#everyone should play pentiment | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

corvosdaughter · 6 days

Text

pentiment not giving a definitive answer to the act i and ii mysteries isn't because all the suspects are equally likely to be guilty. i've seen people interpret it that way and then complain that the ending is a copout but like does anyone genuinely think ottilia did it. i know "possibly but uncertainly" is not that far off "equally likely" but i think it's an important distinction to make when it comes to understanding what the game is focused on.

it's not about who were the actual killers, it's not even about the circumstances that make it impossible for that to be known, it's about what made YOU point the finger at someone and the consequences of that choice. did you actually think they were guilty, or were they just an asshole? did you think it was someone else but held your tongue because they deserved to live? what about their age? community standing? did convenience factor into it? alternatively, what would happen if you dirtied someone's name and they were still around years later?

if there was a fixed answer everyone would just get caught up on whether they picked up all the hints and if they were chose the "right" or "wrong" path. that would detract from everything the game is trying to say. as it is, i think people who come away really wanting those mysteries solved, saying "i don't know who it was and therefore i might as well have spun a wheel and not wasted 15 hours to get here" have missed a lot of what it's really about.

#zann talks #pentiment #some complainer did think the ambiguity was commentary on the difficulty in finding justice. which imo IS correct #but i think overall that's a vehicle and therefore secondary to the broader idea that the stories we decide to tell are powerful #so we should have some introspection and consider things carefully cause life (the consequences of your actions) comes at you fast!#sidenote i have seen multiple let's plays of the game. i don't have numbers so it's anecdotal but #at the end of act i everyone is super uncertain about their choice which is almost always ferenc #in act ii people seem more certain of their selection but who it is is more evenly split #idk what that means exactly yet other than act ii really isn't a direct rehash of act i

31 notes · View notes

cakemoney · 7 months

Text

quick announcement I'm tagging pentiment spoilers (just "pentiment spoilers"). not all pentiment posts just posts that i feel like reveal quite a bit. anyway everyone should play it

#pentiment #laughs awkwardly #holds up my baby girl ursula #holds up my baby girl anna #holds up my baby--

8 notes · View notes

raven · 12 hours

Note

what video games would u recommend. based on me seeing ur posts and thinking ur right even though i never know what youre talking about. also i have dogshit taste but i have good taste actually but its bad

OMG

hop on backloggd heres mine and heres my buddy rory's bc they make points too and are generally more serious than me so if you want to be serious u can go there. More under the cut bc i cant shut up 👍

otherwise my pretentious but #real and #true recs that i genuinely think everyone should play are disco elysium, pentiment, and kentucky route zero.

"theyre just good!" - who's lila?, the world ends with you, return of the obra dinn, hylics 2, portal 1&2, ghost trick, outer wilds (however outer wilds may be difficult for whatever reason- i recommend hollow_tones on twitch's streams although she has not streamed the dlc!)

series that have taken over my life for periods of time, for good or ill - dragon age (2 is my fav, all are worth playing, inquisition is dogshit storywise but has good gameplay, centrist liberal writers that make u want to bomb a church (for the record @ fbi this is a reference to the events of one of my favorite characters in the series, not real life. he was justified), ace attorney (1-3 are great with some questionable moments but apollo justice is the best overall game, 5&6 are some of the worst games ive played in my life, and the great ace attorney... exists), and persona (UGH). i can go more in depth about any of these, but i will go more in depth about persona because thats my current disorder and because theyre the most problematic, LOL. but dgmw da and aa are also problematic in many ways

persona - ive posted about it. im realizing i didnt talk about the misogyny in that post because i thought it was well known honestly but like. my god. the misogyny. especially persona 5 royal. dont play 4. or do, bc i need anyone to suffer as i have, but im serious. i feel like whatever people say, its worse. ive also posted about 4.

