Pentiment (NSP, XCI) ROM

Pentiment: Art Mirrors Mortality! Delve into a vibrant visual realm influenced by illuminated manuscripts and printed woodcuts, set amidst a pivotal juncture of religious and political upheaval in Europe. Journey alongside Andreas Maler, a master artist ensnared in a web of murders, scandals, and intrigue amid the Bavarian Alps.

GAMEPLAY

Pentiment is a narrative adventure role-playing video game played from a 2D perspective. The player takes control of Andreas Maler, a journeyman artist from Nuremberg who becomes embroiled in a series of murder mysteries in Upper Bavaria. The story is set in the fictional Alpine town of Tassing and the nearby Benedictine Kiersau Abbey during the 16th century and takes place over 25 years.

The player is tasked with investigating the murders of prominent individuals for which other townsfolk have been accused for various reasons. After collecting physical proof and gleaning information from townsfolk, the player is meant to accuse an individual based on either who they think committed the crime or who most deserves punishment. Concurrent with the overarching murder plot are other crimes and conspiracies as well as insights into the history of the area. Throughout the game, the player is also presented with the option to define Andreas’ personal history through dialogue trees, including his previous travels, language skills, and academic background, which can affect how the mysteries are resolved.

PLOT

In 1518, Andreas Maler was serving an apprenticeship as an illuminator at Kiersau Abbey near Tassing. Baron Lorenz Rothvogel, a friend of the Prince-Bishop of Freising and longtime benefactor of Kiersau, pays a visit to check on a manuscript he commissioned. Unhappy with the work of the illuminator, the elderly Brother Piero, he insists that Andreas complete the remaining illustrations. The baron is found stabbed to death the following day.

Fearing that the murder could damage Kiersau’s reputation and lead to its dissolution, Abbot Gernot blames Piero for the crime and has him detained until the archdeacon can conduct an inquiry. Andreas believes Piero is innocent, however, and begins an investigation of his own. He soon discovers several townspeople had reasons to murder the baron, and each receives a mysterious note trying to manipulate them into attacking him. Andreas presents his evidence to the archdeacon, and one of the suspects is executed.

In 1525, Andreas returns to Tassing to find the town on the verge of revolting against the abbot’s heavy taxation, having been inspired by the Twelve Articles. The leader of the rebellion, Otto, is found dead, and the townspeople accuse the abbot of the murder and threaten to storm the abbey. Andreas once again investigates the crime and finds several townspeople received the same kind of mysterious notes he found seven years earlier, all trying to manipulate them into killing Otto.

He accuses one of the suspects, who flees to the mill and is killed when the townspeople burn it down. The townspeople then set fire to the abbey and its library; Andreas runs into the flames to save the books and is presumed dead. The Duke of Bavaria’s soldiers arrive to restore order, killing many of the townspeople in the aftermath.

In 1545, the player assumes control of Magdalene, a young printer and artist. The town council hires her father Claus to paint a mural depicting Tassing’s history, but Claus is wounded by an unknown attacker and left bedridden. Magdalene takes up his job and begins piecing together the town’s controversial past. She also discovers that Andreas survived the fire and lived as a hermit in the ruins of the abbey for twenty years.

The two discover a Roman temple below the town’s church and find out that the town’s priest, Thomas, was the mastermind behind the events. Thomas, not wanting the townspeople to discover the town’s real history as it contradicted the Christian version, orchestrated the murders as well as the attack on Claus.

He then collapses the temple to prevent its discovery, killing himself in the process. Andreas and Magdalene escape, and the latter decides to finish the mural. Claus eventually dies of his injury, and Magdalene decides to leave Tassing for Prague, while Andreas remains in the town to start a new life.