โโ๐ช ๐ฃ๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ช ๐ ๐ฑ๐ฌ๐ด๐ซ ๐ ๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ข๐ก โญ๐ฌ๐๐ฑ๐๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ก๐ค๐ข. โ๐ฑ'๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ซ ๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ก. โญ๐ฌ๐๐ฑ๐๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ก๐ค๐ข ๐ฆ๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ซ ๐ฑ๐ฅ๐ข ๐๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ก๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฌ๐ฃ ๐๐ฉ๐๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ๐ด ๐๐ซ๐ก ๐ฆ๐ซ 2001 ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ฅ๐๐ก ๐ฑ๐ฅ๐ข ๐ก๐ข๐ซ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฒ๐ฉ๐๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ฃ โ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฅ โญ๐๐ฑ๐ฅ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ ๐๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ ๐๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข ๐ฆ๐ซ ๐ฑ๐ฅ๐ข ๐ด๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฉ๐ก ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ก๐ข ๐ฌ๐ฃ โ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ก.
โ ๐ก๐ฆ๐ก๐ซโ๐ฑ ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฅ๐๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ฆ๐ซ๐ค ๐ญ๐ฏ๐๐ถ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ค๐ฅ๐ฑ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ช๐ข๐ฐ ๐ ๐ก๐๐ถ ๐ด๐๐ฐ๐ซโ๐ฑ ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ช๐๐ฉ ๐ฒ๐ซ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฉ โ ๐ด๐๐ฐ 14. ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ซ โ ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฉ๐ข ๐ฐ๐๐ถ ๐ฑ๐ฅ๐ข๐ช ๐ฌ๐ซ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ซ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฐ, โ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฉ ๐ญ๐ฏ๐๐ถ ๐๐ฉ๐ฌ๐ซ๐ค ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฅ๐ข๐ช ๐ฆ๐ซ ๐ช๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ก. โ ๐ก๐ฆ๐ก๐ซ'๐ฑ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐จ๐ข ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ซ๐ค ๐ฑ๐ฌ ๐ช๐๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฅ๐ข๐ซ โ ๐ด๐๐ฐ ๐ถ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐ซ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ, ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ โ ๐ฑ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ซ๐จ โโ๐ก ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐จ๐ข ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ด. ๐๐ถ ๐ช๐ฒ๐ช ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ฅ๐๐ฑ ๐ ๐ฉ๐ฌ๐ฑ ๐ฑ๐ฌ๐ฌ. ๐๐๐ถ๐ฆ๐ซ๐ค โ๐ญ๐ข๐๐ ๐ข ๐๐ข ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฌ๐ฒโ ๐๐ซ๐ก ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ซ๐ค ๐ฅ๐๐ซ๐ก๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฉ๐ข ๐ด๐๐ฐ ๐ช๐ถ ๐ฃ๐๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ข ๐ญ๐๐ฏ๐ฑ ๐ฌ๐ฃ ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ซ๐ค ๐ฑ๐ฌ ๐ช๐๐ฐ๐ฐ.
๐ฟ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐-๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐ด ๐๐๐๐'๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ด ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐ด๐ ๐ฝ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฐ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐.
๐ฟ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ด ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ด ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ด ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐ณ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ดโ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐. ๐ด ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ ๐บ๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ณ๐๐๐ ๐ธ๐๐๐๐. ๐ด ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐โ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ยฃ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ฒ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฐ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐น๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐.
๐ฌ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐โ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐-๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐ณ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐ณ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐.
๐โ๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐ท๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฑ๐ช๐ญ ๐ช๐ท๐ ๐ด๐ฒ๐ท๐ญ ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐ญ๐พ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ธ๐ท ๐ฏ๐ป๐ธ๐ถ ๐ช๐ท๐๐ธ๐ท๐ฎ, ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ธ๐พ๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ฒ๐ฝ ๐ฒ๐ผ ๐ถ๐ช๐ท๐ญ๐ช๐ฝ๐ธ๐ป๐ ๐ฏ๐ธ๐ป ๐ผ๐ฌ๐ฑ๐ธ๐ธ๐ต๐ผ ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ต๐ต ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ท๐ธ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ท๐ช๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ธ๐ท๐ผ ๐ฒ๐ท ๐ข๐ฌ๐ธ๐ฝ๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ป๐ต๐ผ ๐ช๐ซ๐ธ๐พ๐ฝ ๐น๐พ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฝ๐ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ท๐ผ๐ฝ๐ป๐พ๐ช๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ธ๐ท. ๐๐ท ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ญ๐ช๐ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ป๐ต๐ผ ๐ฒ๐ท ๐ธ๐พ๐ป ๐ผ๐ฌ๐ฑ๐ธ๐ธ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ช๐ญ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ช๐ป๐ท ๐ช๐ซ๐ธ๐พ๐ฝ ๐ช๐ต๐ต ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ผ, ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ซ๐ธ๐๐ผ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฝ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ช ๐ต๐ธ๐ฌ๐ช๐ต ๐๐ช๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ป ๐น๐ช๐ป๐ด. ๐๐ ๐ฏ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ท๐ญ๐ผ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ ๐ถ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฝ ๐๐ช๐พ๐ท๐ฝ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฝ ๐ช๐ฝ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ช๐ป๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฝ ๐ญ๐ช๐ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ท ๐๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ธ๐ต๐ญ ๐ธ๐พ๐ป ๐ธ๐ท๐ต๐ ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ช๐ต๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ท๐ญ ๐ช๐ซ๐ธ๐พ๐ฝ ๐ฒ๐ฝ ๐ต๐ช๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ธ๐ท, ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ช๐ป๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ.
๐ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ธ๐ท๐ฌ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ธ๐ต๐ญ ๐พ๐ผ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฝ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ ๐ธ๐พ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฒ๐ญ๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ช๐ป๐ป๐ฒ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐๐ธ๐พ๐ต๐ญ, ๐ป๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ช๐ป๐ญ๐ต๐ฎ๐ผ๐ผ ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฌ๐ธ๐ท๐ฝ๐ป๐ช๐ฌ๐ฎ๐น๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ธ๐ท, ๐ช๐พ๐ฝ๐ธ๐ถ๐ช๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐น๐ป๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ท๐ฌ๐ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐ธ๐ท๐ฝ๐ป๐ช๐ฌ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ธ๐ท ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐๐๐๐ผ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐๐๐ฅ. ๐๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ธ๐พ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฝ ๐๐๐๐ผ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐๐ธ ๐ญ๐ฒ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ๐ท๐ฝ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ๐ผ. ๐๐๐๐ผ ๐๐ช๐ผ ๐๐ธ๐ญโ๐ผ ๐น๐พ๐ท๐ฒ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ท๐ฝ ๐ฏ๐ธ๐ป ๐น๐ฎ๐ธ๐น๐ต๐ฎ ๐๐ฑ๐ธ ๐ญ๐ฒ๐ญ๐ท'๐ฝ ๐ป๐ฎ๐ผ๐น๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฝ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ธ๐ต๐ ๐ผ๐ช๐ฌ๐ป๐ช๐ถ๐ฎ๐ท๐ฝ ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ช๐ฝ๐ป๐ฒ๐ถ๐ธ๐ท๐. ๐ฃ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ป๐ผ๐ฝ ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ป๐ต ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ผ๐ต๐ฎ๐น๐ฝ ๐๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฑ ๐๐ช๐ผ ๐ฏ๐ป๐ธ๐ถ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฌ๐ต๐ช๐ผ๐ผ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ท๐ด ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฝ ๐๐ช๐ผ ๐ธ๐ท ๐ซ๐ธ๐ฝ๐ฑ ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐พ๐ป ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ท๐ญ๐ผ ๐๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ท ๐๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ญ ๐ผ๐ฎ๐.
๐๐ฏ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ ๐ป๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐๐ธ๐ญ ๐๐ฎ๐ต๐พ๐ผ๐ฒ๐ธ๐ท ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐พ๐ป๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ธ๐พ๐ฝ ๐ฑ๐พ๐ถ๐ช๐ท ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ท๐ฌ๐ฎ, ๐ ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ธ๐น๐น๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ผ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ป ๐น๐ป๐ช๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ผ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ถ๐ช๐ญ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ฒ๐ท๐ญ๐ฒ๐ผ๐น๐ธ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ป๐ธ๐ผ๐ผ ๐๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ท ๐ฒ๐ฝ ๐๐ช๐ผ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ป๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐ธ๐ถ๐ถ๐พ๐ท๐ฒ๐ธ๐ท. ๐ ๐ช๐ต๐๐ช๐๐ผ ๐๐ช๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ช๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ผ ๐ธ๐ฏ๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฏ๐ธ๐ป๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ช๐พ๐ผ๐ฎ ๐ฒ๐ฝ ๐ฒ๐ท๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ ๐ผ๐ฒ๐ญ๐ฎ-๐ฏ๐ป๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ๐ฎ. ๐๐ท ๐ถ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ท๐ช๐ต ๐๐ฎ๐ช๐ป ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ผ๐ฌ๐ฑ๐ธ๐ธ๐ต ๐ ๐๐ช๐ผ ๐ช๐ญ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ช๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฝ ๐ช ๐ณ๐ธ๐ซ ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ช๐พ๐ผ๐ฎ ๐ ๐๐ช๐ผ๐ท'๐ฝ ๐ฎ๐ท๐ฐ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฑ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ผ๐ฌ๐ฑ๐ธ๐ธ๐ต'๐ผ ๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ธ๐ผ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ฟ๐ช๐ต๐พ๐ฎ๐ผ.
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ข ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ฃ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ข๐ต๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ. ๐ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ค๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ฅ๐ด ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ค๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ข๐ต๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ค๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ข๐ต๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐๐ค๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ๐ข๐ต๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐ต-๐ช๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต.
๐๐๐๐ ๐ธ ๐ ๐๐ ๐ธ๐ท, ๐ธ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ถ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ข ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ข ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฒ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐พ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ข ๐ธ ๐๐๐๐, ๐๐ข ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ข ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฟ๐๐๐ ๐น๐๐๐ ๐ฟ๐๐๐ ๐ธ๐ธ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐โ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐โ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐ฐ ๐๐๐ ๐ข๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ธ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐โ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ข ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐.
โ ๐ก๐ฆ๐ก๐ซโ๐ฑ ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฅ๐๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ฆ๐ซ๐ค ๐ญ๐ฏ๐๐ถ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ค๐ฅ๐ฑ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ช๐ข๐ฐ ๐ ๐ก๐๐ถ ๐ด๐๐ฐ๐ซโ๐ฑ ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ช๐๐ฉ ๐ฒ๐ซ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฉ โ ๐ด๐๐ฐ 14. ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ซ โ ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฉ๐ข ๐ฐ๐๐ถ ๐ฑ๐ฅ๐ข๐ช ๐ฌ๐ซ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ซ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฐ, โ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฉ ๐ญ๐ฏ๐๐ถ ๐๐ฉ๐ฌ๐ซ๐ค ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฅ๐ข๐ช ๐ฆ๐ซ ๐ช๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ก. โ ๐ก๐ฆ๐ก๐ซ'๐ฑ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐จ๐ข ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ซ๐ค ๐ฑ๐ฌ ๐ช๐๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฅ๐ข๐ซ โ ๐ด๐๐ฐ ๐ถ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐ซ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ, ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ โ ๐ฑ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ซ๐จ โโ๐ก ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐จ๐ข ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ด. ๐๐ถ ๐ช๐ฒ๐ช ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ฅ๐๐ฑ ๐ ๐ฉ๐ฌ๐ฑ ๐ฑ๐ฌ๐ฌ. ๐๐๐ถ๐ฆ๐ซ๐ค โ๐ญ๐ข๐๐ ๐ข ๐๐ข ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฌ๐ฒโ ๐๐ซ๐ก ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ซ๐ค ๐ฅ๐๐ซ๐ก๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฉ๐ข ๐ด๐๐ฐ ๐ช๐ถ ๐ฃ๐๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ข ๐ญ๐๐ฏ๐ฑ ๐ฌ๐ฃ ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ซ๐ค ๐ฑ๐ฌ ๐ช๐๐ฐ๐ฐ.
๐ฟ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐-๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐ด ๐๐๐๐'๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ด ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐ด๐ ๐ฝ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฐ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐.
๐ฟ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ด ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ด ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ด ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐ณ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ดโ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐. ๐ด ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ ๐บ๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ณ๐๐๐ ๐ธ๐๐๐๐. ๐ด ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐โ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ยฃ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ฒ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฐ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐น๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐.
๐ฌ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐โ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐-๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐ณ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐ณ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐.
๐โ๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐ท๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฑ๐ช๐ญ ๐ช๐ท๐ ๐ด๐ฒ๐ท๐ญ ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐ญ๐พ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ธ๐ท ๐ฏ๐ป๐ธ๐ถ ๐ช๐ท๐๐ธ๐ท๐ฎ, ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ธ๐พ๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ฒ๐ฝ ๐ฒ๐ผ ๐ถ๐ช๐ท๐ญ๐ช๐ฝ๐ธ๐ป๐ ๐ฏ๐ธ๐ป ๐ผ๐ฌ๐ฑ๐ธ๐ธ๐ต๐ผ ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ต๐ต ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ท๐ธ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ท๐ช๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ธ๐ท๐ผ ๐ฒ๐ท ๐ข๐ฌ๐ธ๐ฝ๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ป๐ต๐ผ ๐ช๐ซ๐ธ๐พ๐ฝ ๐น๐พ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฝ๐ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ท๐ผ๐ฝ๐ป๐พ๐ช๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ธ๐ท. ๐๐ท ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ญ๐ช๐ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ป๐ต๐ผ ๐ฒ๐ท ๐ธ๐พ๐ป ๐ผ๐ฌ๐ฑ๐ธ๐ธ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ช๐ญ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ช๐ป๐ท ๐ช๐ซ๐ธ๐พ๐ฝ ๐ช๐ต๐ต ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ผ, ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ซ๐ธ๐๐ผ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฝ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ช ๐ต๐ธ๐ฌ๐ช๐ต ๐๐ช๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ป ๐น๐ช๐ป๐ด. ๐๐ ๐ฏ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ท๐ญ๐ผ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ ๐ถ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฝ ๐๐ช๐พ๐ท๐ฝ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฝ ๐ช๐ฝ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ช๐ป๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฝ ๐ญ๐ช๐ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ท ๐๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ธ๐ต๐ญ ๐ธ๐พ๐ป ๐ธ๐ท๐ต๐ ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ช๐ต๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ท๐ญ ๐ช๐ซ๐ธ๐พ๐ฝ ๐ฒ๐ฝ ๐ต๐ช๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ธ๐ท, ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ช๐ป๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ.
๐ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ธ๐ท๐ฌ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ธ๐ต๐ญ ๐พ๐ผ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฝ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ ๐ธ๐พ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฒ๐ญ๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ช๐ป๐ป๐ฒ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐๐ธ๐พ๐ต๐ญ, ๐ป๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ช๐ป๐ญ๐ต๐ฎ๐ผ๐ผ ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฌ๐ธ๐ท๐ฝ๐ป๐ช๐ฌ๐ฎ๐น๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ธ๐ท, ๐ช๐พ๐ฝ๐ธ๐ถ๐ช๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐น๐ป๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ท๐ฌ๐ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐ธ๐ท๐ฝ๐ป๐ช๐ฌ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ธ๐ท ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐๐๐๐ผ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐๐๐ฅ. ๐๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ธ๐พ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฝ ๐๐๐๐ผ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐๐ธ ๐ญ๐ฒ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ๐ท๐ฝ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ๐ผ. ๐๐๐๐ผ ๐๐ช๐ผ ๐๐ธ๐ญโ๐ผ ๐น๐พ๐ท๐ฒ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ท๐ฝ ๐ฏ๐ธ๐ป ๐น๐ฎ๐ธ๐น๐ต๐ฎ ๐๐ฑ๐ธ ๐ญ๐ฒ๐ญ๐ท'๐ฝ ๐ป๐ฎ๐ผ๐น๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฝ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ธ๐ต๐ ๐ผ๐ช๐ฌ๐ป๐ช๐ถ๐ฎ๐ท๐ฝ ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ช๐ฝ๐ป๐ฒ๐ถ๐ธ๐ท๐. ๐ฃ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ป๐ผ๐ฝ ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ป๐ต ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ผ๐ต๐ฎ๐น๐ฝ ๐๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฑ ๐๐ช๐ผ ๐ฏ๐ป๐ธ๐ถ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฌ๐ต๐ช๐ผ๐ผ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ท๐ด ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฝ ๐๐ช๐ผ ๐ธ๐ท ๐ซ๐ธ๐ฝ๐ฑ ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐พ๐ป ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ท๐ญ๐ผ ๐๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ท ๐๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ญ ๐ผ๐ฎ๐.
๐๐ฏ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ ๐ป๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐๐ธ๐ญ ๐๐ฎ๐ต๐พ๐ผ๐ฒ๐ธ๐ท ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐พ๐ป๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ธ๐พ๐ฝ ๐ฑ๐พ๐ถ๐ช๐ท ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ท๐ฌ๐ฎ, ๐ ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ธ๐น๐น๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ผ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ป ๐น๐ป๐ช๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ผ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ถ๐ช๐ญ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ฒ๐ท๐ญ๐ฒ๐ผ๐น๐ธ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ป๐ธ๐ผ๐ผ ๐๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ท ๐ฒ๐ฝ ๐๐ช๐ผ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ป๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐ธ๐ถ๐ถ๐พ๐ท๐ฒ๐ธ๐ท. ๐ ๐ช๐ต๐๐ช๐๐ผ ๐๐ช๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ช๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ผ ๐ธ๐ฏ๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฏ๐ธ๐ป๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ช๐พ๐ผ๐ฎ ๐ฒ๐ฝ ๐ฒ๐ท๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ ๐ผ๐ฒ๐ญ๐ฎ-๐ฏ๐ป๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ๐ฎ. ๐๐ท ๐ถ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ท๐ช๐ต ๐๐ฎ๐ช๐ป ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ผ๐ฌ๐ฑ๐ธ๐ธ๐ต ๐ ๐๐ช๐ผ ๐ช๐ญ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ช๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฝ ๐ช ๐ณ๐ธ๐ซ ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ช๐พ๐ผ๐ฎ ๐ ๐๐ช๐ผ๐ท'๐ฝ ๐ฎ๐ท๐ฐ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฑ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ผ๐ฌ๐ฑ๐ธ๐ธ๐ต'๐ผ ๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ธ๐ผ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ฟ๐ช๐ต๐พ๐ฎ๐ผ.
