Pentiment

Pentiment does a fantastic job of allowing player agency while maintaining a coherent story while riding this emotional roller coaster. Its art style is completely unique and you can FEEL the love the developers put into making this game. I have played on desktop and Steam Deck and it plays beautifully (note there is no 21:9 support for this game).

Also, you can pet cats and dogs as much as you like so automatic 10/10

A strong renaissance feel, engages with real history, and bits of it feel downright magical. Well worth playing.

Highly recommended. The story has many different branching paths which creates a space for plenty of replays. The game also leaves room for the player to leave their mark on Andreas and Magdalene .

I'm impressed by how much research went into the game's development and how much effort went into portraying the period faithfully. The characters were all very well written and, for the most part, felt like they belonged to 16th century Bavaria and not like 21st century people with a trappings of the 16th century. I especially loved Mother Illuminata, Sister Amalie, Brother Piero, and, most importantly, Cratered Hobo.

A few years ago I started stepping outside of my comfort zone and exploring other genres of games that I never would have touched before. This included me experiencing some of Obsidian's other games, mostly crpgs in the Pillars of Eternity series and Tyranny earlier in the year. While I had Gamepass, I decided to give their most recent game Pentiment a go. 3 years ago me never would have touched this game in a million years. This game absolutely was oozing with story and flavor. The fonts, the watercolor art, the characters, every single aspect of this game was beautiful. It often remind me more of a visual novel or storybook than a game, but the simple gameplay was still lots of fun. In classic Obsidian fashion, the writing was once again stellar. Starting off the game with a murder mystery that had me go from completely confident to immediately questioning whether I accused the right culprit was awesome. For a relatively short 11 hour game, there were so many twists and turns my murder mystery loving self had a great time. Whenever I thought I had everything figured out, they'd throw a new wrinkle like some new evidence that made me go "oh crap, maybe its *not* them."

Playing a lot of Obsidian games the last few years, I have really enjoyed seeing Tim Cain and Josh Sawyer flex their imaginations and Pentiment absolutely delivers. Even with the visual novel-esque gameplay style, I was more than happy to stay on the ride and take the small fictional town of Tassing in all its historical glory. Its equal parts murder mystery and a tool for learning more about history during the 16th century. In classic Obsidian fashion, there is so much information and words thrown at you that you are always learning something new about the town, time period, or people in the story. I really enjoyed Pentiment and will continue to play close to pretty much anything Obsidian throws out there these days.

Damn, what a great story! Lots of twists and turns as well as following the lives of the townfolk and getting up to no good in the Bavarian Alps. Also pet a lot of different animals and look at weeds.

Sure I got a lot of people killed but what can you do when you trust an investigation to some idiot like me.

Excellent intro to the High Renaissance and Reformation. Delightful art and story. 10/10

Excellent game. On his return to Nuremberg in 1495, Albrecht Dürer opened his own workshop (being married was a requirement for this). Over the next five years, his style increasingly integrated Italian influences into underlying Northern forms. Arguably his best works in the first years of the workshop were his woodcut prints, mostly religious, but including secular scenes such as The Men's Bath (c. 1496). These were larger and more finely cut than the great majority of German woodcuts hitherto, and far more complex and balanced in composition.

It's Disco Elysium, but set in the (Bavarian) Alps. There's a witch and cats. I won't say anything else, beside that the art style is gorgeous, and the subtle use of typeface and how script appears on screen is an incredible detail. Well worth full price.

9/10. Act III has some fairy-tale style story twist that does not fit the overall tone.

A very good and emotionally rich game, unfortunately part-concealed under a layer of energy-sapping UI.

Essentially, every time you make a bit of progress it is a good idea to go and walk through every single part of the 'map'. Your options are either to accept this, or ignore it in favour of more fluid gameplay - at risk of missing potentially crucial dialogue and world-building.

On the other hand, it's still worth it. There's a mostly good balance struck between actions (and words!) having consequences, and the game unfolding in a way where you don't feel punished for a past mistake. You can always force-quit if you misclick or think you're in the middle of an error.

