Forgotten City

Critic Reviews

Score Distribution

57

Reviews

Average Score

100

Ranges

90/100

Adam Moreno (GamingTrend)

This was truly one of the most engaging narrative games I’ve played in a long time. From the unique characters to the exciting “action” scenes, I couldn’t put the controller down. At the price of the game, it’s well worth picking it up.

July 27, 2021 |

Full Review

The Forgotten City is a fantastic entry in the oft-forgotten mystery-adventure genre, but a handful of flaws slightly detract from the experience.

July 27, 2021 |

Full Review

4/5 stars

Zachary Boddy (Windows Central)

8.5/10

John-Paul Jones (PlayStation Universe)

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.

July 27, 2021 |

Full Review

Adam Moreno (GamingTrend)

90/100 - (Read Review)

Zachary Boddy (Windows Central)

4/5 stars - (Read Review)

The Forgotten City is a fantastic entry in the oft-forgotten mystery-adventure genre, but a handful of flaws slightly detract from the experience.

John-Paul Jones (PlayStation Universe)

8.5/10 - (Read Review)

**Read all 57 critic reviews on the desktop version of VSG.

Read the Reviews (57 total)

Outlet	Author	Score	Date	Quote	Read
33bits	Rubén Rionegro	85 / 100	07-27-2021	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.	Read review
AusGamers	KostaAndreadis	8 / 10	08-10-2021	Something along those lines.	Read review
BaziCenter	Mohammad Talebian	9 / 10	08-15-2021	If you are looking for something unique and fresh in Adventure department, The Forgotten City might be your best shot. The name alone builds up enough suspense and mystery to excite the fans of the genre.	Read review
Bazimag	Sina Golabzade	9 / 10	07-28-2021	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.	Read review
Checkpoint Gaming	Alex Beaty	8 / 10	07-30-2021	As far as time loop games go, The Forgotten City has the Midas touch. It’s easy to see just how much care has gone into the story of the game so that it not only pulls the player in, but dares them to test the possible realities. The characters all feel real and they drive the player to find the truth before the Golden Rule is broken and the loop must reset. The developers have been careful to create a narrative that, while repetitive in practice, still keeps the player engaged in the wider narrative of the world through exploration and discovery. Combat in the game remains questionable, but the gold bow is its saving grace. If you’re after a game that will keep you guessing as you move closer to the truth, then The Forgotten City is fittingly worthy of your gold.	Read review
COGconnected	Mark Steighner	80 / 100	07-27-2021	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.	Read review
Eurogamer	Christian Donlan	Recommended	12-15-2021	An elegant mystery with curiosity at its heart.	Read review
Everyeye.it	Francesco Muccino	8.5 / 10	08-04-2021	The transformation from mod to real game was long, but the final result fully convinced us. The Forgotten City is an intense and engaging journey, enhanced by an exceptional quality of dialogue and a script studied with great care and passion.	Read review
Game Informer	Andrew Reiner	9 / 10	07-30-2021	One of the better choice-driven games in recent memory that makes you feel like you have ownership over your actions and the narrative flow	Read review
Gamefa	Mehdi Reazaei	8.5 / 10	08-16-2021	The result is that The Forgotten City game has little problems and vice versa its strengths are much more than the stereotypical weaknesses of this genre.	Read review
GameMAG	Unknown	6 / 10	07-28-2021	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.	Read review
GamePitt	Rob Pitt	9.5 / 10	07-27-2021	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.	Read review
GameSpace	Brau3er	8 / 10	10-08-2021	The Forgotten City is praised for its excellent storyline with multiple endings that can bring tears to tears. Maud even won an Australian Writers Guild Award and won the award for Excellence in Narrative at the 2021 Australian Game Developers Awards. In addition to this, 18 voice actors were involved in the work, and the original soundtrack was written by an entire orchestra.	Read review
GameSpew	Richard Seagrave	8 / 10	07-27-2021	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.	Read review
GameSpot	Alessandro Barbosa	9 / 10	08-17-2021	The Forgotten City is a deeply satisfying puzzle adventure that will have you questioning what it means to sin.	Read review
Gaming Nexus	Eric Hauter	9.5 / 10	08-03-2021	The Forgotten City is a modern classic, an utterly compelling video game that reinvents the adventure genre through intriguing writing and exploration. With stellar voice acting, sparkling conversation, and story twists to spare, The Forgotten City is one of the best games I’ve played this year, and one of the best video game narratives I’ve ever encountered. Utterly original, completely entrancing.	Read review
GamingTrend	Adam Moreno	90 / 100	07-27-2021	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!	Read review
Guardian	Luke Holland	4 / 5 stars	08-09-2021	A time-loop murder mystery set in ancient Rome is enlivened by excellent acting, dialogue, and good old-fashioned skulduggery	Read review
Hardcore Gamer	Jordan Helm	3.5 / 5 stars	07-27-2021	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.	Read review