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ข ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ฃ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ข๐ต๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ. ๐ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ค๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ฅ๐ด ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ค๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ข๐ต๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ค๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ข๐ต๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐๐ค๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ๐ข๐ต๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐ต-๐ช๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต.
๐๐๐๐ ๐ธ ๐ ๐๐ ๐ธ๐ท, ๐ธ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ถ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ข ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ข ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฒ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐พ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ข ๐ธ ๐๐๐๐, ๐๐ข ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ข ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฟ๐๐๐ ๐น๐๐๐ ๐ฟ๐๐๐ ๐ธ๐ธ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐โ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐โ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐ฐ ๐๐๐ ๐ข๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ธ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐โ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ข ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐.
ย ย ย ย ย โThis was the only earthly love of my life, and I could not, then or ever after, call that love by name.โ
ย ย ย ย ย โ Umberto Eco, Il nome della rosa, 1980.
Capturing the contours of a sixteenth-century society in the Holy Roman Empire is a difficult task. Central Europe was undergoing complex transitions as a result of demographic recovery, religious innovation and the administrative mosaic of Germanic territories. Recent historiography emphasises the interlocking and overlapping of forces that shaped regions and societies: it is difficult to generalise local observations to the rest of the Empire, but it is also unwise to paint the portrait of a village on the basis of generalities alone. For example, the forms of feudalism differed on either side of the Elbe. A theoretical simplification is to consider the regions south and west of the Elbe as being under the rule of Grundherrschaft [1]. This form of feudalism developed from the 14th century onwards with the decline of the traditional smaller lords and the demographic collapse caused by the Black Death. This situation allowed the surviving peasants to expand their farms and establish stronger hereditary rights over the land. Although still subject to the authority of their local lord, they had greater freedom of action.
ย ย ย ย ย History, fiction and myth: the Umbertian gaze
Towards the end of the fifteenth century, friction between the nobility and the peasantry increased as the former sought to assert their authority over land that seemed to have been de facto freed from serfdom. Another factor in the social crisis was undoubtedly the demographic upturn from 1470 onwards, which swelled the cohort of landless peasants, while small landowners were no longer able to take advantage of the economic opportunities of the previous century. In some southern regions of the Holy Roman Empire, agricultural production was no longer profitable, so it became mainly subsistence farming. These factors led to a widening gap between the peasants and the lords. The lords, sometimes nobility, sometimes clergy, were in latent conflict for other economic and political reasons.
It is difficult to summarise several thousand pages of social history in a few lines, so these few elements of context will suffice. Pentiment makes the bold choice of setting its action in this complex historical background, in a locality centred around the village of Tassing and Kiersau Abbey. The project explicitly borrows from Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose (1980). Although the historical context is different, the themes and structure are similar. Eco's readers will find themselves in familiar territory: Pentiment allows the player to assume the role of Andreas Maler, a Nuremberg artist commissioned by the Abbot of Kiersau to illustrate a Book of Hours as part of his certification as a master artist. During his stay in Tassing, Andreas gets to know the many members of the local society, until a murder takes place. For personal reasons, Andreas is thrust into the role of detective and must unravel the many secrets of the community.
Like The Name of the Rose, Pentiment multiplies points of view and semantic layers. The game is at once a general dissertation on the social history of the Holy Roman Empire, a detective story, a philosophical debate, a theological meditation and a discussion on the value of storytelling. It is through this literary device, borrowed from Eco, that the title manages to find a great deal of coherence in its storytelling [2]. The investigation โ i.e. the criminal story โ is interwoven with the socio-political narrative, so that the player is constantly confronted with both general and specific elements. Andreas Maler acts as a bridge between these two worlds. Firstly, because he finds himself at the crossroads of very different social universes: as a traveller, he is used to many cultures; as a young artist, he associates with the powerful without being fully part of their universe. Above all, he is a stranger to Tassing, and his gaze is that of a witness whose interest in local politics, however altruistic, is rather weak. In other words, his view is certainly subjective, but it is all-encompassing. These characteristics are very similar to those of William of Baskerville, who had a complex theological background.
ย ย ย ย ย Depicting the Middle Ages through the new social studies
In terms of narrative economy, such a protagonist captures the player's attention in a number of ways. For classically trained historians, Andreas provides access to the ancient and medieval literary world; for mystery fans, his role as a detective is crucial. The choice of Andreas' background means that, in addition to the interactive gameplay typical of CRPGs, players can personalise their experience around the themes that interest them most. As a Latinist, I was pleasantly surprised to see Pentiment commanding a very solid Latin, and to read the classical locutions quoted by Andreas. The title has a rare encyclopaedic quality, in tune with recent scholarly developments. There remain a few very minor approximations, such as certain onomastic choices (Else Mรผlleryn should rather be spelt Mรผllerin) and Kiersau's remarkable and exagerated interregionalism. On the latter point, the choice was certainly motivated by Umberto Eco's vision of a universalist abbey and a political response to Kingdom Come: Delivrance (2018): the figure of the Ethiopian priest Sebhat seems a rather explicit foil to Daniel Vรกvra's ultra-conservative claims about the absence of people of colour in fifteenth-century Bohemia.
Pentiment always uses its encyclopaedic knowledge wisely to illustrate medieval mentalities. Arrogantly imparting knowledge is the best way to undermine the friendship and support of the game's various characters. The game constantly seeks to highlight the limits of Andreas' knowledge and the subjectivity of the concept of truth. As such, Pentiment seeks to portray the situation of women in the Middle Ages with real nuance. The game's fictional micro-history project features women who are involved in their village's economy and are pillars of the community. Discussions with the Benedictine nuns also provide an opportunity to explore women in religion, and Pentiment clearly illustrates the prejudices of the time, as well as Andreas' very masculine perspective. In contrast to the Christian tradition, which leaves no place for women in its traditional hierarchy โ women's religious offices generally disappeared in the central Middle Ages, which is exactly the situation described for Kiersau Abbey โ and restricts them to religious life or marriage, Pentiment constantly emphasises their agency and the ways in which they can circumvent the restrictions. Amalie illustrates the extreme spiritual experiences that women can voluntarily inflict on themselves through her retreat and mystical visions. Illuminata embodies a mastery of the literary classics, while the other sisters stand out for their practical knowledge and integration into Tassing society.
ย ย ย ย ย To write, to read and to die in the universal library
Like Umberto Eco's library, that of Kiersau Abbey is intended to be universal. It seeks to circumscribe all known knowledge through the possession of rare volumes, be they erudite treatises or chivalric romances. Writing and rewriting are at the heart of Pentiment's project. The narrative is subjective and subject to numerous corrections: when the dialogue is presented, mistakes punctuate the text and are corrected in front of the player. Similarly, the choice of script depends on the impression the speaker makes on Andreas. He presents the discourse of the educated clergy in a Gothic style, while the villagers have a much less polished script. Above all, it is noteworthy that Andreas changes his representation according to the information he receives. For example, when he learns that the shepherd is actually an avid reader of Latin books, he updates the script used in the dialogue. These elements are linked to a concern for memory, and Pentiment sets out to question what deserves to be left to posterity, rejecting the idea of a monolithic history. The truth is in a constant state of flux and varies from different perspectives: it is this insight that guides Andreas' investigation into the various murders. The game is less about finding the culprit than about writing Tassing's story. The game forces the player to accuse one of the suspects for each murder, but it is remarkable that all the solutions seem unsatisfactory. Pentiment is not about solving murders, but about understanding how Tassing society reacts to events that upset its internal balance.
Pentiment borrows its idea of humour from The Name of the Rose [3]: laughter is used to subvert the order of the world, because it reveals โ through sarcasm or astonishment โ the way in which the world turns. The comic scenes in the game anchor the narrative in a plausible reality, not just a cold, theoretical illustration of 16th-century Tassing. Pentiment's dialogue system is not so much a mechanic that supports 'choices' leading to different endings, but rather a sincere exploration of the world. Comedy is necessary because it is an instrument of freedom and truth, which all the characters seek in one way or another: to laugh is to break free from social bonds, hence Saint Grobian's irreverence. Conversely, silence allows the player to conform to the social mould, to maintain the status quo. Such a position is sometimes necessary to make progress in an investigation without alienating potential allies. The great strength of Pentiment is that it strikes the right balance between laughter, speech and silence. The characters, including Andreas, have to take a stand, and the question is how to do it.
There are no straightforward answers, and the game is never preachy or pretentious. The complexity of the world, of social relations and social transformations explain the hesitations. Uncertainty is part of the truth: Pentiment shines through its unique artistic direction, borrowed from manuscripts and engravings. In a stroke of genius, the game moves drawn characters on fixed backgrounds. There's something magical about seeing sketches move in this way, evoking a kind of collage. The practice of cutting out and reusing figures and backgrounds is well documented in the production of medieval manuscripts, underlining the plasticity of art in the representation of history [4]. In a fifteen-hour adventure, Pentiment creates such a vast universe. I find it difficult to write more, given the extraordinary richness so elegantly condensed into a game, from religious issues to economic innovations. In this respect, it is worth mentioning the welcome presence of an indicative bibliography in the game's credits. Umberto Eco concludes The Name of the Rose with a variation on a line by Bernard of Cluny: 'Stat rosa pristina nomine, nomina nuda tenemus', he writes. The original rose lives on in its name, we keep the names naked. To Bernard of Cluny's 'ubi sunt...?', Eco adds the persistence of memory. The memory of people who existed centuries ago should persist even more; Pentiment is a sublime fresco in their honour, coming as close as possible to the historical truth without ever being able to fully circumscribe it: 'Since I tell to its end my story, then joyful shall be my days.' [5]
___________
[1] Joachim Whaley, 'Economic Landscapes, Communities, and their Grievances', in Germany and the Holy Roman Empire, vol. 1, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2012, pp. 122-142.
[2] Josรฉ-Marie Cortรจs, 'Itinรฉraires interprรฉtatifs dans Le Nom de la Rose', in Synergies Inde, no. 2, 2007, pp. 289-306.
[3] Michel Perrin, 'Problรฉmatique du rire dans Le Nom de la Rose d'Umberto Eco (1980) : de la Bible au XXe siรจcle', in Bulletin de l'Association Guillaume Budรฉ, no. 58, 1999, pp. 463-477.
[4] Anna Dlabacovรก, โMedieval Photoshopโ, on leidenmedievalistsblog.nl, 18th February 2022, consulted on 13th June 2023.
[5] Wolfram von Eschenback, Parzival, II, XVI, l. 676 (trans. Jessie L. Weston), c. 1210.
ย ย ย ย ย โ Umberto Eco, Il nome della rosa, 1980.
Capturing the contours of a sixteenth-century society in the Holy Roman Empire is a difficult task. Central Europe was undergoing complex transitions as a result of demographic recovery, religious innovation and the administrative mosaic of Germanic territories. Recent historiography emphasises the interlocking and overlapping of forces that shaped regions and societies: it is difficult to generalise local observations to the rest of the Empire, but it is also unwise to paint the portrait of a village on the basis of generalities alone. For example, the forms of feudalism differed on either side of the Elbe. A theoretical simplification is to consider the regions south and west of the Elbe as being under the rule of Grundherrschaft [1]. This form of feudalism developed from the 14th century onwards with the decline of the traditional smaller lords and the demographic collapse caused by the Black Death. This situation allowed the surviving peasants to expand their farms and establish stronger hereditary rights over the land. Although still subject to the authority of their local lord, they had greater freedom of action.
ย ย ย ย ย History, fiction and myth: the Umbertian gaze
Towards the end of the fifteenth century, friction between the nobility and the peasantry increased as the former sought to assert their authority over land that seemed to have been de facto freed from serfdom. Another factor in the social crisis was undoubtedly the demographic upturn from 1470 onwards, which swelled the cohort of landless peasants, while small landowners were no longer able to take advantage of the economic opportunities of the previous century. In some southern regions of the Holy Roman Empire, agricultural production was no longer profitable, so it became mainly subsistence farming. These factors led to a widening gap between the peasants and the lords. The lords, sometimes nobility, sometimes clergy, were in latent conflict for other economic and political reasons.
It is difficult to summarise several thousand pages of social history in a few lines, so these few elements of context will suffice. Pentiment makes the bold choice of setting its action in this complex historical background, in a locality centred around the village of Tassing and Kiersau Abbey. The project explicitly borrows from Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose (1980). Although the historical context is different, the themes and structure are similar. Eco's readers will find themselves in familiar territory: Pentiment allows the player to assume the role of Andreas Maler, a Nuremberg artist commissioned by the Abbot of Kiersau to illustrate a Book of Hours as part of his certification as a master artist. During his stay in Tassing, Andreas gets to know the many members of the local society, until a murder takes place. For personal reasons, Andreas is thrust into the role of detective and must unravel the many secrets of the community.
Like The Name of the Rose, Pentiment multiplies points of view and semantic layers. The game is at once a general dissertation on the social history of the Holy Roman Empire, a detective story, a philosophical debate, a theological meditation and a discussion on the value of storytelling. It is through this literary device, borrowed from Eco, that the title manages to find a great deal of coherence in its storytelling [2]. The investigation โ i.e. the criminal story โ is interwoven with the socio-political narrative, so that the player is constantly confronted with both general and specific elements. Andreas Maler acts as a bridge between these two worlds. Firstly, because he finds himself at the crossroads of very different social universes: as a traveller, he is used to many cultures; as a young artist, he associates with the powerful without being fully part of their universe. Above all, he is a stranger to Tassing, and his gaze is that of a witness whose interest in local politics, however altruistic, is rather weak. In other words, his view is certainly subjective, but it is all-encompassing. These characteristics are very similar to those of William of Baskerville, who had a complex theological background.
ย ย ย ย ย Depicting the Middle Ages through the new social studies
In terms of narrative economy, such a protagonist captures the player's attention in a number of ways. For classically trained historians, Andreas provides access to the ancient and medieval literary world; for mystery fans, his role as a detective is crucial. The choice of Andreas' background means that, in addition to the interactive gameplay typical of CRPGs, players can personalise their experience around the themes that interest them most. As a Latinist, I was pleasantly surprised to see Pentiment commanding a very solid Latin, and to read the classical locutions quoted by Andreas. The title has a rare encyclopaedic quality, in tune with recent scholarly developments. There remain a few very minor approximations, such as certain onomastic choices (Else Mรผlleryn should rather be spelt Mรผllerin) and Kiersau's remarkable and exagerated interregionalism. On the latter point, the choice was certainly motivated by Umberto Eco's vision of a universalist abbey and a political response to Kingdom Come: Delivrance (2018): the figure of the Ethiopian priest Sebhat seems a rather explicit foil to Daniel Vรกvra's ultra-conservative claims about the absence of people of colour in fifteenth-century Bohemia.
Pentiment always uses its encyclopaedic knowledge wisely to illustrate medieval mentalities. Arrogantly imparting knowledge is the best way to undermine the friendship and support of the game's various characters. The game constantly seeks to highlight the limits of Andreas' knowledge and the subjectivity of the concept of truth. As such, Pentiment seeks to portray the situation of women in the Middle Ages with real nuance. The game's fictional micro-history project features women who are involved in their village's economy and are pillars of the community. Discussions with the Benedictine nuns also provide an opportunity to explore women in religion, and Pentiment clearly illustrates the prejudices of the time, as well as Andreas' very masculine perspective. In contrast to the Christian tradition, which leaves no place for women in its traditional hierarchy โ women's religious offices generally disappeared in the central Middle Ages, which is exactly the situation described for Kiersau Abbey โ and restricts them to religious life or marriage, Pentiment constantly emphasises their agency and the ways in which they can circumvent the restrictions. Amalie illustrates the extreme spiritual experiences that women can voluntarily inflict on themselves through her retreat and mystical visions. Illuminata embodies a mastery of the literary classics, while the other sisters stand out for their practical knowledge and integration into Tassing society.
ย ย ย ย ย To write, to read and to die in the universal library
Like Umberto Eco's library, that of Kiersau Abbey is intended to be universal. It seeks to circumscribe all known knowledge through the possession of rare volumes, be they erudite treatises or chivalric romances. Writing and rewriting are at the heart of Pentiment's project. The narrative is subjective and subject to numerous corrections: when the dialogue is presented, mistakes punctuate the text and are corrected in front of the player. Similarly, the choice of script depends on the impression the speaker makes on Andreas. He presents the discourse of the educated clergy in a Gothic style, while the villagers have a much less polished script. Above all, it is noteworthy that Andreas changes his representation according to the information he receives. For example, when he learns that the shepherd is actually an avid reader of Latin books, he updates the script used in the dialogue. These elements are linked to a concern for memory, and Pentiment sets out to question what deserves to be left to posterity, rejecting the idea of a monolithic history. The truth is in a constant state of flux and varies from different perspectives: it is this insight that guides Andreas' investigation into the various murders. The game is less about finding the culprit than about writing Tassing's story. The game forces the player to accuse one of the suspects for each murder, but it is remarkable that all the solutions seem unsatisfactory. Pentiment is not about solving murders, but about understanding how Tassing society reacts to events that upset its internal balance.
Pentiment borrows its idea of humour from The Name of the Rose [3]: laughter is used to subvert the order of the world, because it reveals โ through sarcasm or astonishment โ the way in which the world turns. The comic scenes in the game anchor the narrative in a plausible reality, not just a cold, theoretical illustration of 16th-century Tassing. Pentiment's dialogue system is not so much a mechanic that supports 'choices' leading to different endings, but rather a sincere exploration of the world. Comedy is necessary because it is an instrument of freedom and truth, which all the characters seek in one way or another: to laugh is to break free from social bonds, hence Saint Grobian's irreverence. Conversely, silence allows the player to conform to the social mould, to maintain the status quo. Such a position is sometimes necessary to make progress in an investigation without alienating potential allies. The great strength of Pentiment is that it strikes the right balance between laughter, speech and silence. The characters, including Andreas, have to take a stand, and the question is how to do it.
