Despite 20 years of gaming, Pentiment immediately became one of my favorite games of all time, it's not just any title, it really leaves something in you, not only along the way but also and above all in the ending, where it triggers an infinite series of reflections, on history, the sources from which we learn about past events and what we decide to leave for posterity to tell an event, a story or our passage on Earth

@nobodythisisstupid4888

2 ай бұрын

I think it’s probably the best written game ever. Like there’s some competition with Disco Elysium and Pathologic 2 (and Fallout New Vegas and Planescape Torment to a lesser extent) but i think it takes the cake. It is just so incredibly thematically dense with themes on history, the power of language and writing, consequences, the passage of time, art and self expression, community, faith, and power. All these themes not only developed over the entire game but regularly intersected with each other to create an absolutely compelling game. The characters and town are so believable and memorable, and the ending reveal is probably one of the best executed plot twists I have ever seen. It brought back memories and feelings long gone for me in a way that most artistic works have not in a long time. It’s honestly mind blowing how great it is and how many people bounce off of it for not being interactive enough.

@JazzzRockFuzion

2 ай бұрын

One of the few games I've genuinely shed tears at during the ending sequence.

@JoesCaribbeanVanLife

2 ай бұрын

​@@nobodythisisstupid4888 screenshotted your comment to check those games out. Thanks for the recommendations. 🫂

@TheAciditty

2 ай бұрын

Pentiment and Norco both grabbed me that year.

@TheCybercoco

2 ай бұрын

Eh, Pentiment is basically the Pillars of Eternity narrative in a different format. Just wish Sawyer had a broader understanding of the topic, though, to his credit, he does a commendable job anyway. He deffinitely should consider more diverse consultation if he ever wants to tackle the topic again in the future.

As someone born and raised in Upper Bavaria, Germany, thank you so much for this game Mr Sawyer.

@oliversteininger7679

2 ай бұрын

Ich komm aus Innsbruck. War einfach nur erstaunt und happy als die Stadt im Spiel erwähnt wurde.

@Draftgon

2 ай бұрын

It was crazy to see my tiny town FREISING in the game.

@LionelMeessi

2 ай бұрын

you are so gay lmao holy!

@lamora6298

2 ай бұрын

As someone born and raised in Northern Germany, thank you so much Mr Sawyer for making a game so great to make me stand the setting regardless

I played Pentiment for 20 hours and Baldur’s Gate 3 for 200 hours but Pentiment’s story and uniqueness has stuck in my brain for far longer and with greater emotional impact

Hearing them talk about the challenges, I totally understand why we dont have more historical RPGs, but this game was such a lovely experience it made me wish it was a larger subgenre, it's such an immersive way to learn history.

@LordMarlle

2 ай бұрын

Tbf all games are tremendously challenging. The main argument of people don't make historical games, because people don't wanna play historical games, is just absurd. Kingdom come deliverance, for example, was an excellent game

@KittRembo

Ай бұрын

This is why I love playing Medieval II Total War and Shogun 2 total war. I can just immerse myself in the historical eras and come up with stories for my countries and soldiers. It’s great! But yeah this blew me away at how much Pentiment scratched that historical itch.

I loved Pentiment, one of my favorite games of the past few years

noclip doing tremendous work, always raising the bar. hats off to danny and the noclip crew!

@mrmakiman

2 ай бұрын

Hats off you say, nice try.

Pentiment is a brilliant game that I would encourage everyone to at least *try*. The way its characters exist, within the context of the created world and real world history, is nothing short of an achievement and it deserves an earnest look by everyone for this alone. These characters feel like they exist for their own purposes and not just as some piece of content that the player interacts with. The historical context of its setting only deepens this feeling, as you could easily imagine normal folks living their lives this way at that point in time. And the game does this with nothing but charming visuals and dialogue that is steeped in humanity and realism. Within my own life, I played this game when my newborn son was taking naps, and its themes of generational hope and conflict resonated with me and brought up feelings in a way that a video game had not done so before. Thank you so much, NoClip, for taking a look at this game and the voices behind it, it means the world to those of us that really connected with this work of art.

