PENTIMENT is an unusual 2-D singleplayer narrative adventure game, rich in medieval history, conceived by Josh Sawyer (Fallout: New Vegas, Pillars of Eternity), and published by Obsidian in 2022.
Players take on the role of Andreas Maler, an artist working in the Kiersau Abbey scriptorium in Upper Bavaria during the 16th century, who becomes entangled in a series of murders that take place over 25 years. Peasants, thieves, craftsmen, monks, nuns, nobles, and saints must be investigated, interrogated and accused to dire effect in a complex story where every choice matters.
The art style of PENTIMENT is inspired by medieval manuscripts, particularly the marginalia or little doodles drawn by the monks who spent painstaking hours copying books by hand before the invention of the printing press in Europe. The story seems to be inspired in part by Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose and the Cadfael mystery series.
There’s some beautiful and authentic medieval music in the game, including the Petruslied or “Song of Peter,” the earliest known hymn in Old High German that is about a thousand years old, and there’s a mini-game based on Lansquenet, an actual card game from the 1500s.
PENTIMENT is available on PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One/X/S and Nintendo Switch, and is rated “M” for Blood and Gore, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Violence.
~ J.L. Hilton
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