There are no straightforward answers, and the game is never preachy or pretentious. The complexity of the world, of social relations and social transformations explain the hesitations. Uncertainty is part of the truth: Pentiment shines through its unique artistic direction, borrowed from manuscripts and engravings. In a stroke of genius, the game moves drawn characters on fixed backgrounds. There's something magical about seeing sketches move in this way, evoking a kind of collage. The practice of cutting out and reusing figures and backgrounds is well documented in the production of medieval manuscripts, underlining the plasticity of art in the representation of history [4]. In a fifteen-hour adventure, Pentiment creates such a vast universe. I find it difficult to write more, given the extraordinary richness so elegantly condensed into a game, from religious issues to economic innovations. In this respect, it is worth mentioning the welcome presence of an indicative bibliography in the game's credits. Umberto Eco concludes The Name of the Rose with a variation on a line by Bernard of Cluny: 'Stat rosa pristina nomine, nomina nuda tenemus', he writes. The original rose lives on in its name, we keep the names naked. To Bernard of Cluny's 'ubi sunt...?', Eco adds the persistence of memory. The memory of people who existed centuries ago should persist even more; Pentiment is a sublime fresco in their honour, coming as close as possible to the historical truth without ever being able to fully circumscribe it: 'Since I tell to its end my story, then joyful shall be my days.' [5]
___________
[1] Joachim Whaley, 'Economic Landscapes, Communities, and their Grievances', in Germany and the Holy Roman Empire, vol. 1, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2012, pp. 122-142.
[2] Josรฉ-Marie Cortรจs, 'Itinรฉraires interprรฉtatifs dans Le Nom de la Rose', in Synergies Inde, no. 2, 2007, pp. 289-306.
[3] Michel Perrin, 'Problรฉmatique du rire dans Le Nom de la Rose d'Umberto Eco (1980) : de la Bible au XXe siรจcle', in Bulletin de l'Association Guillaume Budรฉ, no. 58, 1999, pp. 463-477.
[4] Anna Dlabacovรก, โMedieval Photoshopโ, on leidenmedievalistsblog.nl, 18th February 2022, consulted on 13th June 2023.
[5] Wolfram von Eschenback, Parzival, II, XVI, l. 676 (trans. Jessie L. Weston), c. 1210.
The roots of our communities are an intricate system, too large for any one of us to imagine. In every discovery of fresh soil, we find a long history of its breaking and in our investigation find those same roots again. They connect us all, they teach us lessons. They wrap around our necks, crawl around old bones. We perform dramas about escaping their hold or burning the whole tree but these roots remain. Sooner or later, someone's bound to find our choices in the soil.
Kinda went into Pentiment expecting to have to "eat my vegetables"; its aesthetic being artistically sound, but not really the kind of thing I'm generally into, and its premise sounding intellectually invigorating in a games industry that's arguably in arrested development when it comes to making mainstream experiences for adults, but maybe not enough to keep me personally going for a playtime of over 20 hours. And well, I was pretty fuckin' wrong! And not even in the Disco Elysium way where after I got over the hurdle of the first hour or two that it finally clicked (not to say that Disco Elysium's intro isn't basically perfect in its own way), Pentiment managed to sink its teeth into me right away. The game's art is also a lot more affective and unique than I would've expected just from the couple trailers I'd seen, and despite the entire game taking place across only a handful of screens (contextualized as pages in a book), there were many times that I found myself stopped in my tracks, contemplating the beauty of a specific moment.
It's also just as real as fuck without succumbing to either condemnation or romanticization. Pentiment's perspective on history and the people who shaped it is complex without cowardly labeling every participant as a morally grey agent -- there are unabashedly terrible and evil people in this world, people who are deceptive in their self-servitude, and even inarguably cruel entities like the Catholic Church house individuals who really do want to make the world a better place in their own way and even people who are in the church due to societal forces beyond their control. Pentiment is a game that tries its best to be honest about the world. It's also a game that's absolutely more intelligent and worldly than I'll ever be, and I really don't think I can do it the full justice it deserves in my own analysis of its setting and themes, so I'll just leave it there.
And yeah, Pentiment is also just a great example of how to make a dialogue-focused adventure game fun. Like, part of that is probably because I chose hedonism as one of my skills and made Andreas into a terrible little boyslut, but you know how it is. The dialogue never bored me, every character feels truly alive -- and that's without voice acting! I actually appreciated that there wasn't any honestly, it's a double-edged sword in a lot of games like this, and it only would've detracted from the bespoke aesthetic decision to give every character's spoken dialogue in "their own handwriting", in quotes because I'm not entirely sure what the implication was for the characters that are by their own admission illiterate (but I did love that Claus the town printer's dialogue is the only one that uses an actual typeface, accompanied by the satisfying thuds of a printing press).
By the end of the game, Tassing really does begin to feel like your home as well, not only because many pivotal events in Tassing's recent history are influenced by the player, but because you've grown close to the town's citizens and watched them grow and change as well. Pentiment isn't a power trip in that sense -- you cannot save everybody or give everybody a happy ending, not that you'd want to with some of the assholes you run into honestly -- but it does manage to encapsulate the warm and fuzzy feeling that despite the world being dogshit, we can still do our best for those around us, be a part of a greater whole with honest fervor. The player and Andreas will inevitably fuck up a lot, but it's something we have to live with, something to learn from. Things like that feel self-evident in the real world and are rarely explored properly in games, but the fact that Pentiment lacks a manual save function really sells that feeling. But even if we can't meta-game Tassing into the perfect little Bavarian town suffering under feudalism and religious oppression, the Tassing we end up with is undeniably ours. I think that's probably why I might never replay Pentiment, which is rare for me, since I tend to replay games I love quite often.
Also the "third act" is pretty good! Saw some people criticizing the shift in gameplay focus, but it was a nice change of pace and was probably my favorite part altogether. Don't normally recommend games on here, but honestly, check it out for yourself. I can't really think of many demographics that'd be outright disappointed by Pentiment. It's good. :)
It's also just as real as fuck without succumbing to either condemnation or romanticization. Pentiment's perspective on history and the people who shaped it is complex without cowardly labeling every participant as a morally grey agent -- there are unabashedly terrible and evil people in this world, people who are deceptive in their self-servitude, and even inarguably cruel entities like the Catholic Church house individuals who really do want to make the world a better place in their own way and even people who are in the church due to societal forces beyond their control. Pentiment is a game that tries its best to be honest about the world. It's also a game that's absolutely more intelligent and worldly than I'll ever be, and I really don't think I can do it the full justice it deserves in my own analysis of its setting and themes, so I'll just leave it there.
And yeah, Pentiment is also just a great example of how to make a dialogue-focused adventure game fun. Like, part of that is probably because I chose hedonism as one of my skills and made Andreas into a terrible little boyslut, but you know how it is. The dialogue never bored me, every character feels truly alive -- and that's without voice acting! I actually appreciated that there wasn't any honestly, it's a double-edged sword in a lot of games like this, and it only would've detracted from the bespoke aesthetic decision to give every character's spoken dialogue in "their own handwriting", in quotes because I'm not entirely sure what the implication was for the characters that are by their own admission illiterate (but I did love that Claus the town printer's dialogue is the only one that uses an actual typeface, accompanied by the satisfying thuds of a printing press).
By the end of the game, Tassing really does begin to feel like your home as well, not only because many pivotal events in Tassing's recent history are influenced by the player, but because you've grown close to the town's citizens and watched them grow and change as well. Pentiment isn't a power trip in that sense -- you cannot save everybody or give everybody a happy ending, not that you'd want to with some of the assholes you run into honestly -- but it does manage to encapsulate the warm and fuzzy feeling that despite the world being dogshit, we can still do our best for those around us, be a part of a greater whole with honest fervor. The player and Andreas will inevitably fuck up a lot, but it's something we have to live with, something to learn from. Things like that feel self-evident in the real world and are rarely explored properly in games, but the fact that Pentiment lacks a manual save function really sells that feeling. But even if we can't meta-game Tassing into the perfect little Bavarian town suffering under feudalism and religious oppression, the Tassing we end up with is undeniably ours. I think that's probably why I might never replay Pentiment, which is rare for me, since I tend to replay games I love quite often.
Also the "third act" is pretty good! Saw some people criticizing the shift in gameplay focus, but it was a nice change of pace and was probably my favorite part altogether. Don't normally recommend games on here, but honestly, check it out for yourself. I can't really think of many demographics that'd be outright disappointed by Pentiment. It's good. :)
I don't even know how to describe this game. It's just vibes. It's an experience you must go through for yourself, as blind as possible, to get the most out of it. It's about the choices you make, no matter how small. It's about trying to find the truth when there is never enough time. It's about living with the consequences of your actions. I don't think I've ever had an experience like this - where I felt the passing of time and the characters' growth so deeply. This one is going to live in my mind rent-free for a while.
overwhelmed right now, having just finished the game. i hope to find more words eventually but this is the great outstanding narrative achievement of the year. a veritable landmark entry in a medium still deeply facile, at least in the realm of studio output. a crash course in history and analysis and what haunting really is. stunned, just stunned.
There is a pattern with very few exceptions in the way I experience modular narrative games. The beginning of the game lays out a structureโthe game's mechanical thesisโand I begin to understand ways in which that structure can be used to tell brilliant intertwining stories in ways that haven't been possible before. And then, inevitably, as I begin to approach the end of the game, I realize that it will not live up to the promise of its own structures, and however beautifully it weaves its story it will live in the shadow of what could have been.
Pentiment's story is doubtlessly beautiful. It takes a small town in an unglamorized time in history and tells a gripping tale that combines religion, politics, and humanity together as deftly (and with as much research) as any lauded novel of historical fiction. The comparison to Middlemarch is perhaps obvious, but well-earned. And it gives the player ample opportunity to influence characterization without making the protagonist a cipher with no personality of his own.
In the beginning, Pentiment tries to give the player a similar level of control of the narrative with a brilliant structure in which the player is presented with a buffet of choices of what to investigate and who to dine with, but with only a few days to allocate between them so that many paths remain unexplored. Allowing a single playthrough to miss major chunks of content is absolutely necessary for a narrative game to truly be modular, and this structure facilitates that while also presenting the player with a meta-puzzle across multiple playthroughs: learn what each of these events gets you, what information you get or friendships you make, and what is duplicated across different events. Combine this with the player's chosen traits and dialog options opening or closing different paths, and then hide the heart of the game within this web so that only by deeply understanding the town outside the minds of the protagonistโby becoming in a way its protector-saintโcan you truly understand its secrets and navigate its innermost channels.
Despite creating a structure in which this is possible, a genuinely inspired combination of Inkle games and dating sims, Pentiment instead lets this structure fall by the wayside to the extent that the last third of the game is almost completely on railsโthe player can and probably will see everything the game has to offer at that point, no matter what. Although the narrative is still marvelous it's no longer modular, and it only functions as a game within the scope of a few conversations and the player's trudging between screens.
And, oh, what trudging it is. Although I mourn for its unfulfilled potential and there are increasingly many glitchy moments or unedited lines as the game goes on (the result of a rushed end of production?), the truest deepest flaw of Pentiment is surely the amount of time a dedicated player will simply spend moving from screen to screen. In every hour any part of the map could have a new event or new dialogโbut almost none actually do. There are just precisely enough that the player is motivated to check everywhere over and over again, wasting cumulative hours of real human time.
But if Pentiment's mechanics are a little underconsidered and their quality occasionally slapdash, it's still a miracle that it exists at all. I never thought I'd see a AAA studio, a Microsoft subsidiary no less, make something like this that is so openly in conversation with this genre which has for decades been exclusively the territory of indie games (and indeed was rarely a big name there either). I dearly hope that this helps legitimize that space and expands both its popularity and marketability, and I dream as I always have of the day when someone makes a game that truly grasps the potential towards which games like Pentiment extend their hands.
Pentiment's story is doubtlessly beautiful. It takes a small town in an unglamorized time in history and tells a gripping tale that combines religion, politics, and humanity together as deftly (and with as much research) as any lauded novel of historical fiction. The comparison to Middlemarch is perhaps obvious, but well-earned. And it gives the player ample opportunity to influence characterization without making the protagonist a cipher with no personality of his own.
In the beginning, Pentiment tries to give the player a similar level of control of the narrative with a brilliant structure in which the player is presented with a buffet of choices of what to investigate and who to dine with, but with only a few days to allocate between them so that many paths remain unexplored. Allowing a single playthrough to miss major chunks of content is absolutely necessary for a narrative game to truly be modular, and this structure facilitates that while also presenting the player with a meta-puzzle across multiple playthroughs: learn what each of these events gets you, what information you get or friendships you make, and what is duplicated across different events. Combine this with the player's chosen traits and dialog options opening or closing different paths, and then hide the heart of the game within this web so that only by deeply understanding the town outside the minds of the protagonistโby becoming in a way its protector-saintโcan you truly understand its secrets and navigate its innermost channels.
Despite creating a structure in which this is possible, a genuinely inspired combination of Inkle games and dating sims, Pentiment instead lets this structure fall by the wayside to the extent that the last third of the game is almost completely on railsโthe player can and probably will see everything the game has to offer at that point, no matter what. Although the narrative is still marvelous it's no longer modular, and it only functions as a game within the scope of a few conversations and the player's trudging between screens.
And, oh, what trudging it is. Although I mourn for its unfulfilled potential and there are increasingly many glitchy moments or unedited lines as the game goes on (the result of a rushed end of production?), the truest deepest flaw of Pentiment is surely the amount of time a dedicated player will simply spend moving from screen to screen. In every hour any part of the map could have a new event or new dialogโbut almost none actually do. There are just precisely enough that the player is motivated to check everywhere over and over again, wasting cumulative hours of real human time.
But if Pentiment's mechanics are a little underconsidered and their quality occasionally slapdash, it's still a miracle that it exists at all. I never thought I'd see a AAA studio, a Microsoft subsidiary no less, make something like this that is so openly in conversation with this genre which has for decades been exclusively the territory of indie games (and indeed was rarely a big name there either). I dearly hope that this helps legitimize that space and expands both its popularity and marketability, and I dream as I always have of the day when someone makes a game that truly grasps the potential towards which games like Pentiment extend their hands.
Pentimentโs existence is an astounding one. This is not because itโs a game developed by Obsidian, as they have been celebrated for nearly twenty years as one of the premiere WRPG devs, nor it is because itโs the passion project of Josh Sawyer, who was one of the lead devs for Fallout: New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity 2, which are among Obsidianโs best games. This game is astounding in that such a clear labor of love that goes so hard against the grain of the mainstream game industry would have not existed if not for the support of the largest AAA publisher, Microsoft.
Pentiment isnโt a traditional RPG, even more so than fellow detective RPG Disco Elysium, as itโs more of an adventure game as it has no stats. I would still consider it a RPG though as the background and skills you choose for the protagonist, Andreas Maler, shapes what he can do and his relationships with the characters around him and the choices you make. Pentiment is also not a traditional detective game either for reasons that are bit spoilery, but one of them is that Andreas is not actually a detective. Andreas is not Sherlock Holmes, Harry DuBois, or Lady Love Dies; he is merely an artist completely out of his depth dragged into the rural Bavarian town of Tassingโs turmoil and forced to try and maintain the peace between the town and Kiersau, the Benedictine abbey who governs them. Andreas canโt Columbo his way to the truth, his and your choices are tinged with uncertainty as you try to uncover the culprits. Ultimately, the murders are a backdrop to the main theme of the game, history.
Pentiment is foremost a game about history, a rumination of the past and how society is built on the foundations of older ones, how they evolve and change over time, and how the past and its truths can be obfuscated through multiple means. The game take place in the Holy Roman Empire in the early 1500โs at the dawn of the great societal upheavals of the Early Modern period in Europe. Martin Luther has published his 95 Theses only a few years prior to the start of the gameโs narrative, which will eventually lead to the greatest schism in Christianity, The Protestant Reformation, and more than a century of bloodshed and strife across the continent. Johannes Gutenbergโs printing press has revolutionized society as now the proliferation of books and the ability to read them are no longer only in the realm of the aristocracy and clergy. The growing education of the peasantry leads to class conflicts with their noble and clerical lords who desire to keep the underclasses under heel. The old traditions of the medieval era are dying away, this is initially illustrated with Keirsau and its monks, who are the very few still writing and illustrating books by hand. All of these events tie into the events of the gameโs narrative and its setting and characters, and what a fantastic job the game does bringing them to life.
Pentimentโs attention to detail both to its historical time period, setting, and art design is wondrous. The game drops references left and right to historical people, places, and concepts of the era which deftly manages to give the uninitiated player a trove of information in the in-game glossary for clarification, an expansion of the similar systems that previous Obsidian RPGs, Tyranny and PoE2 had. As a lover of history and games that immerse themselves into the subject, Pentiment is one of the very finest, it not the most. The game is mostly a slow burn, letting you get to really learn about the daily lives of the townsfolk and the monks and nuns, before shit starts hitting the fan. This works so well for the game because you really get a sense of place with Tassing and its people. The writing is fantastic as its fleshes out its cast and setting splendidly. The game also manages to balance having its light-hearted moments with serious drama and the narrative ends up being a powerful journey.
The gameโs art design is absolutely beautiful, crafted akin to the style of the manuscript illustrations of the era. The characters have just so much lively detail to them and the backgrounds are so scenic. The UI is also so creative as well. Charactersโ dialogue boxes are expressed through the writing of a quill complete with sound effects and typos in the dialogue that get corrected like someone was actually writing them by hand. Thereโs even another facet of this UI where the town printer, Klausโ, dialogue boxes are instead expressed in the style of printing press block prints complete with printing press sound effects. All of this sheer attention to detail are testament to how much love was clearly poured into this game. The soundtrack is also beautiful, though the game uses it more sparingly than most games. Just one of the most aesthetically beautiful and creative games Iโve played.
Pentiment is a masterpiece of the medium and hopefully will stand as inspiration for other game developers in the years to come. If you have an interest in it, I highly recommend it, itโs fast become my GOTY and one of my absolute favorite games of all time. It truly is an amazing joy that this game exists.
