Pentiment - Josh Sawyer's historical mystery narrative-driven game set in 16th century Bavaria

[Fredward]

Ya'll just don't get it. Pentiment is a postmodern reflection on art, history, narrative and nihilism. Sure, it's presented as a murder mystery and a foundational aspect of a murder mystery is that there is an actual suspect who is actually guilty. But what is guilt in the face of narrative? What is history in the face of narrative? Indeed, what is art if not the narrative of an IGN reviewer? Verily, an actual guilty party would belie the underlying message of not just the game but also LIFE ITSELF which is the only thing that matters: nothing at all. Forsooth, how else could I, Josh Sawyer, feel justified in leading a group of people to spend years crafting this magnificent act of self gratification within the very bowels of a capitalist titan which has swallowed me, Josh Sawyer, in the entire? Will they praise me for the narrative plaudits festooned upon me, Josh Sawyer, by the reviewers? Absolutely. Will they find me, Josh Sawyer, guilty of the greatest sin, not making them enough lucre? Absolutely. But what is guilt in the face of narrative?

 

[Fredward]

Someone should do a wellness check on Josh tho cuz this has all the hallmarks of someone who feels like he has all the answers and he hates all of them. The ennui is bone deep, see for example: David Foster Wallace, Mark Fisher.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

1,187 players all time peak.

RIP.

That is surprisingly high and surely has to be considered a success for the product in question. I mean, disregarding review/complimentary/promotional copies, probably around 100-200 people have actually bought and launched it. Massive WTF.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Ya'll just don't get it. Pentiment is a postmodern reflection on art, history, narrative and nihilism. Sure, it's presented as a murder mystery and a foundational aspect of a murder mystery is that there is an actual suspect who is actually guilty. But what is guilt in the face of narrative? What is history in the face of narrative? Indeed, what is art if not the narrative of an IGN reviewer? Verily, an actual guilty party would belie the underlying message of not just the game but also LIFE ITSELF which is the only thing that matters: nothing at all. Forsooth, how else could I, Josh Sawyer, feel justified in leading a group of people to spend years crafting this magnificent act of self gratification within the very bowels of a capitalist titan which has swallowed me, Josh Sawyer, in the entire? Will they praise me for the narrative plaudits festooned upon me, Josh Sawyer, by the reviewers? Absolutely. Will they find me, Josh Sawyer, guilty of the greatest sin, not making them enough lucre? Absolutely. But what is guilt in the face of narrative?

A word of advice. This is a crowd where you need to indicate stronger that you're being ironic.

And use shorter sentences. The prestigious forum members don't need to read your post to form an opinion, they already know everything.

 

[Fedora Master]

MAJOR JOSH W.



https://opencritic.com/game/13960/pentiment

The only one here who cares about MSM reviews is Infinishill.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Forsooth, how else could I, Josh Sawyer, feel justified in leading a group of people to spend years crafting this magnificent act of self gratification within the very bowels of a capitalist titan which has swallowed me, Josh Sawyer, in the entire? Will they praise me for the narrative plaudits festooned upon me, Josh Sawyer, by the reviewers? Absolutely.

I've been recently thinking that a person who has no children nor family, nor can readily get himself (for women it's far easier) laid, when in his 40s has no place being a game developer. What message could he possibly have, what could he possibly surprise me with, what could he teach me?

 

[Darkozric]

The visual style is simply terrible, the more screens I see the more I screech. Medieval art under a tumblrette's lens.

Can't decide which one is worse, this or Return to Monkey Island. Strong competition.

 

[Fredward]

Ya'll just don't get it. Pentiment is a postmodern reflection on art, history, narrative and nihilism. Sure, it's presented as a murder mystery and a foundational aspect of a murder mystery is that there is an actual suspect who is actually guilty. But what is guilt in the face of narrative? What is history in the face of narrative? Indeed, what is art if not the narrative of an IGN reviewer? Verily, an actual guilty party would belie the underlying message of not just the game but also LIFE ITSELF which is the only thing that matters: nothing at all. Forsooth, how else could I, Josh Sawyer, feel justified in leading a group of people to spend years crafting this magnificent act of self gratification within the very bowels of a capitalist titan which has swallowed me, Josh Sawyer, in the entire? Will they praise me for the narrative plaudits festooned upon me, Josh Sawyer, by the reviewers? Absolutely. Will they find me, Josh Sawyer, guilty of the greatest sin, not making them enough lucre? Absolutely. But what is guilt in the face of narrative?

A word of advice. This is a crowd where you need to indicate stronger that you're being ironic.

And use shorter sentences. The prestigious forum members don't need to read your post to form an opinion, they already know everything.

Oddly enough, this is the exact feedback I'm getting for my philosophy thesis.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

A word of advice. This is a crowd where you need to indicate stronger that you're being ironic.

And use shorter sentences. The prestigious forum members don't need to read your post to form an opinion, they already know everything.

Oddly enough, this is the exact feedback I'm getting for my philosophy thesis.