As for the story itself, it's pleasingly well-told. You care about the characters, are compelled by the mystery, and generally drawn into the role you choose to play in the world. You can, if paying attention, probably figure out the truth near the end of Act 1 or the beginning of Act 2 - or at least, narrow it to a pretty tight range of options. What I will say though is DON'T GOOGLE ANYTHING. Even the most innocent of searches is littered with spoilers. Be patient, and all will come 'round in the end.

The narrative of Pentiment is a spectacular achievement, its scope and interconnectedness throughout the three acts is incredible. The game makes your choices, even those which seem inconsequential, a crucial aspect of the development of its story and world. The village of Tassing changes noticeably directly from your actions, and the ways in which the town and its denizens evolve through the years make everything you choose to do seem very important. It's an intimate story which will endear you to its many characters and engross you in its mysteries. I didn't really know anything about this game going in, and I would encourage anyone who hasn't played to go in blind like I did. Let the game's story illuminate itself to you; if you're someone who enjoys narratively-focused games, this is absolutely one you should play.

太久不玩，开了新档重来，怎么还是那么好玩！！不过字体能做成悬停时显示易读模式就更好了。

Some of the best writing in a video game I’ve ever played. A story about the nature of life, death, stories, community, injustice, guilt, grief, friendship, and religion all rolled into one remarkably unforgettable game. A game you’ll want to immediately replay to see what you missed but won’t because you’ll just want to sit with your version of the story for a while. You’ll miss plenty of stuff, but that’s the true charm of this game. You’re just out to make a great story that’s your own rendition, mistakes and all.

Pretty good and very cozy feeling but it can be kind of boring when starting but once you get to know the characters it gets really enjoyable

Absolute labor of love for lovers of history and a well-crafted story with incredibly vibrant and real characters. You can't help but want to talk to all of them, all the time.

This is one of the best games I have ever played. I am obsessed with it and it’s just fantastic. Beautiful art, music and story. Has made it up there with some of my favorite games of all time.

An experience for fans of reading, history, and mystery. Compelling plot that immersed me within an hour and didn't falter. Roleplaying choices were mostly superficial but added to the player's investment in the story. You can still play the way you want and suffer consequences for your decisions. It doesn't feel as though you are at the mercy of the developers any more than the characters themselves.

Do you like history? Mysteries? Point and click adventures? Characters that are fun and leave an impression? This game is many things and above all a great game worth your time.

The animation is inspired. Down to even the details on how the script within quote bubbles change based on a character's class and profession. Even small choices such as who to eat lunch with have an impact on the path the game will take you. I can't say much else but it's great. Just play it.

Take this nerdy point-and-click adventure game "medicine." It might not taste like Medicine of the Year but it's not like you can go comparison-shop for another research narrative mystery about medieval European history expressed in dialogue trees with multiple custom fonts.

Unique art style, well-written and compelling story, does a good job at being as historically accurate as possible - this is coming from a history nerd who was born and raised in the cultural region of the setting.

The game constantly made me feel like i made the wrong choices, but this is a big plus as it shows the degree of my emotional investment in the story.

Deserves much more attention than it receives.

Also, played this on Steamdeck - it runs flawlessly out of the box.

Its the best game i have played in a long while. story is amazing

absolute gem, fascinating writing, beautiful visuals, stunning soundtrack, and a deep and compelling story about art, spirituality, and community.
An amazing game

Beautiful game, sometimes the exposition between events gets a little thick but this pales in comparison to how good the plot is. Can't say much more without spoiling it.

Sale, no sale, it doesn't matter. Buy it, play it, love it. It's well worth 20 bucks and it's replayable to some degree (I can see myself giving it at least a couple more runs to get all the details I'm interested in).

The art style was a bit of a turn off for me in the beginning, but I quickly gained an appreciation for its uniqueness. Both the story and OST are masterful and engaging.

