Pentimentis a passion project from a team of Obsidian developers who love history and want to tell a compelling story in an often-forgotten era of human history. Through tons of research and a keen eye for detail,Obsidian Entertainmenthas created a narrative adventure experience that feels true to 16th-century Bavaria. However, authenticity in such a complex and forgotten period of history is a balancing act, as the game has to remain palatable to all audiences, somethingPentimenthad to contend with throughout its development.
Accessibility was a factor that held offPentimentfor years as studio executives hesitated to believe anyone would play a game so grounded in the medieval era as this one. Illuminated manuscripts are difficult to read by today’s standards, and not everyone can claim to have a history degree likePentiment’s director Josh Sawyer. Through clever accessibility features with options to tailor the experience to a player’s liking,Pentimentdoes manage to make complex history tons of fun.
RELATED:Pentiment’s Setting Explained
Pentiment Makes Buried History Easy to Follow
Part of the challenge of developingPentimentwas making its 16th-century setting appealing to all audiences. Historical fiction games likeAssassin’s CreedorA Plague Taleoften take many liberties with their historical settings, never relying too heavily on scholarly works of the era and mainly featuring historical figures that are well-known culturally.Pentimenttakes a different approachand often revels in the deepest cuts of 16th-century literature, along with many references to people and locations lost to the centuries. Obsidian’s strategy for unraveling the history that inspiresPentimentwhile keeping the game going at a good pace is fantastic.
Pentimentmakes history accessible through the creative use of its glossary, which is quick, informative, and lets the story flow without skipping a beat. Whenever a new historical term, location, or figure shows up in dialogue,Pentimenthighlights that word, and with one press of a button, players can see a brief definition and background of the word in the glossary. However, unlike most glossaries that pull that player out of the experience,Pentimentcleverly pops out the screen and gives the player the definition while still seeing what is happening. There is no loss of momentum inPentiment’s storydespite players receiving waves of context almost constantly. Obsidian’s approach to history preserves all the fine details it needs for context and packages them neatly, efficiently, and rapidly enough for any player to feel like a novice historian, even if they know nothing of the time period going into the game.
Pentiment Balances Authenticity and Accessibility
One of the most authentic elements ofPentimentis its meticulously crafted art style that brings a sense of medieval flair to everything, especially its fonts. As a game comprised mostly of dialogue sequences, typefaces help bringPentimentto life, giving a new style of handwriting for the different types of characters that Andreas will encounter around town. Lower-class characters speak in scratch, while the monks up in the abbey speak in fancy typefaces that one may need to squint to decipher. Fonts are the cornerstone ofPentiment’s presentation. However, it’s fair to say that many of these writing styles are challenging to read and inaccessible by today’s standards, and Obsidian agrees.
Obsidianremedies potential legibility issues by having a customizable set of options for fonts. If players find some of the words too bunched up due to the ligature usage of this time, they can disable ligatures and still read the fully authentic scripts of the era. Maybe players feel the dialogue is too crowded among ink swirls and letter flourishes and needs more room. If they do, they can increase or decrease font size to their liking.
IfPentiment’s font choices are too complex, or players have any other reason for not being able to read the game’s dialogue, they can switch to “Easy Read” fonts and still feel like they’re getting an authentic experience. On the flip side, if fans want to have an even moreauthentic experience withPentiment, they can enable the “Medial S Letter” setting for an added flourish to the game and perhaps some difficulty distinguishing between “S” and “F” letters.Pentimentmakes it so that all players can appreciate history and calligraphy at whatever pace they want, and should be celebrated for its unique approach to accessibility
Pentimentis available now for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
