Pentiment is the strangest, most intelligent curveball of a game in 2022.

Who knew that a game that would delight church historian nerds would be Fallout: New Vegas developer Obsidian’s latest release, hot off the back of the 1.0 release of insect-sized survival sim Grounded.

This welcome strangeness of the game is immediate as the story sets itself up. You play as Andreas Maler, an artist working in a combined abbey-convent’s scriptorium, copying down text and illustrating books, set in early 16th century bavaria, during the dying days of hand-copied books, the rise of the printing press and the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.

Pentiment’s visual style is a perfect match for this setting, with a 2D adventure-style presentation that looks like a mediaeval tapestry. It is all stunningly rendered, with extremely high quality art. I loved the superlative details such as the way each character’s text is drawn in speech bubbles with different fonts for each person’s class – worker, clergy, noble etc.

But what of the game itself?

Pentimenti is, at heart, a detective narrative adventure which asks you to slowly uncover the truth of a murder and what lies behind it over 25 years. While it is fairly linear, there are a wide range of dialogue choices that it presents to form alliances, make enemies and engage with other characters. I, for example, chose my Andreas as someone who had spent time in Florence, was taught law and who was a logician.

This, much like Fallout to be honest, gave me some unique dialogue choices. That said, you may not want to use those choices. Taking clear inspiration from seminal masterpiece Disco Elysium, sometimes the best choice is not to say anything, or to say something opposite of what your chosen background may give you cause to say. You will have to use emotional intelligence and wits to keep people onside. Characters have their own complex views and motivations, and deftly navigating these over the course of each day is key to getting close to your ultimate goal.

Behind all of this is a world that is richly detailed, not only in it’s visual presentation, but in the depth of the individual character’s writing and the description of the upheaval they are living through. The game’s writers have truly set a game in a specific time period, where people think and speak as they would have. The writing demonstrates how surface-level many video game, book and screen characters are written and directed, with little actual connection to the setting or time they are supposedly living in.

In Pentiment, each character’s struggles, conflicts and attitudes are grounded in the early 1500s, with its class divides, religious convictions and struggles, and upcoming economic and information revolutions.

Characters will use phrases of the day and expect you to look up what it means (achieved through hyperlinks that take you to an artful glossary) rather than leaving these phrases out for readability. It’s the type of game that can only be developed with either being an indie with nothing to lose, or being backed by one of the world’s richest companies, the latter clearly being the case here for Microsoft-owned Obsidian.

Honestly, it is a wonder that Pentiment ever got made. It is so much a labour of passion, an expression of a clear, defined interest that is refreshing in the times of the huge, sprawling AAA open world release. A game carefully honed to make money it is not.

I love that Microsoft has given Obsidian the scope to work on this project, and if this is a harbinger of how their latest round of studio acquisitions will work out, then it is a very encouraging sign of a maturity in the relationship between developer and corporate owner. Here’s to many more Pentiment-sized titles from all of the Microsoft Game Studios family.

A final shout out to the audio design too, which is excellent. There are few “tracks”, but the foley work is incredibly rich and detailed. The world of the 16th Century Holy Roman Empire too, is unique in video games, and shows that even in a game set in Europe, there is a huge scope to explore complex settings that have not yet been featured previously – A Plague Tale: Requiem being another recent standout late mediaeval title.

Some might say that Pentiment is niche, but I think that is doing a disservice to it. Sure, it won’t be for everyone – a visual novel style detective adventure game will never be – but the strength of the characters, writing and presentation make this game worth a look in for a wider audience than you might expect. And hey, you might even learn a thing or too.

Pentiment is available now on Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles, and PC on Xbox Game Pass or on Steam.

The post Pentiment (Xbox & PC) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Join independent developers Red Thread Games in celebrating the release of Draugen, a psychological mystery set in a remote coastal town in the Norwegian Fjords. To mark the occasion the studio has released a launch trailer showcasing a selection of the gorgeous locations we discover in the town of Graavik.

