The Forgotten City

Last updated

The Forgotten City
The Forgotten City - cover.jpg
Cover art
Developer(s) Modern Storyteller
Publisher(s) Dear Villagers
Director(s) Nick Pearce
Producer(s) Nick Pearce
Designer(s) Nick Pearce
Programmer(s) Alexander Goss
Artist(s) John Eyre
Writer(s) Nick Pearce
Composer(s) Michael Allen
Engine Creation Engine (mod)
Unreal Engine 4 [1]
Platform(s)
Release
  • Original mod
  • 4 October 2015 [2]
  • Standalone game
  • 28 July 2021
  • Nintendo Switch
  • 23 September 2021
  • Stadia
  • 28 July 2022
Genre(s) Adventure
Mode(s) Single-player

The Forgotten City is a mystery adventure role-playing game developed by Australian developer Modern Storyteller and published by Dear Villagers with additional support from Film Victoria. It is a full video game adaptation of the critically-acclaimed Skyrim mod of the same name. Initially released in 2015 as a mod, the full game was released in July 2021 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. [3] A cloud-based version launched in September 2021 for the Nintendo Switch, with another being released in July 2022 for Google Stadia. [4] [5]

Contents

Plot

In both the full 2021 game and the 2015 mod, the story of The Forgotten City explores the existential relationship between humanity and its laws.

The full game begins with the protagonist waking after being rescued from floating down the Tiber River in Italy. The mysterious individual who rescues the player character asks them to look for her friend, who had disappeared whilst investigating nearby ruins. As the player explores said ruins, they are sent towards the era of the Roman Empire in the now-restored city. As the plot progresses and the player continues exploring, it is elaborated that the city is under the protection of the gods, where if anyone is to commit sin, all citizens of the city would be equally punished and turned into gold in a system referred to as the Golden Rule (originally Dwarves' Law). [6] These gold statues, depicting previous inhabitants and residents, can be heard whispering, but seemingly only by the player. The specific sins that are criteria for the Golden Rule to be enacted are not clear to any resident of the city, with numerous records of contradictions. The player is able to re-enter the portal they had entered from and restart the time loop if the Golden Rule is ever enacted, allowing them to keep both physical and mental objects such as important items and information.

The plot was significantly altered from its original story in the mod, with the setting of a Dwemer ruin being shifted towards that of ancient Rome as well as much of the script being updated and rewritten. Multiple endings were both added and expanded from the original story.

Each character in the game has a strong background story and argument, complicating the decisions players make in the game. In the future, the developer plans to provide expansion through mods. [7]

Development

The long development progress of The Forgotten City, spearheaded by lead developer and writer Nick Pearce, began from the beginning of Skyrim's release in 2011. Prior to this, Pearce has stated that his inspiration for creating mods came back from his experience with mods from Fallout: New Vegas , specifically New Vegas Bounties by Someguy2000. The Forgotten City took over 1700 hours for Pearce to develop, and was his first ever major development project. [8] The mod later released on console releases of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: Special Edition, remaining one of the top Xbox One mods for the game. [9]

In 2016, after the release of the mod, Pearce quit his day job and hired several other developers to form Modern Storyteller. The resulting development process took four and a half years, characterised by harsh development conditions, with Pearce working 80-hour weeks to the point of hallucination to avoid crunching fellow developers. [10] In the process, the original mod was entirely overhauled; the standalone game was developed using Unreal Engine 4, the setting was changed and numerous features were added, such as professional voice acting, new gameplay mechanics and an original orchestral score. Additionally, the original script doubled in length from roughly 35,000 words to over 80,000. [11]

Reception

Both the mod and the full video game received critical acclaim upon release, itself being one of the first video game mods to receive any official accolades outside of the modding community, specifically being awarded by the Australian Writers' Guild. [29] The mod had garnered large success within the modding community, remaining one of the top mods for the game and becoming one of the most curated items on Mod DB itself. [30]

