How The Forgotten City Creates The Perfect Mystery
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- Опубліковано 11 чер 2024
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Every year I break down the design and development of one of the year's most innovative games. This time: it's the time-travelling, day-looping, crime-solving, remake of a Skyrim mod, The Forgotten City. How was this remarkable game made?
=== Before you watch ===
Content warning: Some violence
=== Chapters ===
00:00 - Intro
03:24 - The Forgotten City (Spoilers)
15:26 - Honourable Mentions
=== Games Shown ===
Snake Pass (2017)
Event[0] (2016)
Her Story (2015)
Watch Dogs: Legion (2020)
Baba is You (2019)
Loop Hero (2021)
Solar Ash (2021)
The Forgotten City (2021)
Return of the Obra Dinn (2018)
Outer Wilds (2019)
Disco Elysium (2019)
Paradise Killer (2020)
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011)
BioShock (2007)
Prey (2017)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015)
Toodee and Topdee (2021)
Unpacking (2021)
Before Your Eyes (2021)
Wildermyth (2021)
Unsighted (2021)
Silicon Dreams (2021)
Inscryption (2021)
Slipways (2021)
Chicory: A Colorful Tale (2021)
It Takes Two (2021)
Genesis Noir (2021)
=== Credits ===
Music by Todd Siesel, under CC License - toddsiesel.bandcamp.com
Music from The Forgotten City OST, by Michael Allen
Palm Springs, courtesy of Neon and Hulu
=== Subtitles ===
Contribute translated subtitles - amara.org/en-gb/videos/Fb5dzK... - Ігри
![ПОЛНАЯ ИСТОРИЯ ЭКЗОРЦИЗМА [Топ Сикрет]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/qBySr6Bt0B8/mqdefault.jpg)
Developer here: Thanks for the kind words and interest Mark! Even I learnt something about how TFC works while watching this! :-P
Loved the game and the video. Do you have something new in the works?
@@spavaai The Remembered City, it's the opposite of this game where you play as the perpretator and have to break the rule without anyone knowing it, make everyone suspicious of each other, think the quest 'Whodunit' from TESIV-Oblivion
jk, i'm not even OP
@@muhajir1427 shit, I was hyped 😂
love the Forgotten City! it was super cool to learn that an Aussie dev made one of my favourite games in recent years!
btw for anyone interested, there's a great NoClip documentary about this game's development that also came out the other day
Thanks for such a cool game! Just finished it and came to continue watching this video.
Hovering over that 3 minute mark in a cold-sweat debate if my insane interest from the pitch and wanting to experience the game unspoiled can overcome how much I love listening to Mark talk about games he really likes. Agony
Watch Secret Sleepover Society’s streams of it at least! It’s a great game their VODs are archived on UA-cam. The comments might be riddled with spoilers though
Please, please play this for yourself if you can. It's worth it even if you have to wait.
Avoiding spoilers at all costs is the best way to experience this game. Highly recommend playing before watching anything about it.
@@brundeasie_OG I'm sold!! thank you!!
Ditto
The greatest thing of this game is the "auto-follow" NPCs, such a simple yet amazing function
I never used that 😅 Was it really useful? I counted 2 follow me task on top of my head.
@@AninoNiKugi I used it 4 times max, twice at the first cycle, but it was nice having it instead of manually following the NPC who knows where
Thinking about it, it is quite useful at the introduction, when you still don't know how's the map, and it lets you look around while following Galerius
Also the shortcuts with the ziplines to get back to places without having to walk all the way back.
Yeah pretty telling when that's the best part of this game really. But it was a great adition
…You can autofollow NPCs?
One thing I love about detective time loop games like this and others like The Outer Wilds is that „oh yeah, it‘s all coming together“ moment towards the end when all the puzzle pieces click together to form an epic conclusion
The key to being the most innovative game of the year is to be a detective game
I'm like one of those bosses where my weak-spot is extremely obvious and exposed
Don't know about snake one, but Baba definitely fits
@@GMTK You've been analysing too much Zelda, probably. ;)
@@GMTK as gaming journalist would say, you're truly "the dark souls of youtuber", mark
Yeah and regardless of quality as proved by this year's entry.
Me: I... feel like I know this premise...
Mark: "It was originally a Skyrim Mod."
Me: YES! I REMEMBER THAT MOD!