Pentiment was the most impactful story I played in the past 5 years or so, seeing all the villagers grow up through time really makes even the most secondary characters meaningful to the player and made me bond with them. Growing up in Northern Italy I also saw some elements that reminded me of my hometown's medieval architecture, making me feel both at home and slightly on the edge.

Pentiment truly feels to me like the Golden Age of Graphic Adventure Games (from the late 1980s to the mid 1990s; afterward they first chased action adventure games in vain and then became and mostly remained mechanically barebones even in the Kickstarter-fueled renaissance of the 2010s) dialed up to 11, which is possibly the highest praise I can give. And great documentary, too. 👍

@snakeplissken111

2 ай бұрын

Well, Pentiment isn't mechanically heavy per se as well. As Josh argues, one of the inspirations was Nights In The Wood. That isn't a walking sim. But it isn't an experience full of condundrums and semi-open isle hopping/exploration a la Monkey Island 2 either. But it's an interesting experience either way.

Cool to see such a unique, experimental game like Pentiment get made at a large studio like Obsidian. I hope they're able to keep sprinkling smaller projects like this into the development schedule.

The game is a labor of love. Hannah and Josh faces are glowing while talking about it.

My 2022 GOTY, and a Top 10 all-timer! A singular, inimitable experience. Video games rarely bring me to tears; I cried twice during my playthrough. Phenomenal writing, art direction and historical aesthetic. Full points to Mr. Sawyer and his small team for this masterwork. 🙏

They always choose the best games that need those behind the scenes❤

This has been my favorite game in years. So glad to see you guys are doing a documentary on it.

Pentiment is one of my all-time favorites. So grateful for this labor of love.

Pentiment is a game cater made for me. An historical setting rendered in a stylised way that felt both expressive and authentic, but also telling a achingly human story. One that deals with the human conidition in the immediacey: Love, regrets, hatred, spirituality, rebellion and conformity. But it also ties those aspects into the historical medium it was built from, about how society progresses, and forgets. About how tradition and progress, with all it's ebbs and flows, are always at odds, and how they are never wholly good or bad perspectives. It tells this incredibly ambitous narrative so well, not just because of it's lofty narrative goals, but telling it through the lense of a gorgeously localised story. Sure Josh talks about some of the historical liberties that the story took, but it's because of those slight leaps that creates an incredible historical fiction that not only tells a story via history, but echoes through it, all the way from the illuminated manuscripts made almost a thousand years ago, right through our screens, and what a privelege it is to experience it. What a game, and what a video highlighting the human effort to accomplish it. I hope it is remembered fondly.

I played and 100% finished Pentiment a couple of months ago. Loved it so much I had to order the physical edition immidiately. Amazing game, highly recommended!

I just finished Pentiment on my Steam Deck OLED 2 days ago! I loved it. I love basically everything Sawyer does. New Vegas, Pillars 1 and 2, Pentiment, etc.

@snakeplissken111

2 ай бұрын

No Icewind Dale? :/

@FromPlsNerf

2 ай бұрын

@@snakeplissken111 Haven't played it. is it still worth playing? Does it work well on a windows 11 machine?

I wish in bigger studios people were more oftenly allowed to sit down an be like: "Wouldn't it be great to have a game about..." Rather than having market research, (low) risk management and focus groups dictating what's getting made next. Thankfully, ever since the explosion of digital distribution and the like, there's always gonna be the indies. But it's always interesting what people at major studios can do if they are allowed to do what they actually genuinelly WANT to do. PS: I'm an avid RPG fan. But for the life of me I can't fathom how nobody is ever getting sick of elves, PipBoys and Cyberpunks by now for realz.