IGN awarded the game a 9/10 stating: "The Forgotten City does a fabulous job exploring interesting moral quandaries through excellently written dialogue and characters." [21] Luke Holland of The Guardian gave it 4/5 stars, writing that despite minor technical issues, "The Forgotten City is a tremendous achievement, a labyrinthine little sandbox packed with interpersonal mysteries", which "unravel further and further with each pass." [27] TouchArcade liked the characters and themes of the title, saying "The game has a lot of points to make about morality, and it never feels like it’s preaching. Rather, it comes off like a thoughtful examination of assumptions". [28] While mentioning that it could be "janky" at moments, Nintendo Life praised the pacing of The Forgotten City, saying it "doesn't overstay its welcome" and it had "the right amount of scope". [22]

Rock Paper Shotgun enjoyed the writing, but criticized how the player talked to characters, "when you go up to someone to interact, it then cuts to a view of their upper body, with a pause while they turn to face you or settle into their talking pose. It's only a couple of seconds, but it's a couple of seconds every. Single. Time." [31] GameSpot liked the progression the player had within the loop, writing, "It's satisfying the first time you find these solutions, but even more so when you see how each one acts as a piece of the larger puzzle, opening new avenues for you to investigate in the process." [20] Eurogamer praised the connections each individual mystery had to each other "The time loop itself leads to some wonderful stuff, though, linking itself into puzzles in ingenious ways". [18] PC Gamer liked the way the player could bend the game's morality system, but criticized the combat as clunky and uninteresting, saying there was a "sequence where I had to skulk through a ruined palace filled with creepy animated statues... It was chilling at first, but those weird statues running towards me over and over quickly got repetitive." [24]

Push Square wrote similarly and gave the game 7/10 stars, concluding, "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." [25] Game Informer felt that "The Forgotten City does a great job making you feel like a skillful sleuth, pushing you to run across town with sizzling leads," but criticized how the janky character movements and facial expressions prevented the player from being able to deduce vital information. [19] Adventure Gamers gave the title 5/5 stars, and called it "a truly excellent mystery adventure", writing, "...[The Forgotten City] gives you the freedom to investigate, explore and make choices on your own terms, while the quality of the script will have you fully invested in getting to the bottom of the Golden Rule breaker," but criticized the overabundance of backtracking. [17]

Accolades

YearAwardCategoryNominee(s)ResultRef.
2015 Skyrim Nexus File of the Month, OctoberThe Forgotten CityWon [32]
Mod DB Mod of the YearThe Forgotten CityNominated [32]
2016 Australian Writers' Guild Best Interactive MediaNick Pearce for The Forgotten CityWon [32] [33]
2021 Australian Game Developer Awards Excellence in NarrativeThe Forgotten CityWon [34]
The Game Awards Best Debut IndieThe Forgotten CityNominated [35]
2022 25th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards Outstanding Achievement in Story The Forgotten CityNominated [36]

Related Research Articles

<i>Battlefield 1942</i> 2002 video game

Battlefield 1942 is a 2002 first-person shooter video game developed by Digital Illusions CE and published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. The game can be played in single-player mode against the video game AI or in multiplayer mode against players on the Internet or in a local area network. It is a popular platform for mod developers, with many released modifications that alter the gameplay and theme.

The Elder Scrolls is a series of action role-playing video games primarily developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The series focuses on free-form gameplay in an open world. Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim all won Game of the Year awards from multiple outlets. The series has sold more than 58 million copies worldwide.

Video game modding is the process of alteration by players or fans of one or more aspects of a video game, such as how it looks or behaves, and is a sub-discipline of general modding. Mods may range from small changes and tweaks to complete overhauls, and can extend the replay value and interest of the game.

<i>The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind</i> 2002 video game

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is a 2002 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the third installment in The Elder Scrolls series, following 1996's The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, and was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox. The main story takes place on Vvardenfell, an island in the Dunmer province of Morrowind, part of the continent of Tamriel. The central quests concern the demigod Dagoth Ur, housed within the volcanic Red Mountain, who seeks to gain power and break Morrowind free from Imperial reign.

<i>Grand Theft Auto</i> Video game series

Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is a series of action-adventure games created by David Jones and Mike Dailly. Later titles were developed under the oversight of brothers Dan and Sam Houser, Leslie Benzies and Aaron Garbut. It is primarily developed by British development house Rockstar North, and published by its American parent company, Rockstar Games. The name of the series is a term for motor vehicle theft in the United States.