Pentiment isnโt a traditional RPG, even more so than fellow detective RPG Disco Elysium, as itโs more of an adventure game as it has no stats. I would still consider it a RPG though as the background and skills you choose for the protagonist, Andreas Maler, shapes what he can do and his relationships with the characters around him and the choices you make. Pentiment is also not a traditional detective game either for reasons that are bit spoilery, but one of them is that Andreas is not actually a detective. Andreas is not Sherlock Holmes, Harry DuBois, or Lady Love Dies; he is merely an artist completely out of his depth dragged into the rural Bavarian town of Tassingโs turmoil and forced to try and maintain the peace between the town and Kiersau, the Benedictine abbey who governs them. Andreas canโt Columbo his way to the truth, his and your choices are tinged with uncertainty as you try to uncover the culprits. Ultimately, the murders are a backdrop to the main theme of the game, history.
Pentiment is foremost a game about history, a rumination of the past and how society is built on the foundations of older ones, how they evolve and change over time, and how the past and its truths can be obfuscated through multiple means. The game take place in the Holy Roman Empire in the early 1500โs at the dawn of the great societal upheavals of the Early Modern period in Europe. Martin Luther has published his 95 Theses only a few years prior to the start of the gameโs narrative, which will eventually lead to the greatest schism in Christianity, The Protestant Reformation, and more than a century of bloodshed and strife across the continent. Johannes Gutenbergโs printing press has revolutionized society as now the proliferation of books and the ability to read them are no longer only in the realm of the aristocracy and clergy. The growing education of the peasantry leads to class conflicts with their noble and clerical lords who desire to keep the underclasses under heel. The old traditions of the medieval era are dying away, this is initially illustrated with Keirsau and its monks, who are the very few still writing and illustrating books by hand. All of these events tie into the events of the gameโs narrative and its setting and characters, and what a fantastic job the game does bringing them to life.
Pentimentโs attention to detail both to its historical time period, setting, and art design is wondrous. The game drops references left and right to historical people, places, and concepts of the era which deftly manages to give the uninitiated player a trove of information in the in-game glossary for clarification, an expansion of the similar systems that previous Obsidian RPGs, Tyranny and PoE2 had. As a lover of history and games that immerse themselves into the subject, Pentiment is one of the very finest, it not the most. The game is mostly a slow burn, letting you get to really learn about the daily lives of the townsfolk and the monks and nuns, before shit starts hitting the fan. This works so well for the game because you really get a sense of place with Tassing and its people. The writing is fantastic as its fleshes out its cast and setting splendidly. The game also manages to balance having its light-hearted moments with serious drama and the narrative ends up being a powerful journey.
The gameโs art design is absolutely beautiful, crafted akin to the style of the manuscript illustrations of the era. The characters have just so much lively detail to them and the backgrounds are so scenic. The UI is also so creative as well. Charactersโ dialogue boxes are expressed through the writing of a quill complete with sound effects and typos in the dialogue that get corrected like someone was actually writing them by hand. Thereโs even another facet of this UI where the town printer, Klausโ, dialogue boxes are instead expressed in the style of printing press block prints complete with printing press sound effects. All of this sheer attention to detail are testament to how much love was clearly poured into this game. The soundtrack is also beautiful, though the game uses it more sparingly than most games. Just one of the most aesthetically beautiful and creative games Iโve played.
Pentiment is a masterpiece of the medium and hopefully will stand as inspiration for other game developers in the years to come. If you have an interest in it, I highly recommend it, itโs fast become my GOTY and one of my absolute favorite games of all time. It truly is an amazing joy that this game exists.
Pros:
- Excellent presentation and art style reminiscent of the manuscript illustrations of the 16th century
- It's a bit difficult to discuss the story without mentioning specifics, but it's interesting. Initially Pentiment sells itself as a murder mystery, but really it's more focused on the village of Tassing and how the events that take place and your decisions gradually affect the people who live there over a 25 year timespan. More than anything, it succeeds in being as authentic to the time period as possible through its setting and characters
- General dialogue is very well written, and has a unique way of presenting itself with the use of different text fonts that represent how Andreas perceives the social status of the characters
Cons:
- While I liked the direction the story goes, I have mixed feelings on the pacing. In general it's a very slow burn, but this is particularly so in its third act which compared to the first two felt like a drawn out epilogue that was hours lengthier than it needed to be. I also wouldn't really say I was satisfied with how the mystery wraps up either
- Exploring the town is pretty dull, Andreas is clunky to control and every area is separated with a book flip load animation that, while cool at first, wears thin very quickly. You'll also be walking through the same few areas for the entire game which got exhausting by the end
- I can't say I was into the way the gameplay was structured. Deciding how you spend your limited time between the characters was cool on paper, but this was only prevalent in Act 1 with the next two being more linear. And even despite that, you only have very limited time to speak to characters because two events of the day are spent sitting down and eating with someone. This became annoying when I was trying to uncover evidence close to the deadline but I couldn't pursue it cause other events weren't open during these times
- I know this was a relatively small project for Obsidian, but I wish Microsoft invested more into it as a first party title. It would've greatly benefited from voice acting, and while I usually don't mind that there aren't any voices for a text heavy game like this, there's also very little music to make up for it. Most of the game is just ambient noise and silence as you read through its dense dialogue, which made it feel like it was missing something to me
- Excellent presentation and art style reminiscent of the manuscript illustrations of the 16th century
- It's a bit difficult to discuss the story without mentioning specifics, but it's interesting. Initially Pentiment sells itself as a murder mystery, but really it's more focused on the village of Tassing and how the events that take place and your decisions gradually affect the people who live there over a 25 year timespan. More than anything, it succeeds in being as authentic to the time period as possible through its setting and characters
- General dialogue is very well written, and has a unique way of presenting itself with the use of different text fonts that represent how Andreas perceives the social status of the characters
Cons:
- While I liked the direction the story goes, I have mixed feelings on the pacing. In general it's a very slow burn, but this is particularly so in its third act which compared to the first two felt like a drawn out epilogue that was hours lengthier than it needed to be. I also wouldn't really say I was satisfied with how the mystery wraps up either
- Exploring the town is pretty dull, Andreas is clunky to control and every area is separated with a book flip load animation that, while cool at first, wears thin very quickly. You'll also be walking through the same few areas for the entire game which got exhausting by the end
- I can't say I was into the way the gameplay was structured. Deciding how you spend your limited time between the characters was cool on paper, but this was only prevalent in Act 1 with the next two being more linear. And even despite that, you only have very limited time to speak to characters because two events of the day are spent sitting down and eating with someone. This became annoying when I was trying to uncover evidence close to the deadline but I couldn't pursue it cause other events weren't open during these times
- I know this was a relatively small project for Obsidian, but I wish Microsoft invested more into it as a first party title. It would've greatly benefited from voice acting, and while I usually don't mind that there aren't any voices for a text heavy game like this, there's also very little music to make up for it. Most of the game is just ambient noise and silence as you read through its dense dialogue, which made it feel like it was missing something to me
Thank God they finally let rope kid out of the Pillars of Eternity mines so he could make this.
It is exceptionally easy to get caught up in the idea that the past wasn't just a different time, but a different world. It's a truism, and one that's so obvious that it can muddy the simple fact that people haven't changed all that much. We're a social species who cope with both reality's bounties and hardships in much of the same ways, though the exact specifics continue to change throughout the years. The medieval peasantry were in no way fundamentally different to ourselves. The struggles of the poor and prosperities of the aristocracy under feudalism mirror those of the poor and the wealthy today. They're different, but they aren't that different, and showcasing that is what really makes Pentiment shine.
1500s-era Tassing, Upper Bavaria (a fictional mish-mash of locations throughout present southern Germany) is a tiny, impoverished mud pit with a population of about fifty people, and they're all written like actual human beings. Everyone has their own struggles and their own secrets, and there's so much to dig into that nobody will ever feasibly discover everything by themselves. This is a story to be discussed and dissected; rarely can a narrative stand up to a scrutinous analysis, and I imagine that Pentiment is going to join a very, very small list of stories that actually can. Every game with a story released since 2019 has been inevitably and unfavorably compared to Disco Elysium, but this feels like one of the only games that manages to be in its weight class. It's hard to overstate how good it is.
There's a massive amount of care put into portraying this world accurately, evidenced by the almost hundred texts referenced in the credits. Josh Sawyer's narrative direction is immaculate, but it would do a disservice both to the rest of the team and to the player to lump all praise onto him. Narratively, graphically, and sonically, everything here is near perfect. The art style and sound design can lead to some truly beautiful moments, and the game is a delight to take in. It feels like a spa trip. It's refreshing and good for the soul. Let this shit seep into my pores.
God, I love Pentiment.
It is exceptionally easy to get caught up in the idea that the past wasn't just a different time, but a different world. It's a truism, and one that's so obvious that it can muddy the simple fact that people haven't changed all that much. We're a social species who cope with both reality's bounties and hardships in much of the same ways, though the exact specifics continue to change throughout the years. The medieval peasantry were in no way fundamentally different to ourselves. The struggles of the poor and prosperities of the aristocracy under feudalism mirror those of the poor and the wealthy today. They're different, but they aren't that different, and showcasing that is what really makes Pentiment shine.
1500s-era Tassing, Upper Bavaria (a fictional mish-mash of locations throughout present southern Germany) is a tiny, impoverished mud pit with a population of about fifty people, and they're all written like actual human beings. Everyone has their own struggles and their own secrets, and there's so much to dig into that nobody will ever feasibly discover everything by themselves. This is a story to be discussed and dissected; rarely can a narrative stand up to a scrutinous analysis, and I imagine that Pentiment is going to join a very, very small list of stories that actually can. Every game with a story released since 2019 has been inevitably and unfavorably compared to Disco Elysium, but this feels like one of the only games that manages to be in its weight class. It's hard to overstate how good it is.
There's a massive amount of care put into portraying this world accurately, evidenced by the almost hundred texts referenced in the credits. Josh Sawyer's narrative direction is immaculate, but it would do a disservice both to the rest of the team and to the player to lump all praise onto him. Narratively, graphically, and sonically, everything here is near perfect. The art style and sound design can lead to some truly beautiful moments, and the game is a delight to take in. It feels like a spa trip. It's refreshing and good for the soul. Let this shit seep into my pores.
God, I love Pentiment.
Penitรชncia. Um castigo ou salvaรงรฃo imposta ร queles que acreditam na expiaรงรฃo do pecado pelo sofrimento, e pela dor da carne. Como se seu lamento te livrasse do mal em corpo e alma.
Essa รฉ uma visรฃo desse termo;
Outra interpretaรงรฃo, talvez mais apostรณlica, seja na forma do cristรฃo entregar seu corpo ร santรญssima trindade, tal qual Jesus e tantos outros mรกrtires fizeram ao longo dos anos.
Santos que se sacrificaram em nome de sua fรฉ e se livraram de qualquer peso, culpa ou dor mundana.
"sorte deles que morreram acreditando terem mudado o mundo, azar o nosso que continuou nele, sofrendo as devidas consequรชncias"- Pentiment.
Agora, o quรฃo cruel รฉ nรฃo conseguir ser um mรกrtir? Nessa busca interminรกvel por uma dor para aliviar a culpa, a penitencia tem seu lugar sacro. Um sacramento louvรกvel de dor, e compulsรฃo que emula um sacrifรญcio do corpo. ( tal qual jesus) quase de forma fetichista.
Esse comportamento de autodestruiรงรฃo sagrada se vรช mais comum do que parece no comportamento humano, mesmo fora da igreja.
Em artistas, por exemplo, isso รฉ quase religioso.
Muitos artistas tรชm sua arte como lรกstima. Vai devorar sua obra como um lobo devora um porco espinho, se mutilando e se lamentando, mas encontrando arte nesse ciclo ( que alguns vรฃo dizer ser virtuoso).
Esse vรญcio, talvez herdado da influencia cristรฃ na arte, deu vida a grandes obras e artistas. Uma que eu amo de um dos meus artistas favoritos รฉ a "A Incredulidade de Sรฃo Tomรฉ", por Caravaggio. Um artista que , pelas suas obras, vivia em constante penitencia.
Nessa obra, vemos ele (um suposto autorretrato, como ele costumava fazer) tocando na ferida de Jesus. Quase que surpreso, enquanto Deus, com um olhar piedoso, deixa Caravaggio magoar sua ferida em nome de sua fรฉ. Como se precisasse tocar para crer, e ao tocar, ferisse a Deus, e portanto, a si mesmo. Apesar de nรฃo ser cristรฃo, eu tenho um apreรงo por expressรตes de fรฉ e eu amo como em Caravaggio, toda sua dรบvida (e penitencia por conta dessa dรบvida) transborda em arte. Caravaggio viveu e morreu se mutilando, talvez fisicamente, mas pelo menos em parte de sua arte (Davi com a cabeรงa de Golias)
Mas e para vocรช? Quantas vezes foi o pentinente; e como pentinente, foi tambรฉm teu confessor?
E quantas vezes, encontrou uma fรฉ, mesmo fora da igreja? Se convenceu que merecia todo tipo de tormenta por conta dessa contriรงรฃo. Quase de forma fetichista, assumiu o papel do rรฉu, jรบri ou juiz?
Pentiment vai falar de fรฉ, mas tambรฉm vai falar dessa peleja interna em que vivemos ao longo da vida. Entre nossas diversas facetas, humores e contradiรงรตes.
Pentiment รฉ um retrato que vai contar em seu macro como a histรณria รฉ contada, muitas vezes pela arte, e como isso reflete na vida e nas dores das pessoas a sua volta. Por outro lado, รฉ esse olhar รญntimo e pessoal na vida de um protagonista esplรชndido que consegue, com tรฃo excelente uso do feitio de jogos, expressar uma jornada pessoal na vida de um artista. Nos conflitos externos e internos. Na disparidade entre amor a arte, amor a pessoas e amor prรณprio.
Tambรฉm, na busca artรญstica quase sagrada da alto penitencia para aliviar a dor do fardo da culpa de pecados ainda nรฃo cometidos.
Esse jogo รฉ excelente e recomendo qualquer artista jogar.
Pentiment definitivamente nรฃo รฉ uma obra Caravaggista, mas retrata de forma excelente artistas como Caravaggio.
PS: Pentimento, em quadros, pode remeter a um deslocamento de elementos ao longo do tempo (na arte final) muitas vezes resquรญcios de outras versรตes sรฃo evidentes em quadros, quase como fantasmas na obra. Esse jogo tem tudo a ver com isso.
Essa รฉ uma visรฃo desse termo;
Outra interpretaรงรฃo, talvez mais apostรณlica, seja na forma do cristรฃo entregar seu corpo ร santรญssima trindade, tal qual Jesus e tantos outros mรกrtires fizeram ao longo dos anos.
Santos que se sacrificaram em nome de sua fรฉ e se livraram de qualquer peso, culpa ou dor mundana.
"sorte deles que morreram acreditando terem mudado o mundo, azar o nosso que continuou nele, sofrendo as devidas consequรชncias"- Pentiment.
Agora, o quรฃo cruel รฉ nรฃo conseguir ser um mรกrtir? Nessa busca interminรกvel por uma dor para aliviar a culpa, a penitencia tem seu lugar sacro. Um sacramento louvรกvel de dor, e compulsรฃo que emula um sacrifรญcio do corpo. ( tal qual jesus) quase de forma fetichista.
Esse comportamento de autodestruiรงรฃo sagrada se vรช mais comum do que parece no comportamento humano, mesmo fora da igreja.
Em artistas, por exemplo, isso รฉ quase religioso.
Muitos artistas tรชm sua arte como lรกstima. Vai devorar sua obra como um lobo devora um porco espinho, se mutilando e se lamentando, mas encontrando arte nesse ciclo ( que alguns vรฃo dizer ser virtuoso).
Esse vรญcio, talvez herdado da influencia cristรฃ na arte, deu vida a grandes obras e artistas. Uma que eu amo de um dos meus artistas favoritos รฉ a "A Incredulidade de Sรฃo Tomรฉ", por Caravaggio. Um artista que , pelas suas obras, vivia em constante penitencia.
Nessa obra, vemos ele (um suposto autorretrato, como ele costumava fazer) tocando na ferida de Jesus. Quase que surpreso, enquanto Deus, com um olhar piedoso, deixa Caravaggio magoar sua ferida em nome de sua fรฉ. Como se precisasse tocar para crer, e ao tocar, ferisse a Deus, e portanto, a si mesmo. Apesar de nรฃo ser cristรฃo, eu tenho um apreรงo por expressรตes de fรฉ e eu amo como em Caravaggio, toda sua dรบvida (e penitencia por conta dessa dรบvida) transborda em arte. Caravaggio viveu e morreu se mutilando, talvez fisicamente, mas pelo menos em parte de sua arte (Davi com a cabeรงa de Golias)
Mas e para vocรช? Quantas vezes foi o pentinente; e como pentinente, foi tambรฉm teu confessor?
E quantas vezes, encontrou uma fรฉ, mesmo fora da igreja? Se convenceu que merecia todo tipo de tormenta por conta dessa contriรงรฃo. Quase de forma fetichista, assumiu o papel do rรฉu, jรบri ou juiz?
Pentiment vai falar de fรฉ, mas tambรฉm vai falar dessa peleja interna em que vivemos ao longo da vida. Entre nossas diversas facetas, humores e contradiรงรตes.
Pentiment รฉ um retrato que vai contar em seu macro como a histรณria รฉ contada, muitas vezes pela arte, e como isso reflete na vida e nas dores das pessoas a sua volta. Por outro lado, รฉ esse olhar รญntimo e pessoal na vida de um protagonista esplรชndido que consegue, com tรฃo excelente uso do feitio de jogos, expressar uma jornada pessoal na vida de um artista. Nos conflitos externos e internos. Na disparidade entre amor a arte, amor a pessoas e amor prรณprio.
Tambรฉm, na busca artรญstica quase sagrada da alto penitencia para aliviar a dor do fardo da culpa de pecados ainda nรฃo cometidos.
Esse jogo รฉ excelente e recomendo qualquer artista jogar.