Hey Poor Player	Heather Johnson Yu	5 / 5 stars	07-31-2021	It’s easy to point out what The Forgotten City does right — mechanics, progression, story, gameplay, dialog, quests, atmosphere, design, voice acting, etc. — but hard to say what it does best, because it’s all supremely well done. With a wildly imaginative concept executed perfectly and poignantly, The Forgotten City will please anyone with an interest in history, philosophy, mythology, or just a good, tight exploration story. The Forgotten City is my top contender for GOTY 2021 — a distinction I don’t foresee being toppled. This city without sin may not have any exits, but that’s just as well, since you won’t want to leave anyway.	Read review
IGN	Gabriel Moss	9 / 10	07-27-2021	The Forgotten City does a fabulous job exploring interesting moral quandaries through excellently written dialogue and characters.	Read review
IGN Italy	Stefano Castagnola	8.4 / 10	08-03-2021	The Forgotten City may not be an entirely new game, being an adaptation of one of the most renowned Skyrim mods, but it’s still a very intriguing narrative adventure that can entice players with its writing and original story premise.	Read review
JVL	Jivé	9 / 10	07-27-2021	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.	Read review
Metro GameCentral	GameCentral	9 / 10	08-06-2021	A cleverly constructed narrative adventure that explores serious issues of morality without ever being preachy, and still allowing for an intricately designed, non-linear gaming experience.	Read review
MonsterVine	Diego Escala	3.5 / 5 stars	07-27-2021	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.	Read review
New Game Network	Alex Varankou	73 / 100	08-02-2021	The Forgotten City succeeds at drawing you into a mystery and using time travel mechanics very effectively. As a narrative adventure, its strong cast and engaging setting help bring the city to life. The game may not always look great and some of the endings are rather abrupt, but it’s a trip back in time worth taking.	Read review
Nintendo Life	Kate Gray	9 / 10	10-02-2021	The Forgotten City is a brilliant piece of narrative work that feels like a time capsule of Skyrim’s jank, revitalised with a gripping story that’s just long enough that it never loses momentum. It is, as always, hard to fully recommend a Cloud Version of a game that’s available elsewhere in a more concrete form, but if you’re accepting of the associated ‘risks’, this is a well-presented and brilliant time loop game and well worth a play.	Read review
NintendoWorldReport	Willem Hilhorst	9 / 10	09-29-2021	Its narrative driven focus gives it time to breathe and even during combat segments I never felt like I was playing anything less than a full game that was looking exceptionally pretty on my Switch’s screen. I have no problem recommending the Cloud-version of The Forgotten City, but as with any streaming version your mileage may vary. What will probably not vary is your enjoyment of this game, because as far as narrative driven adventures are considered, The Forgotten City absolutely deserves to be remembered for a very long time.	Read review
Noisy Pixel	Jerad Gribben	7.5 / 10	07-27-2021	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.	Read review
NoobFeed	Kurtis Seid	85 / 100	07-27-2021	The Forgotten City offers a lot of great replay value for those looking to solve compelling story puzzles in multiple ways.	Read review
Paste Magazine	Kevin Fox Jr.	9 / 10	01-19-2022	This game doesn’t give a blanket pardon or condone the actions of any state, instead inviting players to ask by what means and to what end the rules of a state and society are created. The Forgotten City implicitly and explicitly goes to bat for the value of education, and it provides a good time while it does it. We all like to think we know something of the world that came before us; seldom is it that a videogame spun out of an adventure in another fantasy game provides an opportunity to truly learn something.	Read review
PC Gamer	Christopher Livingston	84 / 100	07-29-2021	An intriguing mystery adventure with outstanding writing and performances.	Read review
PC Invasion	Andrew Farrell	9 / 10	07-27-2021	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.	Read review
PlayStation LifeStyle	Chandler Wood	8.5 / 10	07-27-2021	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.	Read review
PlayStation Universe	John-Paul Jones	8.5 / 10	07-27-2021	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.	Read review
Polygon	Jacob Geller	Recommended	08-27-2021	This is all bolstered by strong art direction and technical design. Although the soundtrack and some instances of stiff character animation remind me that this was once a Skyrim mod, environments are nicely detailed, strikingly lit, and filled with era-appropriate pieces of clutter. If you want, you can even discuss the intricacies of Roman architecture with one of the NPCs and then observe those same intricacies throughout the city. The attention to historical accuracy is enthralling. I learned several things about real-life history during my playthrough, and not all were Roman-centric.	Read review
PowerUp!	Leo Stevenson	7.7 / 10	07-28-2021	It’s a masterclass in storytelling and a great first release for Modern Storyteller.	Read review
PSX Brasil	Bruno Ribeiro	84 / 100	08-09-2021	The Forgotten City is not for everyone, but it doesn’t disappoint in what it sets out to do. If you need action to keep your interest, it’s best to look for another option. However, if you like a good story and like to immerse yourself in what the game has to offer, don’t think twice.	Read review
