Pentiment

What is Pentiment about?

This is an adventure game set in the year 1516. The emphasis is on narrative and decisions that guide the way through the game. You quickly realise that there is a lot to read.

The unusual thing about Pentiment is the idiosyncratic but equally appropriate graphic style, which could have come from paintings and book illustrations of the time. Another striking feature is that the action takes place in the fictional Upper Bavarian village of Tassing.

How do you come up with an idea like that?

The renowned developer studio Obsidian is known for titles such as The Outer Worlds, Pillars of Eternity 1 & 2, Tyranny, Fallout New Vegas or Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II. How did the studio from Orange County in California come up with such an idea?

Developer Josh Sawyer had the idea of producing a story at the end of the Middle Ages back in the days of Black Isle, the predecessor studio. The 1992 role-playing game Darklands had inspired him to do so; however, studio boss Feargus Urquhart rejected the project at the time.

In November 2022, Sawyer and a small team led by Hannah Kennedy, a graphic artist with a talent for medieval illustrations, brought it out after all. Obsidian was supported by parent company Microsoft.

Well, Adventure as always!

Underneath the unfamiliar but also beautiful surface, Pentiment is a normal adventure with a focus on the story. As a player, you have little more to do than in a purely visual novel.

The tasks of the main character Andreas Maler are limited to walking around the village of Tassing and talking to the villagers. There is no inventory, although an object can be picked up. Puzzles and mini-games enrich the otherwise scarce interaction.

Enormously deep plot

It quickly becomes clear that the story is mature and profound. Andreas' reflections, for example, are illustrated in a kind of spiritual retreat (pictured above). Here he weighs up decisions in dialogue with elements of his personality.

Passionate Journeyman painter

After a crossing in the spirit (picture above) with noisy fools, Andreas ends up in the local monastery, where he does commissioned work in the scriptorium. The monks are his colleagues in the process.

At this time Andreas is a young journeyman. Later in the game he returns again as a master and in the last third of the game you take over another person whom I won't tell you about here.

Origin and interests

At the beginning you choose from three options each, where Andreas comes from, where he was apprenticed and what his interests are. This allows for additional options later in rehearsals that allow for specific quest paths.

The conversations are the decisive element of the game. Here you make friends and enemies, which has a natural effect as a result. Opinion carries weight in the community and can influence a lot.

What is it about?

Without giving too much away, the budding artist will find out some exciting things on the spot and experience tragic moments. The story develops in a more exciting way than you might think at first.

With the book (pictured above) conveniently come markings of points where Andreas can move forward next. The time for this should be chosen wisely, because similar to Persona, there is usually only room for one activity per time of day. This creates an exciting pressure to decide.

Different characters

The life of the villagers is shaped by work and determined by the Christian faith. However, the Reformation and science change much at this time, so that there are numerous conflicts. Also, class and gender is a fact that grants or denies privileges to a person.

The texts are attractively designed in speech bubbles. Depending on the profession, the writing is different. Monk Aedoc's language, for example, is drawn in Fraktur, printer Klaus initially uses leaden letters for his text and maid Anna's text is shown as ordinary pen and ink writing. Likewise, the emotions can be recognised by the animation of the letters. Those who have difficulty deciphering the styles or have a small screen can select an easier-to-read font in the options menu and increase the size.

Puzzles on the side

The riddles in Pentiment are appropriately placed in the plot and are not too difficult to solve. Sometimes a moon-sun disc has to be turned in such a way that a secret author is revealed. Another time you have to reassemble the shards of a vessel (picture below).

There are also some handicraft mini-games to master: Threading, playing cards or cutting out biscuits. The purpose behind this is clear, because through these activities you learn what it is like to live in the village in the ordinary way.

Graphics and sounds

Pentiment is set only in the fictional Tassing and surrounding area. All places are designed two-dimensionally like an old book illustration with attention to detail and animated in the Unity graphics engine. This style is quite successful and heartily set in motion, but it does not please everyone.

The music is limited to period pieces and equally sparsely used sounds. The Latin monk chorales and old German folk songs deserve special mention. You still have to find these when you develop out of Orange County. The ancient sounds come from Alkemie from Brooklyn.

Shortcomings

A lot of time passes between chapters, which leaves you somehow confused as you continue playing. Although this makes sense in the plot, it is simply irritating. In addition, the quest structure is not quite correctly ordered. For example, Monk Mathieu is looking for his colleague Rüdeger, although the lad is standing nearby singing loudly (!) At a later point he may have disappeared. However, these mistakes could still be ironed out.

What succeeded?

Plot is immensely gripping in the later stages

Profound and later surprisingly dark

Representations and colours from a single mould

Soundtrack & Sync

Speech output was omitted in order to let the aesthetics of the script take effect. Instead, the texts are very meticulously written to make as few historical mistakes as possible. Pentiment can be played in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish and Polish.

Summary

Thrilling adventure in the historical drama niche for avid readers

A "pentiment" is a creative change to paintings or graphics, which in this case alludes to the painting in the town hall. This dramatic adventure is about what is permitted and what is morally necessary.

Those looking for a quiet adventure experience and not afraid of a lot of text will be rewarded with a poignant story. It should also please friends of Kingdom Come Deliverance, even if the role-playing game from 2018 allowed significantly more freedom and offered immersion in a three-dimensional world.

I particularly like how consistently this old game idea was worked on with a small team. Ultimately, it's rounded and complete. It seems crazy that the experienced developers from California are dealing with such heavy material set in deepest Bavaria.