if you want to lose a week of your life in a "game for 16ish hours, sleep for 8ish hours, repeat" cycle play baldurs gate 3. its a fun game it takes up your time it has great mechanics! do not pay attention to character discourse baby.

if you like good gameplay, play dishonored 1&2

if you don't like good gameplay, play morrowind (this is kind of a joke in that i dont actually think morrowind has bad gameplay, but it still can be tedious.)

if you don't like good gameplay, play the persona 2 duology (this is not a joke, the gameplay in those games are actually bad.)

if you like gameplay, play any katamari game

also gonna plug one of my favorite genres, nonlinear visual novel adjacent games (lots of wordy, story-based segments but there are actual gameplay portions) these games also are not necessarily "good" but they are "fun": 999 (play on DS!!), ai the somnium files (note that this and 999 kind of require a... specific taste with the sexual humor) these games did have sequels but theyre all pretty bad for various reasons but check em out if you enjoyed the originals, paranormasight (one of the best ones in this genre imo), gnosia, 13 sentinels

also i have not hopped on final fantasy 7 (ORIGINAL) but i am about to hop on final fantasy 7 (ORIGINAL). and i am currently struggling against the current playing smt iii nocturne.

also, games that i have not played but interest me storywise and deserve honorable mentions are baroque (not really planning on playing but planning on watching stuff), pathologic classic (played a little and watched a full playthrough years ago, probably will get back to one day), pathologic 2 (never completed), fear and hunger (played for a few hours and decided to watch a playthrough instead), and fear and hunger 2 (not played but planning on playing bc ive heard its a little more user friendly than the original!)

so thats video games.

#thanks i love you i also have dogshit taste but its also good but its bad #and if you play any of these as always you are invited to talk to me about them ^_^

3 notes · View notes

confusedbyinterface · 1 year

Text

Is Pentiment a fair mystery?

I will not totally go into whether you could solve it (if you did, let me know!) but

(Pentiment spoilers follow, like this would blow the whole case open)

Knox's Commandments

"The criminal must be someone mentioned in the early part of the story, but must not be anyone whose thoughts the reader has been allowed to follow." For sure

"All supernatural or preternatural agencies are ruled out as a matter of course." Now here's a tricky one. Definitely while witchcraft comes up in both murders it's pointing to motive, not as a means. The real issue comes with Knox's "Father Brown" complaint: the supernatural shouldn't be used as a red herring because we know it's impossible. And, yes, a player in that mindset (or a rationalist Andreas) would think that of Amelie's visions: they prove she's got a direct connection to the crimes. Maybe I'm a fool but I didn't jump right to it.

"Not more than one secret room or passage is allowable" While technically two (at least), the first I'd say is more part of the evidence for the second. There's a perfectly good reason for the secret passages: the Romans built them and everyone just forgot

"No hitherto undiscovered poisons may be used, nor any appliance which will need a long scientific explanation at the end." I think we all understand how pulleys work

"No Chinaman must figure in the story." In terms of "don't just make the Sinister Foreigner the killer/red herring", for sure. Vaclav, Sebhat, and the Sommerfelds never come under suspicion

"No accident must ever help the detective, nor must he ever have an unaccountable intuition which proves to be right." Aside from Amelie happening to call out (is that even an accident? Let's say it is) or the standard "wow a murder happens every time you show up", no.

"The detective must not himself commit the crime." No he's not guilty he just has depression

"The detective must not light on any clues which are not instantly produced for the inspection of the reader." Nope.

"Watson" Magdalene, possibly?

"Twins" Apollo and Artemis may be mischievous but they aren't killers

Pretty good! The exceptions let both Knox and Pentiment come off well

Now for Van Dine who I expect will fare much worse

"The reader must have equal opportunity with the detective for solving the mystery. All clues must be plainly stated and described." Ok

"No willful tricks or deceptions may be played on the reader other than those played legitimately by the criminal on the detective himself." Yep. The only trick is the culprit directly lying to Andreas to throw him off the scent

"There must be no love interest. The business in hand is to bring a criminal to the bar of justice, not to bring a lovelorn couple to the hymeneal altar." Love is the only reason to do anything in this world, fuck you.

