If you told me at the beginning of this year I'd be giving an Obsidian game a 4.5 star review, I wouldn't call you a liar but I would be surprised.
It is by far not the only type of game Obsidian do or have done but it's very easy to look at them as Bethesda like game makers, something I am not particularly a fan of - yet Pentiment does have some of that DNA and it pains me to say that I love it.
Another thing a past version of me would be surprised to be told is that I'll love a RPG light point and click that throws out Dragons and Knights, and even Robots, space, the works and in it's place it's theme, characters, story, aesthetic will all be based on 16th century Europe, religion and other real world old and not very nice things.
Would I fuck believe you after playing the excellent Final Cut of Disco Elysium with it's beautiful voice acting think that "actually" no voice acting is cool and good and "actually" old fonts, scratching ink and wooden prints are just as engaging.
Pentiment goes as hard on it's theme as it can, it pulls it off and every corner and makes every ounce of it engaging and interesting.
By the time I was done I felt like I had truly lived in Tassing, that I actually knew not only it's geography but it's history and it's people.
The game educated me, it made me think about big things in life. Not just religion but relationships, family, history, so much and I loved it.
Get this game played, it's on Game Pass but even without it's worth the £15 asking price and (common thread with my reviews) can run on quite crap tech without any issue.
I haven't got into the story here and maybe that's what you want to know, there's murder and mystery in a highly religious old European setting and honestly that's all you need to know.
Since finishing I've considered starting it again; how would Andreas' (the protag) back history, decided by me, really affect what happens? Who else could I point fingers at? What else could have happened to these people?
What I'd love more than to find out first hand would be to see and hear from others who also have played this and hit me up.
It is by far not the only type of game Obsidian do or have done but it's very easy to look at them as Bethesda like game makers, something I am not particularly a fan of - yet Pentiment does have some of that DNA and it pains me to say that I love it.
Another thing a past version of me would be surprised to be told is that I'll love a RPG light point and click that throws out Dragons and Knights, and even Robots, space, the works and in it's place it's theme, characters, story, aesthetic will all be based on 16th century Europe, religion and other real world old and not very nice things.
Would I fuck believe you after playing the excellent Final Cut of Disco Elysium with it's beautiful voice acting think that "actually" no voice acting is cool and good and "actually" old fonts, scratching ink and wooden prints are just as engaging.
Pentiment goes as hard on it's theme as it can, it pulls it off and every corner and makes every ounce of it engaging and interesting.
By the time I was done I felt like I had truly lived in Tassing, that I actually knew not only it's geography but it's history and it's people.
The game educated me, it made me think about big things in life. Not just religion but relationships, family, history, so much and I loved it.
Get this game played, it's on Game Pass but even without it's worth the £15 asking price and (common thread with my reviews) can run on quite crap tech without any issue.
I haven't got into the story here and maybe that's what you want to know, there's murder and mystery in a highly religious old European setting and honestly that's all you need to know.
Since finishing I've considered starting it again; how would Andreas' (the protag) back history, decided by me, really affect what happens? Who else could I point fingers at? What else could have happened to these people?
What I'd love more than to find out first hand would be to see and hear from others who also have played this and hit me up.