The narrative-driven, historical adventure game Pentiment is coming out soon — it’s coming to Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass next week, so we reached out to Obsidian Entertainment to find out more…
Pentiment is coming to Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass in just a few days and promises to be an intriguing and complex adventure in 16th-century Bavaria. We have reached out to Obsidian Entertainment to confirm the details. Director Josh Sawyer kindly answered our questions.
What is Pentimen?
Pentiment is a narrative historical adventure game set in 16th century Bavaria. In development by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Xbox Game Studios.
Sawyer has already explored a variety of game genres, but with Pentiment in particular, I wondered how he decided to focus on a narrative-driven historical adventure. “I think narrative adventure games are better suited for smaller teams. and we use art, animation and audio to tell that story,” explains Sawyer. “Besides the font feature, the mini-games are the biggest investment in features. Obsidian is known for their RPGs, but I decided to shift my focus to this particular game.”
When will Pentimen go on sale?
Pentiment launches next week, November 15th.
Is Pentiment included in Xbox Game Pass?
Yes! Pentiment will be available from day one on Xbox Game Pass, which Sawyer calls “awesome.” Available on Game Pass. In many ways, my conception of this game was tied to what it was intended for Game Pass. “
what is it about?
As Sawyer explains in the What the World Is Like section, sixteenth-century Europe was a turbulent time of religious and political upheaval.according to Pentiment Xbox Store Page, “Each decision you make can have a huge impact on the future of your community.” Among them are our own stories. As illustrator Andreas Muller, we somehow find ourselves caught up in a series of murders, and for over 25 years, we’ve been investigating these events with the future of our community on our shoulders. Different backgrounds can be chosen, such as Andreas’ lifestyle, and these decisions seem to make for an even more complicated story.
Spanning Pentiment for 25 years and different generations was an interesting decision, and we thought about how this epic scope would affect the momentum of the story. It’s been a long time,” says Sawyer. “Most role-playing games take place over weeks or months and span large geographies. I thought it would be interesting The story is told in three distinct periods, moving forward many years each time, giving the player a chance to see how the characters and the landscape itself have changed in between. It can be done and it’s exciting to see it.”
How does Pentimento play?
So, Pentiment is set over 25 years, and we know there are three key periods, and jumps of years in between each. Choices and decisions are key. For example, decisions about Andreas’ background. “Andreas has several different background categories for him, based on his personal history,” Sawyer begins. He’s always been an artist from Nuremberg, but you can choose where he spent his Wanderjahre (journeyman’s “wandering years”), what subjects he studied at university (in case you’re wondering, he dropped out to join the family business). I’m back… ), and the lifestyle he pursues (e.g. hedonist vs. bookworm). These backgrounds affect Andreas’ dialogue options, but as Sawyer warns, “choosing options unlocked by background is not always a good thing. Some of these options are , can be jarring or seem ‘know it all’, which can negatively affect your ability to convince your characters at key moments in the story. ” We never know what the future holds for our community, so we can see how the consequences of our choices change over time.
In addition to decision-making, another important part of Pentiment’s gameplay is interacting with characters and uncovering the intrigues of their world. “Andreas spends most of his time exploring Tussing, Killsau Abbey, the surrounding forest, and talking to the characters,” says Sawyer. “We also tried to include many unique mini-games to immerse the player in the world and break up the gameplay. Sawyer also touched on Pentiment’s gameplay. Tweet; after assuming that Pentiment might resemble Disco Elysium, Sawyer said: I have a lot of respect for what his Disco Elysium did, but I don’t want people to think that Pentiment all plays the same way. “
what does the world look like?
As Andreas of Pentiment, we explore the town of Tussing, nearby Killsau Abbey, and the surrounding forest. with its gorgeous and striking art style inspired by the game’s unique setting. “I have to give credit to her director, Hannah Kennedy,” Sawyer said of the game’s bold, eye-catching look. “I gave her the basic idea of combining late medieval manuscript illustrations with early modern woodcuts to create a unique visual style. I wanted to evoke that, and I think Hannah did a great job of synthesizing new styles from historical examples.”
Within the great scope of medieval history, Pentimento is located in 16th-century Europe, specifically in the town of Tussing in the Bavarian Alps. “I studied early modern European history in college, with a particular focus on witch hunts in the Holy Roman Empire, so this is an area of interest to me,” says Sawyer. “It’s a conflict-filled transitional period, so it’s fascinating to me.” “It’s embodied in some of the personal and social conflicts that erupt in the story,” continues Sawyer. “Martin Luther unwittingly initiated what would later become the Reformation in 1518. As Bavaria was (and continued to be) the stronghold of Catholicism, there was strong resistance to the spread of Luther’s ideas. Shortly thereafter, the Revolution of 1525 (also known as the German Peasants’ War) broke out: Swabian peasants organized to protest the treatment of them by their lords. It didn’t gain much momentum in neighboring Bavaria, but the Tassing peasants, inspired by the news of the peasant uprising in Salzburg, launched their own protests.”
Any news on Pentiment’s achievements?
We don’t have any Pentiment achievements yet, but Sawyer explained the team’s approach to achievement design. “Some developers have the mentality that achievements should be designed specifically for achievement hunters, while others want something a little more organic and less structured around metagame strategy. Designing achievements is difficult because there are so many people,” he begins. “Because I’m in the latter camp, achievements are more reflective of a player’s individual path through the game.” Interestingly, Sawyer said: I think the tradeoff is that if a player does his 1 run, the outcome reflects that choice. Our achievement he achieved 100%, who has played the game several times. “
Choices seem so important to the Pentiment experience that I wondered if they would show achievements associated with various different choices. “Yes, of course,” says Sawyer. “Most notably, the person accused of murder can change from playthrough to playthrough (and only one person can be found guilty in a run). You don’t have enough time to play the game and you may be locked out of certain events that become available the next time you play the game.”
So what do you think? Will you be playing the first day Pentiment releases to Xbox Game Pass on his November 15th?And if the wait these days is feeling daunting, here’s what Tom thinks with his Pentiment hands-on. You can check whether Let us know what you think in the comments. Also, don’t forget to check out our full list of additions to Game Pass in 2022 and beyond!
