Gonna need more time to organize my thoughts and come up with a real review, because there's so much to dig into in this game, but the long and short of it is that it's Disco Elysium (with a little Night in the Woods in there) for history nerds. It's an impeccably well-written and well-researched game that tells a moving and thoughtful story which absolutely nails the fine line of feeling topical and relevant while remaining firmly grounded in its historical setting. I cannot recommend it enough.

I don’t 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, you’ve 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 “I think it’s probably one of the best works of art I’ve ever experienced”, 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class consciousness and theology, and a lovely, tender story and cast of characters, and they made it entirely out of historical references you’d literally need an encyclopedia to fully understand. And don’t 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 it’s 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 you’ve been playing for 6 hours straight and it’s 1 in the morning and you don’t want to stop, because you don’t 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 don’t 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 doesn’t really get to the heart of what’s 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.

It’s 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. I’m surprised a game like this could be made still, and by a company of the size Obsidian is. It’s 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 don’t get how a game can be so seemingly mired in itself and yet still so affecting, still such a triumph, and I don’t get how Josh Sawyer’s been doing stuff like this for 20 years. I’ll be buying the collectors edition if it materializes though, you can count on that.

Obsidian was one of the most unique developers worth keeping an eye on for creating some of the best games put out in the role-playing genre and industry. Their games still stood the test of time and proved to be perfect examples one could look back to when discussing game design and well-crafted narratives in vidya games. What made Obsidian stand out to me was how they carried the role-playing legacy of Interplay/Black Isle. And it's of no surprise knowing Obsidian were one of the main three offshoots of a dying Interplay/Black Isle. Regardless, what they passed on from this lineage was striving to be consciously aware of the trends common in the industry but took advantage in offering something truly special among the crowd. It’s undeniable that this sort of alternative ‘counter-cultural’ streak personified Obsidian against other developers which made their games feel important and remembered fondly even when time should've buried it deep into obscurity.

BioWare defined CRPGs through their Infinity Engine take on D&D fantasy with Baldur’s Gate? Black Isle put out Planescape: Torment as a response to the conventional staples of the genre being defined. The story and world of The Nameless One being unforgettable with how it tackles philosophical and existential topics in a way I argue many games nowadays barely scratched the surface on.

BioWare made a safe sprawling Star Wars adventure that took many fans back into comfortable territory of the older movies? Obsidian developed KOTOR 2 as an ambitious game which took Star Wars into unexpected directions that challenged the foundations of the setting itself. Kreia’s musings about the force are still ingrained in so many people’s minds to this day for good reason.

BioWare released Mass Effect which further revolutionized RPGs as a greater genre of gaming while pushing cinematic storytelling and presentation? Obsidian made Alpha Protocol which accomplished what Mass Effect was renowned for to greater effect while functioning as a clunky Deus Ex-lite. That canceled Alien RPG was another deadringer of them wanting to just outdo Mass Effect and show them how it can really be done.

The fact that people even still think about New Vegas over ten years after it first came out, whether its citing it as a worthy example of masterful game design, its placement in the franchise, and debating what's truly the best outcome for the Mojave Wasteland is an enormous testament to Obsidian’s craftsmanship as video game developers. Even going back to the Black Isle days they were literally writing the rulebook on the importance of narratives, world-building, and choice & consequence through the original Fallouts and Planescape: Torment which paved way for more direct inspirations like Disco Elysium to keep experimenting with. And with how unfortunately common it was for many Western RPG developers to just crash and burn in a hundred different ways (RIP: Ion Storm, Black Isle, Troika, BioWare, and probably ZA/UM rn) it almost seemed like Obsidian was The Chosen One to spearhead role-playing games.

Then Outer Worlds happened which confirmed Obsidian is only alive in name only when all the key developers bounced ship after New Vegas. They brought in legendary Fallout creators, Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky, two developers I highly respected for Fallout and Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines respectively, only to return with a soulless product indulging in misguided New Vegas nostalgia. Do you like New Vegas? Cool. Here it is (except not really) but we somehow make Bethesda’s Fallouts look more substantially designed and memorable. Didn't help with all the critical acclaim it got when it came out like it was certified GOTY or the best RPG in ages because that Fallout Copium was super high and they didn't play Disco Elysium (was released a week apart lmao) which ironically was a better spiritual successor to the good ol' Interplay/Black Isle days of roleplaying than the guys who founded and made the games themselves. Frankly, it speaks volumes that not even a year after Outer Worlds came out no one really talks about it. Most of the actual discussions you'd find are people remembering it in passing like a faded memory or realize it actually wasn't very good once the hype fizzled out in their system. So, Obsidian was not in a good creative state for quite a while. It seemed like their glory days were now past behind them, and they only really exist in name only. But then I remember there’s still one developer still working there to make me care again.