Was my favorite mod in Skyrim. Such a fun and engaging story.
I played it right before I quit playing Skyrim. Definitely the best one I'd ever played. I had the weirdest deja Vu the first time someone started telling me about this game!
I loved that mod! It deserved to be further fleshed out.
Me: "Why does this game almost look like Skyrim haha"
Mark, 10 seconds later: "This is actually a shiny remake of an old Skyrim mod"
Floored. Just floored.
I was thinking the exact same thing!!!
I hope they didn't bring over the combat too :(
but story & design wise, it's an amazing game
this game was original made by the same skyrim modder who made "The forgotton city" mod
thats kinda why it plays like skyrim
@@sephypantsu i know im late but if ya havent played it yet. the combat is simple like skyrim but ya actually dont do combat except for literally one area. all the npcs die in one hit. ya break the golden rule if ya kill someone and have to do another loop so combat isnt a big thing in this.
I actually did stop at the three minute mark, play through this 6.5 hour game in 2 days, and came back to finish this video! Very fun and enjoyable game, thanks for the recommendation! And, as always, a great video.
Haha same here :D
Me too ^^
me, too!! And I'm glad I did.
Same!!!
Just did the same
The perfection of voice acting in this game is mindblowing, every character has their charisma, humour and cleverness at the max
I played this on game pass because of the spoiler warning and I'm so glad I did. One of my favorite games of this year.
The game even warns players not to spoil, and so far everyone I have seen is following those rules! It's genius. Well, actually, it should be common sense, but this is the first time I've seen it implemented in an actual warning before you start the game.
@@LORdREDSTOneNR1 .....because if someone spoils the whole gaming community will die
I got sad because I thought each time you looped it started a new timeline and you just left behind the old one. I didn't think of it as a rewind, I thought of it as a timeline hop. I just couldn't take watching them die over and over.
The idea that this game's origins are a mod, just like the MOBA genre and TF2 is very fascinating
And the fact that it was a lawyer of all things that made the thing.
Doing similar things to this was his actual job
get over yourself
@@CSM100MK2 what 💀
The Stanley parable too
This game does something really interesting that I've been thinking about for a while - an adventure game, but structured like an RPG, just with (almost) no combat. After all, adventure games and RPGs are actually very similar in the core gameplay loop if we exclude combat.
Well, adventure games were inspired by the table top role playing genre (and it shows with the main mechanic of interacting with a story).
Kinda like Disco Elysium?
@@harshamohite1289 Yeah!
I wish it had zero combat though.
SPOILERS: Not even with those golden statues.
@@purplewine7362 It's funny because it's like opposite of a walking simulator. When Fullbright de facto created the genre with Gone Home, they asked themselves "would puzzles contribute to our game experience? No? Okay, we're making adventure game with no real puzzles." It's subtractive design, like in Ico.
And here devs were like "Fuck it, toss it the combat too, why not!" :P
Todd Howard you did it again! You even managed to make Skyrim GMTK's 2021 GOTY!
It's Skyrim, but with a time loop.
This video is not a goty video
This game is made by a guy and a few others that helped him. It was started as a passion project, a skyrim mod that become a true and brilliant experience. Im disappointed this game don't get any awards. you can feel the care put in in this game.
That's 2021 Wrapped! You got new GMTK episodes, a return to Boss Keys, a massive new Game Jam, a new game dev series, and more. If you want to support the work I’ve done this year you can pledge monthly, for awesome rewards, at Patreon - www.patreon.com/GameMakersToolkit
It's a bit late but what're your thoughts on Ghost of Tsushima and it's combat system
I never played the game and couldn't find videos properly shining the light at it's combat system, enemy design and stuff
@@adityaanuragi6916 i don't think it had anything new to discuss. It perfected whatever came before but nothing new
I played the game but it was bad, the phylosophics are not as good as Talos Principle
@@vedaryan334 what about the"stances" system??
Yay for more Boss Keys. LOVE that series!
After all the horrible things most of these people went through, the shmaltzy ending just felt RIGHT. And I love that the selfish pricks didn't get to join in on that. I truly did enjoy this game, you nailed all the things that just felt amazing about the game.
I do love a good victory lap. And you're right, super shmaltzy, but it worked for me.
Yup. Cathartic as hell after the time I'd spent with them all.
