Pentiment 2022

About

Pentiment came out on November 15, 2022 for PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, then for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on February 22, 2024. On Steam, 95% of 9,342 player reviews are positive (Overwhelmingly Positive). 46 people are playing it on Steam right now, with a peak of 82 in the last 30 days. It is Verified on Steam Deck. The main story takes about 15 hours, doing everything about 30 hours. It won the Game Developers Choice Award - Best Narrative.

A 16th-century narrative adventure set in Upper Bavaria, following Andreas Maler, a journeyman artist working in the bygone scriptorium of Kiersau Abbey during a time of great social unrest. While finishing his masterpiece, Andreas inadvertently becomes entangled in a series of murders that take place over 25 years. Peasants, thieves, craftsmen, monks, nuns, nobles, and even saints must be investigated and interrogated to expose the truth.

What is happening now

Pentiment is a narrative-driven puzzle-adventure RPG set in a historical Bavarian village, blending investigative storytelling with character-driven exploration across multiple platforms. Since its late 2022 launch, the game has continued to generate discussion around its design philosophy, particularly regarding player agency. Director Josh Sawyer has spoken about the game's deliberate departure from the modern RPG expectation that protagonists can pursue any objective without consequence, arguing instead for a more constrained narrative experience where player choices operate within meaningful boundaries rather than offering unlimited freedom.