It is no secret that mods usually help the longevity of a video game. In most cases, mods enhance a game in terms of aesthetics and mechanics, such as adding a new layer of texture that wasn't present in the vanilla version. However, there are also cases when mods provide players with an entirely different experience, which is the case for The Forgotten City, an award-winning Skyrim mod.

In just a few days, developer Modern Storyteller and publisher Dear Villagers are releasing The Forgotten City, a standalone game based on the popular Skyrim mod that focuses on having players make moral choices while solving a mystery. The game is being made on Unreal Engine, offering players a huge revamp of the original mod. With its release just around the corner, here's everything players need to know about The Forgotten City.

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As previously mentioned, The Forgotten City is a standalone game based on the Skyrim mod that won a Writer's Guild award. The game has been in development for four years now and is also backed by the Australian government. In a preview with Game Rant, the developer highlighted the importance of recasting the mod in Ancient Rome. To stay true to the era, players will notice how NPCs emulate people's attitudes from that time.

Additionally, the upcoming game's time loop mechanic is designed to be more complex, and players will find how deeply interwoven it is in The Forgotten City's setting. Apart from the time loop, the "Golden Rule" is prevalent throughout the city, which means that if any character commits a "sin," everyone in the city will face death.

In April, a new trailer for The Forgotten City did not dig deep into details, it did provide players a hint on its story and what they can expect from the game. The trailer also highlighted the murder mystery focus of The Forgotten City that sees players embark on a non-linear journey filled with time travel and interacting with people from an era long gone.

People who played the original Skyrim mod would know that The Forgotten City took place in an underground city within the world of Skyrim. However, the upcoming standalone game takes the setting to an underground city beneath Ancient Rome. Instead of playing as a Skyrim character, the standalone game lets players control a time traveler transported 2,000 years in the past.

In an interview with Game Rant, writer Nick Pearce shared some of the biggest changes in The Forgotten City. Pearce recounted how the studio decided to level up everything they could, including the new setting, gameplay mechanics, voice acting, and soundtrack. However, Pearce mentioned that out of all the changes made for the game, his favorite is the new script, which was completely rewritten with twists, characters, puzzles, and multiple endings. Pearce said the script for The Forgotten City is double the length of the original mod at 80,000+ words, allowing even those who have played the mod to be surprised with all the new content.

After The Forgotten City's initial announcement at The PC Gaming Show in 2018, it was planned to launch sometime in 2019. However, due to the studio wanting to expand the scope of the standalone game, The Forgotten City was eventually delayed to 2020, and was postponed again to summer 2021. Last month, Modern Storyteller and Dear Villagers finally announced The Forgotten City's release date, which falls on July 28, 2021.

The Forgotten City will be released on the PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, with a later release planned for Switch, allowing fans across multiple platforms to experience the game based on the award-winning Skyrim mod. Given the mod's popularity, it is interesting to see how The Forgotten City will turn out, especially given the legacy it has to live up to.

The Forgotten City will release July 28, 2021, on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and later in 2021 for Switch.

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