Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Pentiment review: Xbox’s big 2022 exclusive appraises its own legacy

A bonfire rages on during a Tassing celebration in Pentiment.
Pentiment
MSRP $19.99
“Pentiment impresses with its amazing dialogue, intriguing themes, and gorgeous visuals.”
Pros
  • Every playthrough feels personal
  • Amazing dialogue
  • Relatable themes
  • Educational and entertaining
  • Illuminated manuscript-inspired visuals
Cons
  • Frequent loading
  • In need of an auto-advance option

All eyes will be on Pentiment this fall — but not necessarily for the right reasons. Although the modest game is just a small side passion project from Josh Sawyer (director of critically acclaimed games like Fallout: New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity), the delays of Redfall and Starfield mean that the game now has the high-pressure honor of being Microsoft’s only first-party game release of fall 2022. The creative ideas Sawyer was trying to express, and potentially the game’s legacy, will be defined by an unfortunate market position.

It’s fitting, then, that Pentiment is a narrative adventure game about the unexpected expectations and legacies placed upon art. The concept of the “death of the author” plays a major role throughout the game’s narrative, as art is ultimately given meaning by those who experience it. Although Pentiment might not be consumed in the most ideal way as it gets reduced to a piece of ammo in the never-ending console war, the game itself is a special work of fiction that’s worth engaging with outside of its circumstantial release.

Pentiment is a well-written adventure with an absolutely stunning art style and choice-based narrative that engages players in ways genre leaders like Telltale never quite did. Because of Sawyer’s vision and how this game was released, there will never be another game quite like it.

AP European History, visualized

As a high schooler enrolled in AP European History back in the day, I was fascinated by the Middle Ages. The Renaissance had yet to arrive, but religious reformation and more personal, creative art were emerging. It’s an exciting period of human history but an era that games rarely explore, as medieval fantasy is more widely appealing. Lucky for me, Pentiment nestles itself right in that period of history in both its story and art.

Pentiment takes place over several years in the 16th century, following journeyman Andreas Maler. He initially works on illuminated manuscripts for the Kiersan Abbey religious institution in the small Holy Roman Empire town of Tassing, but he soon finds himself forced to investigate the murders of individuals important to the town. During the game’s nine-hour, three-act run, Pentiment highlights how a town, its people, its religion, and its art change with time.

A Pentiment player chooses Andreas' background while speaking to Lorenz.

As someone who recently moved back to somewhere I used to live, I could personally relate to that idea. Unlike my situation, though, Andreas’ choices heavily influence what happens in Tassing over time. This is even demonstrated in subtler ways: I let a young girl steal Andreas’ hat in one of the game’s earlier acts, and in the final one, I saw her child wearing it as she reflected on her history as a thief. While Pentiment is a point-and-click adventure game that initially gives off tonal vibes similar to King’s Quest, it isn’t a puzzle-based game. Instead, it’s more of a narrative adventure game.

From the start, players choose information about Andreas’ background and personality that help inform his dialogue options (largely where and what he studied) while trying to solve the mystery of each murder, Andreas must travel around Tassing, speaking to townsfolk and performing tasks for them in order to learn more. This often comes in the way of conversation, where players must deftly choose their dialogue choices as they can impact a character’s decisions immediately afterward or years in the future — they might even result in a death sentence for a resident.

For example, my version of Andreas went to law school, so I could help a character I wanted to get information from prove that their land had no right to be seized by someone else. In turn, they gave me valuable information in solving one of the murders. The nonplayable characters in Tassing speak and behave like real people, and change over time based on what happens. This means Andreas’, and in turn, the player’s choices always have real, palpable consequences.

Pentiment does an excellent job of making my journey feel natural, with results that directly reflect my dialogue and action choices.

