Gripping, well-written story
Mentioned in ~2 in 5 positive reviews
“The writing is excellent. The NPCs personalities are memorable. Their situations are compelling.”
Steam review · 11.4 h played ↗
The Forgotten City
Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.
Overwhelmingly PositiveOverwhelmingly Positive · 96%Modern Storyteller2021Mystery · Investigation · Adventure
$24.99
Open on Steam ↗US Steam price, checked 1 h ago
The verdict
A short, dialogue-driven time-loop mystery in ancient Rome with excellent writing and a gripping story. Skip it if you want real puzzles, action or a satisfying canon ending.
Great for
Story-first players who enjoy talking to NPCs, mythology and Outer Wilds-style time loops in a short game
Main risk
Hand-held dialogue and fetch-quest gameplay, plus a canon ending many find disappointing
What players love
Clever, well-handled time loop
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 positive reviews
“You control the phasing entirely. Events only happen when you trigger them, with no waiting and no artificial delays.”
Steam review · 10.9 h played ↗
Roman and mythology setting with historical detail
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews
“the attention to detail with regards to Roman life was impressive”
Steam review · 31.1 h played ↗
Memorable characters and dialogue
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews
“I've never enjoyed listening to NPCs talk more than I did in The Forgotten City.”
Steam review · 6.7 h played ↗
Outer Wilds-like feel, short and tight
Mentioned in ~1 in 8 positive reviews
“Outer Wilds but in Ancient Rome. Shorter than that game but every hour is fully engaging.”
Steam review · 17.4 h played ↗
Great value for a short game
Mentioned in ~1 in 19 positive reviews
“I got it on sale for $7 and it was more than worth it.”
Steam review · 3.5 h played ↗
What players complain about
Flat characters and weak writing
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 negative reviews
“The characters are bland and one-dimensional, most of them are either good or evil, with no in-between.”
Steam review · 8.4 h played ↗
Jank, bugs and forced action sections
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 negative reviews
“fight cheap jumpscare gold zombies in a scripted horror sequence”
Steam review · 4.7 h played ↗
Walking simulator or visual novel; too much dialogue
Mentioned in ~1 in 6 negative reviews
“This game is 99% dialogue.”
Steam review · 4.6 h played ↗
Disappointing canon ending
Mentioned in ~1 in 7 negative reviews
“The canon ending destroyed everything the whole game tried to set up.”
Steam review · 9.4 h played ↗
Modern politics and anachronistic dialogue
Mentioned in ~1 in 7 negative reviews
“The writing is horrible and so anachronistic it hurts.”
Steam review · 0.3 h played ↗
Hand-holding, little real deduction
Mentioned in ~1 in 8 negative reviews
“You're told what to do at every turn and you're basically just running around checking off quest steps.”
Steam review · 5.2 h played ↗
System requirements
From the Steam store page
Steam Deck: VerifiedController support26 GB
Minimum
OSWindows 7 SP1 64-bit
Processor3GHz (4 Core) CPU
Memory8 GB RAM
GraphicsNVIDIA GTX 750 Ti 2GB | AMD Radeon R7 265
Storage26 GB available space
Recommended
OSWindows 10 64-bit
Processor3.2 GHz (4 Core) CPU
Memory8 GB RAM
GraphicsNVIDIA GTX 1060 | AMD Radeon RX 580
Storage26 GB available space
OSWindows 7 SP1 64-bit
Processor3GHz (4 Core) CPU
Memory8 GB RAM
GraphicsNVIDIA GTX 750 Ti 2GB | AMD Radeon R7 265
Storage26 GB available space
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