The art has a hand-drawn quality to it, and pages literally flip when you change scenes in the game world. Pentiment's art style and presentation take cues from Maler's own work, with the game being presented as part of a Renaissance-era manuscript. You will then be able to hear fresh stories and gather more information, but you can't eat with everyone. For example, you will need to choose someone to dine with when it's time to eat. This means you won't have enough time to investigate every thread, so you must choose wisely. The game also includes a fascinating day-night cycle, where certain conversations and actions take up a set amount of time, advancing the time of day-and the story. In the end, it is a necessary friction that rewards and punishes your decisions. However, I eventually understood that this is the nature of the game-you make choices and deal with the consequences. I wished Pentiment was clearer about when one of these vital moments appeared, so I could better consider the available choices. However, he refused to reveal what he knew due to my dialogue choices, so I had to move on. At one point, I questioned a monk who was clearly hiding something. You won't know what those are, and the game won't let you try again if you fail, which can be frustrating. However, they will only do so if you previously said the right things to them. What you say during one conversation may change how a character responds later on-and what information they choose to share.įor instance, the game has a hidden mechanic where you must convince certain characters to give up private information. Your interactions with other characters have a profound narrative impact. You converse with the people in Tassing and Kiersau, learn their stories, choose your dialogue, draw conclusions, and hope for the best outcome. Instead, you only move back and forth on a set path across a handful of locations. Traversal is relatively mundane Pentiment lacks open-world exploration or much location variety. You move Andreas from scene to scene, interact with objects, or talk with people. Instead, it's an adventure game similar to Night in the Woods or Oxenfree. Pentiment isn't a game filled with action, special abilities, or leveling. Best Hosted Endpoint Protection and Security Software.

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