Pentiment - Josh Sawyer's historical mystery narrative-driven game set in 16th century Bavaria

[duskvile]

Pentiment is Josh Sawyer's conception of a Darklands clone.

Darklands spiritual successor is yet to come. A medieval horror isometric RTWP CRPG with Disco eylsium dialogue.

 

[Oberon]

Pentiment is Josh Sawyer's conception of a Darklands clone.

Darklands spiritual successor is yet to come. A medieval horror isometric RTWP CRPG with Disco eylsium dialogue.

Just give me a straight clone with updated combat mechanics
Actually fuck it, I'll just play the original again

 

[3 others]

They really missed the chance to have a How Fortunate the Man with Nun -achievement for laying some pipe on Zdena

 

[Dishonoredbr]

 

[Barbarian]

Why did Soyer peddle this shitty game as sucessor to Darklands? It has nothing to do with that game, except the pretense of implementing a historical medieval setting.

 

[agris]

for laying some pipe on Zdena

wait… can this happen??

 

[KVVRR]

for laying some pipe on Zdena

wait… can this happen??

If you wait around for the two monks to leave while you sneak around the monastery looking for the book (or was it a record? evidence of some kind regardless) Andreas will eventually just fall asleep and be woken up by her in the morning. Then you can refuse her or not.

Spoiler

Afterwards if you meet her again she reveals she actually got pregnant from this and had to get an abortion, she says the concoction the other sisters gave her for it left her with sequels so she doesn't want to fool around anymore due to how much of a pain in the ass it was to deal with. But that she had fun.

It happened to me on my second playthrough and it was kinda sweet. Didn't expect it at all.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

Why did Soyer peddle this shitty game as sucessor to Darklands?

Did he?

 

[Barbarian]

for laying some pipe on Zdena

wait… can this happen??

If you wait around for the two monks to leave while you sneak around the monastery looking for the book (or was it a record? evidence of some kind regardless) Andreas will eventually just fall asleep and be woken up by her in the morning. Then you can refuse her or not.

Spoiler

Afterwards if you meet her again she reveals she actually got pregnant from this and had to get an abortion, she says the concoction the other sisters gave her for it left her with sequels so she doesn't want to fool around anymore due to how much of a pain in the ass it was to deal with. But that she had fun.

It happened to me on my second playthrough and it was kinda sweet. Didn't expect it at all.

So this is Soyer's idea of medieval society. Casual sex and abortion.

It is just like Seattle.

Spiritual sucessor to Darklands!

 

[KVVRR]

for laying some pipe on Zdena

wait… can this happen??

If you wait around for the two monks to leave while you sneak around the monastery looking for the book (or was it a record? evidence of some kind regardless) Andreas will eventually just fall asleep and be woken up by her in the morning. Then you can refuse her or not.

Spoiler

Afterwards if you meet her again she reveals she actually got pregnant from this and had to get an abortion, she says the concoction the other sisters gave her for it left her with sequels so she doesn't want to fool around anymore due to how much of a pain in the ass it was to deal with. But that she had fun.

It happened to me on my second playthrough and it was kinda sweet. Didn't expect it at all.

So this is Soyer's idea of medieval society. Casual sex and abortion.

It is just like Seattle.

Spiritual sucessor to Darklands!

Eh, they make it a point to have Zdena be just a young woman was forced into nuns by her family even when she really doesn't like it. So it fits that she'd be up for casual sex like that, and that the other nuns would try to cover her mess up afterwards. Although I agree that there might be a bit too much of it going on between her, the two sacristans and the nun and sacristan couple. Then again the whole thing with the Abbey is that it's a place kinda out of time with the way it's set up, so maybe it was an intentional decision?

 

[Infinitron]

Sister Zdena is Bohemian.

But Pentiment's real fuckboy is the town miller, and the game does not portray this positively to say the least.

 

[Dark Souls II]

Still astonished at the fact someone must have said "surely you can't make the most absolutely totally FAGGOT visual novel conceivable" and Josh Soyer said "hold my IPA" and shatted out the crossover between a practical joke and a noxious diarrhea that is Pentiment, or how it should rather be called, Faggotiment.

 

[NJClaw]

Still astonished at the fact someone must have said "surely you can't make the most absolutely totally FAGGOT visual novel conceivable" and Josh Soyer said "hold my IPA" and shatted out the crossover between a practical joke and a noxious diarrhea that is Pentiment, or how it should rather be called, Faggotiment.

Nah it's a fun little game. The way you navigate the investigation is engaging enough, mainly because there are a lot of places to explore and many people to question, but your time is limited. Not having a fixed culprit might be controversial, but I think it works to create an attachment to the story. The various minigames are boring wastes of time, but you usually go over them while experiencing wholesome moments with the community, which is filled with tons of great minor characters. As far as narrative games go, this is one of the good ones.

 

[Dark Souls II]

There is no real investigation because there are no real culprits, you can just incriminate random people and you can only make a wrong choice. It is a parody of detectivism. You can compare Pentiment to Disco Elysium, both faux-detective games, both with no real detecting, but DE does its thing masterfully, while Pentiment is pure shit. At a very fundamental level Pentiment cons the player, pretending it's a detective mystery game about a detective mystery that you can mysteriously detect. But there's no such thing. I don't like it when a game lies to me.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Not having a fixed culprit might be controversial, but I think it works to create an attachment to the story.

It fucking doesn't. What's the point of having a dude waste all his time investigating shit if he can't ever accuse the real suspect. The Magister does this better and it even has combat ffs.