There’s no way to get through Pentiment without angering or offending somebody in Tassing — a young thief named Martin hated Andreas for the rest of the game after I called him out for being lazy during the opening act — but you might also learn some bits of information that many other players won’t. That’s partially because of the time management aspect, which channels a bit of Persona 5. Andreas can only do so much in a single day, so players must methodically decide how they want to spend the time as they can’t learn everything during a single playthrough. When choosing actions for the day, players are progressing Andreas’ investigation, gathering key evidence, and ultimately deciding who is punished for each crime. This setup perfectly pairs with the choice-driven narrative adventure setup, making the players’ journey feel even more personal since they must choose what to do.

Oftentimes in choice-driven games, it can feel like you’re missing out on huge swaths of content and not getting the whole experience without several replays. While I know there are details I missed in Pentiment, the game does an excellent job of making my journey feel natural, with results that directly reflect my dialogue and action choices. You can still replay it to see scenes you missed the first time, but it always feels like you’re getting a complete story from start to finish.

Death of the author

While it’s a murder mystery on the surface, Pentiment‘s fundamental themes are about the impact of art. It highlights how artists are compelled to create and establish their legacy through their work, but time ultimately dictates that legacy, proving the “death of the author” perspective true. Art inherits the meaning people give it. Pentiment also has a key twist that helps redefine the game, something I’ve only gotten out of Immortality and God of War: Ragnarok this year.

Aedoc speaks to Andreas in Pentiment.

Pentiment is a clearly personal project for Sawyer, who is reflecting on his career as a game developer of some iconic and highly influential games. At the same time, it doesn’t feel like a self-aggrandizing puff piece, as it shows the shortcomings and ignorance of artists and is just as interested in preserving a culture not often portrayed in media. Tassing and its religious Kiersau Abbey institution may be fictional, but the game packs in timely references and features a glossary full of historical and religious figures, places, and terms so players can gain a greater appreciation for its setting. Pentiment makes you feel smart while playing it; this is the most I’ve learned about this time in European history since that AP Euro class.

Pretty presentation

Pentiment’s story becomes even more memorable because of its fantastic visuals. Its style is based on medieval art found in illustrations and woodcarvings that Andreas himself would work on. We aren’t at the realism of the Renaissance yet; body and facial proportions differ from character to character, while color and vibrancy are emphasized over realistic lighting and depth. The distinct style also helped me memorize the layout of Tassing by the end of the first act, and unique fonts for many of its citizens help make individual characters stand out.

Andreas is in his memory palace in Pentiment.

Like its setting, this art style is wholly unique to Pentiment. By being purposefully imperfect, it’s gorgeous. Every frame of this game looks like it could be an actual drawing from that time, and some shot framings even reference real paintings. Those who appreciate art history and love games with a distinct visual look won’t find anything else that looks as unique as Pentiment.

While the visual presentation is outstanding, it does cause some pacing issues. Each part of the town in Tassing is its own painted image, so there’s lots of loading (in the form of literal page-turning) as Andreas walks from one part of town to another. It’s a novel trick at first but can be a slog later on as players have to venture from one side of the village to another with several quick loads in between.

Pentiment may be a smaller game on a much bigger stage than it was intended for, but it’s using the opportunity effectively.

You’ll also be reading a lot of dialogue in Pentiment, and it’s a bit cumbersome to get through. While an “Easy Read Fonts” accessibility option makes the game more palatable for those who can’t read or understand ligatures and historical lettering, players must manually click through each sentence. Not only that, but each textbox is animated, so players have to sit through letters being inked into a bubble even if they skip forward. I would greatly appreciate an auto-advance option for NPC dialogue in a future update, as it’d put off my impending carpal tunnel syndrome for a bit longer.

But there’s so much to love in Pentiment that those minor annoyances are worth muscling through. Pentiment is a wonderful game that tells a thematically poignant story that anyone who likes to create will empathize with. It avoids narrative adventure game trappings by making each experience feel wholly yours and encouraging multiple playthroughs.

Andreas paints in Pentiment.

Pentiment may be a smaller game on a much bigger stage than it was intended for, but it’s using the opportunity effectively. In fact, it’s all the more enjoyable for that. Although people will likely remember it more for its release positioning than the quality of the experience itself, it lives up to the challenge of being the only major Xbox first-party release this fall. More fittingly, it sets a high bar for the creative side projects that could come from various Xbox Game Studios developers in the future. Andreas would be proud.