A game where every choice matters, with the added bonus of making you question every decision you make. Very engaging for anyone looking for a story driven game.

Probably one of my new all-time favorite games, it filled the manuscript shaped hole in my heart that I didn't know I had.
The dev team put so much love into this game, there is so much narrative packed into this ~15 hour experience and not a minute of it feels like wasted filler. I loved seeing an under appreciated art like typeface utilized to add another dimension to the characters which is rarely seen in other games. The art and UI make it feel as through you're really flipping through the pages of a book without breaking the immersion of the story once. 10/10

Incredible game! Absolutely love the illuminated manuscript art style and inspired me as an illustrator to work more with that aswell. The story is really deep and actually feels like you make an impact. The fact that it takes place over a long span of time really gives you the feeling that you watch the town grow up around you.

I don't think that all games are art, but I do think this is one of them. I'd say it is some mix of media where "the game" part is only one part. I could see things like this being used as educational tools, but also just as another way to consume great stories and make you think.

In that sense, it does give away a bit of Disco Elysium vibes, but on a smaller scale with simpler mechanics. The highlight of the game for me (aside from visual representation) is how dialogues were written, every response and sentence make sense and feel genuine. It is something that most games lack in my opinion, and dialogue options usually sound like caricatures of something a real person would say. I rarely if every felt like what I wanted to say wasn't one of the offered options.

From the gameplay perspective, it can feel just a tad bit dragged towards the end and that it overstays it's welcome in the sense that the last part is not as mysterious, so you feel more like you are just reading what happened instead of figuring something out.

It's an amazing art style and an amazing story with an incredible amount of choices and options

There's a lot to like in this game but it is undone completely by the third act which is almost completely on-rails, excruciatingly slow and boring. I appreciate that emotional story telling is a large part of the game but the sudden loss of any meaningful gameplay is just inexcusable.

One of the best narrative games I have ever played with your choices really feeling like they impact the world and the people that live within it. The art style is also incredible and unique especially as the season change and the town ages.

Gameplay:

The gameplay of Pentiment is straightforward as you'd expect. Point and click or WASD and Enter to interact. The menus are beautiful and straight forward. The save style is progression based not at will.

Graphics:

Beautiful, enchanting visuals. You really do feel like you're playing inside of an illuminated manuscript. The attention to detail is exquisite, they really did their homework and nothing feels rushed or out of place.

Sound Design:

The score exactly fits the game, it's not overwhelming and I can't say I can remember anything about the tracks but they added depth and mood to every scene, nothing felt rote or repetitive.

Story:

I think what I loved most about this story is how it really felt alive, I wouldn't be surprised at all if the developers had taken a regional myth and turned it into a well rounded village life tale. Every single character has their moment where you learn just enough about them to make them feel real. The story itself never felt prescriptive and even the plot twist itself was entirely unexpected in the way it unfolded. It was touching and I genuinely felt for the characters. The historical accuracy, the minor details on village life, church life, and the politics of the time were so well done.

Enjoyment and Replayability:

I think I would replay this, not for a while, but it was good enough and I feel like another playthrough making different choices would be enjoyable

Pros:

Beautiful, engaging, poetic, immersive.

Cons:

It is really a visual novel, you do have choices to make but what and who you can interact with is pretty limited. I didn't mind but just be aware that this is a one-track game to the destination with only a few points of divergence.

Conclusion:

Play it. Idk if I'd pay for the full price unless you just want to support the devs. But sale price is very very worth it imo for what it is.

Overall Rating: 7/10

This is a really hard game to give a negative review for, because there were a lot of really ambitious ideas at play here.

The strongest positive is the consistent art direction, which keeps the game constantly feeling like a living fresco. Furthermore, there is a strong feeling of choice behind your character choices with the removal of any traditional save system, preventing quick loads to compare outcomes.

However, ultimately, I felt compelled to give it a negative review due to the third act. I also felt frustrated by how often I found myself wandering to every NPC trying to trigger new quests flags. While it feels initially like your character's choices will have a major impact on the story, it quickly becomes apparent that they have only a minor impact on the direction of the narrative.