Push Square	Liam Croft	7 / 10	08-03-2021	For fans of storytelling, The Forgotten City is a solid recommendation. Freed from the shackles of Skyrim, the full game tells a captivating story elevated by clever and humorous writing. With the interesting time loop mechanic creating further situations full of comedy and intrigue, settling down across a few evenings with The Forgotten City will delight. We just wish the combat was either improved or not there at all, and the technical setbacks weren’t quite so rampant.	Read review
RPGamer	Pascal Tekaia	Recommended	10-08-2021	The Forgotten City is an easy recommendation for those who place more emphasis on storytelling than action combat. It is an engaging mystery set in an intriguing location, and the time loop mechanic makes it quite forgiving of mistakes, even going so far as to encourage players at times to break the Golden Rule themselves to trigger the next jump back in time.	Read review
Skill Up	Ralph Panebianco	Recommended	07-28-2021	Video Review	Read review
Slant Magazine	Steven Scaife	3.5 / 5 stars	07-27-2021	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.	Read review
Softpedia	Cosmin Vasile	7.5 / 10	08-08-2021	Although you have other means at your disposal, the strongest suit of The Forgotten City remains its slower gameplay focused on problem solving. For a small group of people, putting together The Forgotten City is no small feat, and they deserve the praise.	Read review
SomHráč.sk	Denis Burčík	80 / 100	08-06-2021	The Forgotten City offers a gripping story with interesting characters, however, after you unlock all of the four endings, which is pretty quick and easy, there aren’t many reasons left to return to the game.	Read review
Stevivor	Eleni Thomas	8 / 10	07-28-2021	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.	Read review
TechRaptor	Austin Suther	9.5 / 10	07-27-2021	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.	Read review
The Outerhaven Productions	Andrew Agress	4 / 5 stars	09-29-2021	The Forgotten City boasts a rich gameplay experience that lives up to the ingenuity of its clever premise. As a role-playing choice-based mystery, the game offers a compelling narrative with some engaging existential questions at its center. With four distinct endings, it gives players a decent enough amount of leeway for approaching moral quandaries. And as a way of both solving puzzles and fixing mistakes, the time travel mechanic is worth its weight in… some sort of precious transition metal.	Read review
ThisGenGaming	Justin Oneil	8.5 / 10	07-30-2021	The Forgotten City has successfully broken free from just being a Skyrim mod and came out as one of the sleeper hits of 2021. The time loop story is so interesting and full of interesting topics and characters that I just couldn’t stop thinking about while playing. It’s got some rough edges but fans of great storytelling and solving mysteries will not want to miss this one.	Read review
Twinfinite	Andrew McMahon	4 / 5 stars	07-27-2021	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	Read review
VGChartz	Lee Mehr	7.5 / 10	09-03-2021	Some reservations about The Forgotten City’s game design keep it from attaining Legion-dary status among the new wave of time loop games, but its exceptional narrative ensures I won’t forget it either.	Read review
Video Chums	Mary Billington	8.6 / 10	08-08-2021	The Forgotten City is a thoroughly enjoyable and engaging murder mystery where the decisions that you make actually matter. Exploring the beautifully rendered city is a treat and I look forward to whatever the developers create next.	Read review
WayTooManyGames	Heidi Hawes	9 / 10	07-27-2021	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.	Read review
Wccftech	Rosh Kelly	8.5 / 10	07-27-2021	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.	Read review
WellPlayed	Harrison Tabulo	10 / 10	07-28-2021	The Forgotten City is a beauty to behold no matter the eye, a deeply contemplative story matched with wonderful puzzles based in classical antiquity.	Read review
Windows Central	Zachary Boddy	4 / 5 stars	07-27-2021	The Forgotten City is a fantastic entry in the oft-forgotten mystery-adventure genre, but a handful of flaws slightly detract from the experience.	Read review
Zoomg	علی گودرزی	9.5 / 10	08-09-2021	If you are also a lover of story-driven games, a trip to the forgotten city of the “Modern Story Teller” team is an offer that you can’t simply reject!	Read review
ZTGD	Terrence Johnson	9.5 / 10	07-30-2021	I really can’t recommend this game enough, even with the lackluster facial animations this is an experience that shouldn’t be missed if you value narrative; in particular mysteries.	Read review

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About The Forgotten City

Game Description / Storyline:

The Forgotten City is a time travel murder mystery set in a mythological city. Deep underground in an ancient Roman city, twenty-six trapped explorers lay dead because one of them broke a mysterious law. Within, a portal leads back into the past, allowing you to change their fate – or witness their deaths in a time loop for eternity. Fortunately, hope remains. The Forgotten City offers incredible freedom, inviting you to manipulate the timeline, Groundhog Day-style, so events play out differently. By talking with diverse characters, making tough choices in moral dilemmas, and thinking laterally, you can unlock vastly different endings. The Forgotten City is a game about the human condition, for adults who enjoy figuring things out for themselves.

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