The Forgotten City

Quest Mod Review

I won’t spend too long reviewing this awesome mod for the simple reason that if you’re into quest mods at all, you probably know about this one from before, since it’s become of the most known and endorsed quest mods on the Nexus since its original upload for old Skyrim in October 2015. It has a deep story, interesting characters, lots of things to investigate both big and small, several very different endings, and a really neat use of time travel to create a kind of fail state where you don’t need to reload, but still have to start fresh, and yet you sort of keep your progress… it’s kind of hard to explain without spoiling things for those who may still not have played the mod, but in short, it’s easy to see why this mod has won rewards for its storytelling in competitions that go beyond just storytelling in games. At the heart of it all is a really compelling mystery that kept me up several hours past my bedtime because I just had to find out what was beyond a certain point in the mod.

So far this is by far the best of the mods I’ve done on this playthrough. But unfortunately, it’s still impossible to complete it by playing completely pacifist, because at one point there is a band of vicious murderers that will cause some of that fail state I talked about unless you wipe them out fast. So if you’re looking for mods that will let you progress your pacifist without getting any blood on your hands, you’re unfortunately going to have to stay away from this mod.

On the other hand, the mod is very much into questions of morality and legality and really makes violence something you mostly want to avoid, or at least consider extremely carefully before you decide it really is imperative to take decisive action.

In short, if you still haven’t played this mod, you should. But before you go treating yourself to it, also be aware that once you begin the mod, you won’t be going back to the rest of Skyrim for a while because you’ll be going down a one-way road and finding a way back again will be one of your main objectives. Don’t worry if you need traders and such though, you’ll soon find yourself in a city that has all the services you expect.

Finally, although the mod is listed as ‘Fair and Balanced’, the final reward to one of the endings is a heavy armor helmet that negates all magicka cost for shock spells. Casting with the thing on does come with a supposedly blinding flash of light, but that doesn’t really balance out how overpowered this is in the gloom of most dungeons, where it is a minor nuisance but you can still see well enough. This of course fixed my mage’s magicka problems with Destruction spells, and also gave me a welcome chance to spend perks into the otherwise more expensive shock damage spells for once. For my character, the main drawback was that heavy armor negated the Mage Armor perks that I was trying to test out – plus it felt cheesy. Then again, some quest mods have much more challenging combat than vanilla Skyrim – and honestly, messing about with potions and enchantments is a hassle I’d rather avoid. So I now try to make do without this helm, especially for vanilla content, but when the situation calls for a cheesy glass cannon, I equip it – and I have to admit I’m grateful for that option.

Pacifist potential: The mod will make you think twice before resorting to violence – but you still can’t complete it without killing people. I’ll give it an 8/10 in this department.

General verdict: Pacifist or not: If you haven’t played this mod, you should. 10/10.

You can find the mod here: The Forgotten City at the Skyrim SE Nexus