Loved the setting, story was good. Gameplay involves reading through a lot of text, So definitely not for everyone.

Does the idea of solving mysteries in 16th Century Bavaria appeal to you? If not, then it probably should! This is a clever, thoughtful and at times heartwarming game with some really clever plot decisions. If you're happy with lots of reading (of very well-written dialogue) then you should have a wonderful time.

Honestly, I had no idea what to expect, I went in blind and i can say that I enjoyed this! I like games like these where it is hard to make decisions. It's a short game (finished it in 3 days) and is definitely worth the time, although I feel like having voice acting would have made the game even better. Oh and you can pet the animals!

Pentiment is a excellent narrative wrapped in a so-so game. This is a clear passion project led by the brilliant Josh Sawyer and it's apparent how much love for history, art, literature, and overall culture the team had when designing this title. It feels like an interactive encyclopedia at times. The art direction taking obvious influence from Medieval era art in the designs of all characters, animals, and environment with the textbook framing is beautiful and immersive. The unique fonts for every character just gives so much style to the presentation. The environmental ambiance provides a peaceful atmosphere to every location. The bits of music scattered throughout are great especially during moments of tension where we're treated with a flurry of horns and choir singing. Animations are a bit stiff whenever there are any, and that's not often. Most conversations boil down to two characters staring at each other barely blinking which can result in a bit of reading fatigue when there's already no voice acting. Some more expression in characters and background environments would've been nice.

The narrative is the selling point and is the sole reason to play. It's divided in three acts and I will (WARNING) get into some spoilers. The game centers its story on one small town for the entire game, Tassing, and the personal struggles, relationships, secrets, and ambitions of its many residents. It's a town that feels alive with every NPC being named and thoroughly fleshed out. They feel real. They're imperfect and complex. It reminded me of the excellent Pillars of the Earth with how its story centered on interpersonal small town drama interfering with larger plans to craft, what is intended to be, a monumental piece of history. While there is a murder mystery running throughout the game, it's more or less just a vehicle to move the story forward and explore the game's many themes of spirituality and religion, tradition vs. progress, family/community, class disparity, generational trauma, and redemption. You don't even really learn who's really responsible for committing the acts of murder, just those responsible for pulling the strings and their reason why. It's a deeply layered story that pulls all the emotional strings when it needs to. There were times were even I was moved to tears by its heartfelt moments. This is an area where most games struggle and often have to resort to misery porn to even try to elicit an emotion (i.e. The Last of Us).

Despite all its layers, the primary theme, the thread that runs through all three acts is the importance of history. Given the many detailed descriptions of art, literature, and even flowers, as well as having the two playable characters be both artists, there's a clear focus on passing down and preserving knowledge. We learn of Tassing's complex history of Pagan, Roman, and finally Christian, civilizations that controlled the land. One civilization after the other built on top of the ruins of the past leaving much of the recorded history lost or incomplete with only the imagination to decide what it all once stood for. Even in the flow of the game, we move linearly through three points in time in Tassing witnessing its people die or move away, and the destruction of its culturally significant architecture. I'm reminded of the saying, "history is dictated by the victors" when I play Pentiment as we see what happens when the lost remnants of the past are left to be interpreted by those looking only for the "truth" they wish to find. It's hard to be confronted with the actual truth when your community is founded on lies and the irreparable damage that does to an entire culture. Is it better to forget? Can a community thrive on convenient truths or will the loss of history doom them to be forgotten as well? Does remaining bound by the past lead to no future? It's a difficult and very nuanced discussion and I celebrate Obsidian for exploring it thorougly and their faithfulness to history. There's certainly an effort to properly modernize language to be digestible to modern audiences and it's applied effectively, but with restraint to avoid breaking immersion. Take notes Dragon Age: Veilguard.

