Pentiment News

Just when I thought I had my top 10 games of 2022 sorted, Obsidian release Pentiment, forcing me to shred my former list and grab my quill and ink for a rewrite. It’s an odd pairing on paper - a detective thriller about a string of grisly murders set in the quaint countryside of 16th-century Bavaria - but, surprisingly, this coupling is a match made in heaven.

Its captivating story of conspiracy and murder is as rich and dense as its setting, and it's clearly made by a passionate team who have a deep love for the period. Playing Pentiment feels like riffling through the painterly pages of a medieval manuscript, but instead of finding the written gospel of saints and sinners, there are tales of angry farmers, greedy landowners, church scandals, religious turmoil, and murder. Fundamentally though, it's a historical tale about faith and truth, and the lengths that people are willing to go to preserve them.

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November is a rather miserable month, if you ask me. For a start, it’s chucking it down right now, and my flat is freezing. There are no longer any Halloween vibes lingering around, and it’s a tad too far from Christmas to feel festive yet. That said, Xbox Game Pass is certainly coming in clutch this month and keeping plenty of us busy.

Xbox Game Pass is typically throwing out stellar offerings left, right, and centre. We’re guaranteed at least one or two solid additions to the subscription each month, and November is no different, aside from the fact we get more than just two good games.

Last week, we saw Tom Orry burn his lunch as he let Vampire Survivors sink its claws into him, and I can imagine he’s very much not alone in that sentiment. Having arrived on Xbox Game Pass on November 10, don’t be fooled by the graphically unimpressive screenshots you may have seen.

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The Cadfael game is finally upon us. It raised a sea of eyebrows upon its unveiling during this year’s joint Microsoft/Bethesda not-E3 presentation in June, despite being a sort of weird, cartoonish (emphasis on ‘ish’) ‘medieval whodunnit’. Sandwiched between the likes of RedFall and Starfield, you wouldn’t expect it to cause much excitement. And yet, for many of us watching, it struck a lutey chord as one of the most promising looking titles on the entire Xbox slate, and a perfect example of Game Pass’ appeal: something that looks interesting, but is potentially too weird and experimental a proposition to risk real money for.

I’m delighted to report, however, that its promise has been delivered upon and then some. It easily justifies its price of entry, whether you get it as part of a sub or pay the frankly too modest £14.99 they’re asking for it on the store. This is despite the fact that it’s a huge narrowing of scope for Josh Sawyer, the director of such beloved and vast role-playing games as Fallout: New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity. Unlike his previous works, Pentiment takes place entirely in one small Bavarian town over the course of a quarter-century.

Its cast is miniscule compared to those other games, as is its budget. Probably. I haven’t seen Obsidian’s books, but this was made by a core team of 13 and doesn’t have any voice acting. There are fewer buildings in it than there are in the starter town of Pillars of Eternity. I bet the entire game cost less than it took to get Matthew Perry to do a dozen lines for New Vegas. It might have even cost less than the lines he was doing during the fifth season of Friends.

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I don’t know about you, but I’m not very good at reading Ye Olde Ynglishe. The letters are all curly, and my vision’s already a bit rubbish to begin with. Like a lot of specialised fonts, I find calligraphy awkward to read at best and virtually illegible at worst. That’s why I always appreciate when games make an effort to make text as accessible as possible. Case in point: Obsidian’s upcoming medieval mystery, Pentiment, which has an option to swtich to easy to read fonts baked in. Verily, thou hast mine thanks.

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We’ve made it past the spooky months and into November, which means we’ve just gotten a look at the new line-up of games in the November Game Pass. Stars of the show include Vampire Survivors, Football Manager 2023, and Return to Monkey Island, although the whole spread looks pretty tasty.

With the majority of titles set up to release later in the month, subscribers on PC and console will be able to explore a diverse collection of different games, of a variety of genres and aesthetics. It’s well worth a look!

There are three games available to download right now. The Legend of Tianding is available on Cloud, console and PC; it’s a Beat’em Up set in 20th century Taiwan as you explore a country occupied by Imperial Japan.

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