The Forgotten City has just been released as a standalone game with multiple endings. Fans of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim may recall the name as an incredibly popular fan mod. Developer Modern Storyteller has transitioned the game’s setting from the world of Tamriel to ancient Rome.
Besides the changes in narrative, a key gameplay element is the Golden Rule. Whenever anyone commits a major crime - like murder or theft - all citizens will be doomed to be petrified in gold. Fast players are the only ones who can survive and time warps back to the start of the day, preventing the failings of themselves and others.
There are many ways to end the story of Forgotten City; however, there is only one canon ending. Even the canon ending has multiple outcomes depending on the choices the player makes. While players can be content with the canon ending, this guide will explain how to get all possible endings in Forgotten City for players looking to get every achievement/trophy.
Possible Endings in The Forgotten City
The game has four base endings and they may have further small variations depending on choices and completed quests. Many will require breaking the Golden Rule and using time travel at least once.
The Many Shall Suffer
For the most basic ending, one will need a weapon. Selecting the Soldier background will start the player off with a handgun. All other class backgrounds will instead need to head to the Roman Baths and watch Fabia being crushed inside the shrine. Next, approach the main bath entrance and confront the Assassin, who can’t be talked out of his mission and will break the Golden Rule. Quickly time warp back, warn Fabia to hide somewhere else, and then trick the Assassin by lying that his target is inside the shrine. He will be crushed and his body searchable for a wooden bow.
With either weapon, head to Sentius’ Villa and execute the Magistrate. Players will be sent back to their own time, but Al will be very upset and not allow one to approach Karen.
The One That Got Away
The next ending requires gaining access to the upper part of the Cistern. There are two methods to this. The most direct is to show the wooden bow to Desius in the Forum. He will unlock the Shrine of Diana and hand over a fake Golden Bow. Use this fake to replace it with the real one, equip it, and then fire at the hornet nest hanging above to turn it into solid gold. Now, head through the entire Palace dungeon and back out to the city. Enter the lower part of the Cistern near the Villas, and use the Golden Bow to turn the upper leaves into gold; climb up to the top section.
The second option is much longer and requires several objectives to be completed in past time loops:
- Loot the Assassin’s orders and show them to Claudia upstairs in Malleolus’ Villa. Gather wine from the slums or buy it from Aurelia. Give the wine to Claudia for the old love letter. Show the letter to Malleolus and convince him to drop out of the election.
- Save Fabia from being crushed by the old shrine.
- Discover the cure for rheumatism by either talking to Naevia inside the Palace dungeon or loot her key in the slums and unlock the chest in the Shrine of Apollo.
- Find Rufius’ note in his slums room, cure his rheumatism, and as a reward tell him to leave Vergil alone.
- Head to the Great Temple and allow Ulpius to commit suicide at least once. Go to the Forum and steal or buy Siliphium Resin from Desius. Time loop and give the Resin to Lucretia to save Iulia. Finally, approach Ulpius and tell him Iulia is safe, to think of Sentilla, and free him by handing over 1,000 Denarius or convincing Malleolus to let him go.
With those complete, time loop once more and tell Galerius the solution for all of the above. This will give him the motivation to win the election. His first act will be to free Duli, who kindly gives players the upper Cistern key.
Regardless of how they arrived, players should free Sentilla right away to view the ending.
The Ones That Got Away
This ending has most of the same requirements as the previous one. However, when meeting Sentilla, disagree with her and let her know that it is far too dangerous to break the Golden Rule and leave so many people behind. Now, time warp and explain the situation to Galerius and have him gather up as many citizens as he can. Go back into the Cistern, let Sentilla know that Galerius is on his way, and then free her.
The Canon Ending
For this ending, one must gather four plaques and bring them to the Great Temple.
- Greek Plaque: free Duli by making Galerius Magistrate. Quickly enter Duli’s cell and pick up the plaque, as Duli is prone to break the Golden Rule.
- Roman Plaque: allow Ulpius to jump off the Great Temple. Now, closely trail behind Octavia as she runs away in grief, allowing players to enter the Secret Shrine before she is able to lock it. Alternately, players can kill Octavia, Rufius, or Malleolus for the Secret Shrine Key.
- Egyptian Plaque: defeat the Assassin by tricking him to enter the collapsing shrine. Go around town and listen to people’s recollections of arriving. With enough interviews, speak to Equitia to start investigating the Roman Baths. After spotting the bath mural, head inside the Temple of Demeter and find the Hermit Philosopher. Speak pragmatically about what was found in the mural and he will give the key to The Duat. Travel to the very end of this dungeon and speak to Khabash, who will hand over the plaque.
- Sumerian Plaque: however, Khabash will immediately discard the fourth plaque down a hole. Despite his warnings, jump down and take it from the water. Players will now need to escape the undercity by dodging traps. Khabash will eventually catch up and confront players. One option is to kill him, but this will break the Golden Rule and make the zone very dangerous. Instead, convince Khabash that there is no sin in building a society on the ruins of a past one.
With all plaques collected, head inside the Great Temple. Speak to the Lord and ask questions to learn that he is mortal. When discussing that the Golden Rule is hypocritical, explain how both he and his predecessors are just long-lived flawed humans. Alternately, threaten the lord and kill his mistress, steal her crown, and then time loop. In this next cycle, show the lord the crown of his fallen lover.
While this is the best ending in Forgotten City, it can further change depending on the current fate of various characters, like Fabia and Ulpius, along with their dissipation towards the main character.
The Forgotten City is available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.