Pentiment designer Josh Sawyer recently took to Twitter to share new details about the upcoming game's console performance. Most notably, the Obsidian Entertainment veteran confirmed that all Xbox versions of Pentiment will run in 60 frames per second, with limited caveats.
Originally announced this June, Pentiment is an adventure-RPG hybrid designed by Sawyer himself, who's best known as the director of Fallout: New Vegas. The heavily stylized, narrative-driven game takes place in 16th-century Germany and stars an illustrator looking to solve a murder across some 25 years. Obsidian previously revealed that the outcomes of these investigations will all inform the game's conclusion, hinting at some degree of replay value. But even though Pentiment is scheduled to release in less than a month, many questions surrounding this peculiar project remain.
In response to a recent fan question on Twitter, Sawyer confirmed that the main difference between individual console versions of Pentiment will lie in their rendering resolution. Last-generation Xbox One will offer a 1080p experience, while Xbox Series S and Series X will render the game in 1440p and 4K, respectively. All three versions will run in 60fps, though Xbox One owners should expect "a few dips" during the occasional 3D scene, according to the designer. But since Pentiment is primarily a 2D game, those cases should be few and far between.
Sawyer's comments are in line with what Obsidian already revealed about Pentiment's hardware requirements, which are modest, at best. The minimum system requirements previously listed on the game's Steam page include the NVIDIA GTX 650 Ti, Intel Core i3-3225, and 4GB of RAM. That spec sheet describes a ten-year-old entry-level PC, so it's no surprise that the current-generation Xbox consoles will be able to render Pentiment in 60fps. For added context, Sawyer also illustrated the game's minimal performance footprint on PC by revealing that one of Obsidian's RTX 3090 Ti-powered rigs peaked at around 3,000fps while running an early build of the game in 1080p.
Between its accessible hardware requirements and the $19.99 price tag, it's fair to assume that Pentiment will be small in scope compared to Fallout: New Vegas. What's less clear is whether it manages to make any waves during arguably the most competitive period of the year, in terms of new game releases.
Pentiment is launching on November 15 for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.