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Do try to solve time loop mystery The Forgotten City before it leaves Game PassMysteries upon mysteries in the best thing to come from Skyrim
Mysteries upon mysteries in the best thing to come from Skyrim
What’s better than a little city full of mysteries to solve? A mysterious little city trapped in a time loop, where you slowly learn all the secrets but no one remembers what you did last time around. That’sThe Forgotten City, and if you’re on Game Pass, I do recommend having a go before it leaves Microsoft’s service next week. It’s a great puzzle box running to clockwork, like ifOuter Wildshad you meddle with people’s lives rather than machinery.
The Forgotten City Makes You Feel Clever | My Fav Thing In… (The Forgotten City Review)Watch on YouTube
The Forgotten City Makes You Feel Clever | My Fav Thing In… (The Forgotten City Review)
Without your intervention, every day will play out exactly the same. People will go to the same places at the same time, have the same conversations, and do the same things, the day playing out like clockwork to a sinful conclusion. The Golden Rule has serious consequences but so what? You carry over your knowledge between loops and, more importantly, your inventory.
Some of the many gold statues are placed in interesting poses; others are unsettling
Across loops, you learn a little more about the residents; their secrets, schemes, relationships, and weaknesses. You’ll learn the city too; its hidden spots and shortcuts. And sure, maybe you’ll nick some keys and cash to open doors and loosen lips, because hey, time loop! You do also gain a few tools to help move about, like a very mild metroidvania. So off you go, meet people, have chats, poke around, chase leads, learn secrets, maybe commit a sin or two, descend into touches of horror, and have a grand old time exploring a city laden with ominous mystery.
They are a great set of nested mysteries. Unpicking them through exploration, detective work, bribery, intimidation, and good deeds is very satisfying. Some good startling revelations in there, and moments I felt clever when my suspicions proved correct. But I might most enjoy exploring the many (im)moral possibilities of manipulating people.
If the game didn’t have a time loop, I wouldn’t even quicksave/quickload to see the bad thing. I can’t bring myself to be mean to pixels. But here I know the time loop has my back and will wipe the slate clean. I will do the good thing, eventually, but first I just want to see what happens if… And the game knows I will do this, and it is ready to make me feel bad for it. The game knows the time loop has its back too, so it’s free to create dramatic consequences. Some important characters will become furious and refuse to talk to you, and oh there are so many opportunities for people to die. Sure, it’ll all be forgotten and reset on the next loop, but these are still big emotional hits in the moment. The risk of dramatic consequences also makes me think more about my dialogue choices, knowing my words matter.
I like dialogue options marked as lies
I was mortified after I saved someone who had very almost died in a traumatic escape attempt then I started clicking through all their dialogue options and, without thinking, asked if they knew a way out. Yeah, I lost a friend there. But hey one short loop reset later, hey, hi buddy, it’s me, your new best friend who’d never say anything thoughtless or callous.
Actually, there is one NPC I’m never unkind to: my absolute best mate, Galerius. As well as being a lovely bloke, he’s also a helpful shortcut in time loops. Once you solve certain problems and quests, on future loops you can ask Galerius to run off and enact the solution for you, doling out items and messages to save you repeating the effort over and over. Top guy.
Oh, and I do like that it offers you a choice of backstories which are also classes, offering handy little perks or items alongside some extra personal flavour. I like when games tell little stories with their class systems; I am making a note to include this inour ongoing quest to decide the single best thing in video games.
Little history lessons are scattered about as items and tooltips
The Forgotten City will leave Game Pass on Tuesday the 1st of November. If you like explore-o-mysteries, do have a go before then. It’ll take maybe six hours to poke around a fair bit and find one ending, maybe ten hours to find all the secrets and endings and everything? For a second (positive) opinion, see Alice Bee’sThe Forgotten City reviewfrom last year. We named it one ofour favourite games of 2021too.