Pentiment is definitely one of my favorite games. Watching Andreas's hat travel from him to Anna and then to her daughter was priceless =) It is because of such pleasant little things that I, as a player, get attached to the characters

I never clicked on a video so quickly. I'm going to savour this one though. One of my favorite games of all time. So many unique parts of the development to explore too. Very excited!

YES thank you!! I haven't watched yet but I absolutely loved Pentiment and I want it to get as much air time as possible.

Incredible game and well deserving of a video such as this. One of my favourites of the past few years.

Been a gamer for 30+ years, Pentiment is easily one of the best games I've played!

I bought pentiment the day this was released, and waited to watch until I finished the game. It may have been one of my favorite games of the last few years. I fell in love with the characters and was so impressed with the art style that I completely forgot the entire story takes place entirely within a book.

I can’t explain what joy I feel when No clip uploads. Best channel ever.

I'm super glad that this unique game exist 😊

thank you for this. Pentiment is one of the most unique narrative experiences I've ever had and i loved every brushstroke of it!

I live in suburb of Paris and fell in love with Alps suroundings, bavaria austria, slovenia etc... this game captures so well the ambiance of this region and by extension I guess, era. this is such a particular game that fullfill perfectcly my hungry of non combat focused rpg game. thanks Obsidian for bringing this game to life, thanks Noclip for that superbe documentary

Pentiment is such an amazing game, easily one of the best games I've ever played. I enjoyed every second of it. I just wish we had more games like this. Thank you for making such a beautiful documentary and thanks to the wonderful devs ❤.

@michelottens6083

2 ай бұрын

There's much of the old 80's-90's historical stuff to find on GoG and abandonware sites. If you can get them to run. Most of the grounded educational/scientific stuff gets buried in pop culture history, though, even if it was popular.

I played Pentiment for the first time a couple days ago and thought to myself "I really wish there was Noclip-quality documentary about its creation." And what do I find right at the top of my subscription feed? Most excellent.

This game changed me as a person. It's so well made I keep thinking about even a year after finishing it

Omg yes! Just burned through and got the plat on PS5. This game is amazing.

I will share this with my gamedev students.

I loved this game found it randomly on game pass. Binged it all in like two sittings sooo good, got everyone I knew to play it

I immediately purchased Pentiment after listening to your GOTY podcast. So glad I did. Insightful documentary on a great work of story telling.

Pentiment to me was one of the first games in a long time to truly feel special. Absolutely loved it.

I'm so glad your channel exists and has existed for this long. The work/effort you guys put in your videos is always phenomenal and it's the kind of stuff that makes me love video games even more. Pentiment was by far one of my favorite games of 2023 and of the last decade, it had been a while since I cared this deeply about fictional characters, their everyday life and their fate. A masterpiece.

Thank you for doing a Video on Pentiment! Loved it, so glad Josh and his team finally got to make a game like this :)

Imagine my surprise this weekend when almost by accident I download this game, and what an experience. I’m 34 years old, an anthropologist, and I love history. Without a doubt, a sublime experience, an interactive book that deeply resonated with me. I will think about the game for a long time.

One of the most affecting games I’ve played for a long time, without really knowing what I was getting into. I will always love and appreciate Pentiment; it is a truly unique experience.

This was one of my top games in 2022, Obsidian are the goats. Great documentary as always.

I am really glad that in this day and age of extremely overproduced AAA games we sometimes get a shining example that games don't have to be massive and sprawling. In fact games like Pentiment remind us that more often than not less is more.

Finally! So excited for this doc!

This game tickled my history brain-side and I loved every second of it. Had me picking up history books and documentaries on the HRE, Bavaria and the Reformation.

One of the most unique games I have ever played. The writing, music and art are all outstanding. The characters actually feel like real people and not weird npc automatons. Also, The Name of the Rose mentioned! Well done Josh, you've done it again.

