Pentiment

Pentiment  is an  adventure video game  by  Obsidian Entertainment  and published by  Xbox Game Studios . The game was released on November 15, 2022, for  Windows ,  Xbox One  and  Xbox Series X/S  platforms. Pentiment  is a narrative adventure  role-playing video game  set in  Bavaria  in the 16th century. The player, as the  journeyman  artist Andreas Maler, investigates the murder of a prominent person for which his friend has been accused. The story spans 25 years. The player is meant to accuse an individual based on either who they think did it or who most deserves punishment. Concurrent with the main murder plot are other crimes and conspiracies. The game's art style is a mix of late medieval manuscripts, early print, and woodcuts at the transition from late medieval to early modern art. The music for the game was composed and performed by Alkemie Early Music Ensemble. As game director Josh Sawyer says, "[Alkemie is] a music group, they compose and record as an ensemble...the music they've contributed to the game is either strictly historical or historically inspired." Lingua Ignota  also composed the song "Ein Traum" for the game. Game developer  Josh Sawyer  first pitched  Pentiment  to  Feargus Urquhart  when they worked at  Black Isle Studios . Sawyer was inspired by the  historical fiction  of  Darklands , a 1992 role-playing video game by  MicroProse  that combined the  Middle Ages  with  supernatural  themes. Urquhart thought it would have little appeal outside of history afficionados. Sawyer pitched Urquhart again, years later, when they both worked at  Obsidian Entertainment , following the release of the 2018  Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire . He reframed the game as a narrative adventure with mystery components and gameplay similar to  Night in the Woods  or  Oxenfree . The small development team was commensurate with the game's niche attraction. Sawyer credited art director Hannah Kennedy's art style and interest in the concept as being vital to the project's early support. The team looked at  illuminated medieval manuscripts  in the  Getty Museum  and  Huntington Library  in California for inspiration, as well as consulting with manuscript experts such as  Christopher de Hamel . They initially worked as a team of two, later the team was expanded to 13 people. Edmund Kern, Christopher de Hamel, and Winston E. Black are medieval historians who served as consultants on the project. Microsoft's acquisition of Obsidian in 2018 brought the game accessibility and localization support, such as a mode with typefaces easier to read, features like text to speech, and robust translations for non-English speakers in a text-heavy game. Pentiment  was released on November 15, 2022, for  Xbox  and  Windows  platforms.