Josh Sawyer is one of the most underappreciated and talented video game designers working in the industry right now. Everything you might’ve loved about New Vegas’ masterful approach to game design stems from this guy steering the big ship itself. He’s responsible for the amount of player expression provided, the realistic choice & consequences, the underrated weapon balancing including the addition of different ammo types which has never caught on, and let’s not forget some of his greatest written characters ever in Arcade Gannon and Joshua Graham. He’s the only living person who I even trust to touch the Fallout franchise because of how well he just gets it from a storytelling and game design perspective. He is the last man standing preventing Obsidian from being another disposable developer with nothing to show for in the medium than reliving the bygone glory days. When he’s ever going to put out his inevitable Bike Shop RPG, I will be the first of many waiting right in line to buy it and see just what this madman is cooking next.

Pentiment truly feels like the exact type of game you’d imagine being developed by Black Isle. A sentiment that makes all the more sense understanding that this was the passion project Josh Sawyer had dreamed of going all the way back in the ‘90s. Originally envisioned as a more cut-and-dry traditional RPG set in a non-fictional historical setting which never got the wind it deserved because of how niche the concept is to appeal to a larger audience. But over time this concept got modernized, and thanks to Microsoft buying Obsidian, set the stage for Pentiment to finally come to fruition. Like KOTOR 2, New Vegas, and in time, Alpha Protocol, I can see Pentiment being a game that will never abruptly leave the gaming consciousness for how much there is worth discussing what it accomplished. I can see there being years upon years worth of still-standing discussions about who really murdered who in the same way people will never stop debating which faction was the best outcome for New Vegas. Or how it uses the historical backdrop to explore the nature of faith, what it means to uncover the truth, and Sawyer’s favorite recurring theme of history being written by those partaking in it. Witnessing the town and its inhabitants age and develop throughout the course of the game, either influenced by your choices, was very impactful. You feel involved with the most mundane of things and become intrigued by how this town could even thrive in a world changing so beyond their scope and realization. Playing the game feels like the equivalent of reading a really damn cool textbook immersing you into a historical period you never expected to care much for before.

The meticulous amount of detail that went into the overall presentation is worth commemorating. They didn't slack off with adapting the aesthetics of 16th Century Bavaria. Having a pre-established knowledge of the later renaissance era thanks to one lengthy art history course, I can vouch for how authentic it truly is. The characters are rendered to be drawn in an art style perfectly replicating the illuminated manuscripts found prevalent in the time period. There's a lot of subtle character animations and gesturing done to make it look lively and prevent it from feeling too stiff. Every NPC also has dialogue of which the font is rendered to suit the various forms of older text associated with their status or class. The Monks speak only through an antiquated Gothic font, the printer initially speaks in old-fashioned printing typeface before it becomes more clear, the peasants speak in a rough and dirty font, and the wealthier residents are given cursive styled text. It’s easily Obsidian’s most impressive work on a presentation level alone, one department I feel they struggle with for certain games.

Pentiment is the true culmination of Josh Sawyer’s work in his career so far. In what may be the most elaborate excuse to flex his academic history degree and giga brained knowledge he, along with the rest of the team here, have created a modern gem in gaming. There is no other game like Pentiment out there and that may as well be what makes it a worthy addition to the Interplay/Black Isle/Troika/Obsidian lineage of Western RPGs. Though it's on the lighter side of being an RPG, mechanically that is, and trades it off with a clearer focus on a narrative adventure game bringing some admittedly overblown comparisons to Disco Elysium but I understand where these stem from. The journey of Andreas Maler is worth experiencing to uncover the underlying image that was painted over by another.

This was a really good game. I'm sure I would have enjoyed it more if I was a Reformation buff, but I'm still glad I played it.

I finished this in about two days, and didn't get bored during the 14ish hours of content. One criticism I have is that the story was too interesting for me to ONLY have one playthrough, but it was a little too long of a game for me to want to dive right back in, and the sense of melancholy (wink wink) I felt after finishing didn't exactly make me want to relive it all again either.

But, like movies, just because it bums you out does not mean it isn't fantastic. This is a great little game that shows the importance of consequences and their generational impacts. I recommend!!

