Damn, what a great story! Lots of twists and turns as well as following the lives of the townfolk and getting up to no good in the Bavarian Alps. Also pet a lot of different animals and look at weeds.

Sure I got a lot of people killed but what can you do when you trust an investigation to some idiot like me.

Historical murder mystery set around the end of the middle ages in Europe with a lot of wordy dialogue around religion, art, literacy and the changing of times.
It's represented to look like a living manuscript of the time with a heavy emphasis on typography as fonts match the background and situation of each character.

The game being a very old-school point and click adventure mechanically is a mixed bag. I suppose it might have some retro appeal. Walking around the world can become slow and tedious when it shouldn't need to. That's my main gripe with the game: the mechanics of playing it aren't great outside of dialogue sequences.

Highly recommended to anyone interested in a historical story of that time period especially if you find the visual look appealing or have interest in typography. This medieval manuscript look doesn't come up in popular media often.
As Pentiment is available in many languages it might be more refreshing to someone less familiar with the subject matter. I'm seeing a lot of Chinese and Korean user reviews but it seems improved fan translations are recommended for many languages.

I wish the game made more use of background music and single screen setpieces instead of the usual quiet scrolling areas. Both are still there for flavor at key moments and the sound effects are great. I'm happy something like this exists.

Pentiment is a nice interactive novel with lovely graphics and an intriguing setting. The story is interesting, but it is the story: There is a single story with a single outcome that you can't influence. The game's description is wrong when it says that "Players will be responsible for conducting their own investigation to decide the fate of the community". The community's fate is preordained, you cannot avert the pre-scripted tragedies that will happen to it.

You do have choices, and they can make characters happy or unhappy and help or prevent you from advancing side quests. But you can't change the overall outcome. You cannot even discover the solution of the overall Big Mystery; instead, you kind of stumble into it and then have everything revealed to you in a wall of text.

While you do also make choices that get people killed, the game even robs you of most of the moral ambiguity that is involved in these choices. Very annoyingly, no matter whom you accuse and get killed based on whatever flimsy reasoning in Acts 1 and 2, in the end the Thread-Puller reveals that these were indeed the actual killers. I fretted about these choices, but this fretting was invalidated by the game. It would have been much better if the writers had decided who the real killers were, and in the end told me "ha ha, you got the wrong persons killed". That single-line dialogue change, all by itself, would make the game much more interesting to replay.

Like other critical commenters, I also generally disliked the railroading, and the fact that you are working against the in-game clock and are repeatedly forced to do things that advance game time. This makes it impossible to solve most of the side quests in a single playthrough. That is probably by design, intended to make the game more fun to replay. But that presumes that the game is fun enough to replay at all. To me it feels like a few side quests and "maybe if I change this one choice, something else will happen after I wade through the next ten hours of the game" do not warrant replaying the whole thing.

A rare 10/10, truly shows how storytelling in video games can be an art form.

Stick with the introduction, and it just blooms to be a great story.

I felt quite overwhelmed with at the beginning, with so many people and classes to keep up with. But, as you move on with the story, you get accustomed to the place and people alongside the MC. I seriously felt like I was a part of the town and it hurt me to see "my friends" die in various ways.

I really like that everything you say has an impact on your relationship with the person you're talking with. Not picking options for the sake of it. You see the outcome of your actions in relationships.

No lie, at the final arc, I felt a bit put off with the "change" and I believe the final great outcome could have been a bit different, but I believe the journey outshone the ending. I'll definitely replay it sometime later.

As a side note, soundtracks are amazing. But I also wish there was a multiple save option alongside the auto-save. There are times that I just want to reload and play from, or even just for the achievement collecting.

Pentiment is, quite frankly, an underdog. I’ve heard the name of this game a few times before, but not with the context that it’s among some of the best written games of all time. Now when I’m going out of my way to read more about people’s opinions on this game, the most apt selling point is “It’s Disco Elysium, but in the middle ages.” At least in terms of quality, as the two games don’t actually have that much in common. This should be unsurprising though, as the game is developed by Obsidian, which is known for stellar story telling. I had just remained ignorant of this information for far too long.

Look, there are a bunch of beautifully written reviews on this game already from people much smarter than me, so I don’t see a reason to attempt to convey the same ideas but to lesser effect. People have talked about its historical accuracy, its attention to detail with its typography and art, the philosophical discussion surrounding language, communication, and the written word and how that connects us to our ancestors and the growth of our society. Honestly, just take some time out of your day to read some reviews after finishing this game and you’ll find that it has affected people in a myriad of ways.

For me, I enjoyed the opportunity to learn. I liked immersing myself in this culture, breaking bread with the people of *Tassing* to better understand their thoughts and experiences during that time period, while observing the type of food they ate that reflected their way of life I loved the moments where the camera zoomed out for a big scene, like when Big Jorg gives a speech in the tavern, and the setting looked like a gorgeous, detailed medieval painting — a slice of life showing people leaning on rails with a beer in their hands, children standing on top of tables while the mother is chiding them to get down, the alcoholic doctor sneering and leaning away from everyone else at his table who are smiling and sharing food. I cannot understate how significant of an undertaking this game is and how perfect it turned out.

If you’re like me and your mood on gaming is fickle, then maybe you might have the same experience I did initially. I started the game, realized it involved a lot of reading, and decided I’d play something else. I do this a lot, as I typically want to be in the right state of mind to experience a video game. So when I felt like I just wanted to chill and do some reading, I came back to this game, and thank god I did. So don’t forget about this game, play it someday when the time is right, and the experience will remain in your mind forever.

Excellent intro to the High Renaissance and Reformation. Delightful art and story. 10/10

For a game that soley relays on story, story is not good half good. Games story starts of good but gose to became more boring with every playing minute. in first two acts u try to find murderer of two people but game never give u chance to go thru all leads you have and makes u choose with little info. 3rd act is retelling of first two acts till its end and when it explain whats was happening all along. End of the story makes little sense and makes you mad because u never hade ability to solve murders that were happening.

On the surface, Pentiment is a medieval murder mystery, but the deeper you're willing to go, the more you'll be rewarded. Click on the red words, and you'll dig into history a bit at a time.

By traversing its streets and getting to know its people, you won't just be chasing a case but experiencing the connections between all things. Because the game isn't about one truth but all truths. It questions how and why we create facts and beliefs, history and knowledge. It shows us how much of what we believe is as mutable and fallible as we are. This doesn't mean the pursuit of truth is worthless. Quite the contrary, as Pentiment will show you if you persist.

If you want to get the most out of this game, give yourself over to it. Admire the visual art. Let its people charm and frustrate you. Dare to care about them and their lives. Stop and enjoy the music from time to time. As you make your way through, remember: Pentiment isn't built around one person or crime, but around stories - the tales we weave to explain the world, reckon with our lives, and shape the future. If you get stuck, look around. Look up a solution, if need be. But no matter what, keep going until the final credits roll. Only then can you truly decide what the game has been for you.

And to my fellow bratans wandering shell-shocked after finishing Disco Elysium: This game is the one you're looking for. Or, more accurately, it's been waiting for you.

https://www.dnd.kismetrose.com/ReviewofPentiment.html

Incredible