This game is huge labour of love. The art design, aesthetic choices, storyline and the amount of research that went into this is amazing. Played it on my Steam Deck which it is perfect for.

If you're only slightly interested in medieval history and like reading this game is for you. Gameplay wise there really isn't much to it but that's not the point. So if a slow game with a lot of reading isn't for you, I wouldn't even bother.

Choices matter in how people act towards you later in the game, but the story will stay the same. This might be where the critique may come from that it's linear. The story is so well crafted in how all elements come together that it never bothered me. Pentiment is like reading a novel. Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose was a huge inspiration for this game so if you're a fan of that genre, you'll love Pentiment. It's also a beautiful way of seeing how rural life was in that time period. The relations between clergy and the different classes are beautifully shown through story and dialogue.

All characters are fleshed out and well written, I started to care about everyone in the town and you'll get really invested after a few hours.

The music is beautiful and accompanies the scenes perfectly.

One negative for me was the save system. I would've liked to go back to a few checkpoints to check other outcomes or simply because I didn't have the chance to play for a few weeks so I could refresh my memory but that wasn't possible. After the game is finished your savegame is also gone. Minor annoyances of course, and I understand how this could also be a design choice.

This game is huge labour of love. The art design, aesthetic choices, storyline and the amount of research that went into this is amazing. Played it on my Steam Deck which it is perfect for. If you're only slightly interested in medieval history and like reading this game is for you. Gameplay wise there really isn't much to it but that's not the point. So if a slow game with a lot of reading isn't for you, I wouldn't even bother. Choices matter in how people act towards you later in the game, but the story will stay the same. This might be where the critique may come from that it's linear. The story is so well crafted in how all elements come together that it never bothered me. Pentiment is like reading a novel. Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose was a huge inspiration for this game so if you're a fan of that genre, you'll love Pentiment. It's also a beautiful way of seeing how rural life was in that time period. The relations between clergy and the different classes are beautifully shown through story and dialogue. All characters are fleshed out and well written, I started to care about everyone in the town and you'll get really invested after a few hours. The music is beautiful and accompanies the scenes perfectly. One negative for me was the save system. I would've liked to go back to a few checkpoints to check other outcomes or simply because I didn't have the chance to play for a few weeks so I could refresh my memory but that wasn't possible. After the game is finished your savegame is also gone. Minor annoyances of course, and I understand how this could also be a design choice.