Game of the Year Game Club, Episode 1: Pentiment

“Spoilers ahead, fair citizens!”

— Brother Mike

In every act of Pentiment, the player is asked to tell a story to a different audience, and while thorough investigation can yield many enticing narratives, it is impossible to grasp anything approaching objective reality.

In Act 1, the player’s audience is the archdeacon; someone has been murdered, and the archdeacon will execute whoever he believes committed the crime. (This does not mean he will execute the actual murderer.) Tellingly, the story cannot be arbitrary. The archdeacon will only accept a story with reasonable motive and sufficient evidence; also tellingly, the archdeacon is more easily convinced of a peasant’s guilt than a prior’s.

In Act 2, the audience is now the townspeople, and while vigilante justice is thirsty and easily convinced, who is convicted of murder could have far-reaching consequences for the town. If the player did not realize this already, by Act 2 it becomes obvious that the impact of the story they tell the “judge” is just as important as the facts behind it. It may be better, even desirable, to tell a lie.

In Act 3, there is no outright murder to solve, but instead the audience is the entire town - and the town’s generations to come - as the player paints a mural depicting the town’s history. But not only is it impossible to depict an exhaustive history with a single mural, it’s also impossible to tell every side of the story too. There are simply not enough resources to tell the entire truth, and no way to depict it completely.

And while at first the final section of the game appears to stand apart from the rest, by putting a lens on the way in which information is filtered, then interpreted, and then re-filtered and re-interpreted, ad infinitum, drives Pentiment’s point home: objective reality, while it may exist, is impossible to grasp. We cannot hold it entirely within our own minds, let alone repeat it for the benefit of others. Its fragile - as vulnerable as a book that can be burned, or an oral story that can be twisted or intentionally changed. So rather than tell the Truth, we must simply accept our limitations and instead use what voice we have to platform our values by telling our story.

And in life, as in Pentiment, we cannot opt out of this. Whether we accuse a suspect or not, someone will die. The mural will be painted, whether by our hand or someone else’s. A story will be told. The only choice we have is whether or not we participate in its telling - and how.

Yeah, alright, but is Pentiment actually any fun to play?

Here is where our Game of the Year judges demurred. While we agreed Pentiment was ambitious, the concept of a detective game without an objective truth to find makes for a frustrating puzzle box. In this perhaps Pentiment overplays its hand; it is too easy to see through its intentions and realize that while in the real world, every murder has a true murderer (convicted or not), Pentiment’s reality has only ghosts. And its message stumbles as a result - as does the experience of playing through the game.

Too often, Pentiment’s ambitions and its dedication to its mission get in the way of enjoying it. Its overlong, for what it is, with an odd structure. Melinda pointed out that while most stories with a three-act structure use Act 3 for the climax, Pentiment’s Act 3 has the lowest stakes of the entire tale. And Trevor noted that the game’s hard-coded mechanics make for an unconvincing simulation when certain facts appear completely evident to the player, but the player fails to cross the undisclosed, unknowable line of “knowledge points” to actually successfully accuse someone. On top of that, Darin observed that when every solution is a valid solution, does the choice even matter?

Pentiment ultimately fails to make its point, undermined by its own identity as a murder mystery with no solution. And that is more bane than boon for Pentiment. While there are many reasons to suspect a murderer but accuse someone else - and thematically, this would have fit right in line with Pentiment’s point about narrative - Pentiment insists there is no way to know. So while Pentiment could have been a story where a player wanted to do anything but reveal the truth, instead it is a story where there is no truth. And so every possible truth feels empty.

Will Pentiment make our Top 10 Games of the Year?

Darin Maybe #5. Pentiment is a decent production that I liked about a time period I am unfamiliar with, which was fresh. But it feels like two disparate games, where a historical edutainment game was ruined by a murder (mystery). A bold experiment from a competent studio but too flawed to really triumph.

Melinda This won’t make my top 10, but I’ll be talking about it for years. It’s memorable and fun to play but also endlessly frustrating. Its structure and pacing are rough and hold back a game loop that would have benefited from being tighter. Yet, while it is imperfect, it is also never mediocre.

Michael This could crack #2 for me for elevating the art form of a visual novel and for having something interesting and timeless to say with its theme. Citizen Sleeper is the next closest competition, but does not achieve the levels of poignancy with its solarpunk/cyberpunk feel-good fiction. Pentiment is a labyrinthine examination about the stories we tell to ourselves about ourselves, and the elusive nature of objective truth.

Trevor Not top 10 for me either, and overall not really a game for me. Pentiment played in a historical period I have a hard time enjoying, even though I wanted to like it. But it’s ambition to be interesting gets it farther with me than it otherwise would have.

What would we recommend next to folks who liked Pentiment, or who hated it and want something better?

Darin Norco - for its rich exploration of its time period, and also its exploration about the narratives we tell ourselves.

Melinda Astrologaster for fans of this setting, but Disco Elysium if you want to actually solve a murder.

Michael Disco Elysium is the perfect companion game to Pentiment, a real detective game that is just as critical of objective reality.

Trevor Tears of the Kingdom, because you can’t compete with Pentiment’s ambitions in the genre so just enjoy something else that’s actually fun!