Pentiment may not look the part of a big console exclusive, but based on our demo at Gamescom, this narrative RPG is the Xbox game to watch this fall.
This holiday season is shaping up to be an unusual one for Xbox owners. Players aren’t getting a big-ticket game like Halo Infinite or Forza Horizon 5, leaving parents scrambling to figure out a clear gift this year. Instead, Microsoft is pushing a series of smaller titles set to debut on Xbox Game Pass. That list includes comedic shooter High on Life, biopunk horror game Scorn, and indie darling Slime Rancher 2. But the most intriguing game on Xbox’s slate is also the most atypical: Pentiment.
Despite all the glitzy heavy hitters shown at Microsoft’s big showcase earlier this summer, this 16th-century narrative adventure was the one I was dying to know more about. With its newly announced November 15 release date looming, I got a chance to see exactly how the game worked during a demo at Gamescom. While the niche game might not win over Xbox fans who love big-budget flair, Pentiment looks to widen what the platform is known for and redefine what a console exclusive looks like in the Xbox Game Pass era.
Developed by Obsidian Entertainment, a studio known for acclaimed RPGs like Fallout: New Vegas, Pentiment looks like the kind of indie game you’d stumble across while browsing through Xbox Game Pass. It’s a 2D narrative RPG set in 16th-century Bavaria and features an illustrative art style that’s reminiscent of medieval paintings. Players control an artist named Andreas Maler, who seeks to find the truth behind a recent murder – one that’s been seemingly framed on one of his friends.
At the start of my demo, I have to make some RPG decisions that’ll inform my entire playthrough from then on out.