Travel back to 1923 with Edward Charles Harden and his young ward Lissie – Americans who find themselves far from home in search for Edward’s missing sister. Where could she be, though? There was nothing amiss in her letters. Something is wrong; there is a darkness here…

Voiced by experienced actors Nicholas Boulton and Skye Deva Bennett, Edward and Lissie make for a compelling duo as they truly inhabit these characters written by Creative Director Ragnar Tørnquist.

Lissie can only be who she is: a whip-smart teenage girl learning what her place is in the world. As Edward’s ward, and now travel companion, Lissie playfully jabs at his stuffiness at times, but the core of their relationship is a deep friendship.

Edward has his own demons to contend with as he obsessively searches for his sister Elizabeth. He is solely focused on this task, and the environment around them shifts to reflect these moods.

Draugen is a mystery. Where is Elizabeth after all? What has happened to her? Draugen is an exploration of a beautiful Norwegian town nestled in the fjords. Draugen is a story about an unusual friendship, a forsaken community, a family torn apart by secrets, and a man haunted by his own past.

Draugen is now available for Windows on Steam and GOG.

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Stoic, an independent game development company, and Versus Evil, one of the leading independent video game publishers, today announced that Banner Saga 3launches a new game mode for PC in the form of Eternal Arena. The newly introduced game mode was a $400K Stretch Goal as part of Banner Saga 3’s original funding drive which it comfortably smashed through in less than a week. Over eight thousand backers helped the game reach its funding and stretch goal targets with Stoic being able to deliver the game earlier than scheduled and complete all its Kickstarter stretch goals on time.

Eternal Arena is a true test of combat prowess in a series of quick play challenges where players can customize their own maps, rules, and enemies to create unique tests of skill. Eternal Arena mode allows players to use sandbox-style options to test out their wildest ideas and become the stuff of legends by participating in weekly tournaments and competing against the world for the high score rankings.

“Eternal Arena has been a lot of fun to devise, tactical gameplay plays a major role but PC players can really mix it up to test out their own combat scenarios and ideas, if you love tactical combat then this is a perfect mode to get stuck into”. Said John Watson,Technical Director at Stoic. “The fans and backers have been an integral part of helping us deliver this game so we’re thrilled to introduce the last stretch goal to the final chapter in the Banner Saga series.” He added.

Banner Saga 3 is the defining end to an emotionally driven series that began in 2014 and has continued to enthrall its legion of fans with a deep and thought provoking story-driven adventure, beautifully-crafted hand painted visuals and challenging, strategic turn-based combat. The game’s soundtrack also concludes Austin Wintory’s work on the award winning franchise with another beautifully orchestrated original score.

The third and final installment in the award winning, BAFTA nominated role-playing strategy game, is available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.  This launch brings the trilogy to a climactic, tragic end in epic form where gamers can now experience the complete saga from beginning to end.

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The Gardens Between, the adventure puzzle game from The Voxel Agents in which players manipulate time to guide two best friends through a surreal world of mysterious garden islands, will launch for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Steam and Mac App Store on the 20th of September 2018. Pre-orders open today on Nintendo Switch and Mac App Store.

Journey with the headstrong Arina and thoughtful Frendt as they are swept into a world of reality-warping isles. Manipulate the flow of time and twist the dreamlike spaces of the gardens to help them discover, reminisce and traverse together. With a bit of guidance, Arina and Frendt will solve puzzles and ignite constellations to revisit precious moments they’ve spent together.

Their shared experiences light the way as they uncover objects and situations that form the foundations of their friendship. Follow the duo as they relive the emotional journey of their past, cherishing the memories they’ve built together and understanding what must come to an end.

“It’s our hope that players are not only touched by the story of Arina and Frendt, but that they take time to remember their own special relationships growing up,” says Simon Joslin, co-founder of The Voxel Agents. “While so many of the objects featured in the gardens are from our own childhoods, we hope our audience will relate and recall a time when friendship meant everything.”

The Gardens Between is currently at Gamescom (2018) presenting their title on the Nintendo Switch version for the first time. Following its Gamescom debut, The Gardens Between will be playable at PAX West as part of the Indie MEGABOOTH.

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