Pentiment (2022)

Still really enjoying this, though I do think the murder plot and its surrounding investigation/trial mechanics are pretty consistently the least interesting part of the game.

The mystery works perfectly fine as an excuse to traipse about town and chat with the inhabitants, which is clearly the game's focus and is lovely. But taken on its own the murder stuff is mindless, poorly-paced, and dull.

I have to admit, I only played Pentiment out of spite. I was incessantly bitching at a friend of mine (lucky guy) about how the top games on Xbox in 2022 appeared to be mostly trash sub par releases in comparison to some unnamed competitors display of releases from 2022. Yes, I love my Xbox, but it doesn't mean I expect a bit more out of exclusives from them yearly. Anyway, he told me in fact that the games I had listed were not in fact trash and graciously reminded me that I had not even played a single one, which was true. Specifically Pentiment was one game that he named as being worth my time. I then said I would play a game from the list I shared from start to finish and then give my honest feedback. Your damn right, even if I HATED the game I was going to play the entire thing. Enter Pentiment.

This game is very cool. Sent in 16th century Bavaria in a small town you are thrown into a 2D adventure RPG as Andreas Maler, an aspiring artist. The game fairly quickly unfolds into a murder mystery, and you are responsible for the whodunit. Make no mistake by looking at it, this is an RPG made by our friends at Obsidian, in all true definition of the word. Its just different, because you take the action, shooter, and heavy exploration out of it. This RPG surrounds talking to characters in town, and learning the history of the time period, the town and the folks who live there. By the end, you feel like you are speaking with your friends, enemies and neighbors. While there is a lack of any significant gameplay outside of walking around and reading, there is a lot to develop here, and its enjoyable to get to know the characters and story of the town.

The art style and speaking is very unique. All the characters are silent, but their text is written out as you perceive them. For example, the Brothers and Sisters of the church may have a fancier handed script, vs. the peasants who have simple writing and frequent spelling errors that get corrected. The game is hand drawn? I don't know that is a question. If its not, it looks that way, and its very pleasing to look at.

I have to assume that the history of the game is accurate. I don't know anything about 1500's European culture or history, but this game did give me a history lesson and an appreciation for that time period. Again, I am assuming the developers poured research into this, otherwise they have an incredibly convincing story. Truthfully, the start of the game was very slow to me. I wasn't very interested in the history from the get go, but once things started to develop and unfold, I kept getting sucked back in , wanting to learn more and solve the murders that were presented in the game.

As good as the game was, you really do have to want to play it. This game is very niche. As an "older" gamer, I can appreciate lots of different game styles and don't need an action packed shooter to accompany my story games. However, there were times that I just wanted to move on and not mingle with every single townsfolk. It is very wordy, lots of reading and character development. Like playing a novel essentially. On that same note, subsequent playthroughs seem pointless. You can change the outcome of certain parts of the game, but knowing what happens in the end makes up for a lack of wanting to do it again, for me anyway.

If you like heavy lore, or story driven RPG's this could be for you. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the game at all, and it was a very good playthrough. I had to give it 3/5 stars, but this is a perception piece from me. When rating a game, I have to do it based on my own enjoyment and experience; how much did I like it, not who else might like it. Easily for the right person, this game could be a 5/5 masterpiece and it deserves all the praise it gets. The only person I could see hating it is if you do not like reading, and crave more action in your games, or are just simply not interested in history. And that's okay too.