Pentiment definitivamente nรฃo รฉ uma obra Caravaggista, mas retrata de forma excelente artistas como Caravaggio.
PS: Pentimento, em quadros, pode remeter a um deslocamento de elementos ao longo do tempo (na arte final) muitas vezes resquรญcios de outras versรตes sรฃo evidentes em quadros, quase como fantasmas na obra. Esse jogo tem tudo a ver com isso.
I think about this game a lot. Like Disco Elysium before it, Pentiment shows you a world - a bleak, desolate, ugly world - and tells you: love it anyway. It shows you the people in this world - frequently kind, often selfish, occasionally cruel - and tells you: love them anyway. Even if it kills you. Even if it kills them.
I love you, Andreas Maler. Even when I hated you. Especially then.
I love you, Andreas Maler. Even when I hated you. Especially then.
Itโs important that you treat Pentiment with the same scrutiny and scepticism that you (hopefully) do with any other historical source. Most media, not just videogames, are, politely put, atrocious at dealing in good faith with the settings and themes that Pentiment tackles, to the point where itโs probably reasonable to call it one of the most authentic games ever made in this regard. The flip side of this is that it makes the things Pentiment gets wrong feel more conspicuous than they would be otherwise.
If that last part has your guard up, you can safely lower it, because Pentimentโs small handful of inaccuracies are pretty minor in that they don't affect the plot overmuch. I wonโt say what they are specifically, because this is the type of game where any and all details ought to be discovered yourself, but among other things, they include at least two cultural events which are unambiguously Christian being misattributed to Alpine paganism of some description, as well as one figure who was (to my knowledge) neither pre-Christian nor worshipped as a goddess being described as a pre-Christian goddess.
There are a couple of reasons why these donโt overly strain Pentimentโs believability and for which it deserves to be given the benefit of the doubt. For starters, relative to the vast majority of media set during the early modern period and (in this case, just after the) Middle Ages, Pentimentโs immensely tactful to the point where I'm (almost but not quite) inclined to think these kinds of mistakes were intentionally included, on the part of its characters rather than its writers; that it avoids the common error of misattributing the origins of Christian saints to pagan figures further suggests this. More broadly, itโs unreasonable to expect anything to be perfect in terms of accuracy and โ on exceedingly rare occasions, in exceptionally talented hands โ inaccuracies can be advantageous. Excaliburโs a more visually distinctive and symbolic film for featuring armour which is about 1000 years too advanced for the 5th/6th century AD. Shadow of Romeโs a more memorable game for making you fight a ~15ft tall Germanic barbarian whose weapon of choice is a marble pillar. Likewise, in a meta sort of way, Pentimentโs central idea of historiographical truth being difficult to pinpoint is arguably strengthened by its own shortcomings in this respect. Ideally, thisโll encourage players to be more wary of any historically-themed media they engage with, including Pentiment itself.
Any such grievances are further obscured by the mostly impressive weight Pentiment lends to your decisions. I had the fortune of playing through Pentiment concurrently with my brother, and when weโd walk in on each other playing it, weโd do mutual double takes as one of us was in the middle of story events that the other didnโt even consider would be possible. Speech checks being affected by past dialogue choices encourages you to constantly, properly pay attention to and think about what youโre saying in a way I personally havenโt seen done since the isometric Fallouts or Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines. Although its time limits (while appreciated) arenโt implemented as organically as Fallout 1โs, an advantage Pentiment has over even those titans is that it also autosaves after every single action you take, lending everything a degree of permanence that few other RPGs can offer. If you were feeling particularly cheeky, you could go as far as to say that Pentiment can be counted alongside the campaign of Black Ops 2 in the pantheon of games which actually are what everyone pretends New Vegas is.
I call it only mostly impressive because Pentimentโs key weakness is the linearity of its third and final act, which even if youโre being charitable can only really be called overbearing. Not to bang on the choices-donโt-matter drum too hard, because nobody can ever seem to agree what choices mattering in a game really looks like, but youโre much more likely to wish you were able to say or do something other than the options youโre given in the last act than in the preceding two. Potential twists and turns you might hope to direct this chapterโs plot towards are often snuffed out by blurted out variations of โactually, I was only pretending to want to do thatโ that you rarely have any control over. This isnโt to suggest that Pentiment ends on a sour note โ the ending itselfโs quite lovely โ but from a decision making standpoint, the whole last stretchโs noticeably more limiting.
However close it comes, this is never enough to distract from Pentimentโs visual splendour. Jan van Eyck paintings and The Tragedy of Man are the only other media I can think of which incorporate so many different historical art styles into one cohesive package and so skilfully. Sebhat being drawn in the style of Ethiopian Coptic Orthodox artโs a particularly inspired touch, but in general itโs no wonder that the art director and animators are the first names to pop up on the opening credits, because itโs like a playable manuscript. Rarely do you come across a game where you can legitimately say that the visuals are a selling point in and of themselves.
There should be more games like Pentiment. It represents two things we need more of โ big developers putting out more niche, experimental titles, and historical media which isnโt riddled with self-congratulatory 21st century arrogance that spits on the memory of everyone who happened to be born before an arbitrary point in time, in which characters actually believe what they say and arenโt one-dimensional caricatures of the past. Be thankful it exists, whatever its issues.
If that last part has your guard up, you can safely lower it, because Pentimentโs small handful of inaccuracies are pretty minor in that they don't affect the plot overmuch. I wonโt say what they are specifically, because this is the type of game where any and all details ought to be discovered yourself, but among other things, they include at least two cultural events which are unambiguously Christian being misattributed to Alpine paganism of some description, as well as one figure who was (to my knowledge) neither pre-Christian nor worshipped as a goddess being described as a pre-Christian goddess.
There are a couple of reasons why these donโt overly strain Pentimentโs believability and for which it deserves to be given the benefit of the doubt. For starters, relative to the vast majority of media set during the early modern period and (in this case, just after the) Middle Ages, Pentimentโs immensely tactful to the point where I'm (almost but not quite) inclined to think these kinds of mistakes were intentionally included, on the part of its characters rather than its writers; that it avoids the common error of misattributing the origins of Christian saints to pagan figures further suggests this. More broadly, itโs unreasonable to expect anything to be perfect in terms of accuracy and โ on exceedingly rare occasions, in exceptionally talented hands โ inaccuracies can be advantageous. Excaliburโs a more visually distinctive and symbolic film for featuring armour which is about 1000 years too advanced for the 5th/6th century AD. Shadow of Romeโs a more memorable game for making you fight a ~15ft tall Germanic barbarian whose weapon of choice is a marble pillar. Likewise, in a meta sort of way, Pentimentโs central idea of historiographical truth being difficult to pinpoint is arguably strengthened by its own shortcomings in this respect. Ideally, thisโll encourage players to be more wary of any historically-themed media they engage with, including Pentiment itself.
Any such grievances are further obscured by the mostly impressive weight Pentiment lends to your decisions. I had the fortune of playing through Pentiment concurrently with my brother, and when weโd walk in on each other playing it, weโd do mutual double takes as one of us was in the middle of story events that the other didnโt even consider would be possible. Speech checks being affected by past dialogue choices encourages you to constantly, properly pay attention to and think about what youโre saying in a way I personally havenโt seen done since the isometric Fallouts or Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines. Although its time limits (while appreciated) arenโt implemented as organically as Fallout 1โs, an advantage Pentiment has over even those titans is that it also autosaves after every single action you take, lending everything a degree of permanence that few other RPGs can offer. If you were feeling particularly cheeky, you could go as far as to say that Pentiment can be counted alongside the campaign of Black Ops 2 in the pantheon of games which actually are what everyone pretends New Vegas is.
I call it only mostly impressive because Pentimentโs key weakness is the linearity of its third and final act, which even if youโre being charitable can only really be called overbearing. Not to bang on the choices-donโt-matter drum too hard, because nobody can ever seem to agree what choices mattering in a game really looks like, but youโre much more likely to wish you were able to say or do something other than the options youโre given in the last act than in the preceding two. Potential twists and turns you might hope to direct this chapterโs plot towards are often snuffed out by blurted out variations of โactually, I was only pretending to want to do thatโ that you rarely have any control over. This isnโt to suggest that Pentiment ends on a sour note โ the ending itselfโs quite lovely โ but from a decision making standpoint, the whole last stretchโs noticeably more limiting.
However close it comes, this is never enough to distract from Pentimentโs visual splendour. Jan van Eyck paintings and The Tragedy of Man are the only other media I can think of which incorporate so many different historical art styles into one cohesive package and so skilfully. Sebhat being drawn in the style of Ethiopian Coptic Orthodox artโs a particularly inspired touch, but in general itโs no wonder that the art director and animators are the first names to pop up on the opening credits, because itโs like a playable manuscript. Rarely do you come across a game where you can legitimately say that the visuals are a selling point in and of themselves.
There should be more games like Pentiment. It represents two things we need more of โ big developers putting out more niche, experimental titles, and historical media which isnโt riddled with self-congratulatory 21st century arrogance that spits on the memory of everyone who happened to be born before an arbitrary point in time, in which characters actually believe what they say and arenโt one-dimensional caricatures of the past. Be thankful it exists, whatever its issues.
Sim, tรด escrevendo essa review de madrugada, porque esse รฉ um daqueles jogos que tรชm tantos detalhes bons que, se eu deixar pra outro dia, vou acabar esquecendo deles. ร aquele jogo de nicho, bem nicho mesmo, mas que nรฃo exige um conhecimento profundo sobre a รฉpoca abordada, jรก que tem um sumรกrio com vรกrias notas explicando muitos detalhes, tanto geogrรกficos quanto histรณricos. Isso facilitou muito pra mim, mas algumas palavras como "abadia", tive que pesquisar no Google mesmo. Basicamente, รฉ um jogo investigativo com o foco quase todo em diรกlogos, feito pra tu ler, pensar no que dizer, convencer e se relacionar com os personagens, tipo um jogo da Telltale, mas menos linear, jรก que tu transita livremente pela cidade de Tassing.
Esse jogo me passou a mesma vibe de "O Nome da Rosa", filme de 1986, sobre um monge que investiga uma sรฉrie de assassinatos dentro de um monastรฉrio (juro que daqui em diante nรฃo vou mais falar grego). Esse negรณcio de conhecimento proibido รฉ muito presente em ambas as obras de uma forma que envolve todo o mistรฉrio da trama. Pra cinรฉfilos, tรก aรญ uma recomendaรงรฃo.
Como รฉ um jogo onde teu personagem รฉ um prodรญgio a mestre artista, tu pode escolher no inรญcio os conhecimentos que Andreas aprendeu nas viagens de estudos, que vรฃo te dar opรงรตes de falas exclusivas nos diรกlogos. ร uma mecรขnica perfeita, por mais que eu tenha adquirido o "conhecimento da curtiรงรฃo" e nรฃo tenha conseguido "macetar" nenhuma das personagens atravรฉs do diรกlogo, mas no trailer mostra que dรก pra fazer isso sim.
Gostei muito de fuรงar na vida de todo mundo e fazer vรกrios amigos e inimigos, mesmo que o jogo todo se passe em um mapa pequeno com algumas localidades secretas a mais, tem uns time skips que vรฃo trazendo novidades e mudanรงas na cidade com o passar dos anos, sempre te proporcionando aquela curiosidade pra saber como aqueles personagens queridos estรฃo. A parte mais legal disso รฉ ver a influรชncia que vocรช causou na cidade.
A estรฉtica e os simbolismos do game contribuem muito pra histรณria, tipo as alegorias daqueles personagens que sรณ existem na mente do Andreas, representando seus pensamentos, e as fontes diferentes nas falas dos personagens pra simbolizar status e nรญvel de escolaridade.
No inรญcio do รบltimo ato, confesso que fiquei triste pelo que aconteceu e com medo do caminho que o jogo ia seguir, mas logo o game puxou minha atenรงรฃo de volta ร medida que a trama voltava para o nรบcleo do mistรฉrio principal.
E no final, teve uma bela conclusรฃo, com uma explicaรงรฃo que amarra todas as pontas soltas, mostrando que jรก estava tudo ali, o jogo esfregou na sua cara, mas vocรช nรฃo percebeu (pelo menos eu nรฃo percebi).
Nรฃo acho que esse jogo tenha um fator replay muito grande, jรก que o mistรฉrio depois do fim jรก foi solucionado, mas tรด muito curioso pra saber o que aconteceria se eu tivesse seguido por outros caminhos e escolhido conhecimentos diferentes.
Edit: As crianรงas sรฃo muito fofinhas.
Uma aula em forma de jogo.
Poucos jogos me surpreenderam tรฃo positivamente quanto Pentiment.
A histรณria do game รฉ relativamente simples, vocรช controla Andreas Maler, um artista que foi contratado para fazer uma obra para a igreja de Tassing, uma pequena cidade formada em meio a ruรญnas romanas (Ao decorrer da gameplay vocรช percebe que o jogo รฉ sobre a cidade). Num dia qualquer, um nobre local que visita a cidade acaba sendo assassinado. Nisso, um dos companheiros mais queridos de trabalho de Andreas acaba sendo acusado, e cabe a vocรช encontrar o verdadeiro culpado para impedir que esse seu amigo seja morto.
Aqui รฉ de longe o ponto mais brilhante do jogo: sua mecรขnica de investigaรงรฃo. As decisรตes que o jogador toma durante a investigaรงรฃo tem impactos significativos nas vidas (e mortes) de todos os personagens do jogo (O game acerta MUITO no desenvolvimento dos personagens) e muito alรฉm disto suas decisรตes tem efeitos que podem ser sentidos pelas dรฉcadas seguintes.
Alรฉm de tudo รฉ genial o fato do jogo ser uma aula de histรณria sobre a Europa Medieval, tendo atรฉ mesmo momentos do game em que fatos histรณricos ficam muito presentes (Por exemplo o รณdio da igreja em relaรงรฃo as propostas de Martinho Lutero).
Outra aula que o game dรก รฉ sobre a evoluรงรฃo das tรฉcnicas de reproduรงรฃo artรญstica, mostrando a transiรงรฃo entre as transcriรงรตes a mรฃo e o surgimento da tipografia como forma rรกpida de produzir textos (O mais incrรญvel รฉ a naturalidade que essas โaulasโ sรฃo inseridas na gameplay, sempre caminhando junto com a narrativa e fazendo sentido a todo momento).
Tambรฉm รฉ legal a forma que vocรช molda seu personagem e como isso tem impacto nas investigaรงรตes e na narrativa em si. Outra coisa impossรญvel de nรฃo elogiar a identidade visual do jogo, totalmente na estรฉtica das pinturas e ilustraรงรตes medievais.
Tambรฉm me pegou muito o lindo trabalho do game em dar diferentes caligrafias para as "vozes" dos personagens (a dos camponeses รฉ mais simples, e a dos monges mais rebuscada, por exemplo). De longe isto da tipografia รฉ o exemplo de como este jogo consegue encaixar perfeitamente a estรฉtica com a narrativa.
PRรS:
- Decisรตes realmente mudam a histรณria e o mundo.
- Estilo de arte lindo.
- Histรณria e personagens muito bons.
CONTRAS:
- Ritmo do รบltimo capรญtulo รฉ destoante comparado com o restante do jogo.
Poucos jogos me surpreenderam tรฃo positivamente quanto Pentiment.
A histรณria do game รฉ relativamente simples, vocรช controla Andreas Maler, um artista que foi contratado para fazer uma obra para a igreja de Tassing, uma pequena cidade formada em meio a ruรญnas romanas (Ao decorrer da gameplay vocรช percebe que o jogo รฉ sobre a cidade). Num dia qualquer, um nobre local que visita a cidade acaba sendo assassinado. Nisso, um dos companheiros mais queridos de trabalho de Andreas acaba sendo acusado, e cabe a vocรช encontrar o verdadeiro culpado para impedir que esse seu amigo seja morto.
Aqui รฉ de longe o ponto mais brilhante do jogo: sua mecรขnica de investigaรงรฃo. As decisรตes que o jogador toma durante a investigaรงรฃo tem impactos significativos nas vidas (e mortes) de todos os personagens do jogo (O game acerta MUITO no desenvolvimento dos personagens) e muito alรฉm disto suas decisรตes tem efeitos que podem ser sentidos pelas dรฉcadas seguintes.
Alรฉm de tudo รฉ genial o fato do jogo ser uma aula de histรณria sobre a Europa Medieval, tendo atรฉ mesmo momentos do game em que fatos histรณricos ficam muito presentes (Por exemplo o รณdio da igreja em relaรงรฃo as propostas de Martinho Lutero).
Outra aula que o game dรก รฉ sobre a evoluรงรฃo das tรฉcnicas de reproduรงรฃo artรญstica, mostrando a transiรงรฃo entre as transcriรงรตes a mรฃo e o surgimento da tipografia como forma rรกpida de produzir textos (O mais incrรญvel รฉ a naturalidade que essas โaulasโ sรฃo inseridas na gameplay, sempre caminhando junto com a narrativa e fazendo sentido a todo momento).
Tambรฉm รฉ legal a forma que vocรช molda seu personagem e como isso tem impacto nas investigaรงรตes e na narrativa em si. Outra coisa impossรญvel de nรฃo elogiar a identidade visual do jogo, totalmente na estรฉtica das pinturas e ilustraรงรตes medievais.
Tambรฉm me pegou muito o lindo trabalho do game em dar diferentes caligrafias para as "vozes" dos personagens (a dos camponeses รฉ mais simples, e a dos monges mais rebuscada, por exemplo). De longe isto da tipografia รฉ o exemplo de como este jogo consegue encaixar perfeitamente a estรฉtica com a narrativa.
PRรS:
- Decisรตes realmente mudam a histรณria e o mundo.
- Estilo de arte lindo.
- Histรณria e personagens muito bons.
CONTRAS:
- Ritmo do รบltimo capรญtulo รฉ destoante comparado com o restante do jogo.
I donโt even know where to start, how to describe this game without spoiling it. I guess I can say, if the game looks interesting to you, go play it right now. If, in addition, youโve ever liked a game made by Obsidian or a hyperlocal adventure game (Night in the Woods, Kentucky Route Zero, Norco), or some combination of the two (this section is here so I can mention Disco Elysium) then GO PLAY IT RIGHT NOW.
