While imperfect and sometimes annoying, the other Xbox-exclusive adventure game As Dusk Falls was both bold and different. Not something Xbox published title are often accused of. Pentiment is another bold and different effort but executed to near perfection, advancing its genre and providing something unmissable.
Or So the Annals Say…
Pentiment opens in a surreal court reflecting the older style of Medieval art that was being swept away by the proliferating techniques of Renaissance and, in particular, the work of Albrecht Durer.
In a beautiful display of symbolism, our main protagonist Andreas makes a fanciful and no-less allusive journey in the style of the immrama, the journeys to the otherworld popular in Christian manuscripts for centuries that intentionally preserved the pagan figures and tales they were replacing.
Read More: Ghost of Tsushima review – Slightly Bloated, Still Amazing
Andreas wakes from this explanatory dream to an evolved, more representative art-style. These latter scenes are more reflective of works created for mass production via the printing press. Stripped of the Medieval adorative touches and replaced with growing sense of respect for reality.
Within these few minutes, the art-styles illustrate the precipice over which society stands. Even if none of these history lessons comes flooding back, you can see the transformation from a society where monasteries foster the artisans and men of knowledge, to one where curiosity (and eventually education) would prevail.
The opening minutes also provide some character creation. Andreas was a college dropout long before it was cool. Players can choose his former studies, what he really got up to, and to where he travelled during his time there.
These options offer different skills or deficiencies that open or close dialogue with various characters. The decisions show their impact more or less immediately as the game wants you to know the differences aren’t superficial.
A Tale (NO SPOILERS)
Pentiment is broken up into three distinct acts. While the game follows a murder mystery for most of its run-time, the murders and the villain are just part of a maguffin to tie the whole tale together.
The real story is the unravelling of an old order while society changes around it. The effect this unravelling has on everything, from art to ways of life to societal hierarchies. In between the establishment of orders, old and new, things get a bit weird.
Those in power will try to keep their position, those who benefit from the old order will resist change. But once society is ready to revolt or move on, there is nothing that can stop it. And this is visible in the waning power of the monastery, and the townspeople beginning to see through their words as we progress through the tale.
Day-to-Day
The game is broken up into days, with Andreas fighting the time to get as much information from the townspeople and the clergy about the mystery at hand. Each conversation and each puzzle solved helps the player piece together a sequence of events to present to the arbiter in each act.
From the beginning of each act proper, the player is against this turn-based clock. There’s no way to get to the end of each thread in each act so some hard decisions are to be made.
Pentiment presents a number of puzzles, some are logic puzzles, some are verbal reasoning, and some are just riddles you can accidentally wander into solving. These break up the running and chatting nicely. Some of the puzzles are quite clever and add to the story arc they further. Some are just legwork.
There’s also a very human element to the mystery. Siding with one villager or spurning another may see them reluctant to spill vital information. The harm that a poor choice of words can bring is a theme oozes from the game.
In the Hands of Gods
There’s also an element of luck, or a divine hand, in some events. Simply happening upon the right screen at the right time can send fate in wild directions. The game never lingers on how serendipity or misfortune can act like they do, but it nudges that notion in at several points.
Similarly, the game teaches the player that truth is not enough, there is a ‘greater good’ to deal with. And above this greater good, there is an inflexible and often uncaring authority.
Spoiling Pentiment would be a grave sin. But it’s safe to say you confront themes like how the greatest evil can come from aiming for the greater good. Like Christianity’s pilfering of Pagan gods to help explain Christendom to the heathens, then mercilessly repressing Paganism once it had served its purpose.
But Sometimes in Your Hands
The weight of decisions that Andreas will have to carry throughout the game are conveyed to the player well. The characters and their dilemmas seem real in a world that often teeters on the surreal.
Leaving them to their fate in the pursuit of something intangible like truth or wisdom would be wrong. But keeping them in ignorance continues the cycle which keeps them from breaking their shackles.
One thread that runs through the game is Andreas’ masterwork. The artist is building a mural to represent the history of the town, and his adventures combined with the player’s decisions drive the mural and the ultimate fate of the town.
The 25-year span and the weight of what the what the game has drummed into you gives a real weight to the work. And the developers deserve those moments you spend pondering the previous hours.
Pentiment is a game that makes an earnest attempt at making you think about your character’s legacy and the fate of a town you will now immortalise through art.
The funny thing about Pentiment is that despite all of its lessons on corruption and authority, it rarely becomes preachy. For all of its allegories on art and creative satisfaction, it avoids becoming sanctimonious.
Experience Not Essential
If you went to secondary school in Europe, you probably have a bit of a head start on some of the people, places and broader historical context of the period portrayed in Pentiment. Even knowing the names of monastic rooms, buildings and schedules helps to begin with.
Obsidian went all-in with the authenticity, if you know what the game is talking about: great. If not, Pentiment has an extensive glossary.
It’s a bold move from the devs to insist on the purity of fact, keeping the complexity intact rather than dumbing it down. Pentiment invites you to learn a bit while you are here, making no compromise in this respect. More impressive is their confidence that people would be sucked in far enough to actually avail of the glossary.
Pentiment ultimately asks any player, even those who know a bit about the subjects at hand, to meet them halfway. If you don’t mind the extra reading, you will marinade in the atmosphere. Absorbing the flavour at first, and then becoming an integral part of character you inhabit.
Like the Brightness of the Heavens
The visual presentation of Pentiment is as close to perfect as you get. Insofar as, I cannot imagine a better mix of styles executed any better. Every single decision on style, like that divine intro journey to the evolution of the style to reflect the grand societal shift unfolding, was the correct one.
Even the idea of leaving the entire tale unvoiced fits. Players are encouraged to read and are treated to some incredible fonts, be they woodcut, metal print or handmade. Sound effects are sparse, brief clips to break to the background din.
Music, which is not very common in the game, hits at the perfect moments, soaking the player in a powerful medieval chorus or the welcoming pluck of a group of master luthiers.
The tangible sense of love and care that went into creating something like this when it would have been easier to do ANYTHING else is even a theme of the game itself.
The master craftsmen, whose very place in society is being questioned by technological and cultural shifts, inhabit a game whose very genre had been all-but-rinsed from the mainstream by technological and cultural shifts. And yes, Obsidian Entertainment absolutely deserve to make these comparisons.
Pentiment is a breath of fresh air on Xbox. Months after the bold and weird As Dusk Falls, the platform again shows it has will to let studios express themselves. It demonstrates that Xbox’s studio acquisitions and partnerships aren’t going to waste.
Review code provided by PR