"The detective himself, or one of the official investigators, should never turn out to be the culprit. This is bald trickery, on a par with offering someone a bright penny for a five-dollar gold piece. It is false pretenses." Certainly

"The culprit must be determined by logical deductions—not by accident or coincidence or unmotivated confession. To solve a criminal problem in this latter fashion is like sending the reader on a deliberate wild-goose chase, and then telling him, after he has failed, that you had the object of his search up your sleeve all the time. Such an author is no better than a practical joker." Well, each murder has evidence but never 100% conclusive. As for the ending, they did logically conclude where the thread-puller is

"The detective novel must have a detective in it; and a detective is not a detective unless he detects. His function is to gather clues that will eventually lead to the person who did the dirty work in the first chapter; and if the detective does not reach his conclusions through an analysis of those clues, he has no more solved his problem than the schoolboy who gets his answer out of the back of the arithmetic." 100%, and process of elimination is logical

"There simply must be a corpse in a detective novel, and the deader the corpse the better. No lesser crime than murder will suffice. Three hundred pages is far too much bother for a crime other than murder. After all, the reader’s trouble and expenditure of energy must be rewarded." Oh, far more than one

"The problem of the crime must he solved by strictly naturalistic means. Such methods for learning the truth as slate-writing, Ouija-boards, mind-reading, spiritualistic séances, crystal-gazing, and the like, are taboo. A reader has a chance when matching his wits with a rationalistic detective, but if he must compete with the world of spirits and go chasing about the fourth dimension of metaphysics, he is defeated ab initio." As above, the supernatural is, seen rationally, the central clue to everything

"There must be but one detective—that is, but one protagonist of deduction—one deus ex machina. To bring the minds of three or four, or sometimes a gang of detectives to bear on a problem, is not only to disperse the interest and break the direct thread of logic, but to take an unfair advantage of the reader. If there is more than one detective the reader does not know who his coeducator is. It is like making the reader run a race with a relay team." It all depends on whether you see Magdalene as "the detective", frankly this rule is splitting hairs, if the brains trust is collaborating you get the same benefit as any one of them.

"The culprit must turn out to be a person who has played a more or less prominent part in the story—that is, a person with whom the reader is familiar and in whom he takes an interest." Not only that but you're present at the moment they decide to commit the crime

"A servant must not be chosen by the author as the culprit. This is begging a noble question. It is a too easy solution. The culprit must be a decidedly worth-while person—one that wouldn’t ordinarily come under suspicion." Passes but also fuck you

"There must be but one culprit, no matter how many murders are committed. The culprit may, of course, have a minor helper or co-plotter; but the entire onus must rest on one pair of shoulders: the entire indignation of the reader must be permitted to concentrate on a single black nature." This is a complicated one, I'd say it doesn't pass this rule but it works

"Secret societies, camorras, mafias, et al., have no place in a detective story. A fascinating and truly beautiful murder is irremediably spoiled by any such wholesale culpability. To be sure, the murderer in a detective novel should be given a sporting chance; but it is going too far to grant him a secret society to fall back on. No high-class, self-respecting murderer would want such odds." Definitely passes. The thread-puller has help but isn't some secret society leader

"The method of murder, and the means of detecting it, must be rational and scientific. That is to say, pseudo-science and purely imaginative and speculative devices are not to be tolerated in the roman policier. Once an author soars into the realm of fantasy, in the Jules Verne manner, he is outside the bounds of detective fiction, cavorting in the uncharted reaches of adventure." Again see above.