Beyond that, the task becomes workable. When my girlfriend asked me what I thought of the game, I said โI think itโs probably one of the best works of art Iโve ever experiencedโ, and I stand fully behind that text message I sent like 10 minutes ago. Somehow, Josh Sawyer and his team at Obsidian have crafted a wonderful murder mystery with themes around class consciousness and theology, and a lovely, tender story and cast of characters, and they made it entirely out of historical references youโd literally need an encyclopedia to fully understand. And donโt fret, the encyclopedia is ALSO in the game.
Admittedly the introduction is a little dry. It leans heavy on establishing the setting, your place in it, and a calm before the fall, and itโs important, but until things get going it was feeling a bit like what I was worried it would be: interesting and intellectual, but lacking in heart. Once you get used to the game though, things pick up quick and all of a sudden youโve been playing for 6 hours straight and itโs 1 in the morning and you donโt want to stop, because you donโt know if the next person you talk to, or the next meal you eat, or the next setpiece you explore could throw mysteries and answers at you in equal measure, pulling you deeper and deeper until the next chapter break.
I donโt think I know how to talk about this game at all actually. Not the way I usually do. Mostly you just have to decide what leads to follow based on what information you have, and what your character can provide based on their background and standing with each member of the community. But that doesnโt really get to the heart of whatโs so good about the game, what I love about it. That lies in the seemingly endless depth on display, a hyperfocused depth of character and setting that only exists in those other hyperlocal adventure games and Obsidian-style RPGs, to my knowledge.
Itโs just that good, and it gets better and better as you go along. The layers peel back, pulling the sardonic exterior away so you can tug at the core underneath. Iโm surprised a game like this could be made still, and by a company of the size Obsidian is. Itโs got all the references of a game made by 3 nerds in a basement, all the heart of a game made by 3 indie devs in a basement, and all the technical prowess that being owned by Xbox gets you. I donโt get how a game can be so seemingly mired in itself and yet still so affecting, still such a triumph, and I donโt get how Josh Sawyerโs been doing stuff like this for 20 years. Iโll be buying the collectors edition if it materializes though, you can count on that.
Beyond that, the task becomes workable. When my girlfriend asked me what I thought of the game, I said โI think itโs probably one of the best works of art Iโve ever experiencedโ, and I stand fully behind that text message I sent like 10 minutes ago. Somehow, Josh Sawyer and his team at Obsidian have crafted a wonderful murder mystery with themes around class consciousness and theology, and a lovely, tender story and cast of characters, and they made it entirely out of historical references youโd literally need an encyclopedia to fully understand. And donโt fret, the encyclopedia is ALSO in the game.
Admittedly the introduction is a little dry. It leans heavy on establishing the setting, your place in it, and a calm before the fall, and itโs important, but until things get going it was feeling a bit like what I was worried it would be: interesting and intellectual, but lacking in heart. Once you get used to the game though, things pick up quick and all of a sudden youโve been playing for 6 hours straight and itโs 1 in the morning and you donโt want to stop, because you donโt know if the next person you talk to, or the next meal you eat, or the next setpiece you explore could throw mysteries and answers at you in equal measure, pulling you deeper and deeper until the next chapter break.
I donโt think I know how to talk about this game at all actually. Not the way I usually do. Mostly you just have to decide what leads to follow based on what information you have, and what your character can provide based on their background and standing with each member of the community. But that doesnโt really get to the heart of whatโs so good about the game, what I love about it. That lies in the seemingly endless depth on display, a hyperfocused depth of character and setting that only exists in those other hyperlocal adventure games and Obsidian-style RPGs, to my knowledge.
Itโs just that good, and it gets better and better as you go along. The layers peel back, pulling the sardonic exterior away so you can tug at the core underneath. Iโm surprised a game like this could be made still, and by a company of the size Obsidian is. Itโs got all the references of a game made by 3 nerds in a basement, all the heart of a game made by 3 indie devs in a basement, and all the technical prowess that being owned by Xbox gets you. I donโt get how a game can be so seemingly mired in itself and yet still so affecting, still such a triumph, and I donโt get how Josh Sawyerโs been doing stuff like this for 20 years. Iโll be buying the collectors edition if it materializes though, you can count on that.
What makes Pentiment more than an interactive Name of the Rose is the expansion of the narrative over multiple time-scales, with decisions echoing throughout days, seasons and decades. While Rose is confined to a few days, taking place in โreal timeโ, Pentiment expands further through time (and space, from within the abbey and then out into the surrounding village). The narrative momentum gradually slows to a haunting, sad resolution.
Similar to Pathologic 2, time is against you, and no mystery is ever fully resolved. With the little info collected in your investigations, the truth is always incomplete, and a lingering guilt is cast over your decisions. Unlike Patho 2, time progresses in an abstracted way: during the day you may talk to anyone you find, but engaging in work, meals or certain events will advance time. There is no real-time simulation of the town, but the ever-changing seasons, events, architecture and people give Tassing the illusion of an analog, living world that many โdynamicโ open-worlds struggle to evoke.
I was initially put off by the art direction, akin to contemporary animation like Song of the Sea/Secret of Kells (which director Josh Sawyer has mentioned as an early influence) and I was looking for something uglier, maybe closer to the work found within the manuscriptโs margins. Ultimately, this does lend a more expressive, readable quality to the characters and world.
Similar to Pathologic 2, time is against you, and no mystery is ever fully resolved. With the little info collected in your investigations, the truth is always incomplete, and a lingering guilt is cast over your decisions. Unlike Patho 2, time progresses in an abstracted way: during the day you may talk to anyone you find, but engaging in work, meals or certain events will advance time. There is no real-time simulation of the town, but the ever-changing seasons, events, architecture and people give Tassing the illusion of an analog, living world that many โdynamicโ open-worlds struggle to evoke.
I was initially put off by the art direction, akin to contemporary animation like Song of the Sea/Secret of Kells (which director Josh Sawyer has mentioned as an early influence) and I was looking for something uglier, maybe closer to the work found within the manuscriptโs margins. Ultimately, this does lend a more expressive, readable quality to the characters and world.
This review contains spoilers
God, what an utterly wonderful, deeply moving game so full of humanity. In truth though I don't believe Pentiment to be perfect and without flaw, I have enjoyed it so much despite its shortcomings I can award it nothing short of the maximum possible number score.
Pentiment is one of those games that only comes around once every many years. Its clear that Josh Sawyer and his small team were given rare freedom to pursue a fairly niche idea, heavily researched (though I am not qualified to evaluate its accuracy) and thought out. Pentiment really stands tall on the merit of its writing and art. A period drama so full of wonderfully flawed, well rounded characters reflecting on so many of the issues of their time, as well as their relation to the past from which they draw and how in turn their stories relate to us in the present.
Its hard to really explain what makes this game so wonderful, in all honesty I think I could never do it justice with words alone. This game is of course very text heavy, and unfortunately some may not appreciate what its doing with its various RPG mechanics and player choice, expecting a "choose your own adventure" style whilst missing the point entirely, though I cannot blame them as I really don't know that I can fully explain it myself. Its an adventure game with RPG elements which is in theory a murder mystery but its more of a framing device to show how events change the course of the town. For example you are never told who the actual murderer is. Like in real life you must make the most of what little time you have to uncover whatever flawed understanding of events and make decisions which for better and for worse will affect the course of history; importantly you cannot uncover everything on any one playthrough. The accused is executed yes, but life goes on. People will remember what happened, the family of the executed may stop talking to you but there is no omniscient hand of god to say "you did it".
One early indication of where the story is going with all this is after the first time skip when Andreas comes back a few years after the murder of the Baron and stays at a local inn that opened up during the timeskip. The local innkeeper will mention the events of the murder and the details of the execution of the guilty party but in a very flawed, slightly wrong way. Even just a few years ago when this is within living memory what little truth there was is already being twisted. In Pentiment the truth is really not as important as the perception of what the truth is. Another is the sheer amount of retellings of the same story of the founding of Tassing and Kiersau abbey, the stories of the "saint" etc are all told by many different people at different points of the game in slightly but importantly different ways depending on their background and education : the old timer who keep the pagan ways, the monks at the abbey, various people of different beliefs all tell the story in a way that suited them and the people who told them said versions, all of them intermixing and getting tangled in the great game of telephone that is the oral tradition.
Coupled with the semi anachronistic elements of the Scriptorium giving way to the printing press for good and for ill related to the reformation and the German Peasant's War and even the archeological evidence you find of Kiersau being founded on top of roman ruins on top of earlier pagan settlements all pointing to the titular theme of Pentiment (referring to a painting being made on top of part or whole of an earlier painting) of the present always building on the past even when we dont know it and GOD! Pentiment is so goddamned good I would voluntarily write a Uni essay on the themes of history and truth in it. I'll just summarize here before I make this an even bigger mess of a review : Your choices reinforce the narrative of the incompleteness of history and the choices we make with what time we have.
I don't think the gameplay is unimpeachable, in particular I thought Disco Elysium did a much better job of making your dice rolls failing feel as compelling as them succeeding. I like your dialogue choices weighing the dice rolls, it makes just choosing what to say feel much more deliberate (unlike in New Vegas where choosing the high speech option was the most optimal thing to do pretty much always, here using certain traits can be very much the worse thing to say). However what I dont like is having done everything right and having like a 90% chance to succeed and getting a failure anyways (the game autosaves to prevent save scumming too). And sure, thats always the case with this type of RPG but it didnt feel as discouraging in DE. On the one hand, I can see the argument that "Pentiment is a game about making flawed choices based on incomplete information much like the practice of history and indeed life itself is based upon such things, we rarely have the complete picture and Andreas himself is tortured by his choices in life, what he didnt do at various points and etc etc you get the picture" on the other hand : "Go fuck yourself you goddamned motherfucking fucker, get fucked you fucking swine! Fuck your stupid fucking dice rolls!"
Other than that, the backtracking can be a bit annoying especially when the cute little loading transitions stop being cute, walking back and forth trying to remember where everyone lives in this stupid village especially after everytime jump when people die or move or marry or what have you.
However, these are mere drops of water on an ocean of outstanding meditation on history and human drama. The night before finishing this game I had a dream involving some of the characters, this should tell you something about my investment in the story.
I think the best thing I can say about Pentiment is it has made me think about the history of my own corner of the world. Though I live in Spain The village centre has a statue of San Martรญn and the streets are named after places in Argentina, I vaguely remember hearing this town was founded by argentinian immigrants but now I think I should do what best I can to try to investigate, see what little I can find about the history of this place for good and bad, and who knows what may come out of it? The wheels of time keep spinning, so do what you love for however long you can : "Love is the only reason to do anything in this life"
Pentiment is one of those games that only comes around once every many years. Its clear that Josh Sawyer and his small team were given rare freedom to pursue a fairly niche idea, heavily researched (though I am not qualified to evaluate its accuracy) and thought out. Pentiment really stands tall on the merit of its writing and art. A period drama so full of wonderfully flawed, well rounded characters reflecting on so many of the issues of their time, as well as their relation to the past from which they draw and how in turn their stories relate to us in the present.
Its hard to really explain what makes this game so wonderful, in all honesty I think I could never do it justice with words alone. This game is of course very text heavy, and unfortunately some may not appreciate what its doing with its various RPG mechanics and player choice, expecting a "choose your own adventure" style whilst missing the point entirely, though I cannot blame them as I really don't know that I can fully explain it myself. Its an adventure game with RPG elements which is in theory a murder mystery but its more of a framing device to show how events change the course of the town. For example you are never told who the actual murderer is. Like in real life you must make the most of what little time you have to uncover whatever flawed understanding of events and make decisions which for better and for worse will affect the course of history; importantly you cannot uncover everything on any one playthrough. The accused is executed yes, but life goes on. People will remember what happened, the family of the executed may stop talking to you but there is no omniscient hand of god to say "you did it".
One early indication of where the story is going with all this is after the first time skip when Andreas comes back a few years after the murder of the Baron and stays at a local inn that opened up during the timeskip. The local innkeeper will mention the events of the murder and the details of the execution of the guilty party but in a very flawed, slightly wrong way. Even just a few years ago when this is within living memory what little truth there was is already being twisted. In Pentiment the truth is really not as important as the perception of what the truth is. Another is the sheer amount of retellings of the same story of the founding of Tassing and Kiersau abbey, the stories of the "saint" etc are all told by many different people at different points of the game in slightly but importantly different ways depending on their background and education : the old timer who keep the pagan ways, the monks at the abbey, various people of different beliefs all tell the story in a way that suited them and the people who told them said versions, all of them intermixing and getting tangled in the great game of telephone that is the oral tradition.
Coupled with the semi anachronistic elements of the Scriptorium giving way to the printing press for good and for ill related to the reformation and the German Peasant's War and even the archeological evidence you find of Kiersau being founded on top of roman ruins on top of earlier pagan settlements all pointing to the titular theme of Pentiment (referring to a painting being made on top of part or whole of an earlier painting) of the present always building on the past even when we dont know it and GOD! Pentiment is so goddamned good I would voluntarily write a Uni essay on the themes of history and truth in it. I'll just summarize here before I make this an even bigger mess of a review : Your choices reinforce the narrative of the incompleteness of history and the choices we make with what time we have.
I don't think the gameplay is unimpeachable, in particular I thought Disco Elysium did a much better job of making your dice rolls failing feel as compelling as them succeeding. I like your dialogue choices weighing the dice rolls, it makes just choosing what to say feel much more deliberate (unlike in New Vegas where choosing the high speech option was the most optimal thing to do pretty much always, here using certain traits can be very much the worse thing to say). However what I dont like is having done everything right and having like a 90% chance to succeed and getting a failure anyways (the game autosaves to prevent save scumming too). And sure, thats always the case with this type of RPG but it didnt feel as discouraging in DE. On the one hand, I can see the argument that "Pentiment is a game about making flawed choices based on incomplete information much like the practice of history and indeed life itself is based upon such things, we rarely have the complete picture and Andreas himself is tortured by his choices in life, what he didnt do at various points and etc etc you get the picture" on the other hand : "Go fuck yourself you goddamned motherfucking fucker, get fucked you fucking swine! Fuck your stupid fucking dice rolls!"
Other than that, the backtracking can be a bit annoying especially when the cute little loading transitions stop being cute, walking back and forth trying to remember where everyone lives in this stupid village especially after everytime jump when people die or move or marry or what have you.
However, these are mere drops of water on an ocean of outstanding meditation on history and human drama. The night before finishing this game I had a dream involving some of the characters, this should tell you something about my investment in the story.
I think the best thing I can say about Pentiment is it has made me think about the history of my own corner of the world. Though I live in Spain The village centre has a statue of San Martรญn and the streets are named after places in Argentina, I vaguely remember hearing this town was founded by argentinian immigrants but now I think I should do what best I can to try to investigate, see what little I can find about the history of this place for good and bad, and who knows what may come out of it? The wheels of time keep spinning, so do what you love for however long you can : "Love is the only reason to do anything in this life"
last weekend I was supposed to work at my job both days both closing shifts but instead I went with my boyfriend to go visit his family. his family are at this point in my life basically my family, theyโve taken me in in every way and treated me as one of their own, regardless of my faults or shortcomings and not even taking into account that Iโm not blood related at all, they are my family. on Sunday night me my boyfriend and his youngest sister went to the beach at sunset, me and his sister shared a salad and all of us afterwards kind of retreated into ourselves as we sat on the beach. I just laid down in the sand and listened to the waves and the people talking, a child came up to us and asked if we wanted our future told, in moments like these I feel surrounded by God, I feel surrounded by life and like I am actively being looked out for by someone or something that I canโt wrap my head around fully. I never would have imagined that this would be my life, I thought my life would be a lot different and I thought I would be much more important, but apparently I am important in my boyfriends eyes and his familyโs eyes, my familyโs eyes, and I think I am important in Godโs eyes.
I donโt want this review to come off as overly preachy or without some level of context. I am not a devout Christian, I believe organized religion is by and large evil, I believe religious people in general contort their beliefs to harm others, I believe the church has done more harm than itโs done good, I believe that Pentiment believes all this too. so itโs definitely a bias I share w the game. I have not stepped into a church since I was a kid, I havenโt prayed in years. thatโs not what religion to me is and thatโs not what faith to me is, thatโs not what god to me is, God to me is the wind I felt on the beach and the relaxation I felt overcome my body.
every conversation that my boyfriend my sister and me had that weekend ended up circling around the same topic. how hopeless and how bleak everything feels right now, how truly boring this life is. I was born post y2k and pre 9/11 to a father and mother who were too immature to have me, a mother who told me that if abortions didnโt go against her religion she wouldnโt have had me. I was born into uncertainty and so were the rest of my generation. and as soon as we started to find our footing then Covid happened and that did kind of set everything back in lots of ways. thereโs another recession about to happen and inflation is awful and everything feels so uncertain for children of a certain age, all three of us have several years in between us but all are temporarily stuck at this crossroads waiting for the world to get better before we make any big plans. but at least for me when sitting on that beach that anxiety was lifted off me, and I think off them too as no one really spoke for the time we were there, everything felt right.
