Dear Villagers and Modern Storyteller have released an extended look at their upcoming time-looping game "The Forgotten City."

Set in an ancient Roman city, players must investigate and interact with a cast of 22 people in order to identify who is behind the crimes. However, if even one of them commits a crime, a mysterious entity will turn everyone in the city into gold and kill them. By using the time loop, they can figure out what is going on, avoid the gold-plated retribution, and catch the would-be culprit before he endangers the others.

In some respects, The Forgotten City looks incredibly janky. The trailer's frame rate is erratic and the animation is stiff, giving it a strange "Oblivion" feel.

The game is an adaptation of a Skyrim mod, a mod whose script won the first ever award from the Australian Screenwriters Guild, and it really shows. The sense of world-building shown in this 10-minute excerpt is ridiculous, and I am already thoroughly immersed in the events of this city.

The Forgotten City will be available this winter on Steam and Xbox One.