"The truth of the problem must at all times be apparent—provided the reader is shrewd enough to see it. By this I mean that if the reader, after learning the explanation for the crime, should reread the book, he would see that the solution had, in a sense, been staring him in the face—that all the clues really pointed to the culprit—and that, if he had been as clever as the detective, he could have solved the mystery himself without going on to the final chapter. That the clever reader does often thus solve the problem goes without saying." Oh, absolutely. The visions? The ongoing refusal to do foundation repair? The huge hole? Obvious clues when you know

"A detective novel should contain no long descriptive passages, no literary dallying with side-issues, no subtly worked-out character analyses, no “atmospheric” preoccupations. Such matters have no vital place in a record of crime and deduction. They hold up the action and introduce issues irrelevant to the main purpose, which is to state a problem, analyze it, and bring it to a successful conclusion. To be sure, there must be a sufficient descriptiveness and character delineation to give the novel verisimilitude." Fuck you.

"A professional criminal must never be shouldered with the guilt of a crime in a detective story. Crimes by housebreakers and bandits are the province of the police departments — not of authors and brilliant amateur detectives. A really fascinating crime is one committed by a pillar of a church, or a spinster noted for her charities." Mostly the case though you can easily blame Martin for everything

"A crime in a detective story must never turn out to be an accident or a suicide. To end an odyssey of sleuthing with such an anti-climax is to hoodwink the trusting and kind-hearted reader." They're all definitely killings

"The motives for all crimes in detective stories should be personal. International plotting and war politics belong in a different category of fiction — in secret-service tales, for instance. But a murder story must be kept gemütlich, so to speak. It must reflect the reader’s everyday experiences, and give him a certain outlet for his own repressed desires and emotions." I'd say so. It's a big motive touching on huge forces in the world, but this isn't about imperial or church politics, it's about a small village and how it sees itself.

etcetera. Well, the Martin bit edges against the "no doubles" but that's motive not means. And the letters aren't code, they're a bit cryptic but straightforward.

Surprisingly there was something interesting to say about Van Dine after all. I still don't like him though.

#pentiment #Van Dine #Ronald A Knox #long post

23 notes · View notes

modwyr · 1 month

Text

lrb my list of game recommendations is very long (we all know my feelings re pillars of eternity and that you should play it) but one game i want to recommend to everyone even though i know a lot of people won't gel with it is pathologic cos like. no media has shaped how i looked at things (particularly other games in this instance) as much as pathologic (my opinions on game morality, mechanics and difficulty have for sure been shaped by this series). like i truly believe that it really shows, like pentiment, what games can do as an artistic medium and i do think people should try playing one of the games at least once

#i feel the need to explain why i recommend it (aside from just saying its good)#which is why i didn't say it #but god play pathologic

5 notes · View notes

sallytwo · 10 months

Text

everyones gonna go play pentiment now right. please god. i dont even have to exlain myself you should trust me enough GO PLAY PENTIMENT (2022) BRO!! WHERE ARE MY PENTHEADS !!!

#except for austin austin is exempt fromthis. sorry

7 notes · View notes

valeroyeaux · 5 months

Text

everyone should go play pentiment right now immediately

#i am very normal about this

5 notes · View notes

eatmystardustloser · 1 year

Text

Everyone was all you should play pentiment it's so good. Well, I did. Why did I play this game? To make me sad?

#pentiment

9 notes · View notes

brostateexam · 1 year

Note

video game asks 3 & 5 please <3

3: 1-3 games you’ve played in the past 12 months that you really enjoyed. I am going to try to avoid saying games that everyone already knows about. Like, I played Cyberpunk and I thought it was fun, but whatever lol if you haven't played it by now you probably aren't holding out and waiting for my recommendation. So here are three games I've enjoyed that I think should get some more love:

The Case of the Golden Idol is a logic-based puzzle game with an interconnected story and retro pixel art. It's quite an interesting game, even though the puzzles quickly ramp up in difficulty and you can get left behind if you aren't quick.

