Having not had a chance to actually play Pentiment yet, I can’t speak to the quality of Obsidian Entertainment’s upcoming mystery-driven adventure game. That said, I really like what I’ve seen of the game, and beyond that, I love that something like it exists. Games like Pentiment are what I’ve always wanted to get out of a service like Xbox Game Pass–experiences that are interesting and also afford a major studio the chance to be a little bit more experimental.
In Pentiment, you play as journeyman artist Andreas Maler in a story that spans 25 years during early 16th century Germany. Andreas finds himself staying in a Benedictine abbey in the midst of a journey to see all of Europe, taking on part-time work where he can find it to pay for his travels. While at the abbey, a murder takes place, and Andreas’s mentor is accused of the crime. With no one willing to investigate any other possible explanations, Andreas steps up.
The entire game is presented as if it were written in the pages of a manuscript or book of the time period, with the text emulating written scripts and early block typing and the character models, buildings, and backgrounds drawn to appear as if the line weight and color are the results of a brush. The act of moving between locations occurs as the pages of Andreas’ story turn. It’s not like anything Obsidian has done before.