The Forgotten City, a historical murder mystery game by developer Modern Storyteller, recently received a release date of July 28th. The game allows players to travel 2,000 years in the past during the time of the Roman Empire in a secret underground city. Along with the historical setting, it brings in a narrative-driven mystery for players to solve. In the precarious utopia the player and other characters inhibit, if one person breaks the mysterious Golden Rule, everyone dies. Players must relive the city’s final moments in a loop, the stakes always on the rise as every day changes over the course of time with each secret they uncover.
An Ever-Changing Historical Mystery
The game’s primary focus is around unveiling a mystery, exploring difficult moral choices, and exploiting the time loop in the hope of unraveling the murderous riddle. While combat is an option, violence will only get players so far. They will also have the option of attempting to reason, charm, bribe, or intimidate their target. Additionally, players can choose what their character’s origin, gender, and race are. The game encourages players to be whoever they want and act in any way they want to help solve the ongoing mystery.
Players will also have to deal with difficult precedents filling the underground utopia and choices that could mean life or death for those that inhabit the city. Only by questioning a community of colorful characters – all given their own personalities, thoughts, and beliefs – will players get around to solving and making such choices. With exploration and deduction being the main center focus of gameplay for The Forgotten City, the game explores this to the max. The lives and world of the Romans who inhabit the city are the main highlights, offering an example of how developer Modern Storyteller has translated and made this historical world alongside its fictional plot. With historically authentic art, architecture, costumes, and customs, the game shows off its background with class alongside the heavy, constantly changing narrative-based plot and mystery.
The Mod That Built the Foundation for the Upcoming Release
The Forgotten City was originally a mod for the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The mod garnered critical acclaim, an award from the National Writers Guild, and over 3 million downloads. With overall positive fan acclaim for the mod, Nick Pearce, the developer of the original mod, founded Modern Storyteller to work on a standalone title. “We hope it finds its audience: gamers whose intelligence and time deserve respect, who enjoy the challenge of unraveling a mystery on their own, and who understand that a great story doesn’t need to rely on combat to make hearts race and soar,” Developer Nick Pearce spoke on what the game’s appeal hopes to bring along to gamers with its release. With multiple endings, deep and enriching lore with colorful characters that surround the in-game world, and the choices that players can affect and decide in this historical mystery, we can look forward to a solid mystery and adventure game with its historical roots in the time of the Roman Empire on July 28th.
At Epoch XP, we specialize in creating compelling narratives and provide research to give your game the kind of details that engage your players and create a resonant world they want to spend time in. If you are interested in learning more about our gaming research services, you can browse Epoch XP’s service on our parent site, SJR Research.
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(This article is credited to Josh Rife. Josh has been a longtime gamer, playing games from vast amounts of genres. From Sci-Fi to historical or fantastical medieval games, he enjoys playing and discussing them with others. Some of his particular favorites include the Mass Effect series and the Total War franchise. He’s working towards writing and researching history as a full-time career, taking inspiration from his parents, who own Epoch’s parent company, SJR Research.).