Formally presented at the past E3 2022, Pentiment is the new game from Obsidian Entertainment, which will be released on November 15 of this year and will arrive permanently at the Xbox Game Pass catalog. Unlike the games that the studio has accustomed us to, Pentiment is a much more intimate project, developed by a team of 13 people, but it certainly shows their talent. In addition to being the game that Josh Sawyrer, director of the game and of titles like Fallout: New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity, had been wanting to make for years. We leave you with our preview of Pentiment, Obsidian Entertainment’s new game for Xbox Game Pass.
A painted world set in 16th century Bavaria
“The year is 1518. You are Andreas Maler, artist from Kiersau Abbey, near the town of Tassing, in Upper Bavaria. While the nobleman Lorenz Rothvogel is visiting the Abbey chapel, he is assassinated. And your friend, Brother Piero, is found next to the baron with a bloody knife.
When the abbot accuses him of the crime, it’s up to you to prove his innocence.”
Pentiment is a purely narrative game in 2D that will take us to the Bavaria of the 16th century; a time marked by great economic, social and cultural changes, such as the Lutheran Reformation, the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire or the development of the heliocentric model of Copernicus, without forgetting the touches of the last stretch of the Inquisition. Although, how could it be otherwise coming from Obsidian Entertainment, the game will also include certain RPG elements.
The gameplay will be mainly focused on the conversational aspect, which will be the most important path when it comes to unraveling the mysteries that come our way. To begin with, we can choose between several origins for Andreas, between Latinist, logician, orator, astronomer, occultist and naturalist. This choice, as in any RPG, will determine our abilities throughout history and the course of it; Thus, for example, as an astronomer we will have important knowledge of the human body, which may help us in the face of clues found in corpses.
The conversations we have with the characters will be key to the future of the story and the answers we give them will set their course. For example, we can lie to a peasant about the location of his son, but this decision may make him angry and lead to a situation whose effects we will not know until later. All this without losing the humor so typical of Obsidian and taking into account, at all times, the historical era in which we find ourselves; with the ever present Church and Inquisition.
However, not everything will be talk, because Pentiment will also have minigames and puzzles, as confirmed by the development study. Despite this, the game will not present great playable difficulties on purpose, since this is precisely the objective that Obsidian Entertainment has pursued with this game. As Josh Sawyer and Hannah Kennedy, Art Director at Pentiment, commented, historical and narrative games don’t usually have a large audience of players, so being easy and accessible is a greater attraction for users. In addition to, of course, getting to Xbox Game Pass.
“We wanted the game to be easy and simple to play. That was close, considering the type of game it is. It will have very simple controls,” said Sawyer during the preview.
A very remarkable artistic section
Without a doubt, from the preview it has become clear to us that Obsidian Entertainment has bet heavily on the narrative and artistic section of Pentiment. Clearly influenced by medieval art and style, especially by Hans Holbein’s lighting and the collection of engravings of the Dance of Death, with Pentiment Obsidian wants us to move to the 16th century.
The game looks like a recreation of the paintings and books of the time, perfectly imitating the colors, margins and typography; so much so that the story of Pentiment will be literally narrated as if it were a book. And the details don’t end there. As Sawyer and Kennedy commented, we will be able to choose between different types of typography in the game. A very curious detail that he told is that, at the time of writing, the effect of the ink is recreated in a totally realistic way, with a strong and marked first stroke and a more blurred last stroke, reflecting the scarcity of ink.
In addition, there will be no way to correct errors in case, for example, a character writes a letter and makes a mistake or Andreas is painting a painting and wants to redo what he has done by painting over it. Therefore, you will have to cross out misspelled words or find out what is under crossed out words or blacked out boxes. Precisely in these situations the title of the game will make sense, because pentimento is a “amendment or correction that is noticed in the composition and drawing of the pictures and paintings”. And it will be by discovering what is under those paintings or what corrections the books hide that we will discover this mystery that will last for a quarter of a century.
“Pentiment is a game about history and about the role that art plays in history. Of the History that is covered and that is rewritten on top, over time. It’s going to be a pretty historically accurate game,” said Josh Sawyer and Hannah Kennedy.
Pentiment exists thanks to Microsoft and Xbox Game Pass
Finally, we cannot fail to highlight the importance that Microsoft has had in the arrival of Pentiment. As a History graduate and connoisseur of classical languages, Josh Sawyer was always clear that he wanted to develop a game of this style. But the original idea changed as time went on, without ever coming to fruition. It wasn’t until playing titles like Oxenfree that he was clear about how he wanted to approach it and it wasn’t until the arrival of Xbox Game Pass and the purchase of Obsidian Entertainment by Microsoft when the game could become a reality.
“Microsoft always supported the game. And it seemed to me that, with Xbox Game Pass, it would be very interesting to do it. Five years ago this platform did not exist, but now it does”.
There is very little left to discover what Obsidian surprises us with, but everything indicates that Pentiment will be quite a surprise that could even have a presence in the GOTY. The game will be released on Xbox Game Pass and will go on sale at a greatly reduced price of €19.99. Also, Pentiment will be at Microsoft’s Gamescom event with a playable demo, so you can’t miss it.