GB Feature: Pentiment Review

Obsidian Entertainment’s Pentiment promises a historical narrative-driven adventure focusing on character development, heavily stylized art, and choice-driven storytelling in early 16th century Bavaria. And even though it may be lacking certain qualities you’d expect from an RPG, considering it was directed by Josh Sawyer, we simply had to check it out. Which now brings us to our latest four-page review:

Moreover, it can be hard to predict how your actions will end up affecting Tassing and its inhabitants in the long run. And with the way the game is structured, you’ll get plenty of opportunities to face the consequences of your choices.

On the more gamey side of things, this also results in a system where people remember their interactions with you, so when you have to pass a persuasion check with them, all your previous actions are taken into account along with your character’s skills.

And the great thing about this is that you never know if and when you’ll need to persuade any particular character, or what this check will be concerning, making it pretty much impossible to metagame your interactions, at least during your first playthrough. And this, in conjunction with the game’s frequent autosave system, leads to organic playthroughs where chances are, you won’t succeed at everything you do. And this makes Pentiment very much a game.