Regarding the acts themselves, Act 1 was great as an introduction to our character Andreas and the cast of characters we'll be engaging with largely for the rest of the game. Act 2 was my personal favorite for its growing tension and shocking climax. Act 3 was definitely my least favorite as it introduces a new playable character who must relearn nearly everything we learned with Andreas up to this point. It's also significantly more linear with entire sections of nonstop reading and little input on the player's part. There's also no stakes to keep players on edge as you're not hunting a murderer again. It does come to a great conclusion and has a tremendously setup reveal on who the actual party responsible for the secret notes are. I also enjoyed the new character we control.

Then there's the gameplay. Not much to say here. A lot of tedious walking back and forth in the same areas, mindless minigames, and streams of dialogue. The Disco Elysium comparisons are laughable. This is NOT an rpg at all. Disco Elysium was carefully crafted to deliver on its question, "What kind of cop are you?". It fostered and developed that concept with its emphasis on immersive exploration, character progression, and player agency. You do not "make" Andreas any more than you make Arthur Morgan. You're a predefined character with his own personality and profession with a few sprinkles of choice that add spice, but often feel contradictory to who the character is. Meaningful choices that have lasting impact are about 50/50. This isn't Suzerain. The game loves to take over and speak for you. "Disco Elysium" inspired games miss the mark often because they think making a visual novel with dialogue options (i.e. Citizen Sleeper) is all that it takes. Wrong. When Pentiment plays to its strengths, it's some of the finest writing from Obsidian ever, even if it goes on a little too long at 15-20 hours. Definitely a huge narrative step up from more recent mediocre releases like Outer Worlds and Pillars 2. Recommended to history buffs especially. (7/10)

Si te gusta tomar decisiones, investigar y pensar juega este juego, obsidian no decepciona, es una experiencia muy condensada enganchante y unica

Not recommended for everyone, you have to really appreciate a good story and fantastic art to really enjoy this. Or have a deep interest in 16th century Bavaria.

Pentiment is a unique and wondrous point and click story. The characters and the art are what set it apart. It is an experience I am glad to have had. I heartedly recommend it.

Really fantastic. Absolutely drips with the designers' love of the history of the era.

The gameplay is of the simple point-and-click mystery investigation type, but doesn't rely heavily on puzzles, which is both a joy to the less puzzle-inclined and makes the game feel more authentic to the setting.

Everything about the presentation, the art, the music, the plot, the characters, are well-done and compelling.

Probably my favorite Steam Deck game of the year. If you like late medieval/early modern history, this is a must play.

Pentiment. what can i say more about you.
Pentiment is one of the few games that have made me cry onto my arms, and the only thing that has made me cry these past few months. As much as this is a game, cannot review it as a game, instead as a piece of literature.
Pentiment is one of the most beautifully written games i have played, rivaling that of Disco Elysium in its deep enriching world design and ways of exploring different narratives. It was no surprise that the game was directed by one Josh Sawyer, also known for writing the best Fallout game and possibly the best RPG of all time: Fallout New Vegas. Josh Sawyer also had previous hand in the topic as he had a degree in history and knew a lot about the Holy Roman Empire.
The game follows the story of one Andreas Muller, as he gets involved in murders in Tassing completely coincidentally. Each act represents a different case and each case is as deeply written as ever. There is no "real killer" in each act (though it will be revealed by the end of the game), instead relying on your currently clue-gathering and gossip-hearing to fully dictate who do you think *would* be the killer. each person has a motive, a good one at that, so its only to pick. none of them are the real "killer" of course, you're being tricked and you won't know it until the end.
For me, despite not being able to fully remember each character in Tassing, it added a depth of reality to it. each character is so deeply written that for me to remember each one would be a bigger task than solving a murder. the town of Tassing is so spectacularly written that by the time i finished the game, i felt more connected to each character than any other game. it didn't help that with each act, time passes by and you see characters age and live out their different lives. its truly amazing.
the game doesn't shy away from being a game of course. it knows its a game unlike those copycat playstation B movie games. It stays within the narrative and stays within the medium, though challenging narrative aspects that you don't see a lot. From how sentences you speak will dictate speech checks to changing dialogue-boxes to fit the character (i.e printed text boxes for printers/avid readers like Claus and Mags), this game has competitively changed the game in terms of narrative-focused games like this.
I also quite enjoyed the reference the real life things. From Albertus Magnus's Speculum Astronomiae where he defended the use and exploration of astronomy against the condemnations of 1277 to Luther Martin's Ninety Five Theses against the church, which gave rise to a different way of thinking of christians, who were known as lutherans. Pliny The Elder, The Aeneid, The Golden Legend or even a part of the game that had briefly mentioned The Mirror Of Simple Souls, a book that was widely regarded as one of the most controversial at the time due to its "heretic-like" thinking surround love, reason and divinity.
I don't know how much i can say for me to truly recommend this to you. if you liked Disco Elysium, you'll find a new home here, albeit a bit simpler. Josh Sawyer has created a masterpiece for people who wanted more and i've got a new hyperfixation to focus on instead of studying for my SATs. GO PLAY THIS GAME!