Peglin is a really simple game with the premise "what if Peggle was a turn-based RPG?" but it's very well done and surprisingly fun. At this point, the game is quite challenging without being fiendish. I love playing it; very relaxing and quite rewarding.

Pentiment is a whodunnit set in medieval Europe that is also genre-definingly good. The art style in the game, based off of illuminated manuscripts, is also quite beautiful.

5: Game(s) coming out that you’re looking forward to. It's basic, but despite myself, I am looking forward to FFXVI and Persona 6, even though it will likely be years in the latter case. Most of the other flagship series that I'm fond of have been discontinued, but those two soldier on.

Video games asks here.

#asked & answered

3 notes · View notes

quenthel · 1 year

Text

was talking abt misericorde to my mom (its so good everyone should play it NOW) and she got interested in it too esp since she needs to practice english... very exciting for me bc i might be able to get her to play pentiment too...

#quenthel special #maybe her gamer era is upcoming.. again #she used to play so much wolfenstein when she was younger she would dream about it constantly lol #also im like so into this game... i want to devour it im on coffee drink number 7 today i think

5 notes · View notes

precambrianhottopic · 1 year

Text

honestly pentiment isn't even my favorite game of all time that honor goes to portal 2 i just think that everyone forever should play it

#pentiment is like. second to one exactly #and that one is the hot robot lady #but its not well known enough and i personally need to change that #plush.txt

2 notes · View notes

archivalexplorer · 1 year

Text

Pentiment (2022)

She finished a game! I think I’ve finished two games this year Unpacked and now Pentiment. I am notorious for starting and never finishing games (Breath of the Wild stares up at me from the Switch menu every time I boot it up for another go at Dynasty Warriors or Fire Emblem as of late). But when I first saw a trailer for Obsidian’s 16th century side scrolling historical narrative I knew I had to see it through. If only to salvage my reputation to my boyfriend that I have a degree in history whose knowledge hadn’t completely languished over time. Granted I wasn’t in the History of Medieval Europe clique but I was happy to see medieval art and illuminated manuscripts be featured so prominently in a game.

Instead of trying to do a proper review as many have already been done. I just wanted to do a quick trip down memory lane playing this and hopefully persuade someone else to try it out.

First my history, archives, and research loving self is enamored with this blend of my favorite things. I know this isn’t the first game to mix historical topics with video games but most games have you tackling massive topics from a top down perspective. You are in charge of bringing up a civilization from cradle and the others to their graves (Civilization); running the military, political bodies, and economies of empires (Age of Empires, Crusader Kings 3); or something something secret society future tech DNA jumping?? (I apologize to Assassin’s Creed and its’ fans, I’ve only played a few hours of Black Flag and watched that movie with Michael Fassbender). This game has pieces of those larger events happening in the background and they do have impacts on the characters you meet and their situations but there's no amount of trees to chop or stone to mine to fight off the impending drumbeat of war or religious authority.

Besides the intriguing subject matter and art style the promise of narrative choice brought me in initially. Games that claim to have narrative choices seem to branch off into either complex branches of instant replays (Detroit Become Human) or games that give you the illusion of choice but then very obviously admit that your decisions had no impact on any outcomes (insert the picture of the trash can and recycle bin that is actually all just the trash). Pentiment sits in a nice middle ground where the largest pieces of the plot will be discovered no matter what you choose but how much you see your actions or inactions impact other details is yours to explore. What I found a bit frustrating is that the small detail of the ability to condemn a character to death could be based off my choice of who to dine with on any given night.

I also am very much a right fighter in the narrative choice games I play. There is a right and a wrong answer and I need the opportunity to immediately go back and fix my grave errors no matter how small they may seem (Clementine will remember that). This is probably a glimpse into a problem I should bring to therapy but the need to be liked by everyone is strong with me and Pentiment asks you to pick sides constantly and letting you know exactly who you may anger in the process. I related a lot to this review written by Joshua Wolens for PCGamer when he said, “Pentiment is a game about living in failure...not one big mistake but many little ones that built up.” So once I realized there were too many chapters in this story for me to restart at every twinge of guilt, I begrudgingly thought screw it I’ll just be a free spirit and play the game by first instinct. Over time the game rewarded me for following my gut and punished my attempts to people please and backpedal my opinion when I sensed pushback (authority figures are scary so throw in about 15 members of the clergy and I’m useless).