 

[NJClaw]

Not having a fixed culprit might be controversial, but I think it works to create an attachment to the story.

It fucking doesn't. What's the point of having a dude waste all his time investigating shit if he can't ever accuse the real suspect. The Magister does this better and it even has combat ffs.

I get that it's not for everyone, but, personally, I can appreciate it in the context of this game.

Pentiment is not about solving complex crimes like a detective. It's about getting immersed in the community of a small Bavarian village and its abbey. Getting a definitive and objective answer from an omniscient narrator after the investigation is out of the scope of the game. I get how this might be too gay for many people on this forum, but it's a very simple narrative game that focuses on the relations between a medium-sized cast of minor characters with many different beliefs and motives. The investigations are just an excuse to get to know these characters, their beliefs, their aspirations, and their secrets. The final decisions are all based on the circumstantial evidence you gathered in your playthrough, and most likely you'll end up pinning the blame on a random scapegoat just to save the suspect with whom you sympathized most.

Again, I get this is not everyone's cup of tea. It's literally classified as a "casual adventure" game by Obsidian itself.

I don't like it when a game lies to me.

You say the game lies to you, but you're probably just lying to yourself. The description on Steam seems pretty accurate to me:

From Obsidian, this game is a historical narrative-driven game focusing on character development, heavily stylized art, and choice-driven storytelling in early 16th century Bavaria. Players will play as Andreas Maler, a clever illustrator caught up in a series of murders in Tassing and Kiersau Abbey over the course of twenty five years. Players will be responsible for conducting their own investigation to decide the fate of the community, but each decision will have lasting consequences and inexorably draws Andreas closer to the center of an underlying conspiracy.

Experience 16th century Europe as the master artists of the time saw them. Art inspired by great illuminated manuscripts and the earliest printed books becomes a living, breathing world in Pentiment.

Choose different academic and social backgrounds and meet a colorful cast of characters as you discover the stories and secrets that lie within the small Bavarian town of Tassing and nearby Keirsau Abbey.

In an era of great religious and political change, each decision you make can have a profound impact on the community’s future. Find your own way through this turbulent time and see the consequences of your choices play out over generations.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Not having a fixed culprit might be controversial, but I think it works to create an attachment to the story.

It fucking doesn't. What's the point of having a dude waste all his time investigating shit if he can't ever accuse the real suspect. The Magister does this better and it even has combat ffs.

I get that it's not for everyone, but, personally, I can appreciate it in the context of this game.

Pentiment is not about solving complex crimes like a detective. It's about getting immersed in the community of a small Bavarian village and its abbey. Getting a definitive and objective answer from an omniscient narrator after the investigation is out of the scope of the game. I get how this might be too gay for many people on this forum, but it's a very simple narrative game that focuses on the relations between a medium-sized cast of minor characters with many different beliefs and motives. The investigations are just an excuse to get to know these characters, their beliefs, their aspirations, and their secrets. The final decisions are all based on the circumstantial evidence you gathered in your playthrough, and most likely you'll end up pinning the blame on a random scapegoat just to save the suspect with whom you sympathized most.

Again, I get this is not everyone's cup of tea. It's literally classified as a "casual adventure" game by Obsidian itself.

I don't like it when a game lies to me.

You say the game lies to you, but you're probably just lying to yourself. The description on Steam seems pretty accurate to me:

From Obsidian, this game is a historical narrative-driven game focusing on character development, heavily stylized art, and choice-driven storytelling in early 16th century Bavaria. Players will play as Andreas Maler, a clever illustrator caught up in a series of murders in Tassing and Kiersau Abbey over the course of twenty five years. Players will be responsible for conducting their own investigation to decide the fate of the community, but each decision will have lasting consequences and inexorably draws Andreas closer to the center of an underlying conspiracy.

Experience 16th century Europe as the master artists of the time saw them. Art inspired by great illuminated manuscripts and the earliest printed books becomes a living, breathing world in Pentiment.

Choose different academic and social backgrounds and meet a colorful cast of characters as you discover the stories and secrets that lie within the small Bavarian town of Tassing and nearby Keirsau Abbey.

In an era of great religious and political change, each decision you make can have a profound impact on the community’s future. Find your own way through this turbulent time and see the consequences of your choices play out over generations.

Ok, but my impression is that you're enjoying the side benefits of the gameplay which do not serve to resolve the central puzzle that the game is using as its centerpiece.
Like, an investigation is underway and you cannot even crack it? That's a dishonest premise then.

 

[KVVRR]

Eh, ultimately Pentiment is much less a detective game rather than just a history game. All the themes are centered around how people build on top of what came before without ever really being able to fully know what happened back then, how it morphs with time, how it's all remembered. By act 3 the story ditches the detective aspect altogether for better or worse.
I get where you're coming from, it also bothers me there's no option to accurately pinpoint the killer the same way there isn't one in Disco. Pentiment might not stick the landing enough to completely smooth over this railroad the story gives you but it's interesting enough imo that it doesn't ruin the experience either.

 

[Infinitron]

The fact that you don't know for sure who committed the murders in Act 1 and Act 2 has the side effect of intensifying the perceived guilt of the Thread-Puller.

If we could nail the actual murderers with ironclad proof, instead of being left with doubt and wondering whether we sent innocents to their deaths, the Thread-Puller would become a less sinister figure. After all, he's just a dude who sent some notes, he didn't kill anybody!

I don't know if this was by intention, but that's the effect it had.