I would feel weird talking this personally about a game without giving some context as to my religious background. up until my tweens I went to both a religious fundamentalist school and church, it terrified me and instilled within me a deep religious paranoia thatโs only exacerbated by me having obsessive compulsive disorder. throughout my teens I did not think of religion or spiritualism at all especially given the fact that my mother became more of a religious fanatic and I would often see her awake at 4 am knelt down praying. I wanted nothing to do with it esp. considering the fact that it brought my family no solace or comfort seemingly, that it only made them more bitter and resentful. later in my teens I would become rlly religious and almost holier than thou in a way that now seems rlly cringey and lame and now I have just settled into some loose Christianity flavored spiritualism than anything else. I realize that religion, esp, western judeo-christian religions are smth for privileged ppl. despite plenty of problems w my biological family I rlly am a privileged girl, I havenโt known that much struggle in my life. my bf on the other hand is wildly different from me in that way. his entire family was very standardly catholic, not in an overbearing way just very middle of the road catholicism, but with coming from a poor family and having to deal w the fallout of Covid and just worsening financial situations they are no longer rlly a religious family. and I donโt blame them, religion like all hobbies or all beliefs or ideologies that ppl spend too much time pooping thought into are for the privileged and the wealthy.
this is a theme throughout each act of pentiment. the balance between devoutness and wealth. we see this through food and the meals the player character has with npcโs, brothers and sisters of kiersau abbey who are much more willing to chastise u for speaking out of turn or saying anything that can be misconstrued as sacrilegious have large bountiful meals that often times arenโt even finished fully while the ppl down below in tassing go hungry. but meals with the townsfolk and peasants of tassing oftentimes go much more smoothly and it seems like theyโre going out of their way to secure both ur spot and ur comfort at their dinner table. my biological family very rarely had meals at a dinner table, most times we all fended for ourselves, made our own meals, ate by ourselves. but when I am with my boyfriendโs family I always know thereโs a spot for me at the table, to have a meal with them, to share a memory with them. the first year or so that I was around them I didnโt know how to go about this, it made me uncomfortable to eat in front of them, now I look forward to it and see the table as smth communal rather than just someplace to eat. this is echoed not only in pentimentโs dinner scenes but also in fxโs the bear and any anthony bourdain series, two things that that pentimentโs dinner scenes often reminded me of in the way all showcase the passing of thoughts and ideas and beliefs and heritage through sustenance. at some point in act 2, a character that was rude and haughty in the previous act now is hospitable and offers you some of their good apples. it reminded me a lot of a recent episode of American dad where the smith family end up on a deserted island with no memory of their past lives and no idea on how to escape, theyโre stuck w a tv that only plays an ad for gold top nuts. through this ad theyโre able to bond and through past cultures theyโre able to build the base for a new culture and a new society, the episode ends w them fully understanding who they are and back at their house, unable to give up on tradition they again share a dinner of gold top nuts and make a promise that theyโll put out their good nuts for each other.
at the heart of pentiment is exactly what the smiths were doing by rewatching that ad over and over again, the passing down of thoughts and customs and beliefs and ideas and ideologies from one society to make an altogether new one. itโs a sentiment similarly echoed at the end of guns of the patriots when solid snake says โWe can tell other people about - having faith. What we had faith in. What we found important enough to fight for. It's not whether you were right or wrong, but how much faith you were willing to have, that decides the future.โ, that is the core of what pentiment is saying as well but with twenty additional years of history behind it. everything thatโs happened between 2001 and 2021 is here, present and accounted for, every significant historical moment from 9/11 to the Covid pandemic makes its way into the subtext of pentiment. itโs a game about the history of the 1500โs but viewed through the lens of the 21st century and informed through everything thatโs happened in the last twenty years.
games critic and essayist noah Caldwell gervais said in his resident evil retrospective It Takes A Few Years For The New Rot To Settle In Though. Itโs a quote that I was haunted by throughout every act of pentiment, an idea that is always at play when examining how exactly did andreas mailer end up in tassing, what led to these terrible things and why must these terrible things repeat and repeat and repeat ad nauseam, much farther than when act 3 ends and much farther than 2023. we have built our towns and our cultures and our lives on the backs and the buildings and the bones of others and they all always come crashing down and we always rebuild them back on the same rot and decay.
constantly I was also thinking of otessa moshfeghโs lapvona and the adult swim animated series moral orel, both of those are also about religious towns and how religious communities function. all three are very much so tragedies as well though, humanistic and very loving tragedies, in these stories there arenโt evil per se. just ppl that are cruel and misguided and blind and who contort words that are supposed to be meant as comfort to bring harm to their towns. none of these pieces of media spend time damning the worst ppl in these towns, instead all of the time is spent making sure u understand how these communities sprung up and how they allowed for ppl to take control and turn them into smth quite fascistic. instead we spend time sympathizing w ppl ur supposed to hate and learning ugly truths about ppl who at first glance ur supposed to love or be endeared by. hope is what allows ppl to keep living after being wronged and itโs also what allows ppl to continue wronging others.
the poster for this game I find so clever and so beautiful, the body of the player character is detailed and hard at work, but the face is deliberately clouded. a messy brushstroke that hasnโt been filled in yet. your andreas is not my andreas and vice versa, he is someone thatโs shaped by your own personal feelings on god, nature, religion, love, art, family, friends, sex, the church, and the future. he is a blank slate at the start of each new game and to each new player but over the course of the game he becomes his own person due to decisions and backgrounds u have locked him in to, some things are unable to change, some things happen regardless. if u quit the game halfway through there are things that still happen regardless of how u played andreas or how I played andreas. the abbey stays almost identical in between the chapters, the monks and sisters that live up there greet you still with the same mix of hate spite love and righteousness, but the town changes and the ppl within the town changes. decisions u make still affect everyone years and years down the line just as they do in real life.
you see characters in act 2 and act 3 that almost function as what you, the player character, couldโve ended up like if u made different decisions and if some decisions u werenโt locked into from before u even press new game. brief glimpses of who u could be playing as if Andreas in act 1 wasnโt written in such a purposeful way, if he wasnโt born to a life of privilege, a life where itโs okay to be an artist, where it wasnโt okay to play Andreas as u did. brief glimpses of the non player characters and how that couldโve been your fate. you mightโve ended up like Paul or Casper in act 2 or Anna and Ursula or even some of the younger sisters of the poor Clareโs in act 3. it reminded me a lot of a scene from the last season of six feet under where the youngest child of the Fischer family and the only artist in it Clare goes to an art exhibition put on by her old art school friends. she hasnโt seen them in months, she dropped out of school and sheโs working an office job, she hasnโt picked up a camera in months, things feel uncertain for her. I love this scene and I love these characters in pentiment that act as a mirror to the player character, It made me reflect on how my life did not need to play out like this and how if I did anything differently or took different paths maybe I wouldโve ended up somewhere completely different and maybe I would be someone completely different. in my senior year of hs almost every single day I was working on a project of some kind with several different people. I made what felt like very big very important connections that would get me to the next step. everyone told me I was rlly good and ppl younger than me treated me as a mentor and ppl older treated me as someone on their level. I had made it in my head and then randomly on a fluke I gave it up, I became uninspired and I became jilted and I gave it up. Iโm 23 now and I donโt anything to show for it artistically, in the past couple years Iโve made peace with that, Iโm okay and even happy with that. Iโve seen and kept tabs on the people I used to collaborate with and work with, all are still working and almost all have improved their talents. but Iโve done almost nothing creatively since high school, but Iโm happy. straight out of high school and just a little while after turning eighteen I moved in with someone I didnโt know that well and Iโve been here ever since. And I think to some extent the fact that Iโm doing much better now in all ways has smth to do with having faith, not even faith in god or a god but just a blind level of faith.
For the past three years hbo has put out a rlly delightful documentary series called how to with John Wilson. each episode is about how to master a new topic or hobby but also it never ends up being rlly about that, but instead about how to form connections and how communication works in a world where thatโs all but impossible. The season thatโs currently airing will be its last and this Sundayโs episode felt like both its darkest and most uplifting. throughout the episode Wilson is reminded that he doesnโt rlly matter, doesnโt matter to his alma mater or to hbo or to the next generation or to the art world in general. thereโs a really sad fucking just depressing moment of him standing outside of the Elon musk time magazine party and looking down at the streets below as he records a billboard for his own show, he narrates how heโs worked hard for this and ultimately it doesnโt mean much to him and hasnโt made him feel the way he thought it was gonna make him feel. instead after that he winds up at a competition for the largest grown pumpkin. after an entire episode where he seemingly is feeling down on himself and where he is artistically he winds up at a gathering of ppl where thereโs a real sense of community. the entire show has been for me about the growing disconnect there is between us all esp. post-covid. that one of the only places he can find a real sense of community and belonging is at a pumpkin growing competition. it almost feels cyclical to the pilot episode where he tries to learn how to make small talk. in one of the only pre-covid shot episodes of the entire series he meets a man on a trip to Cancun, everyone else is having fun at spring break but John Wilson and this man are disconnected in a culture of disconnection and through that are able to bound by breaking down the barriers of whatโs considered small talk.
it will be harder to have real conversations with ppl than it already is. we will be further and further disconnected from everyone as years go by but I think as long as there are days like tassing in 1545 cancun in 2019 or the beach at sunset in 2023 that there will always be small moments of genuine connection w other ppl
I donโt want this review to come off as overly preachy or without some level of context. I am not a devout Christian, I believe organized religion is by and large evil, I believe religious people in general contort their beliefs to harm others, I believe the church has done more harm than itโs done good, I believe that Pentiment believes all this too. so itโs definitely a bias I share w the game. I have not stepped into a church since I was a kid, I havenโt prayed in years. thatโs not what religion to me is and thatโs not what faith to me is, thatโs not what god to me is, God to me is the wind I felt on the beach and the relaxation I felt overcome my body.
every conversation that my boyfriend my sister and me had that weekend ended up circling around the same topic. how hopeless and how bleak everything feels right now, how truly boring this life is. I was born post y2k and pre 9/11 to a father and mother who were too immature to have me, a mother who told me that if abortions didnโt go against her religion she wouldnโt have had me. I was born into uncertainty and so were the rest of my generation. and as soon as we started to find our footing then Covid happened and that did kind of set everything back in lots of ways. thereโs another recession about to happen and inflation is awful and everything feels so uncertain for children of a certain age, all three of us have several years in between us but all are temporarily stuck at this crossroads waiting for the world to get better before we make any big plans. but at least for me when sitting on that beach that anxiety was lifted off me, and I think off them too as no one really spoke for the time we were there, everything felt right.
I would feel weird talking this personally about a game without giving some context as to my religious background. up until my tweens I went to both a religious fundamentalist school and church, it terrified me and instilled within me a deep religious paranoia thatโs only exacerbated by me having obsessive compulsive disorder. throughout my teens I did not think of religion or spiritualism at all especially given the fact that my mother became more of a religious fanatic and I would often see her awake at 4 am knelt down praying. I wanted nothing to do with it esp. considering the fact that it brought my family no solace or comfort seemingly, that it only made them more bitter and resentful. later in my teens I would become rlly religious and almost holier than thou in a way that now seems rlly cringey and lame and now I have just settled into some loose Christianity flavored spiritualism than anything else. I realize that religion, esp, western judeo-christian religions are smth for privileged ppl. despite plenty of problems w my biological family I rlly am a privileged girl, I havenโt known that much struggle in my life. my bf on the other hand is wildly different from me in that way. his entire family was very standardly catholic, not in an overbearing way just very middle of the road catholicism, but with coming from a poor family and having to deal w the fallout of Covid and just worsening financial situations they are no longer rlly a religious family. and I donโt blame them, religion like all hobbies or all beliefs or ideologies that ppl spend too much time pooping thought into are for the privileged and the wealthy.
this is a theme throughout each act of pentiment. the balance between devoutness and wealth. we see this through food and the meals the player character has with npcโs, brothers and sisters of kiersau abbey who are much more willing to chastise u for speaking out of turn or saying anything that can be misconstrued as sacrilegious have large bountiful meals that often times arenโt even finished fully while the ppl down below in tassing go hungry. but meals with the townsfolk and peasants of tassing oftentimes go much more smoothly and it seems like theyโre going out of their way to secure both ur spot and ur comfort at their dinner table. my biological family very rarely had meals at a dinner table, most times we all fended for ourselves, made our own meals, ate by ourselves. but when I am with my boyfriendโs family I always know thereโs a spot for me at the table, to have a meal with them, to share a memory with them. the first year or so that I was around them I didnโt know how to go about this, it made me uncomfortable to eat in front of them, now I look forward to it and see the table as smth communal rather than just someplace to eat. this is echoed not only in pentimentโs dinner scenes but also in fxโs the bear and any anthony bourdain series, two things that that pentimentโs dinner scenes often reminded me of in the way all showcase the passing of thoughts and ideas and beliefs and heritage through sustenance. at some point in act 2, a character that was rude and haughty in the previous act now is hospitable and offers you some of their good apples. it reminded me a lot of a recent episode of American dad where the smith family end up on a deserted island with no memory of their past lives and no idea on how to escape, theyโre stuck w a tv that only plays an ad for gold top nuts. through this ad theyโre able to bond and through past cultures theyโre able to build the base for a new culture and a new society, the episode ends w them fully understanding who they are and back at their house, unable to give up on tradition they again share a dinner of gold top nuts and make a promise that theyโll put out their good nuts for each other.
at the heart of pentiment is exactly what the smiths were doing by rewatching that ad over and over again, the passing down of thoughts and customs and beliefs and ideas and ideologies from one society to make an altogether new one. itโs a sentiment similarly echoed at the end of guns of the patriots when solid snake says โWe can tell other people about - having faith. What we had faith in. What we found important enough to fight for. It's not whether you were right or wrong, but how much faith you were willing to have, that decides the future.โ, that is the core of what pentiment is saying as well but with twenty additional years of history behind it. everything thatโs happened between 2001 and 2021 is here, present and accounted for, every significant historical moment from 9/11 to the Covid pandemic makes its way into the subtext of pentiment. itโs a game about the history of the 1500โs but viewed through the lens of the 21st century and informed through everything thatโs happened in the last twenty years.
games critic and essayist noah Caldwell gervais said in his resident evil retrospective It Takes A Few Years For The New Rot To Settle In Though. Itโs a quote that I was haunted by throughout every act of pentiment, an idea that is always at play when examining how exactly did andreas mailer end up in tassing, what led to these terrible things and why must these terrible things repeat and repeat and repeat ad nauseam, much farther than when act 3 ends and much farther than 2023. we have built our towns and our cultures and our lives on the backs and the buildings and the bones of others and they all always come crashing down and we always rebuild them back on the same rot and decay.
constantly I was also thinking of otessa moshfeghโs lapvona and the adult swim animated series moral orel, both of those are also about religious towns and how religious communities function. all three are very much so tragedies as well though, humanistic and very loving tragedies, in these stories there arenโt evil per se. just ppl that are cruel and misguided and blind and who contort words that are supposed to be meant as comfort to bring harm to their towns. none of these pieces of media spend time damning the worst ppl in these towns, instead all of the time is spent making sure u understand how these communities sprung up and how they allowed for ppl to take control and turn them into smth quite fascistic. instead we spend time sympathizing w ppl ur supposed to hate and learning ugly truths about ppl who at first glance ur supposed to love or be endeared by. hope is what allows ppl to keep living after being wronged and itโs also what allows ppl to continue wronging others.
the poster for this game I find so clever and so beautiful, the body of the player character is detailed and hard at work, but the face is deliberately clouded. a messy brushstroke that hasnโt been filled in yet. your andreas is not my andreas and vice versa, he is someone thatโs shaped by your own personal feelings on god, nature, religion, love, art, family, friends, sex, the church, and the future. he is a blank slate at the start of each new game and to each new player but over the course of the game he becomes his own person due to decisions and backgrounds u have locked him in to, some things are unable to change, some things happen regardless. if u quit the game halfway through there are things that still happen regardless of how u played andreas or how I played andreas. the abbey stays almost identical in between the chapters, the monks and sisters that live up there greet you still with the same mix of hate spite love and righteousness, but the town changes and the ppl within the town changes. decisions u make still affect everyone years and years down the line just as they do in real life.
you see characters in act 2 and act 3 that almost function as what you, the player character, couldโve ended up like if u made different decisions and if some decisions u werenโt locked into from before u even press new game. brief glimpses of who u could be playing as if Andreas in act 1 wasnโt written in such a purposeful way, if he wasnโt born to a life of privilege, a life where itโs okay to be an artist, where it wasnโt okay to play Andreas as u did. brief glimpses of the non player characters and how that couldโve been your fate. you mightโve ended up like Paul or Casper in act 2 or Anna and Ursula or even some of the younger sisters of the poor Clareโs in act 3. it reminded me a lot of a scene from the last season of six feet under where the youngest child of the Fischer family and the only artist in it Clare goes to an art exhibition put on by her old art school friends. she hasnโt seen them in months, she dropped out of school and sheโs working an office job, she hasnโt picked up a camera in months, things feel uncertain for her. I love this scene and I love these characters in pentiment that act as a mirror to the player character, It made me reflect on how my life did not need to play out like this and how if I did anything differently or took different paths maybe I wouldโve ended up somewhere completely different and maybe I would be someone completely different. in my senior year of hs almost every single day I was working on a project of some kind with several different people. I made what felt like very big very important connections that would get me to the next step. everyone told me I was rlly good and ppl younger than me treated me as a mentor and ppl older treated me as someone on their level. I had made it in my head and then randomly on a fluke I gave it up, I became uninspired and I became jilted and I gave it up. Iโm 23 now and I donโt anything to show for it artistically, in the past couple years Iโve made peace with that, Iโm okay and even happy with that. Iโve seen and kept tabs on the people I used to collaborate with and work with, all are still working and almost all have improved their talents. but Iโve done almost nothing creatively since high school, but Iโm happy. straight out of high school and just a little while after turning eighteen I moved in with someone I didnโt know that well and Iโve been here ever since. And I think to some extent the fact that Iโm doing much better now in all ways has smth to do with having faith, not even faith in god or a god but just a blind level of faith.
For the past three years hbo has put out a rlly delightful documentary series called how to with John Wilson. each episode is about how to master a new topic or hobby but also it never ends up being rlly about that, but instead about how to form connections and how communication works in a world where thatโs all but impossible. The season thatโs currently airing will be its last and this Sundayโs episode felt like both its darkest and most uplifting. throughout the episode Wilson is reminded that he doesnโt rlly matter, doesnโt matter to his alma mater or to hbo or to the next generation or to the art world in general. thereโs a really sad fucking just depressing moment of him standing outside of the Elon musk time magazine party and looking down at the streets below as he records a billboard for his own show, he narrates how heโs worked hard for this and ultimately it doesnโt mean much to him and hasnโt made him feel the way he thought it was gonna make him feel. instead after that he winds up at a competition for the largest grown pumpkin. after an entire episode where he seemingly is feeling down on himself and where he is artistically he winds up at a gathering of ppl where thereโs a real sense of community. the entire show has been for me about the growing disconnect there is between us all esp. post-covid. that one of the only places he can find a real sense of community and belonging is at a pumpkin growing competition. it almost feels cyclical to the pilot episode where he tries to learn how to make small talk. in one of the only pre-covid shot episodes of the entire series he meets a man on a trip to Cancun, everyone else is having fun at spring break but John Wilson and this man are disconnected in a culture of disconnection and through that are able to bound by breaking down the barriers of whatโs considered small talk.
it will be harder to have real conversations with ppl than it already is. we will be further and further disconnected from everyone as years go by but I think as long as there are days like tassing in 1545 cancun in 2019 or the beach at sunset in 2023 that there will always be small moments of genuine connection w other ppl
One of the rare times where history is cool and interesting and made me cry.