Pentiment was so good. I'd love to see Josh Sawyer make a Kingdom Come Deliverance type game.

I love this game so much!! We can feel the dedication, passion and fun, so much attention to details!! I hope it inspires many gamemakers to do similar work, and maybe have stories from a variety of historical times, places and fantasy

Playing it last year, Pentiment instantly became one of my favourite role-playing games and one of the most emotionally resonant gaming experiences I've ever had. I really hope its positive reception will prompt Obsidian, or even other studios, to continue pushing the boundary of role-playing game settings, stories and themes.

One of the best games of the last decade, a truly unique title. I'm sad we don't get more of these titles. Also a great video that kept it interesting and to the point throughout the entire runtime. Thank you.

My GOTY for 2022, no games have a sense of place and culture like the ones Josh Sawyer has a hand in. Can't wait for this

Thank you for working on this documentary! I have finished the game a week ago and this video came out at the perfect time! This is one of the games that would stay in my head for a really long time. Shoutout to the amazing artists and creators of this game that believed this would be possible!

Pentiment was fantastic. And the jokes and mystery utilized tge fact that ots a text adventure exceedingly well

Interesting to see the development of a game that’s essentially the platonic ideal of the subscription era of games. Take an unbelievably talented group of people, let them make something experimental and small in scope, remove them from the pressures of a traditional publishing environment. Makes me curious for what’s next out of Double Fine now Tim can focus on making games instead of making payroll!

Thank you Josh, Danny and everyone else involved in these projects on both sides. Superb game, superb documentary.

i'm sure you folks were pressed for time but i wish there was a section for the music which was also relatively period accurate with a lot of old instruments thanks so much for this doc. incredible work

I think Kingdome Come: Deliverance is the only other truly historical RPG I've seen. It's not an easy genre to get right.

I was just looking at your upload history this morning and thought it was about time another doc showed up. This was great.

So glad u guys made this, the game was so unique and it deserves much more recognition

Love the videos! Looking forward to your next one already. This is a great thing to run in the background while doing more busy work (and invariably get distracted with and take frequent breaks to watch it more closely).

So grateful for this game and its narrative quality. Seriously stellar experience.

Wow, this was lovely. Pentiment is such a magical game, and I am happy that Josh finally got to do it.

Two new games added to my library & a polished documentary Noclip, thank you 🙏🏻

Thank you for making this documentary Noclip! I stopped before the Act 3 spoiler section, bought the game, and binged it this week. What an excellent game I nearly missed out on.

Best game I have played on my series S, I couldn't put it down once I started it, the period music, art style, quill scratching parchment took me to that time and place. Great to see behind the scenes and meet the amazing team that made this gem of a game.

I love Pentiment. It was one of the most enjoyable and memorable games of the past years for me. It certainly is on my personal "all time greats" list.

Excellent work again Noclip! They sound like such a fun team to work in. Really glad they received the recognition they deserved

The team that worked on this game from the animators to the artists are so talented!

Fantastic documentary work! Played the game recently and was really glad to know way more about it

The art style of this game is absolutely wonderfully done. It's been a true inspiration to me and opened my mind to a totally new 2D style for games. I hope that there will be others out there that are also inspired in such a way. Thank you for this masterpiece.

Thank you for doing this No Clip you're all awesome!

Another amazing work from Danny , I loved Pentiment and all original elements it has, happy to see the in's and out's of it.

Awesome! Love the game, it's great to see a 'making of' doc here on Noclip. You're doing a fantastic job!

Pentiment is one of my favourite pieces of art ever, loved this doc.

This reminds me HARD of Mind-Maze in Encarta!!! Gonna have to check this out just for the nostalgia factor even though this isn't anywhere near the same.

