*represents my personal rating of the game from my experience, not as an objective critique

Since jumping into Pentiment earlier this month (or even before that, if you were hyped for it, as I wask, many of us have had differing experiences. Here is some feedback from a recent post inquiring about experiences with the game:

"I had a great time with it when I played it . The dialogue and the different twists was really enjoyable. Ended up giving it to a friend as a Christmas present. She reported back that she is loving it"

• u/kyuuish

I regret all my choices!

• u/niakori

My save file got corrupted half way into act three causing me to have to replay the whole act. I couldn’t put any more hours into repeating it. Looked up the ending instead. Did not see that twist coming!

• u/MagicMurse1

As for myself, I played Pentiment months ago - on release day. I am a diehard Obsidian Entertainment fan since jumping into one of my first RPGs: *Fallout: New Vegas". So when I heard the director behind that game (and many others I've enjoyed) was making a historical narrative game he's always wanted to create, I had to play it.

I'll admit, at first I was off-put by the art style, but not long into my playthrough I came to love it. Same with the scritching sound of quill on paper. At first, hated it, but after a while it became part of the Pentiment experience.

For those unaware, Pentiment is the latest release by Obsidian Entertainment. Makers of Grounded, Outer Worlds, Pillars of Eternity and the aforementioned Fallout: New Vegas. It is a 2D "Illustrated Manuscript" narrative RPG. You play as Andreas Maler, a journeyman artist in mid 1500's Germany, who finds himself in the middle of a murder mystery. The game itself features a lot of reading - A LOT of reading, and decision making, as you deduce the culprits behind murders throughout decades of time in the story of the small village of Kiersau Abbey.

My playthrough was almost entirely on my mobile device through Xbox Game Pass' Cloud Streaming service. I used both touch controls, and a connective controller (Razer Kishi). My first point to make about Pentiment ...

...it plays supremely well as a mobile-based game. Being able to load up Pentiment over mobile data and play for 20 minutes on my break at work made the game easily digestible in moderate portions. This, for me, was a godsend of a game, as it came during the Christmas shopping peak season of the transportation/delivery industry in which I work. Sometimes a work break is all the gaming I got in those weeks. Anyways, back to the game...

Pentiment shines brightly in almost all facets of its creation. There's a reason it scored a 10/10 on game journalism outfits like IGN; but Pentiment isn't for everyone.

Pentiment is almost a visual novel, a genre that's not for everyone. Pentiment is also a historical piece, a style that is also not for everyone. Pentiment has no combat or skill-based obstacles, again - not for everyone.

Yet for those to whom Pentiment resonates with, it generally seems to resonate strong. For those to whom it doesn't click with, from what I've gathered it tends to be abandoned before the first murder gets fully underway.

First, let's begin with the art style, which is "illuminated manuscripts". The game feels like it's being pulled right out from that time, and includes these aesthetic choices in every way possible (including unique fonts for each individual). It was a design choice that could have been done poorly, but Pentiment blends the art style well with the time period the game is set in.

One thing I loved about Pentiment while playing through it, was the option to access a word's meaning by briefly pulling the "camera" off the page of the game to show context behind certain words and phrases and people important to the game's narrative.

The narrative of Pentiment is typical Obsidian master class - who are known for their character driven writing. The only problem here is the sheer volume of writing there was. Let it be known, I love reading, and I enjoy good character interaction. But there was SO MUCH reading to be done between characters, I found myself, at times, just skimming through conversations. It was at these times, I'd usually turn the game off for a bit to take a break.

At times, however, when playing the game in preparation for writing this amateur review, it felt more like I was reviewing a visual novel than a video game. Don't get me wrong, Pentiment is a game, between the Character build choices, quick time events and autonomy when selecting how to approach the mystery, you have a game there. Still, a lot of Pentiment seems more like a good book with an accompanying set of interactive art pieces with it.

This isn't a bad thing, per se, but it does live near that line of almost-not a game, IMO.

The downside of this, however, came in the form of replayability. Pentiment is almost very replayable, and the game seemingly begs to be replayed (since you can't pursue every lead, and you never truly know who committed the deed when you make a choice). Yet, a lot of replaying the game is like reading large swaths of a book you've already read. WHICH IS GREAT...when you've had some time to pine for a re-read. While there is joy to be found in a back to back re-reading of a good book, it's usually just to catch the hidden clues to the narrative's end (which works for Pentiment btw). However, for those interested in experiencing new parts of Pentiment on a replay, you'll need to slog through a lot of already-read dialogue and walk through already-viewed sceneries.

In my playthrough of Pentiment I encountered a bug where I could've leave a particular room, and my auto-saves we're all contained within this building. I was halfway(ish) through Act 2, and having found no solution to my woe, I was forced to restart. I had barely gotten to the Abbey in Act 1 when I decided I can't replay this, I just can't, and put the game down. In the end, I watched a Let's Play on YouTube of a gamer who picked a similar background to me all the way to the end. In this way, Pentiment ended up being a visual novel for me.

I recognize the uniqueness of my experience and so won't judge the game based on the bug/glitch I experienced, but it did lead me to discovering the game was not as easily replayable (in consecutive playthroughs, that is) as it seems.

Overall there's not a lot of negative things to say about Pentiment. Anything "bad" I could say would be chopped up as "this just isn't my game". Other issues are small, specific moments, and can't really be said to be an overall game design issue.

I give Pentiment an 8/10, not objectively, but subjectively. Because of (1) my bug/glitch which ruined the gameplay, and (2) for its long-winded moments. But it's among these issues that I still give it, I'd say, a great score.

If you enjoy narrative games, and good writing, especially historical pieces. Pentiment might be for you :)