Essentially a video game version of Umberto Eco’s ‘The Name of the Rose’. Really well done, the first in-game day is a bit slow, but after the setup there it gets going and remains enthralling for the rest of the game.

The mysteries in the game are intriguing, but the real fun is getting to know the characters while investigating. The dialogue is very thoughtfully written. All the attention to detail is so impressive, from the font stylisation to the meal times in the game. A wonderful game for anyone who has an interest in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance period.

Pentiment is somewhat of an anomaly of a game; being as educational as it is entertaining, as stylized as it is authentic, and as peculiarly niche as it is polished and high quality.

Animations are a delight, and the game's presentation on the whole is exceptional. Unexpectedly, the painstaking detail in everything from the mixture of 16th century art to each character speaking in different script depending on what societal role or class they represent serve to paint a mural of a world more intriguingly and convincingly than any other piece of entertainment I have experienced, historical or fictional alike.

The writing is also quite enjoyable and poignant, if not entirely even through the game's runtime. Being split into three distinct acts, not every act is as immediately gripping or charming as the rest, and I found the start of each new act to be an uphill battle in retaining my emotional investment. By the end of each of these acts and by the end of the game, a complete and satisfying story is told, though I can't help but feel that some fat could have been trimmed here.

Perhaps this feeling would be alleviated had Pentiment not have been seemingly so front-loaded with its game mechanics. Those expecting more of a proper adventure game or detective RPG may be left for wanting a little bit
more. Dialogue mechanics aren't used enough to feel consistently weighty, though this may be due to the game's text-only* nature that can often make reading the writers' intended tone hard to navigate. (*Even with the game's excellent accessibility features, the text-to-speech can only go so far without real human performances.) By the end of the game, it feels that much of Pentiment could have been written as a highly linear visual novel with how the scope of interactivity beyond dialogue choices narrows so much. While this may very well be a thematic point to the game, such shifts in gameplay expectations are always hard sells, no matter how bold.

The mechanic that I struggled the most with during my time with Pentiment was the game's inconsistent and not very well conveyed use of the passage of time. Working against a time limit serves to give the player a sense of urgency, though on more than one important occasion I had moments where activating certain game events seemed to have broken the sequence of things or would pass far more time than I had anticipated, serving to undercut my agency as a player and ultimately resulting in some unsatisfying outcomes. I'm still unsure if these were bugged out features, or if the game's writing failed to indicate the intended flow and pace for me to play at...

Still, it's difficult to deny the raw talent and intense passion present in Pentiment. I am not overly familiar with Josh Sawyer's work, but my interest in his abilities beyond being a tweeter or a GDC-talk giver are certainly piqued after having played this title.

So who predicted Obsidian's first release post Microsoft purchase to be a medieval murder mystery RPG? This is an incredible game that's clearly a passion project. I don't know how Obsidian convinced Microsoft to let them go ahead and make this game, but I'm extremely glad they did.
The art style is unique and very appropriate to the period and subject. They managed to pack a lot of character into the animations and the models.
The writing is absolutely top notch. I felt that the last few releases from Obsidian have been a little lacklustre in terms of dialogue and quest design but Pentiment features a compelling mystery and an indepth look into late medieval society. Through the effective writing and dialogue you will learn about this place and period in time, and come to love or hate various members of the community you interact with.
This is a game that made me feel varied emotions, think about faith, history, and how people remember others and their deeds. It's a beautiful game and one I hope will be played and remembered for a long time to come.

This was really great. The artwork at times seems simplistic but it really is evocative of the art found in those old medieval texts and it really works well. The writing is really where it's at though. The characters are so well written and by the end of the game you really feel like you know everyone in town. An early complaint I had was that the map seemed overly complicated in its 2d representation of 3d spaces but I quickly figured it out and forgot that was ever an issue. The only issue that persisted throughout the game is the... pacing? I'm not sure what to call it but it was difficult to determine how far I had progressed in the story or how long was left. Some segments took 10 min and others 10 hours. The content was stellar throughout though so small gripe there. The central plot was well done and I enjoyed the feeling of reality. I mentioned while playing this to my wife that I never really considered that a prosecutor may not ever be "sure" they were correct in their accusations even when they are trying to do their best and serve justice. It was tough at times and very thought provoking.
Its not an RPG, its not a visual novel, its not a point-and-click adventure but if you like those things this could be a very rewarding game.