 

[HeroMarine]

The visual style is simply terrible, the more screens I see the more I screech. Medieval art under a tumblrette's lens.

Can't decide which one is worse, this or Return to Monkey Island. Strong competition.

This "game" looks bad but surely not on the level of Return to Monkey Island. For starters, the art isn't nearly as hideous and the SJW preaching is probably way more subtle.

 

[Aemar]

No devs will go hungry in case the sales flop.

 

[Dishonoredbr]

Josh said this in this podcast https://play.acast.com/s/vicegaming...-year-of-the-narrative-banger-continues-with-

"I never would have proposed making Pentiment without Game Pass. Like, I literally just wouldn't have done it. I just don't think it would have been possible."

"The old mentality of Publishers and Developers is generally focussed on larger investments with higher ROI (return on investment), and that's not the point in this environment, in this ecosystem."

"(Game Pass) is the only way in which I conceive of (Pentiment) being viable."
"For my own sake, making a game so different, I've completely shifted my thinking for (Pentiment). It is so unusual, so niche, it's for a small audience, and as long as that audience is into it, that's fine."

As part of the same discussion Obsidian's Adam Brennecke made it clear that Grounded was already well underway before the Microsoft deal, and would have been the company's focus, without Game Pass entering the picture:

"(Grounded) was something that we'd been wanting to do at the studio for a while, make a survival game, and we already had buy in from Upper Management at (Obsidian)"

"I'm grateful that so many people on Game Pass can try out (Grounded) because the barrier of entry is so low, but it doesn't change the equation for me or my approach"

 

[hivemind]

god bbless microsoft

the mandate of heaven is theirs

 

[†††]

Yeah this made me realize Microsoft were the good guys all along. I can't wait to install Win 11 and consume all the built-in ads!

 

[†††]

tl;dr: it's anti-Christian

 

[Duraframe300]

tl;dr: it's anti-Christian

....

That's a bad argument though if you enjoy anything pop-culture wise. It's applicable even back to Black Isle if you want. Not saying this isn't technically a valid argument, but it's a step I've had to take my entire life as like 90+% of media is made by liberuls since the 60's.

What's gotten really SJW in the last 10+ years is when it is really fucking overtly bad, like 2 minutes into Gears of War 4, the main chick complaining about motherhood to your face.

That said, haven't played Pentiment yet, so it may get as bad.

 

[†††]

That's a bad argument though

It could be a bad argument if Josh "history buff" Sawyer wasn't selling this game as historically accurate to shit all over history to include current year Californian sensibilities.

 

[Sarathiour]

"I never would have proposed making Pentiment without Game Pass. Like, I literally just wouldn't have done it. I just don't think it would have been possible."

You WILL buy the gamepass so that that we can keep producing soy shovelware that now one sane would have bought.

Fuck all of the gaming industry.

 

[Dadd]

tl;dr: it's anti-Christian

Sawyer makes his opinions obvious in this game because he's incapable of subtletly and nuance, but I don't see much meaningful argumentation here other than "I don't like it because the dev disagrees with me"

 

[Infinitron]

"I never would have proposed making Pentiment without Game Pass. Like, I literally just wouldn't have done it. I just don't think it would have been possible."

You WILL buy the gamepass so that that we can keep producing soy shovelware that now one sane would have bought.

Fuck all of the gaming industry.

If you're opposed to niche titles that "no one sane would have bought" (and the publishing models that enable them), you might be on the wrong forum!

Vault Dweller Age of Decadence on Game Pass when?

 

[rusty_shackleford]

"I never would have proposed making Pentiment without Game Pass. Like, I literally just wouldn't have done it. I just don't think it would have been possible."

You WILL buy the gamepass so that that we can keep producing soy shovelware that now one sane would have bought.

Fuck all of the gaming industry.

If you're opposed to niche titles that "no one sane would have bought" (and the publishing models that enable them), you might be on the wrong forum!

Vault Dweller Age of Decadence on Game Pass when?

game pass encourages AA garbage which is even worse than AAA garbage in that it has all the flaws without even looking good or being polished

 

[†††]

If you're opposed to niche titles that "no one sane would have bought" (and the publishing models that enable them), you might be on the wrong forum!

@Vault Dweller Age of Decadence on Game Pass when?

Except that AoD was very profitable without need of game piss, while Soyer admits Pentiment wouldn't have never existed without that possibility.

 

[Sarathiour]

Niche game have been a thing way before any of this gamepass fuckery, but they need to be good enough AND to respect a normal dev cycle (ie no bloat or stupid feature, no diversity hire nor happiness manager)

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Dissing on an ambitious and underdog prestigious project like pentiment? What are you, a niche game detractor? You must dislike all niche games, huh? Why do you hate all the proper, underpaid developers striving to make cool, non-mainstream games so much? This is so horrible of you. You are on the wrong forum, pal. We don't like your kind here.

 

[whydoibother]

tl;dr: it's anti-Christian

Holy snowflake, Yahweh!