My only issue really with the game was the pacing at times it felt very slow and tedious but again this may have been caused by my need to leave no stone unturned and try to prevent any bad outcome from happening to my new medieval friends (which in reality could have happened at anytime, you know one infected papercut would have done them all in back then.)

I digress, this is a unique and impactful game with lots of talented individuals attached to it. I hope more studios will take chances on games like this.

All the images were taken from the Penitment fankit available on the games website here, also check out some footage from the development team talking about their process and inspiration here

#penitment #obsidian #no spoilers #gaming #medieval #illuminated manuscript #history #video games

3 notes · View notes

vardaaa · 2 years

Text

Hello there! Welcome to the blog!

Hey! I’m Varda (used to go by Seal, old urls were fat-flubber-seal, pomy-granite, and varda-founded-nasa)! My pronouns are she/they. I'm studying aerospace engineering with minors in classics and mechanical engineering. I like to read, crochet, knit, and play video games in my spare time, and I like Tolkien, Star Wars, and the Legend of Zelda a lot. As of January 2023 I am very haunted by the game Pentiment (2022) and I think everyone should go play it right now. Expect random bouts of reblogging about Hector of Troy at any time. I am 18+ but this blog is generally sfw. Incest is definitely a squick for me so I would appreciate it if you would tag any relevant ships!!!

#this is replacing my about me page bc mobile doesn't show it #re: that last part: i'm specifically referring to maedhros/fingon and feanor/fingolfin but again it applies to any incest at all #re: pronouns: yes i identify as a cis girl but pronouns are for you to use and i'm comfy with you using they/them for me

8 notes · View notes

crasherfly · 1 year

Text

Pentiment is the Perfect Story of 2022, But It May Take Years Before We Know It

“This game should never have been made.”

It’s a recurring thought I have as I play the recent Game Pass release from Obsidian. Pentiment is a gem- an experience that rewards a very specific audience who will benefit immensely from having some prior knowledge of history and religion. But for all the special cares this intimate storytelling game takes, its high bar of entry is likely to leave many players out in the cold. Pentiment is a passion project through and through, a revelation for those seeking out the experience of an interactive Ingmar Bergman film, and complete nonsense to those who shirk long dialogue sequences or crave high octane in their gaming experiences.

While you could kindly call the experience a roleplaying game, it is more accurately described as a visual novel in both presentation and gameplay. Some have accused it of lacking any gameplay whatsoever, and I can’t begrudge that opinion. Indeed, there is very little here in the sense of traditional objective based gameplay. Where other mystery narratives like Danganronpa at least included minigames to provide at least the pretense of gameplay, Pentiment can hardly be bothered. As such, you spend a great deal of your time scrolling through dialogue and clicking through arbitrary moments of interaction, such as choosing what order to eat your food at a meal. Especially in its very slow opening, Pentiment can court boredom from even staunch visual novel enthusiasts.

If you’re a bit confused by now as to my stance on Pentiment’s excellence- I’ll come out and just say that I believe Pentiment is one of 2022′s best experiences. It’s certainly one of the best written things I’ve had the pleasure of working through since Disco Elysium. But folks walking into this game ought to know a thing or two about just what it is, as the advertising and distinct art style do little to clarify, and as a result, I’ve heard tell of several folks who have both recognized Pentiment’s potential for brilliance and yet have (understandably) bounced completely off its workmanlike opening chapters.

So what’s Pentiment all about then?