Dígamoslo claro: el diseño artístico parece simplón, pero es de largo lo que arrastra a seguir jugando. No solo hay momentos ingeniosos y diseños únicos, sino que el mimo con los personajes, sus decisiones y la forma en cómo Obsidian juega con la tipografía hace de esto muy disfrutable. Mi problema viene con la irregularidad del juego a la hora de narrar lo que desea. Me gusta muchísimo el juego de cambios de género constantes entre uno y otro dentro del marco de la historia, pero, a su vez, creo que funcionan más los golpes cómicos y las travesuras de los personajes que los momentos más sutiles o los más dramáticos (a excepción de un par que están bastante bien). Honestamente, pero, hay otros momentos que a veces se hacen muy coñazo, y otros que son predecibles, y al final reconozco que he acabado con sabor agridulce, sobre todo en el tercer acto. Apuntaba a ser de los mejores juegos del año para mi gusto, y, aunque decente, le faltaba un par de repensadas para poder ser algo realmente especial.

you know all things considered i dont do a lot of drawing in this game

I really liked this game, and it's a lot more than just a unique art style but that's also really nice. The mystery has legs and, most surprisingly, a completely dialogue and story driven game has systems for replayability.

You play as Andreas, a 1500s artist in a Bavarian mountain village, working at the village's abbey to make ends meet and work towards your masterpiece, who gets wrapped up in a murder.

The game works in that when you start the game to get to customize Andreas in a few ways, which lets you get exclusive dialogue options to approach leads. If your Andreas spent time in Florence, he knows Italian and can converse with Italians or read Italian books, but if you pick Italian you cant pick Spain so now he cant read Spanish or have knowledge of spain, stuff like that. Each act of the game lets you add more to your repertoire to hunt for leads.

Secondly, each act effectively has a "time limit". You have only a limited amount of time to follow leads and theres no way to investigate all of them in the time so you have you follow what you think is best, or have the talents to pursue effectively.

Likewise, dialogue choices have lasting effects on your choices, and the game doesn't give you any hints on whenever or not the person you're talking to will like what you said or not, eventually leading to a dialogue check where depending on your previous answers the character you're talking to will do what you bring up.

You're gonna fuck up a lot on your first playthrough, but there's no real "bad" ending in the game for fucking up too much; you'll still get to solve the mystery no matter what (i assume so anyways, ive only done one playthrough) but your actions truly have weight and things you do in act 1 will come back to either haunt or benefit you much later in the game. It'll only be in further playthroughs before I know how different playthroughs really are depending on your choices but in particular act ending decisions you make are pretty significant so I can't imagine playthroughs with the different skills/following different leads being too similiar.

And obviously being all dialogue the writing is the most important part, and I think Obsidian did a swell job. The setting alone is fascinating; 1500s holy roman empire village pretty separated from the world post martin luther is a setting that not a lot of games can do things with. You get a huge skew of characters of all walks of life in this time, from the peasants, the tradesfolk, the nuns and the brothers, and people inbetween, but the scale is so small that changes to the village affects the lives of almost everyone there. Everyone has their own stakes and point of views, and there really isn't many cut and dry answers to give. You'll spend a lot of time talking to the people of Tassing and it's a really memorable cast of characters. And as mentioned earlier, the mystery itself has legs.

Only later playthroughs will let me really know how much variation there actually is in routes, and it can be kinda slow at times, but Pentiment was a cool game with a well executed idea. Definitely recommend, it's on gamepass if you're hesitant to drop $$$ on it.

English | Español

This game is a gift for those of us who love humanities and arts. Its historical documentation is outstanding and it does not stop bringing complex matters to discuss. In this way it develops the story of a little village for 25 years in where some mysterious murders happens.

Es un regalo para los que disfrutamos con las humanidades y el arte. Su documentación histórica es ejemplar trayendo a colación de forma inteligentísima multitud de temas complejos. Así teje la historia de un pueblo durante 25 años en el que se suceden asesinatos.

Pentiment’s existence is an astounding one. This is not because it’s 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 it’s 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 Obsidian’s 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 isn’t a traditional RPG, even more so than fellow detective RPG Disco Elysium, as it’s 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 Tassing’s turmoil and forced to try and maintain the peace between the town and Kiersau, the Benedictine abbey who governs them. Andreas can’t 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 1500’s 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 game’s 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 Gutenberg’s 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 game’s narrative and its setting and characters, and what a fantastic job the game does bringing them to life.

Pentiment’s 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 game’s 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. Characters’ 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. There’s even another facet of this UI where the town printer, Klaus’, 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 I’ve 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, it’s fast become my GOTY and one of my absolute favorite games of all time. It truly is an amazing joy that this game exists.