#pentiment spoilers i guess but... go play the game

[yuramoonbow]

my melancholia

[capitainecorbeau]

I finished pentiment ! Spoilers ahead

Overall I liked it, but the ending felt rather weak to me, and brought the whole experience down a bit. It's a shame, because I really enjoyed playing through the game, getting to know the characters, and investigating, stressful as it may have been.

The thing is, Act 3 feels like a different game than 1 and 2, and I didn't mind ! Magdalene is a good protagonist, and it's very interesting going through the town both as a passing guest and as someone who lived there her whole life. But I felt like Andreas's return was kinda shoehorned and didn't add much to the climax of the story. I guess it was done because Magdalene is not as emotionnaly invested in finding out who is behind the murders. But honestly, him dying in the abbey fire, while tragic, felt like a... i dunno how to phrase it, but it wouldn't have felt out of place at all.

One thing I didn't like at all is the fact that whoever we pick as a culprit to the murder is actually the culprit. The whole investigation it felt like we were scrambling to find an acceptable target, to save Piero the first time and to try and avoid a bloodbath the second time, so I feel it would've been much more appropriate it they weren't actually the culpts.

It can be argued that it's open to interpretation, as they never confess and people could just be adamant that it's them because they're unwilling to consider the alternative. But no one ever speculates about Andreas being wrong, it doesn't sit right with me. I didn't even want a "true culprit reveal" or anything but I wish the game had leaned into this ambiguity more. In the end I felt there was a discrepency between how I felt gathering those weak suspects and motives during the investigation, and how the game talked about that afterwards.

I'm curious to play through again, with a different Andreas (the one I made for this playthrough was just a huge nerd) and Magdalene, and try and see stuff I haven't yet !

[olibavee]

would love to hear your thoughts on pentiment :) what was your favorite part

OH MAN unfortunately i've got massive brain fog lately so i'm not sure how eloquently i can articulate how i feel abt it, but i'll put my ramblings under a readmore to avoid spoilers for anyone bc it's truly a lovely game. <3

and well i mean. other than the obviously gorgeous aesthetics that i keep raving about...i really enjoyed the educational aspects of the game, like the little terms you can click on to give you a definition or a short history, and the RESEARCH that went into portraying the setting accurately... (the bibliography...swoon...) i also loved getting to know the people and places of Tassing and fleshing out the different characters you play as through choosing their background and dialogue.

my favorite part is very tiny in the grand scheme of things, but the part where Andreas goes hunting with Lenhardt and he can't even bring himself to draw the valley because of how depressed he is, idk. not to be a downer but that part really resonated with me and what i've been going through lately. and then at the ending i got when he sits down to draw with the children again on the mill, i almost cried LOL.

i also really appreciate the themes of like...truth, i guess? how the truth can become twisted and changed over time, how a collective memory of a people (or hell, just the memory of one person) can warp, how the power of love and faith (religious or not) can help you persevere despite such, idk...there's a lot about the different themes that i enjoyed but that part especially sat with me in the dark for a while.