You take on the role of Andreas, an artist in pursuit of his masterpiece. Stationed within an abbey in the Bavarian town of Tassing, the events of Pentiment take place during the early years of the Reformation, a tumultuous era of political and religious upheaval.

In the initial phases of the game you will have the opportunity to dictate your past learning and training which will affect your dialogue and story choices moving forward. Some mysteries will come easily to you- for instance, if you chose a past learning that includes fluency in Latin, a book you find could be easily read by you where it might be unreadable to other players who chose differently. Other dialogue choices might be closed to you entirely- if you know nothing of witchcraft or Roman holidays, it only makes sense your character couldn’t comment on them.

At one point, a farmer you speak with notes that a town is made up of secrets kept for convenience- because bringing the truth about would be a far more painful experience than simply letting things be. Pentiment drives this point home time and time again, begging the player to practice discretion, rewarding careful dialogue exploration with new nuggets of information. As a former college theatre student, it reminded me of the ins and outs of a well-made play of the likes of Eugene O’Neill or Henrik Ibsen. You slowly get to know the town’s many characters- their likes and dislikes, their associates- and their potential for participation in some of the town’s darkest hidden acts.

Your choices hold the most meaning when you are finally tasked with solving a murder in town. Pentiment’s first act provides you with a daunting challenge- you must get to know an entire town while also managing your time. You are provided with a bevy of investigative choices and limited time to act on them. Early on you realize two things- talking to everyone is essential, and the investigative path you follow will often be the one of convenience, rather than the true path of conscience.

The conclusion of your investigation is where Pentiment truly shines. You are warned several times that presenting multiple theories to the local magistrate could hold consequences for everyone, murder conviction or not. I chose to ignore the warnings and presented several options to the magistrate, none of them especially well formed as my first investigation was incredibly scatterbrained. The magistrate chose the presented theory that had the most backing evidence- but that did not spare others from punishment. From administrative punishments to social shunning, the other people I named suffered later on in the story- and held that against me.

While I presumably caught the murderer, Pentiment’s genius stroke is in never congratulating me with a proper confirmed verdict as other courtroom sagas like Phoenix Wright might. There’s never a rain of confetti or a moment where someone out and out confesses to a crime. In Pentiment, justice is doled out based on the best available information- and how conveniently it can be pieced together to tell a damning story of the accused. As such, each act of Pentiment felt less like a crime procedural and more like a human sacrifice. Who would be given up next- and for what reason? It was this ambiguity that hooked me and drove me to play Pentiment to its conclusion- and I dare say I’ll likely play it at least once more before long.

But who is Pentiment for?

I found Pentiment to be the perfect culmination of many things I spent my youth deeply soaked in- Reformation history (I grew up in a Lutheran school), Christian theology (I spent more time in a Christian college talking about such things than I’d like to admit), Roman and Pagan myths and classic stageplays, all of which come together to create a visual novel that defies expectations simply because I can’t imagine there being an audience for this beyond the niche.

The game’s director has admitted that Pentiment is a passion project. As a former artist, myself, I can relate to the sentiment behind creating something that you care deeply about while knowing it might not be for everyone. As such, I imagine it will be a few years before Pentiment catches fire and gets the mainstream recognition it deserves. But I do believe it will happen eventually.

Despite the heady conversations on God, church law, the writings of Martin Luther and many other things that an audience is unlikely to have prior exposure to, there are enough common ground moments to serve as footholds. Themes such as class struggle, gender equality, secularism, sexuality and openness (the story refreshingly does not pretend gay people simply did not exist in the Reformation) and civil unrest (there is a jarring sequence that takes place after a riot where various villagers argue over the truth of the revolt, with one villager solemnly stating “one thing is certain- it happened- and we must not forget that it did”- sound familiar to anyone??) will remain relevant for years to come, and someday folks may just come to the conclusion that Pentiment was the perfect story for 2022, even if many of us didn’t quite realize it at the time.

1 note · View note