The Forgotten City

The game has a naive perception of ancient Romans in that it assumes they'll inherently embrace modernity in the best way possible and has a reductionist view of the morality of various ancient cultures. On the other hand, the game plays with historical conventions in a neat way and there is a lot of cool historical references, even if the presentation of it is shallow. The puzzles and combat are braindead, but the interactions and overall novelty was good enough to say I enjoyed myself.

Extremely well-written and designed like a Swiss watch. The map is just the right size and the time loop premise is integrated better than in the other games that try it. The visual/technical shortcomings are easy to overlook given the tiny size of the team behind the project. There are many little mysteries interwoven with the bigger mysteries, and I find this to be an excellent way to present a detective game. A plot in this style could still be engaging even without the time-loop gimmick

A cool little game. The gameplay outside conversations isn't setting the world on fire, and there's a level of jank you'd expect from software that originated as an Elder Scrolls mod, but the characters, setting and knock-on altering of the situation through player agency are compelling enough. As a Classics student, I obviously also appreciate the setting, even if there's some real butchering of Latin pronunciation.