<i>Fallout: New Vegas</i> 2010 video game

Fallout: New Vegas is a 2010 action role-playing game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Bethesda Softworks. It was announced in April 2009 and released for PlayStation 3, Windows, and Xbox 360 on October 19, 2010. A spin-off of the main Fallout series, the game is set in a post-apocalyptic open-world environment that encompasses a region consisting of parts of Arizona, California, and Nevada. It is set in a world that deviated onto an alternate timeline thanks to Atomic Age technology, which eventually led to a global nuclear apocalypse in the year 2077 in an event referred to as "The Great War", caused by a major conflict between the U.S. and China over natural resources. The main story of New Vegas takes place in the year 2281, four years after the events of Fallout 3 and 204 years after the bombs fell. It is not a sequel but does feature the return of several elements found in Fallout 2.

<i>Minecraft</i> 2011 video game

Minecraft is a 2011 sandbox game developed by Mojang Studios and originally released in 2009. The game was created by Markus "Notch" Persson in the Java programming language. Following several early private testing versions, it was first made public in May 2009 before being fully released on November 18, 2011, with Notch stepping down and Jens "Jeb" Bergensten taking over development. Minecraft has become the best-selling video game in history, with over 300 million copies sold and nearly 140 million monthly active players as of 2023. It has been ported to several platforms.

<i>The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim</i> 2011 video game

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is a 2011 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fifth main installment in The Elder Scrolls series, following The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006), and was released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on November 11, 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SureAI</span> German video game developer team

SureAI is a German team of video game developers, best known for creating several total conversion mods of Bethesda Softworks' The Elder Scrolls and Fallout series.

<i>Terraria</i> 2011 video game

Terraria is a 2011 action-adventure sandbox game developed by Re-Logic. The game was first released for Windows and has since been ported to other PC and console platforms. The game features exploration, crafting, building, painting, and combat with a variety of creatures in a procedurally generated 2D world. Terraria received generally positive reviews and by 2022 had sold 44 million copies, making it one of the best-selling video games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nexus Mods</span> Website for sharing computer game modifications

Nexus Mods is a site which allows users to upload and download "mods" (modifications) for computer games. It acts as a source for the distribution of original content. It is one of the largest gaming modification websites on the web, and, as of January 2022, had thirty million registered members. Founded in 2001 as a fan site, Nexus Mods was modified into the website TESSource in 2007. After that, the site has expanded to host mod files for many other modifiable PC games. As of June 2022, the Nexus Mods network supported 1733 games, with a single forum and a wiki for site- and mod-related topics. The website's hosting and publication of various mods has been covered in the gaming and computer press.

<i>Fallout 4</i> 2015 video game

Fallout 4 is a 2015 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fourth main game in the Fallout series and was released worldwide on November 10, 2015, for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One. The game is set within an open world post-apocalyptic environment that encompasses the city of Boston and the surrounding Massachusetts region known as "The Commonwealth".

<i>Stardew Valley</i> 2016 video game

Stardew Valley is a 2016 farm life sim video game developed by Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone. Players take the role of a character who inherits their deceased grandfather's dilapidated farm in a place known as Stardew Valley. The game was released for Windows in February 2016, before being ported to other platforms. Stardew Valley is open-ended, allowing players to grow crops, raise livestock, fish, cook, mine, forage, and socialize with the townspeople, including the ability to marry and have children. It allows up to eight players to play online together.

<i>Grand Theft Auto</i> modding Modification in the video game series

User modification, or modding, of video games in the open world sandbox Grand Theft Auto series is a popular trend in the PC gaming community. These unofficial modifications are made by altering gameplay logic and asset files within a user's game installation, and can change the player's experience to varying degrees. Frequently created by anonymous modders, modifications are presented in the form of downloadable files or archives. Third-party software has been indispensable for building Grand Theft Auto mods, due to the lack of official editing tools from the developer, Rockstar Games. Mods for Grand Theft Auto are generally developed for use on the PC versions of the games, since the platform does not prevent modifications to installed software; however, similar content for console and mobile phone versions does exist to an extent.