I think schmaltzy was the correct tone
ofc! i've heard of this through Jacob Geller's essay on it, glad to see it getting more recognition
Its awesome that a anti frustration feature becomes a plot point in one of the quests.
(Spoiler)
First, Galerius is just a way of not needing to help all those people in the same run every time, but then, after you use him to help everyone, you can promote him to magistrate and get one of the plaques.
yea, pretty smart indeed
Also when Sentius mentioned that I needed to create a paradox to free myself, then see that I need to make him open the portal...
Then I thought to myself... what if he died?
(spoiler)
and that galerius shortcut to not help everyone becomes a legend of an oracle that guided a hero to save people from the last tyrranical god. woah, my god it was good
„A good game doesnt need to make new ideas to be good, it is how we put those ideas together” - Some popular game designer I forgot.
this is the first time when a youtuber has said ‘you should go away so i don’t spoil this for you’ and i’ve actually listened. this is probably my favourite game of recent memory so i’m very glad in heeded mark’s advice here
Thank you. I bought this game on your recommendation (a couple of others too, you are a sponsors' dream). One thing you missed. How good the script and acting is. I get you're talking about games for a Design perspective, but no game made me like and care about the characters as quickly, and it's because of the excessively good voice actors, and the subtle facial expressions.
Totally! Fantastic writing and very charming characters. There's something about their faces... they're modeled in a unique and endearing way.
Paused at 3 min and played this entire game in two days - and I can't overstate how worth it it was! Back now the watch the rest of Mark breaking it down. Highly recommend!!!
THANK YOU! If any single-player title deserved more attention this year, it's The Forgotten City. Such a remarkable, specific experience that everyone should see to the end. For fans of New Vegas or KotOR, this is like peak Obsidian/Bioware writing. Thought-provoking and exactly what you've wanted for years.
Also, I guess explaining what memes are to a temple priestess and finding statues of giant penises was cool too.
Heh - my sister has a doctorate in ancient history - her PhD thesis was originally going to be about those statues (they were an actual thing), until one of the professors on her committee was replaced with a jerk who made her change her topic and start over.
I had that mod installed for years on my Skyrim and never played it. But when I saw they made a full game out of it I instantly bought it to try and it is indeed amazing.
I'm glad that this game has drawn the attention it deserves, it was not a foregone conclusion. Congrats and thanks to Nick Pearce, he created a solid experience that shows one more time the narrative potential of videogame medium.
Yes his comment is a day old. It's because of patreon. You're welcome.
I noticed a weird loop. One thing that helps makes these videos amazing, is the input from developers on what they did during production. Showing the devs his channel when asking them for their input makes them want to help, in turn making better videos, in turn making a more complex portfolio to then show more devs.
From the beginning, I could not put this game down. I truly and deeply enjoyed exploring this world.
When I heard about the time loop, my first thought was Majora's Mask. I never owned an N64, and even still, my mind instantly goes to Majora's Mask whenever someone brings up time loops.
So your brain is in a time loop where the reset trigger is someone mentioning a time loop? :D
"Getting some Boss Baby vibes from this"
To be honest I feel like a lot of what Mark said in this video could also apply to Majora’s Mask and the side quests around Clock Town, but I suppose this game achieves a lot more by making its characters the focus.
I actually did the thing nobody ever does, and went and bought and played this game before watching the spoiler bit, and GOD am I glad I did that. The first twist, the one the priestess tells you in the bathhouse, had me standing up from my computer and going “WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT THE FUCK. OMG”. Then my genuine reaction after the white hallway twist was “HOLY SHIT. WHAT????” Plus it’s just a really good and well written game but the twist amazement was the thing I would have lost if I’d done the normal thing of ignoring the spoiler warning and pushing forward
Everyone, the game is on winter sale, BUY IT BEFORE WATCHING THE SPOILERS!!!!!! You won’t regret it, and you might regret not doing it
Awesome video! It's been tough to find someone who can break down this game so succinctly. Most of the videos and articles I've read about it refuse to give away the game without FURIOUSLY winking at the disembodied camera and saying that they don't want to spoil it. I think you've done a fantastic job.
I totally agree with you. This game surprised me a lot for how good it is. I also like the writing a lot. There are some genuinely good twist and humor in the story which i enjoyed. For example *SPOILER*:
.
.
.
.
.