Digital Trends reviewed Pentiment on PC via a Steam build provided by Microsoft.

Editors' Recommendations

Microsoft pledges to bring Xbox PC games to Nvidia GeForce Now
geforce-now-og-no-text-1200x630

Microsoft has announced a 10-year partnership with Nvidia aimed at bringing Xbox PC games to its cloud gaming service competitor Nvidia GeForce Now as part of its ongoing efforts to win over companies skeptical of its potebtial Activision Blizzard acquisition.
This means that players can use Nvidia GeForce Now to play the Steam, Epic Games Store, or Windows versions of titles like Halo Infinite, Redfall, and eventually, Call of Duty through the cloud on GeForce Now. Third-party publishers with games on the Windows Store can also now grant streaming rights to Nvidia. This announcement came during a European Commission hearing where Microsoft tried to convince regulators that its impending acquisition should bne allowed.
Microsoft has been under a lot of regulatory scrutiny even since it announced its intent to acquire Activision Blizzard in January 2022. It's trying to win over industry peers with deals like this one with Nvidia. This week, the Communications Workers of America voiced its approval of the deal, and Microsoft has signed a binding agreement to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo platforms as well. Previously, Nvidia had raised concerns about Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition, but the press release announcing this agreement states that the deal "resolves Nvidia's concerns," and that Nvidia now gives "full support for regulatory approval of the acquisition." 
Regulatory bodies in the U.S., U.K., and Europe are worried that Microsoft acquiring Activision Blizzard will hurt the game industry and sabotage Microsoft's competitors in both console and cloud gaming. Nvidia GeForce Now is seen as one of the biggest competitors to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate's cloud service offerings, which makes it surprising that it reached an agreement with Nvidia. However, this deal also demonstrates how Microsoft is willing to make concessions so that its acquisition of Activision Blizzard is approved.

Read more
The best skills to buy first in Atomic Heart
Player character electrocuting AI robots in Atomic Heart.

Atomic Heart might look like a straightforward first-person shooter at a glance, but this action-packed adventure is actually a bit deeper than it initially seems. You'll spend a lot of time collecting resources throughout your adventure to upgrade weapons, craft much-needed healing items, and even invest in skill trees that will grant you a variety of new abilities and enhance the ones you already have. That last point is very important, too, especially in the early part of the game as you learn the ins and outs of Atomic Heart's combat. In this guide, we'll tell you the best skills to buy first to make things a bit easier on you in the opening hours.
Wild Boar

Wild Boar can be found in the Character skill tree. This skill does exactly what you'd expect from simply looking at the icon – it increases your total health by a decent amount. This won't make a significant difference to how much damage you can take, but it might just be enough extra health to save you from a sticky situation. Atomic Heart can be a pretty challenging game unless you bump it down to the easiest setting, so it's always better to be safe than sorry.
Morning Exercise

Read more
The best Hogwarts Legacy mods
A wizard riding Thomas the train engine.

In many ways, mods are a lot like magic. With a few magic words, players can change Hogwarts Legacy into something completely new, or simply adjust different aspects to better fit their needs or desires. However, just like magic, not everyone knows how to do this themselves, but thankfully modders are more than willing to share their work with the masses. Whether you're looking to improve performance, make the game more accessible, or simply have a laugh, here are 10 of the best mods for Hogwarts Legacy and how to install them.
How to install Hogwarts Legacy mods
Modding for Hogwarts Legacy is only really available for the PC version, and is most easily done through the popular Nexus Mod Manager. This safe, reliable tool allows you to browse, download, and apply mods with ease. After you download the manager, you simply need to save the mod of your choice, run the installer, go through the installation, and run the game with the mod. For a more detailed tutorial on how to do this, see the Nexus Mods tutorial or watch the video below.

how to download mods from Nexusmods (EASY) 2021 ??
Best mods for Hogwarts Legacy
Ascendio
Hogwarts Legacy FPS Hotfix MOD / Improve the current stuttering

Read more