The Forgotten City

A well-crafted time-loop mystery adventure. It's a labor of love with an intricate story and a splash of humor.

However, its small-team indie roots show through as some bugginess, antiquated graphics, and pacing problems. Almost all the gameplay is dialog. Very, very long dialog. I do enjoy games with a lot of talking, but this one did try my patience at times. A particular annoyance is that, due to the structure of the game, a lot of it will be repeated. You can fast-forward, but it really breaks immersion to be fast-forwarding so frequently. All things considered, the game is just short enough that this gameplay loop doesn't wear out its welcome.

Still, as a whole it feels thin. The game would have felt more like a game and less like a dialog simulator if it had more variety. There are a handful of very simple environmental puzzles, which just whet my appetite for more. The game world is intriguing and invites curiosity, but it's surrounded by invisible walls. It feels that everything you do just leads you to ... more dialog. There's also a little bit of fighting, which is nicely done and is casual enough, and makes things just a bit more exciting. More excitement, please!

I also need to give a huge thumbs up for the ending—well, assuming you get the "right" ending... It just goes all out to make you feel that you've accomplished something by beating the game. Few games go this extra mile, and I appreciate it a lot.

If the "time-loop mystery" trope appeals to you at all, then I'm sure you will enjoy this. I'm looking forward to more games from these devs!