The clever twist of the Karen joke, the plot twists along the way, the fact that you can actually trick Desius to invest in Blockbuster, and so on. Also the part that Aurelia is tricked by the "Nigeria Prince" is my favorite bit of joke, I laugh so hard learning about it.
At first I thought the Karen jokes were lame since they felt forced and out of place in a game about a Roman City. But then that made the "revelation" in the middle of the game even more satisfying
they also had a great "alexa" joke in one of the final interviews
I also liked when I gave that prick a bad investment advice
I took 5000 from Desius every. Single. Loop.
When listing honourable mentions in the future, would you mind also including a list of them in the video description so that it's easier to look them up after the video? Scrubbing through the video for the split second of the title screen isn't very fun xP
For what it's worth, this is on Game Pass so before even getting the elevator pitch, I'm installing it right now and I guess I'll check back in once I've played it
Oh thank god, I was about to buy it. Probably gonna spend that money on the honorable mentions then
I think I recall you doing videos on games that redefined a genre, but have you ever done videos on games that created a genre?
Thank you for mentioning Wildermyth! Such a gem and underrated game imo.
Love that game, got really invested in my characters.
A near perfect "puzzle box" style adventure game. Loved every minute of it. Open enough to give you tons of options, self contained enough to not get messy
Holy crap Mark I just finished the game a few days ago and I was awestruck.
This game is amazing and I recommend it to everyone.
Nice video as always, kudos to you.
I know this sounds shallow and cheezy. But among the many highlights of the game. Being able to bring a gun back in time with you lead to some truly hilarious and empowering moments. Especially when people want to hurt you.
one of the very best games I've played in my entire life, very happy to see it highlighted here. It is really as masterfully crafted as you present and delivers an experience completely unique. As the intro of this video says, it "sounds familiar with other games", but it really isn't. It's as unique as it gets.
One of my favorite games of the year! Up there will Outer Wilds
Hell yeah, fantastic choice! This game has had a long path to where it is, but I'm glad it exists.
Hey Mark, given your love for detective games I think you might enjoy 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
It is a sci fi point and click that has RTS mini games, and the way the story unfolds is entirely nonlinear and relies on the player to be smart enough to piece what’s going on together. I think it’d be super cool to get your thoughts on it!
The way that 13 Sentinels manages to be so non-linear, yet still dole out so many coherent eye-opening revelations about what's going on, is really superb organisation by the designers.
It has so many layers where you think you work out what is happening, and then the game is like, 'yes, but we go deeper still'. What a fantastic game.
I actually just finished writing a comment about 13 Sentinels, since a lot of what Mark talked about sounded very similar. Glad to see someone else had the same idea! One of my absolute favorite games in recent memory, and sadly incredibly overlooked.
i looked it up after your comment aaaaaand it's a ps4 exclusive with the only planned release being on switch. bummer though, because it looked very interesting and I can't buy a new console just to play some exclusives. and the developer hasn't ever released anything on PC.
I've now realized that the autonomy given to the player is what I loved about this game. It felt like the game wanted you to be the one to break the Golden Rule. Of course, in my play through I then proceeded to do all I could to avoid that! And the game allowed you to play that way and even rewarded you for it. Definitely, my most memorable game experience of 2021.
An interesting thing about this game for me was how self important it was. Which I rolled my eyes at a few time but it didn’t put me off totally like it normally would because it needs to be self important to tackle the question it asks, which I consider to be inherently self important and full of philosophical pomp. It’s a great game.
This game is like a really good Davies era Doctor Who episode. Hammy acting, elements of horror, an ernest love for history, a love for intellectualism and philosophy, a cheesy ending, a candid self awareness of its structure, a central moral quandry, and an ending reveal that's VERY VERY Doctor Who.
Thank you for not holding back on spoilers, it's annoying when other videos do that for games like this.
I remember this game as a skyrim se mod, and it was so much fun for me to roleplay and immerse myself in this story.
If you didn't play it as a skyrim mod, definitely pick it up!
Even if you did play it as a mod, it's worth playing as a stand-alone!
@@decimusanothos5178 maybe, I just personally get bored when playing something I already played, especially if much of the enjoyment of the game comes from the story and mysteries
@@kairee1 yeah, but they apparently changed a lot of the story (I haven't played the original mod)
I legitimately cried when I reached the ending, they really deliver on the emotional aspect of helping everybody
Closed the video months ago because I wanted to experience it for myself unspoiled. I finally got around to it, and am now going to watch this video for the first time fully!
