I, the Forgotten One

This game is not the best If ive played but it was definitely a good one, Its was kind of a slow burn but it pays off in the end. But by the time i really started to enjoy things it felt that the story was wrapping up. I'm not sure what other options there are for endings but i made my sister the queen and she's a damm fine one at that. I'm looking forward to book two of this game and maybe that one will be even better than the first. This game takes abit to get into but its worth the pay off. The best way to describe this game is just good. You get exactly what you would expect and i can defiantly enjoy that.

GOOD

I can't believe I still haven't written a review for this game despite playing multiple times, but better late than never, right? This is one of the best offerings of Choice of Games (taking into account all three of their game lines), but it's also a damn hard game so you better be prepared! It has nothing to do with the usual "stat focused" games though - you don't have checks for your character to make based on their stats. Instead, you need to manage an army and be aware of how to use your strengths and perks, who to recruit, which groups to send against which enemies and so on. It is difficult to say the least, but not in the conventional sense that annoys me, where you can't roleplay whatsoever because you need to focus on your stats if you don't want to fail miserably at what you do. With that being said, speaking of roleplay, it's important to point out that this is not a game with a blank slate MC. The Marshal is a semi-set protagonist, leaning closer to "set" than "semi", if you will. You totally get to determine their gender and orientation, as well as a few other details like physical traits (keeping in mind every other character's appeareance will change based on that, as the MC always looks like most people of their country), style of fighting, their main strength as a leader and so on. But aside from that, the MC has a predetermined past and a personality that is basically set at the start. That doesn't mean the players don't have influence over them though! There three major aspects where the player really comes into play when it comes to the MC's future and simply their evolution (aside from how you perform in battle, of course): 1 - Romance. While this is not the focus of the game by any mean, the romances are quite impactful in various ways. The first game has three possible love interests: the "default" straight ones that will pursue a MC of the opposite gender to them, and one gay man. Lesbian woman option will only appear in the sequel. 2 - MC's "mental path". This is a quite unique one - at the start, without revealing too much - the MC is in a very bad place, mentally speaking. And as the story goes, you can further their self-blame, have them try to overcome it, or have them try to seek help in other people. After a while, you get locked in based on the dominant one in your MC. In book one you get one major scene influenced by this, but it will most likely play an even bigger role in book 2. 3 - Family relationships. This one is overlooked quite often, but to me it's one of the most important aspects of the game. You will be dealing with MC's mother and two of their siblings during the game, and these relationships actually have related stats or variables. MC's sister loves the MC, but you get to determine if your MC loves her too or if they are jealous of her, which may lead to wildly different endings for this book. As for their mother and brother... well, each has a numeric stat associated with them, and with MC's brother it's really important to all of their interactions with him and, again, will have a big impact on stuff by the end of the book. So yeah, don't go into this game with the idea that you'll get a fully customizable blank-slate MC, but rather with the expectation of an interesting MC who's a well written and fully fledged character that you're "pushing" toward different fates, closer to a classic eastern VN rather than most text-based IFs. This is of course subjective, but in my opinion as long as it isn't some weird middle ground that fails on both accounts, both approaches - and even a fully set protagonist - are perfectly fine and worth each other on different aspects. Now, if I'm being fully biased, I'd say this game is worth playing for Vedran alone because my love for that character knows no limits whatsoever and I think he's my favorite character ever made for a text based IF, but yeah, that's... TOO BIASED of me. I just wanted to gush over him though! That aside, if you read this far you already deduced this, but this is only part 1 of a duology. The second book has 2 chapters written as of the time of this review, and the writing is coming around. If you want more of the author in a slightly more "classic" Choice of Games style, you can check out the amazing Whiskey-Four in the meantime! That one is a standalone!

good narrative experience

Phenomenal game with great writing, if you love it dark and depressing. The trauma, dissociation and self harm are also very realistically depicted.

The story really pulls you in. You start to genuinely feel for the MC the deeper you get. The narrative is tightly woven and the pacing is great. It handles its themes of emotional distress and trauma with a lot of care, and it does it well. The side characters aren't an afterthought either; they feel like real, three-dimensional people. My only real complaint is that I now have to wait for the sequel.

ITFO was a mostly linear experience, but a captivating one nonetheless with a great deal of character being built out for the MC. I particularly enjoyed the coup ending, as it felt like the tragic down spiral of a character who has only further to fall. I'm certain the follow-up game will be great!