Pentiment review – role-playing in the Dark Ages-Nick Gillett-Entertainment – Metro

Pentiment – whodunnit? (pic: Microsoft)

The creators of Fallout: New Vegas and The Outer Worlds present a very different kind of medieval themed role-playing game.

Tolkien has inspired so much in the world of role-playing games, but it doesn’t always have to be about elves and dragons. There are plenty of role-playing titles that eschew those somewhat predictable trappings, from the post-apocalyptic detritus of the Fallout series to Golf Story, which splices role-playing elements with Donald Trump’s favourite sport. Role-playing games are a lot more varied than their reputation sometimes suggests, but until now there’s been nothing quite like Pentiment.

Set during the 16th century in Tassing, a fictional Alpine village, you play Andreas, a visiting artist working at the abbey’s scriptorium, where books, religious texts, and illuminated manuscripts are diligently copied by hand. While there is a newly founded printer in town, the work of writing and illustrating is still mostly done by hand in the time-honoured way, by men of deep religious conviction.

Presented as if it were part of an ancient book, Pentiment’s characters are animated versions of their ink-and-paint counterparts, and when they talk, you can see and hear the pen scratches of the person lettering the text, complete with mistakes that are hastily rubbed out and corrected. Fancier characters speak in more elaborate script, while the peasants talk in relatively plain handwriting. There’s no voice acting, but with so much character in the text you never feel the lack of it.

The menus unfold like pages in a notebook; your journal, map, and dramatis personae inking themselves in as you progress through the story, which is also unusual in that it takes place across multiple generations. Starting in the early 1500s, and ending in 1544, you get to experience the changing life of the village and see the long term effects of the ructions you’re very much a part of. All of which starts with a murder.

When a local dignitary gets bludgeoned to death, the person unfairly accused of his murder is Andreas’ elderly friend, so to try and clear his name Andreas takes on the investigation. With no technology and very little time, you’ve got to rely on a little observation and a lot of conversation, making your way around the village interviewing suspects and anyone who might have had a motive to kill.

Your investigation is continually interrupted by mealtimes, distractions, and the need to sleep when it gets dark. It’s a process that gives proceedings an unusually laid-back feel. It also means you have no hope of getting through your list of potential suspects before the archdeacon arrives, asking for names and evidence so he can mete out a swift judgement.

Your hastily assembled notes lead to an accusation, which in turn leads to summary and brutal justice, something that doesn’t sit well with Andreas; the sense of guilt at having implicated someone about whom he knows relatively little causing plenty of self-reflection. It’s frustrating in all the right ways, pointedly refusing to provide the neat tying up of loose ends that you often find in role-playing quest lines.

As well as choices about what to say, you can sometimes also explore Andreas’ thoughts as he turns over a thorny issue in his mind, analysing the positives and negatives associated with particular courses of action. It helps unpick the codified and complex behaviours expected of different strata of society, as well as framing moral dilemmas as clearly as possible, so you know what you’re choosing and why it might cause trouble.

Whatever you decide, the person executed for the crime will be missed by friends and family, and widely regarded as a murderer, which in turn affects Andreas’ reputation in town over the years. He’s absent for most of that time, busy building a career in cities across medieval Poland, England, France, or Aragon, depending on what you choose. That decision also influences his knowledge of language and cultural references.

Arriving back in Tassing as a renowned artist, he’s surprised to find himself embroiled in another murder investigation. As a player, you’ll be more surprised by the wealth of conversational choices on offer, which go way beyond the standard yes/no/surly/sassy. You also get additional dialogue options depending on your chosen background and life experience, regularly giving five or six different ways of responding to someone.

Pentiment – Terry Gilliam would love this (pic: Microsoft)

As the years pass you switch to playing as Magdalene, daughter of the town’s first printer. Where Andreas was a man of conversation, Magdalene is an inveterate letter writer, using her skill with a quill to get in touch with far flung figures from Tassing’s past to assist in her creation of a mural celebrating the town’s history.

It’s at this point that the game’s idiosyncrasies and mellow pacing almost get the better of it, with some of its lengthier and less pointed conversations starting to feel like hard work. One scene in particular, when all the characters gather for a Christmas feast, just has so much text, none of which make any real difference to anything, that you eventually wish it would shut up and get on with it.

It’s worth persevering though. Despite a slight feeling of formlessness, as you traverse generations and indulge in idle chatter alongside your more directed inquiries, the distinctive feel and the beautifully lettered calligraphy of its conversations make for a truly singular experience, and one that refuses to be dumbed down.

Unlike some of your investigations, the whodunnit does eventually reach a definitive conclusion, creating a satisfying end to this one-of-a-kind adventure. It’s also fair to say that this is the first video game we’ve played that examines the way Martin Luther’s texts worked to undermine the hegemony of European Christianity in the 16th century, and for that unabashed approach to medieval philosophy it’s worth celebrating.

Formats: Xbox Series X/S (reviewed), Xbox One, and PC
Price: £14.99
Publisher: Xbox Game Studios
Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
Release Date: 15th November 2022
Age Rating: 16

Entertainment – MetroRead More