Pentiment has made many waves in the gaming community since its release thanks to its striking visual style and a narrative that weaves through over two decades of a small 16th-century Bavarian town known as Tassing. Obsidian Entertainment's latest outing into RPGs is clearly a project of passion. It's a highly stylized mystery game about an artist known as Andreas Maler trying to navigate a sudden death in a normally peaceful town. The settlement of Tassing is touched by death many times throughout the game - as players try to solve a web of murders that bring the quaint village into a tumultuous time branded with a grim historically focused RPG.
As the player makes their way through the game they will develop relationships with the people who populate the Bavarian town of Tassing, and will eventually have to try to pin one of the townsfolk as a murderer. It can make for some harrowing moments, as well as make players second guess themselves. The game has many choices that can be made that can change the outcome of the villagers lives not only in the present moment, but also potential children that can only come if one of two parents lives. Andreas Maler has a beautiful sketch laid out on his canvas, but with each color laid down by him, more and more deaths can ensue.
This article contains major spoilers for every act of Pentiment!
Pentiment: A Dance of Death
In Act 1 of the game, Andreas Maler is a traveling artist working at the local Kiersau Abbey's scriptorium - a place for books to be illustrated and written. He's settled in nicely and gets along with most of the townsfolk, but once a nobleman named Baron Lorenz Rothvogel visits Tassing, tension begins to rise. It becomes clear that the Baron has ruffled his fair share of feathers in Tassing, and before Andreas gets the chance to even meet him, the local stonemason Lucky is seen in a loud shouting match with the Baron.
After speaking with the Baron, Andreas can become fast friends with him before he ultimately meets his maker soon after his arrival. One of Andreas' close friends, Brother Piero, gets accused of committing the murder of Rothvogel due to him finding the body in the Abbey and holding a knife when he did. However, Andreas knows he didn't do it, so he sets out to find the true culprit of the crime.
In Act 1, there are several suspects that have motives to kill Baron Rothvogel, and depending on who Andreas testifies against, it will result in one of their deaths. There is Lucky Steinauer, the local stonemason seen arguing with Baron Rothvogel which can be pinned as a motive. The same can be said of the old widow Ottilia, a bitter old woman who blames the Baron for her husband's death. Another person with a motive is Sister Matilda, who was assaulted by the Baron and beat within an inch of her life, which resulted in her taking a hermitage in order to keep it quiet. Martin Bauer is a peasant who stole from the Baron and fled the scene - making him very suspicious in the Baron's death. The final suspect that Andreas can accuse is Prior Ferenec, his supervisor in the scriptorium who is discovered to have exchanged letters with the Baron about occult activities, as well as possessing things of occult origins.
Whoever Andreas testifies to the Archdeacon about will be executed and travel beyond the veil. Andreas will face consequences for who he chooses to accuse, and the town will respond to him in different ways when he comes back 7 years later in Act 2. In Act 2, there is unrest in the village due to the Abbey enforcing strict taxes. The peasants are upset by this and are trying to get reforms on taxes, fees, and the like. During a festival that the Abbot deems as heretical, the Abbot threatens to excommunicate anyone who attends. Later that night, the leader of the peasants' movement, Otto, is killed. The peasants blame the Abbot, but Andreas thinks it was someone else, so yet again he sets out to find the true culprit so that the mob doesn't kill the Brothers and Sisters of the Abbey.
There are several suspects like in Act 1. A repeat suspect (if not chosen in Act 1) is Martin Bauer, who returned after a long time away from Tassing, but came back a changed man - maybe a little too changed to be considered normal. If Andreas continues down the rabbit hole of Martin, he will discover that Martin is in fact not Martin, but Jobst Farber - his partner in crime when Martin became a bandit. Hanna Bergeryn is another suspect because of her distaste of the potential revolt. It would be bad for business, and she may have killed him to keep the status quo. The final suspect is Brother Guy, a monk who has been acting odd after Otto made demands to him about the Abbey's finances. Just like in Act 1 of Pentiment, all of these suspects can die in a mob setting fire to the Miller.
The most deadly event of the game is the Revolt, as it not only results in the suspect's death, but also the owner of the Mill, Lenhardt Muller. Several peasants can die too, with Peter and Ulrich being the most impactful. Andreas' apprentice Caspar also dies in the burning of the Abbey. Between Acts 2 and 3, several people die of old age like Til, Lucky, and Ottilia. In Act 3, the player takes control of Magdelene, and her dad Claus dies at the end of the game. The climax also sees the thread-puller, Father Thomas die.
Pentiment is available on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. It is also available on Xbox Game Pass.