A great game. I bought it on a whim having never heard of the original mod. Was not disappointed. Was invested the entire playthrough and the ending mattered so much more because of it. Great to see it get the recognition it deserves. Great video too. It's so interesting seeing how the game was designed and the rationale behind the features.
glad you mentioned unsighted as honourable mention, it is really making some noise
Hell yeah! I loved the skyrim mod! Now I gotta play the game.
One of my favourite things about The Forgotten City , is the way it slowly makes you think like Sentius. It's alright to steal this, I'll get another go.
Not even finishing the intro on this one. Obra Dinn, Outer Wilds, Paradise Killer, and Disco Elysium are all some of my favorite games of all time, a combination of all of them is exactly what I want to play right now
Loved your honorable mention for Slipways! It's such a tightly-made puzzle game
Thank you for another great year.
Happy Holidays, Mark!
Thanks for the recommendation!
What a nice experience to close up 2021.
And really great analysis!
Love how you lean to focus more on the feeling the game create with invisible design.
Thank you for sharing your journey in game journalism and indie development; be behind you all the way; Happy holidays and a pleasant and happy healthy new year!
0:44 that "Salve friend" was on beat and sounded epic!
fr, that shi was fyeee
I just played this last night and stuck with it to 3 of the 4 endings. A great video but it's missed that this game was put together by a team of 3. Power to the little guys!
stopped at the intro, bought the game, played it all the way through, came back. genius. thank you
Finding the resin was one of the last optional quests I did. I think that made me miss the item/loop mechanic for quite a while.
These are always some of my favorite videos to watch!
Forget 2021, this is one of the best games I've ever played period.
Finished (one of the story lines) last night after the Noclip doc. So happy to see it getting love here.
I'd really like to see you go over Inscryption. The subtle clues and "Easter eggs" were amazing to experience
Really surprised that it wasn't Before your eyes! Sadly haven't played forgotten city yet, but I'll surely be back next year!
Thanks for the great year of content and have a good holidays, Mark!
Great video, I love how you and Danny usually pick the same topic at the same time so I get to see if from two perspectives.
I just finished this game and was really impressed by it, even more so after finding out it was made by only 3 people. The story captivated me from the beginning, and the canon ending felt satisfying and rewarding after all the time and work I put into helping all the characters. Hopefully we get more games by this studio in the near future!
Finished playing this about one and a half months ago, but it still lingers in my mind. Once in a while it will pop into my kind, and I’ll give it a moment.
Good length aswell for the game it sets out to be.
It’s not hundreds of hours of gameplay. But for the world it builds, to tell its story or topics it delves with, I think it gives itself just enough to pull it off really well.
Just feels really well-executed.
And it’s nice to have a really great game-experience you know is very feasible to finish pretty fast, even with all the rest of your life happening.
Great writing, really enjoyed exploring the world and it’s characters.
This guy writes the best scripts i've heard in a long while
Just checking back in to say thanks for the recommendation, I really enjoyed it!
I’m so glad this is getting love on this channel. Been waiting to here Mark’s opinion on it.
Thank you! I just took this game off my Steam wishlist the other day. This elevator pitch got me interested again, and I skipped out at the bail point. Looking forward to coming back after I play it to hear you dig in. :)
That description of Before Your Eyes sounds amazing and intriguing.
This game seems incredibly fascinating and I’d love to play it without any spoilers, but for some reason Cloud Gaming has been a trend for getting some games onto the switch. Yeah it allows for prettier games, but what about when you don’t have WiFi access at the moment or unreliable WiFi connection? It fundamentally goes against the portable nature of the Switch.
In a manner it does. It relies on a good connection which isn't always the case. Sorry to hear that
This one is getting a lot of attention at the moment due to the end of year roundups and it is absolutely deserved.
I checked it out on a whim a week ago and finished it in just 3 days. I literally couldn't stop playing it and used every free moment I had to just progress the story a little bit more. It was the video game equivalent of a page turner book, where you just need to know what happens next and it consumes your every thought until you finish it.
