Pentiment absolutely floored me; what a fantastic experience. As someone with a huge interest in art history, the amount of research and careful planning that must have went into this project is insane. It's as educational as it is enthralling.
Set during the 16th century at the dawn of The Enlightenment, it's no mistake that Obsidian wanted to illustrate parallels between this era and our own. To say any more about the plot other than it being a "historical murder mystery" could spoil the experience. The way dialogue is presented through different fonts is an inspired choice which helps to indicate a character's social class or simply how our protagonist perceives them. The lack of voice acting may be a deal-breaker for some, but when you consider the size of the dev team, the number of unique NPCs, and the amount of branching paths based on the choices you make, that would be an incredibly tall order. And it's the ramifications of said choices that made this narrative feel so impactful; begging you to come back for more and see what you missed in future playthroughs. That first in-game day is admittedly a little slow but it is meant to establish the status quo in the village of Tassing before pulling the rug out from under you; of which it does several times. Once I hit that second day I was hooked until the very end.
If it wasn't for Game Pass it's possible I never even would've tried a game like this, so I'm once again extremely grateful for the service. Microsoft may not be churning out the big AAA exclusives like Sony, but I will gladly take experimental passion projects like this in the interim. Even if you find it isn't for you, which is possible because it's clearly very niche, there's still no harm in giving it a try. It's not the kind of game that'll blow up on social media or Twitch; it's a very methodical and often peaceful experience that's less of an RPG and leans more towards a visual novel.
Hats off to Josh Sawyer and his team at Obsidian; I cannot wait to see what they have in store for us next.
Set during the 16th century at the dawn of The Enlightenment, it's no mistake that Obsidian wanted to illustrate parallels between this era and our own. To say any more about the plot other than it being a "historical murder mystery" could spoil the experience. The way dialogue is presented through different fonts is an inspired choice which helps to indicate a character's social class or simply how our protagonist perceives them. The lack of voice acting may be a deal-breaker for some, but when you consider the size of the dev team, the number of unique NPCs, and the amount of branching paths based on the choices you make, that would be an incredibly tall order. And it's the ramifications of said choices that made this narrative feel so impactful; begging you to come back for more and see what you missed in future playthroughs. That first in-game day is admittedly a little slow but it is meant to establish the status quo in the village of Tassing before pulling the rug out from under you; of which it does several times. Once I hit that second day I was hooked until the very end.
If it wasn't for Game Pass it's possible I never even would've tried a game like this, so I'm once again extremely grateful for the service. Microsoft may not be churning out the big AAA exclusives like Sony, but I will gladly take experimental passion projects like this in the interim. Even if you find it isn't for you, which is possible because it's clearly very niche, there's still no harm in giving it a try. It's not the kind of game that'll blow up on social media or Twitch; it's a very methodical and often peaceful experience that's less of an RPG and leans more towards a visual novel.
Hats off to Josh Sawyer and his team at Obsidian; I cannot wait to see what they have in store for us next.