The game does make time for a couple of branching side bits that you only visit once – a romp through a mansion and a similar romp through some underground tunnels that turn into an optional survival horror-ish creep-fest – but for the most part you know exactly who is where, when. “The logical nature of this very supernatural mystery makes you feel like a big smarty pants.” The different shopkeepers are all in the forum. Sentius and his daughter chill in his villa. Domitius the gladiator is usually doing push-ups in the courtyard in front of the villas, for example, so if you need to yell at him about something, you know where to look. The relatively restrained cast and location size means this is achievable without having to follow quest markers all the time. There are actually four possible endings, but getting the best one requires the most careful collecting of information. Freeing the city involves talking to everyone, finding out what their problems are and how to fix them, and gradually you becoming the master of the loop in full Groundhog Day style. Every time you fail, you have to sprint back to the portal while golden huntresses fire magic arrows at the NPCs, to be sent back to the start again. Your job, as explained by Sentius, the kindly old Magistrate of the place who created the time loop, is to figure out who it is who’s going to break the so-called Golden Rule, to stop everyone’s gilded death.

The title city is a bit of a stretch, since there are only 20-ish people there when you turn up, and three of them have gone missing. The team on The Forgotten City is very small, but because they’ve not overreached it means the game as a whole feels svelte rather than sparse. Not a pudgy toddler hanging onto the Dragonborn’s ankles, this no, it is a sturdy Roman legionary, lean and muscular. I didn’t play the immensely popular Skyrim mod that later inspired this standalone, which probably helps one to enjoy The Forgotten City more. This is the situation in The Forgotten City, a time loop mystery adventure that does not, unfortunately, feature a dialogue option for constantly swearing and weeping as a reaction to the situation. There are several people stuck in this underground city that you fell into, and you’re all under the threat of turning into gold statues if even one of you does something wrong. Picture the scene: you wake up at the side of a river and a stranger, who is reluctant to tell you their name, is like, “Can you go into the ruined city and find my mate please?” Five minutes later and you find yourself stuck in a time loop in a small Ancient Roman settlement from 2000 years ago. This supernatural time travel mystery is lean, tight, and will make you feel like a big smarty-pants.

Skyrim forgotten city who is the threat