Skyrimmodding refers to the community-made modifications for the 2011 fantasy role-playing video game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. One of the most modded video games of all time, it has nearly 70,000 mod submissions on Nexus Mods and 28,000 in the Steam Workshop. Many of these mods were created for utility reasons, patching numerous bugs left in the game by Bethesda Softworks, while also improving the game's usability and character movement. Other mods add new quests and characters, or update the game's graphics and animations. As the vanilla game has a reputation for outdated mechanics, it is common for players to mod Skyrim even prior to their first playthrough.

<i>Starfield</i> (video game) 2023 video game

Starfield is a 2023 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. In the game, the player character joins a group of space explorers who must venture to various corners of the galaxy to acquire mysterious artifacts. The game features an open world in the form of an area within the Milky Way galaxy, containing both fictional and non-fictional planetary systems.

<i>The Falconeer</i> 2020 video game

The Falconeer is a 2020 aerial combat video game developed by Tomas Sala and published by Wired Productions. It was released on November 10, 2020 for Windows, Xbox One and as a launch title for Xbox Series X/S. A version for Amazon Luna was made available on June 17, 2021. It received both good and mixed reviews upon release, with outlets praising its uncompromising vision and homage to the niche dogfighting genre, while the same elements were looked upon less kindly by other reviewers.

Skyblivion is an upcoming open world action role-playing video game. It is a fan remake of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006) developed in Bethesda Game Studios' Creation Engine as a total conversion mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011). It is scheduled to be released in 2025.