I think this may be one of my favorite games of all time, and I've spent an incredible amount of time talking about it with my friends. I would argue it's the video game equivalent of literature- you cannot experience the themes and ideas expressed in their purest forms without playing through this story as a game, and there is so much to think about and dig through. This game was made with so much love and respect to the history and the time period, and the sheer humanity of the people alive at that time. I cannot recommend it enough, and the only reason I'm not saying more is because I think it is worth experiencing as much as you can without someone else's thoughts and biases echoing in your ear.

But I love Tassing. I love all the characters living and visiting there. This game has become very dear to me and I will be thinking about it always.

engaging story, great visuals with a lot of charming moments and Lingua Ignota out of nowhere. And its pretty short so i can only recommend, worhth every penny.

A strange and unexpected joy of storytelling that spans decades, generations, and murders. Remarkably well-researched and dedicated to representing a cross-section of theological and political and ideas of the time. If you enjoy medieval mysteries, Roman history, and stories of class struggle then you'll more than pleasantly surprised.

Less of a game and more of a gorgeous visual novel with branching outcomes and stories, wonderful sights and sounds.

The timing mechanic push you into some frustrating decisions, you have let it go and go with the flow to avoid decision fatigue and truly enjoy the interwoven stories and character development. I did wish the game was a bit "weirder", relying more on the occult side of Tassing, the game is at its best when it leans on this.

This is an incredible game. Point and click's can be hit and miss, but I found this incredibly engaging. The medieval inspired art style and the narrative sets this apart from other games I've played. It also has a good amount of gameplay time. Strong recommend.

An immersive investigation story set in the 16th century. It has well-defined characters, a compelling plot, and is probably quite historically accurate (don't sue me if it's not, I'm not a historian). If you are familiar with the historical setting / its languages, there will be plenty of times when you'll be like "Oh oh, I know what they're referring to!", which feels very validating. Once I got into the story I couldn't turn off the game, so here I am writing this review at 2 AM. If you wouldn't enjoy a game that is 95% reading and has no "action", I would advise against buying the game. If you are not in a patient mood, wait until you are to play. Totally worth it, definitely one of my favourites now.

its not a quirky murder mystery game like everyone says. its more like a fucked up historical novel about suffering and grief and also like 2 scenes of gaydudes kissing and lesbians and gay people kissing and

I was expecting a lot more out of this game. The best feature is the graphics style but the overall slog of completing the game is just too much of a chore with minimal pay off. The choices you make are fairly arbitrary and far as I can tell, have no real impact on the game just on your personal feelings about them. I had 14 hours of game play but most of that is running back and forth talking and talking and talking and talking. While this game is similar to Disco Elysium, it lacks the depth of that game.

The overall story line is interesting and it kept me entertained. I would probably give this game a 5/10 but I left a negative score to balance out the mostly positive reviews of this game.