The Forgotten City
Give it 4 hours
What the data shows
- In the first 2 hours 1 in 3 reviews are negative (35%); after 7h it's 1 in 50 (2%).
- Fully opens up by hour 7.
- At least 61% of players who start reach the ending.
- The biggest drop-off is between “Looper” (Loop through time once) and “Archaeologist” (Discover what lies beneath the city): from 100% to 75% of starters.
- 71% of owners got the first achievement.
When it gets good
Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.
before it gets good opening up fully opened up
Based on all 13,907 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 298 reviews: 8.8h for positive, 5.7h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.
Where players quit
Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (71.4% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
- Started playing 100%
- Looper Loop through time once 100%
- Archaeologist Discover what lies beneath the city Most players quit here 75% −25
- Survivor Survive the Palace 78% +3
- Herculean Confront the creator of The Golden Rule 63% −15
- The Canon Ending Reach Ending 4 of 4 ≥61% −2
story milestone ending (most common ending) biggest drop-off
Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.
All achievements (40)
story milestone ending side
- Looper Loop through time once 100%
- Smooth Talker Get rejected by Aurelia 87%
- Trickster Save Fabia's life 85%
- Medic Save Iulia's life 84%
- Golden Archer Gild your first thing 79%
- Survivor Survive the Palace 78%
- Archaeologist Discover what lies beneath the city 75%
- Bloodless Shadow Learn the true identity of the stranger by the river 74%
- High Diver Enter a villa with a daring leap 74%
- Counsellor Save Ulpius's life 71%
- Treasure Hunter Find treasure using the golden bow 70%
- Lion Tamer Solve Vergil's problem 67%
- Liberator Have Duli released from his cell 64%
- Sleuth Find all three missing persons 63%
- Herculean Confront the creator of The Golden Rule 63%
- Unhygenic Pick up the sponge on a stick 62%
- The Canon Ending Reach Ending 4 of 4 61%
- Tourist Use Photo Mode 60%
- Italian Plumber Enter the upper cistern in an unconventional way 58%
- The One That Got Away Reach Ending 2 of 4 56%
- The Oracle Assemble as many people as possible in the Museum 53%
- Underworld Explorer Discover Underworld icons Sisyphus, Tantalus, Ixion and the Belide 49%
- The Many Shall Suffer Reach Ending 1 of 4 44%
- Match-maker Help Galerius romance Equitia 44%
- Maverick Skip the city tour 43%
- Psycho Intimidate the creator of The Golden Rule 42%
- Grave Robber Steal 2000 coins after the Golden Rule is broken 41%
- Avid Reader Read 10 different grafitti 38%
- Nimble Dodge 3 boulders 36%
- Super Looper Loop through time ten times 33%
- Kleptomaniac Trigger The Golden Rule by stealing 5 times 32%
- The Ones That Got Away Reach Ending 3 of 4 32%
- Silver Tongue Talk your way through every possible confrontation 28%
- Callous Allow Fabia to die in the collapsing temple 21%
- Fibber Lie 10 times 15%
- Law Abiding Citizen Finish the game without looping through time once 13%
- Dead Shot Free the captive and shoot her captor with your gun 7.4%
- Striker Topple 10 peeled statues by kicking others into them 7.1%
- Allergic Die from hornet stings 6.7%
- Minimalist Reach the best ending with the smallest number of loops 6.3%