References

  1. ↑ Crecente, Brian (August 12, 2021). "How a team of three created a narrative masterpiece in The Forgotten City". Unreal Engine. Archived from the original on November 28, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2021.
  2. ↑ "The Forgotten City has launched! News". October 3, 2015. Archived from the original on November 15, 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2021.
  3. ↑ "Home". forgottencitygame.com. Archived from the original on January 16, 2022. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
  4. ↑ Whitehead, Thomas (September 23, 2021). "The Forgotten City - Cloud Version Is Out Today On Switch". Nintendo Life . Archived from the original on January 4, 2022. Retrieved September 24, 2021.
  5. ↑ "The Forgotten City Arrives on Stadia". stadiasource.com. Archived from the original on August 3, 2022. Retrieved August 2, 2022.
  6. ↑ Macgregor, Jody (June 18, 2018). "The Forgotten City is a popular Skyrim mod that could make a great game". PC Gamer . Archived from the original on January 5, 2022. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
  7. ↑ Gamer, Suhu (September 5, 2021). "Review Game The Forgotten City, Misteri di Kota Romawi". Suhu Gamer (in Indonesian). Archived from the original on November 6, 2021. Retrieved September 6, 2021.
  8. ↑ "An Australian Skyrim Mod Has Won A Screenwriting Award". Kotaku Australia. October 17, 2016. Archived from the original on November 14, 2021. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
  9. ↑ Walker, Alex (October 28, 2016). "One Of The Best Skyrim Mods Got Started With A Punch To The Face". Kotaku. Archived from the original on January 5, 2022. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
  10. ↑ "The Forgotten City's Nine-Year Journey from Skyrim Mod to Standalone Game - IGN". November 2021. Archived from the original on November 5, 2021. Retrieved August 17, 2021– via www.ign.com.
  11. ↑ Kent, Emma (July 29, 2021). "Award-winning Skyrim mod The Forgotten City launches as standalone game". Eurogamer . Archived from the original on January 5, 2022. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
  12. ↑ "The Forgotten City for PC Reviews". Metacritic . Red Ventures. Archived from the original on January 5, 2022. Retrieved September 15, 2021.
  13. ↑ "The Forgotten City for PlayStation 5 Reviews". Metacritic . Red Ventures. Archived from the original on January 5, 2022. Retrieved September 15, 2021.
  14. ↑ "The Forgotten City for Xbox One Reviews". Metacritic . Red Ventures. Archived from the original on January 5, 2022. Retrieved September 15, 2021.
  15. ↑ "The Forgotten City for Xbox Series X Reviews". Metacritic . Red Ventures. Archived from the original on January 5, 2022. Retrieved September 15, 2021.
  16. ↑ "The Forgotten City for Switch Reviews". Metacritic . Red Ventures. Archived from the original on January 27, 2022. Retrieved September 15, 2021.
  17. 1 2 O'Connor, Bryce (August 13, 2021). "Review for The Forgotten City". Adventure Gamers . Archived from the original on May 11, 2022. Retrieved June 18, 2022.
  18. 1 2 Donlan, Christian (December 15, 2021). "The Forgotten City review - golden slumbers". Eurogamer . Archived from the original on June 18, 2022. Retrieved June 18, 2022.
  19. 1 2 Reiner, Andrew (July 30, 2021). "The Forgotten City Review - A Narrative Masterpiece". Game Informer . Archived from the original on July 2, 2022. Retrieved June 18, 2022.
  20. 1 2 Barbosa, Alessandro (August 17, 2021). "The Forgotten City Review - Seven Deadly Sins". GameSpot . Archived from the original on November 13, 2021. Retrieved June 18, 2022.
  21. 1 2 Moss, Gabriel (July 27, 2021). "The Forgotten City Review". IGN . Archived from the original on January 8, 2022. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
  22. 1 2 Gray, Kate (October 2, 2021). "The Forgotten City - Cloud Version Review (Switch eShop)". Nintendo Life . Archived from the original on February 5, 2022. Retrieved June 18, 2022.
  23. ↑ Hilhorst, Willem (September 29, 2021). "The Forgotten City - Cloud Version (Switch) Review". Nintendo World Report. Archived from the original on December 22, 2022. Retrieved June 18, 2022.
  24. 1 2 Livingston, Christopher (July 29, 2021). "The Forgotten City review". PC Gamer . Archived from the original on November 13, 2021. Retrieved June 18, 2022.
  25. 1 2 Croft, Liam (August 3, 2021). "The Forgotten City Review (PS5)". Push Square . Archived from the original on May 16, 2022. Retrieved June 18, 2022.
  26. ↑ Tischbein, Cory (January 29, 2022). "The Forgotten City". RPGFan. Archived from the original on January 30, 2022. Retrieved June 18, 2022.
  27. 1 2 Holland, Luke (August 9, 2021). "The Forgotten City review: sliding into your diems". The Guardian . Archived from the original on February 7, 2022. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
  28. 1 2 Musgrave, Shaun (October 5, 2021). "SwitchArcade Round-Up: Reviews Featuring 'Super Monkey Ball' and 'Hot Wheels', Plus the Latest News, Releases, and Sales – TouchArcade". TouchArcade . Archived from the original on November 25, 2021. Retrieved June 18, 2022.
  29. ↑ "The Forgotten City's Evolution From Skyrim Mod to Standalone Game". Game Rant. May 30, 2021. Archived from the original on December 30, 2021. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
  30. ↑ "Skyrim: The Forgotten City Mod Adds Time Travel And An Entire City". CINEMABLEND. July 17, 2015. Archived from the original on August 17, 2021. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
  31. ↑ Bell, Alice (July 27, 2021). "The Forgotten City review: a lean mystery that builds Rome in a day". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Archived from the original on January 6, 2022. Retrieved January 6, 2022.
  32. 1 2 3 "Skyrim's Forgotten City Mod Has Been Turned Into A Standalone Game". TheGamer. July 5, 2021. Archived from the original on January 14, 2022. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
  33. ↑ "FULL LIST OF WINNERS FOR THE 49th Annual AWGIE AWARDS" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on November 13, 2017.
  34. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (October 6, 2021). "Unpacking wins Game of the Year at 2021 Australian Game Developer Awards". gamesindustry.biz. Archived from the original on December 6, 2021. Retrieved December 13, 2021.
  35. ↑ Ankers, Adele (November 16, 2021). "The Game Awards Nominations Announced". ign.com. Archived from the original on November 16, 2021. Retrieved December 13, 2021.
  36. ↑ Bankhurst, Adam (February 25, 2022). "DICE Awards 2022 Winners: The Full List". IGN. Retrieved March 15, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.