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When it comes to stories set during the Middle Ages, alot of writers tend to focus on the brutalism of the time period. Scenes of people falling in the mud with the pigs, losing life and limb in war and combat, taverns full of mead and debauchery. Sometimes, someone gets lit on fire, but in all cases it is an unbearable life.
And all of that is true in Pentiment, except for the last part.
To me Pentiment is about, to borrow the words of one character, love. The world is harsh and unfair, and those who stand to gain will take advantage of the less fortunate. There isnt always enough to eat, and the seasons are unforgiving. And yet, still, people have passions. Interests. Connections to each other, hopes, dreams. People live out there in the wilds of Europe (in the past but now also) and thats something I think Middle Ages fiction tends to forget. People cared about things. They cared about each other. I have to imagine it was the only thing making any of it worthwhile.
Pentiment is seen through the eyes of an artist. Art, to me, is the joy of communication. You put paint to the canvas, ink to the page, you carve feeling into the stone, perform meaning in the light of the bonfires. In this way art is less the thing you hold in your hand, and is more the thing you hold in your head that you are trying to conjure and evoke into the minds of others - and so the artist is therefore driven to spend alot of time thinking and interpreting the world around them. The only real reason one would spend so much time formulating such involved communication has to be that these things matter a great deal, such a great deal that they must be shared, compelled by some instinct of connection. As things play out, it becomes clear Pentiment cares alot about caring. At every step, its thinking about caring, exploring the struggles of caring, the concept of caring.
And sometimes (often) that makes Pentiment a very tragic game. Tassing is a small town nestled in the Alps but it is in no short supply of heartbreaking stories. There is murder. There are consequences. There is sorrow, there are burdens, there are scars. Everyone agrees, Europe in the 16th century sucked ass (in fact, everywhere sucked ass back then). But Pentiment is also a game that believes the arc of these things bends towards good. Things get better, slowly. They build on top of each other, in layers, in steps, in iterations.
I played this game sort of assuming the word โPentimentโ probably meant something similar to โpenanceโ. Some sort of remorseful, regretful obligation. Some sort of โcatholic guiltโ type thing. The game is fairly religious - if only because everything was religious in the Middle Ages and during the Renaissance.
But I looked up pentiment after playing and I learned that it actually has to do with painting. It is when the underlying image of a painting begins to show through.
What a perfect name.
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Minor Thoughts scrap pile:
- I hate choice-based games where every answer is the right answer, because it fundamentally means choices dont matter. This is one of the worst things to happen to gaming and I want it to stop.
- Similar to previous, this game does a poor job of keeping track of context. I will learn information from interacting with an object, then talk to someone who "introduces" me to that same information and your character will behave like this is the first time theyre hearing about it. The lateral-linearity is not interesting enough to be worth this hassle.
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When it comes to stories set during the Middle Ages, alot of writers tend to focus on the brutalism of the time period. Scenes of people falling in the mud with the pigs, losing life and limb in war and combat, taverns full of mead and debauchery. Sometimes, someone gets lit on fire, but in all cases it is an unbearable life.
And all of that is true in Pentiment, except for the last part.
To me Pentiment is about, to borrow the words of one character, love. The world is harsh and unfair, and those who stand to gain will take advantage of the less fortunate. There isnt always enough to eat, and the seasons are unforgiving. And yet, still, people have passions. Interests. Connections to each other, hopes, dreams. People live out there in the wilds of Europe (in the past but now also) and thats something I think Middle Ages fiction tends to forget. People cared about things. They cared about each other. I have to imagine it was the only thing making any of it worthwhile.
Pentiment is seen through the eyes of an artist. Art, to me, is the joy of communication. You put paint to the canvas, ink to the page, you carve feeling into the stone, perform meaning in the light of the bonfires. In this way art is less the thing you hold in your hand, and is more the thing you hold in your head that you are trying to conjure and evoke into the minds of others - and so the artist is therefore driven to spend alot of time thinking and interpreting the world around them. The only real reason one would spend so much time formulating such involved communication has to be that these things matter a great deal, such a great deal that they must be shared, compelled by some instinct of connection. As things play out, it becomes clear Pentiment cares alot about caring. At every step, its thinking about caring, exploring the struggles of caring, the concept of caring.
And sometimes (often) that makes Pentiment a very tragic game. Tassing is a small town nestled in the Alps but it is in no short supply of heartbreaking stories. There is murder. There are consequences. There is sorrow, there are burdens, there are scars. Everyone agrees, Europe in the 16th century sucked ass (in fact, everywhere sucked ass back then). But Pentiment is also a game that believes the arc of these things bends towards good. Things get better, slowly. They build on top of each other, in layers, in steps, in iterations.
I played this game sort of assuming the word โPentimentโ probably meant something similar to โpenanceโ. Some sort of remorseful, regretful obligation. Some sort of โcatholic guiltโ type thing. The game is fairly religious - if only because everything was religious in the Middle Ages and during the Renaissance.
But I looked up pentiment after playing and I learned that it actually has to do with painting. It is when the underlying image of a painting begins to show through.
What a perfect name.
v
v
v
v
v
Minor Thoughts scrap pile:
- I hate choice-based games where every answer is the right answer, because it fundamentally means choices dont matter. This is one of the worst things to happen to gaming and I want it to stop.
- Similar to previous, this game does a poor job of keeping track of context. I will learn information from interacting with an object, then talk to someone who "introduces" me to that same information and your character will behave like this is the first time theyre hearing about it. The lateral-linearity is not interesting enough to be worth this hassle.
Pentiment absolutely floored me; what a fantastic experience. As someone with a huge interest in art history, the amount of research and careful planning that must have went into this project is insane. It's as educational as it is enthralling.
Set during the 16th century at the dawn of The Enlightenment, it's no mistake that Obsidian wanted to illustrate parallels between this era and our own. To say any more about the plot other than it being a "historical murder mystery" could spoil the experience. The way dialogue is presented through different fonts is an inspired choice which helps to indicate a character's social class or simply how our protagonist perceives them. The lack of voice acting may be a deal-breaker for some, but when you consider the size of the dev team, the number of unique NPCs, and the amount of branching paths based on the choices you make, that would be an incredibly tall order. And it's the ramifications of said choices that made this narrative feel so impactful; begging you to come back for more and see what you missed in future playthroughs. That first in-game day is admittedly a little slow but it is meant to establish the status quo in the village of Tassing before pulling the rug out from under you; of which it does several times. Once I hit that second day I was hooked until the very end.
If it wasn't for Game Pass it's possible I never even would've tried a game like this, so I'm once again extremely grateful for the service. Microsoft may not be churning out the big AAA exclusives like Sony, but I will gladly take experimental passion projects like this in the interim. Even if you find it isn't for you, which is possible because it's clearly very niche, there's still no harm in giving it a try. It's not the kind of game that'll blow up on social media or Twitch; it's a very methodical and often peaceful experience that's less of an RPG and leans more towards a visual novel.
Hats off to Josh Sawyer and his team at Obsidian; I cannot wait to see what they have in store for us next.
Set during the 16th century at the dawn of The Enlightenment, it's no mistake that Obsidian wanted to illustrate parallels between this era and our own. To say any more about the plot other than it being a "historical murder mystery" could spoil the experience. The way dialogue is presented through different fonts is an inspired choice which helps to indicate a character's social class or simply how our protagonist perceives them. The lack of voice acting may be a deal-breaker for some, but when you consider the size of the dev team, the number of unique NPCs, and the amount of branching paths based on the choices you make, that would be an incredibly tall order. And it's the ramifications of said choices that made this narrative feel so impactful; begging you to come back for more and see what you missed in future playthroughs. That first in-game day is admittedly a little slow but it is meant to establish the status quo in the village of Tassing before pulling the rug out from under you; of which it does several times. Once I hit that second day I was hooked until the very end.
If it wasn't for Game Pass it's possible I never even would've tried a game like this, so I'm once again extremely grateful for the service. Microsoft may not be churning out the big AAA exclusives like Sony, but I will gladly take experimental passion projects like this in the interim. Even if you find it isn't for you, which is possible because it's clearly very niche, there's still no harm in giving it a try. It's not the kind of game that'll blow up on social media or Twitch; it's a very methodical and often peaceful experience that's less of an RPG and leans more towards a visual novel.
Hats off to Josh Sawyer and his team at Obsidian; I cannot wait to see what they have in store for us next.
Pentiment is, simply put, a beautiful game. Along with Disco Elysium, I believe this game expands greatly the scope of interactive fiction, and narrative in video games generally, despite the fact that they are two entirely different beasts in my opinion. Yes, they both lack combat and have an emphasis on storytelling. However, for me, while DE's focus was (obviously) about modern life, its grievances and similar issues, Pentiment is all about history. I don't mean that it focuses on people's lives in the past; it does have a lot of that, yes, but I mean the representation and the interpretation of the past. During the whole game, that's also what we do as we try to solve the murder mysteries. The accumulation of centuries still affect the people of Tassing, just like in reality. A shorter and a more personal version of this fact is apparent in our protagonist, Andreas Maler, who is haunted by the ghosts of his past, even in the first seconds of the game.
Pentiment will probably be boring for most people, as the gameplay is nonexistent other than few easy puzzles and clicking your way across Tassing and its surroundings. However, if you look at it as a narrative about the past and its effect on present, you will probably understand its value. It has excellent artstyle, beautiful music and an engrossing story that spans across 25 years. Although I had some issues a few times such as NPCs not recognizing that I spoke to them before, I think it is forgivable. If you are interested by the things I said, definitely check it out.
Pentiment will probably be boring for most people, as the gameplay is nonexistent other than few easy puzzles and clicking your way across Tassing and its surroundings. However, if you look at it as a narrative about the past and its effect on present, you will probably understand its value. It has excellent artstyle, beautiful music and an engrossing story that spans across 25 years. Although I had some issues a few times such as NPCs not recognizing that I spoke to them before, I think it is forgivable. If you are interested by the things I said, definitely check it out.
ok. so. I've been on a streak of these story games after realizing with telltale walking dead that sometimes games without shotguns can be awesome. It did sort of have this barrier of the whole setting being .. medieval times in some buttfuck country I never heard of set dozens of years before I was even born. Medieval times is a pretty boring setting. If you ask me, the only three settings I will accept are modern day, zombie apocalypse, or the cold war. Games CANNOT be set in the future because they will be outdated when we get to the time the game alleges it's set in. It also cannot be set in space because there's no sound in space so I have to turn off my volume every time for full immersion and its so lame. My most important rule is games cannot be set in medieval times because I don't want motherfuckers saying "thy, thee, thine, thou, wasn't, shakespeare," and other medieval words. Also I can't help but think it just really smells bad there.
But you know what, I gave this one a try. And I'm glad I did because despite the boring, lame setting and naming all these old monks from like 1500 in conversation as if I'm supposed to know who they are, I found peace within the world through the protagonist, Andy. You see, Andy is a visitor and an artist. You play as him and choose what he says. What I did was I self inserted as him and I thought I was him. So when people said "oh yeah saint reactine from the denzel mountains said pablo neruda and max brooks of loeb city went to the pottage shop to eat pottage" (authors note: pottage is like beans sort of ) both me and Andy can nod our heads and pretend to know wtf is going on.
You see I'm a big fan of games that make me feel smart without having to be smart or do anything. There are no real puzzles in this game or any way to fail, it's completely linear and no matter what you do you win. But it makes me feel smart because I didn't know it was impossible to lose. So when I kept winning, I felt sooo really sodding smart. (Authors note: sodding is ancient slang for fucking) Andy quickly became one of my favourite characters in recent memory because of how relatable he is not just in his fish outta water attitude in the town, but his personal arc also really resonated with me. Anyone can relate honestly. The game says a lot about passions and goals love and people and building on the past and the economy's relation with art and the passage of time and faith and a whole lotta fancy pants college degree bullcrap but I won't get into that because I want YOU to get into it.
Yeah you play the game yourself and comprehend the themes and subtext and stuff. That's gonna be real fun for you. The side characters are also super fleshed out and seeing these guys change over the course of the game was amazing and I was really really invested, which is surprising especially for such a short -ish game, I have to admit its very hard to get me to care for a whole town of people but I did even if sometimes I couldn't pronounce their medieval ass names. There's a whole lot of them and it normally would be easy for them to feel really similar visually and personality wise considering there's no voice acting but the art style is so outta this world that not only does everything look smooth and the animations feel real and sick and awesome, but each npc has their own look and style where you from a glance can almost tell what they're like just from their face and what they're doing and their posture or whatever. I had some complicated ass relationships with these townspeople. And I think that's really awesome.
One thing I did think was sort of underdeveloped was the actual quest design and time passage mechanics. Your quests are always very similar, go here and ask this person about this. Like I get it there's no funny business its a straight up realistic medieval times thing, and there are some exceptions where the quest can be action packed... But yeah it can get boring to make a break in the case and my next goal is to talk to these three people about this topic and gather info, which I guess is the point since you're solving a murder mystery but, whatever. Aside from the variety I just wish the actual stuff was more robust and clear. Like ok this quest tells me to talk to this guy. I go to the guy. He gives me a "wassup Andy" and I can't respond. Is the quest broken? did I come at the wrong time? who knows. The in game journal ain't tellin me jack squat. I also thought the pacing could be off at some times, some chapters felt very long and some felt like they were over in a second. But if those tiny ass baby ass complaints are all I got then I don't see why I can't bestow upon this game one of elk's highest honours, the coveted, the exclusive, the cool and badass 5/5. Yeah. Hell yeah.
good night!
EDIT: Josh sawyer blocked me on twitter so im dropping my rating of this game. Thanks for understanding.
But you know what, I gave this one a try. And I'm glad I did because despite the boring, lame setting and naming all these old monks from like 1500 in conversation as if I'm supposed to know who they are, I found peace within the world through the protagonist, Andy. You see, Andy is a visitor and an artist. You play as him and choose what he says. What I did was I self inserted as him and I thought I was him. So when people said "oh yeah saint reactine from the denzel mountains said pablo neruda and max brooks of loeb city went to the pottage shop to eat pottage" (authors note: pottage is like beans sort of ) both me and Andy can nod our heads and pretend to know wtf is going on.
You see I'm a big fan of games that make me feel smart without having to be smart or do anything. There are no real puzzles in this game or any way to fail, it's completely linear and no matter what you do you win. But it makes me feel smart because I didn't know it was impossible to lose. So when I kept winning, I felt sooo really sodding smart. (Authors note: sodding is ancient slang for fucking) Andy quickly became one of my favourite characters in recent memory because of how relatable he is not just in his fish outta water attitude in the town, but his personal arc also really resonated with me. Anyone can relate honestly. The game says a lot about passions and goals love and people and building on the past and the economy's relation with art and the passage of time and faith and a whole lotta fancy pants college degree bullcrap but I won't get into that because I want YOU to get into it.
Yeah you play the game yourself and comprehend the themes and subtext and stuff. That's gonna be real fun for you. The side characters are also super fleshed out and seeing these guys change over the course of the game was amazing and I was really really invested, which is surprising especially for such a short -ish game, I have to admit its very hard to get me to care for a whole town of people but I did even if sometimes I couldn't pronounce their medieval ass names. There's a whole lot of them and it normally would be easy for them to feel really similar visually and personality wise considering there's no voice acting but the art style is so outta this world that not only does everything look smooth and the animations feel real and sick and awesome, but each npc has their own look and style where you from a glance can almost tell what they're like just from their face and what they're doing and their posture or whatever. I had some complicated ass relationships with these townspeople. And I think that's really awesome.
One thing I did think was sort of underdeveloped was the actual quest design and time passage mechanics. Your quests are always very similar, go here and ask this person about this. Like I get it there's no funny business its a straight up realistic medieval times thing, and there are some exceptions where the quest can be action packed... But yeah it can get boring to make a break in the case and my next goal is to talk to these three people about this topic and gather info, which I guess is the point since you're solving a murder mystery but, whatever. Aside from the variety I just wish the actual stuff was more robust and clear. Like ok this quest tells me to talk to this guy. I go to the guy. He gives me a "wassup Andy" and I can't respond. Is the quest broken? did I come at the wrong time? who knows. The in game journal ain't tellin me jack squat. I also thought the pacing could be off at some times, some chapters felt very long and some felt like they were over in a second. But if those tiny ass baby ass complaints are all I got then I don't see why I can't bestow upon this game one of elk's highest honours, the coveted, the exclusive, the cool and badass 5/5. Yeah. Hell yeah.
good night!
EDIT: Josh sawyer blocked me on twitter so im dropping my rating of this game. Thanks for understanding.
As a Presbyterian and theology nerd, this game was the weird niche that I always wanted filled but never knew. Another game that is more about the choices you make rather than the buttons you press. ACT 3 was a bit of a slower burn than the first two acts, but still one of my favorite games of this year and I hope Obsidian continues to make more of these type of games between their big blockbusters.
Putting my thoughts down just after finishing so I won't forget.
Heartfelt, intricate, and full of life. Pentiment is built on meaningful discussions of purpose and truth and lets you find your way through it with as much control as I've ever seen in a game with as sturdy a plot as this. There is absolutely no way I saw even 50% of the content in this game, yet what I saw had as much effort you could expect from any other version of a well-polished game.
A game that values your time and rewards it, too. A story worth telling, a treasure.
Heartfelt, intricate, and full of life. Pentiment is built on meaningful discussions of purpose and truth and lets you find your way through it with as much control as I've ever seen in a game with as sturdy a plot as this. There is absolutely no way I saw even 50% of the content in this game, yet what I saw had as much effort you could expect from any other version of a well-polished game.
A game that values your time and rewards it, too. A story worth telling, a treasure.