‘Pentiment’ May Be 2022’s Best Game You’ve Never Heard Of

Do you like playing an artist in the 16th century? If I told you that the game had no voice-over, unfurled its narrative in slowly-rendered text, and that as the artist, all you had to do was illustrate an abbey's manuscript, would that convince you? It sounds like a sleepy day. It could be a contender for game of the year.

While it sounds like a root canal, Pentiment is actually so quirky and different that it is a welcome reprieve in the age of loud and big games. You are playing as an artist who works for an abbey. He is trying to solve a murder. You change the narrative by taking actions in his shoes. Who will you eat with? Which one are you following? Whose secrets are you going to reveal in order to figure this out?

It's not like your idea of a hoot, but if you argue with a prior about Martin Luther and figure out if removing a crucifix will bring the Inquisition to town, it's a good time. Especially for historians.

There are quirky and strange games every now and then. You can find out how many niche titles there are by browsing through the catalog. Pentiment is not a small time game. It is a product of the same studio that created The Outer Worlds. It feels like a game from a major studio shouldn't be possible. It is wonderful and yet here it is.

Andreas doesn't get a definitive answer as to what happened with that murder It is up to you to present your best impression, but there is no guarantee. The choices you make in the first part of the game affect the choices you make in the second part.

The narrative design is one of the reasons the game is so enjoyable. You can tell the kind of person you are talking to from the type of script they use on the screen. If the different fonts are difficult to read, you can turn this off. It makes the whole thing feel like you are making a contribution to history.

Questions about history, art, and literature are asked in the game. What is his role as an artist. Is it to satisfy his client or to create his own piece of artwork? When printing presses were making work like Andreas obsolete, it made you think about the whole nature of art and how that influences our understanding of history.

In this way, pentiment is a piece of art about the nature of art itself. It is a beautiful game that makes you think about the past and the present. It was an entertaining whodunit that kept me interested in it for a long time.

It's there. Do you still think I'm right?