Just finished playing after putting the game on my backlog when this video came out, super worth it! Loved this game. It felt a little slow at the beginning when there's still a lot to learn about all the characters, but once you've made the rounds the pace picks up and never lets go. I also could've done without the combat.
thank you for another amazing year! your videos have kept me afloat during this year. also would kill for u to make a vid abt disco elysium. definitely joining the patreon
Great video. Happy holidays
I had a blast with this game, it's nice to see it highlighted here.
8:30
I think it's important to realize that the default is the helping hand. It feels great to rebel and find one's own path. If the guided tour wasn't the default, I imagine fewer people would do it, even if it would benefit them.
Ohhhh I was actually very interested in Before Your Eyes! Would love if you could do a vid on that, the entire mechanic being based on blinking was so fascinating to me
Great video, thabk you for carrying me through my chores!
"Toodee & Topdee is a genre-mashup where you swap between a platformer and a puzzler"
Sounds like a familiar topic...
We're getting into meta level jokes in the gmtk lore
Confession: I played the Skyrim mod version of this game completely blind in 2015 and did not understand the time travel premise. I got that I wasn’t supposed to steal anything or fight anyone, so I just wandered around talking to people and figuring out which areas I could go into without lock-picking or trespassing until I stumbled into one of the relatively good endings.
same thing happened to me. They didnt really explain that items basically duplicated themselves w the time loop. On one hand I like that theres no hand holding but on the other it doesnt at all capitalize on the experience in the way this game does
Lol I 'cheated' my way to the best ending by using histskin and healing spells to tank the area with ambient damage, clever platforming to get places I shouldn't have been able to, and otherwise exploiting high-level abilities for all they were worth- but it still felt deserved, like an impression of how powerful my character had become in the wider world by then.
Definitely my game of the year, really happy to see you enjoyed it so much too!
I love this series! My personal pick for the year has to be Buddy Simulator 1984. It feels like if Undertale, Hypnospace Outlaw, and Event[0] had a baby.
I love how your still didn't give any major spoilers for the story in your analysis. Not that it would have bothered me, I played it obsessively at launch anyway, but very considerate to the people who haven't yet experienced this gem.
thx for review. i will go try it before the deep dive.
Good Video have a good rest of your year
Just finished this game after having it on my backlog for ages. Was blown away by how good it is and ran straight to this video to hear your thoughts. Excellent breakdown of the game 👍🏻
I watched the whole video before playing the game! So grateful and impressed how you managed to keep out store spoilers even though you explained how the whole game works! Still intrigued to play it now!
Loved how mark just had enough and popped the roman guy with the 9 lmao
Man I just subscribed like one minute ago, timing is poggers
Thanks for letting me know about this game
I stopped the video and played it for myself. I'm super happy I did as I 100% the game and it's one of my favorites. Glad I remembered to finish this video as well. Thanks for the reminder from your most recent video.
This game really shocked me when I first played, in more ways than one lol
During the very first conversation with Sentius, a family member of mine randomly stopped by to visit. I'm not the type to have a guest wait for me to finish my game, so I just left the game sitting with Sentius staring at me on his balcony. A few hours later, I come back to find Sentius gone, my character just standing there on the balcony all alone like a chump, and the entire game world having gone to hell in a handbasket while I wasn't looking.
Found out later, the game continues progressing the timer even when you are in conversation with characters and will forcefully stop your conversations with characters sometimes. So, of course, the Golden Rule was eventually triggered as always. I'm just surprised my character wasn't killed by the Furies. I'm guessing Sentius's balcony is a safe zone or something? If only the poor underground philosopher guy had known about that lol
Nice one - after a few recommendations I’ve been wondering what all the fuss is about with this game 👍
The whole bit about blocking off spoiler reveals until you’ve made sufficient progress, and constantly presenting surprises and satisfying reveals, reminds me of how the story mode works in 13 Sentinels. After the intro chapters, you’re free to bounce around between whichever characters’ stories you like. Each story is broken up into different parts that feel kinda like interactive episodes of an anime, and every single one of them has some twist or revelation, etc, that leaves you surprised and excited to see more. To keep you from getting too far ahead of yourself and being spoiled, you’ll sooner or later come across roadblocks that keep you from, say, playing part 4 of character B’s story until you’ve played part 3 of character D’s. On top of that, you don’t start out with access to every character; some different routes will unlock other characters once you reach a certain point. And every single one is all intertwined with another, so one character’s story will fill in the gaps between another’s, and you’ll be able to see how each part of the story influences another and fits together.