What an awesome game. Stuff like this enriches our medium so much. Josh and Obsidian did it again

So, I played Pentiment, and despite all the respect that I have for the game and the project, I did not have a great time. And yet, since then, the game has been living rent free in my head. I can't stop thinking about the game, not necessarily its themes and messages, but the dedication and commitment to bring life to such a peculiar setting. This comment is not about hating on the game, I think I just need to write this down as I felt so isolated in my experience and conclusions. What did not work for me kind of eludes me, and I have been waiting for the motivation to get back to the game and try to enjoy it on a second playthrough. I think the murder mystery did not really work for me, and hearing about Josh's take on the reactivity of the game makes me want to give it a second go, as I did not feel for a second that I had any chance to make any progress in the investigation, and that my eclectic choices led to consequences and possibilities that felt completely forced. Secondly, and that is my problem, I think gamepass, as it does for most games, got me anxious and a bit rushy in the way I played. I subsequently plan to buy the game and play it at my own pace. Thanks Noclip for such a cool doc and congratulations on the team that made the game, we absolutely need more games like this. I'm not mad at anybody but me for not enjoying the game more.

Absolutely loved this game!! The art style, music, characters and story were all done so masterfully.

Thank you so much for this. Pentiment is just soooo special!

To the opening question: Because being inspired by real history means engaging with real political ideas. Having beliefs and ideas makes businesses and investors worry about losing sales demographics. So when historical inspiration does come into play, it must be cached in fantasy elements for plausible deniability. That or you swing in the opposite direction, like Ubisoft titles, with marketing around politics baiting but narratives that ultimately refuse to present ideas that could challenge the status quo.

A wonderful piece about one of my new favorite games! It was so nice to learn about the art direction and themes in the storytelling (my fave bits in the experience!)

This video and it’s final spoiler warning had me turn off the TV and go finish my save from launch. Thank you for presenting the content as spoiler-free as possible. I’m happy I went back.

This was excellent, one of your best yet.

One of the best games that I played in years. It has a very heart-touching story. And the art direction is so good! Thanks for making it (to Obsidian devs) and thanks for creating a movie about it (to Noclip).

This is full of love. Thank you.

What a great documentary; honestly everything about the art and modeling was just beyond fascinating, they really went above and beyond with this game

Thank you for this! It was so interesting to learn the development process, and how other games, movies, and books influenced Pentiment. (Aside from Josh's reading list!) This was a game where the characters and place truly felt alive and vivid, and it was exciting to see how they changed over time.

brilliant work, thank you everyone at noclip and thank you to those who made pentiment, amazing game and amazing doc about the game

Brilliant game! Bought it on release, played a little, never finished though. It's like a good book. You have to be in the mood.

Huge fan here. I'm just going to start posting this on everyone of your vids--you guys just have to do a doc on Playdead! Limbo, Inside, and their unreleased space game. I mean Inside is a masterclass. Low key one of the best games ever made. There is a lot of internal drama with Playdead, which is why their new game is taking so long to finish (if it even will). All this would be some awesome content!

Thank you for this amazing doc on an amazing game, I will absolutely play this next!

Absolutely adore this game. Truly a gem, wish more people would play it! I hope Sawyer makes another one.

This is such a an amazing game. So glad to get to learn about the process now!

I have never heard of this game! I will definitely look it up. Looks awesome. Thanks.

Love the game and love this doc, thanks again.

Crazy timing on this, i just bought Pentiment on sale the other day for Switch. Was going to start playing it tonight after Shogun ha

I've never seen a game so committed to a place and period in history. Pentiment was a delight and a triumph ! I hope it can inspire more historical, or at least history inspired, games with as much care and thoughtfulness towards its setting and characters. In any case, it's a very special game and Noclip never disappoints

Playing Pentiment and reading Name of the rose simultaneously was a fantastic experience, this game is wonderful and a real gem.

Wow.. now this one.. This one looks absolutely brilliant! I will definitely be playing it in the future. Thanks!

Pentiment was one of the best gaming experiences I have ever had. I would love to see more games made in a similar style and with a similar depth of research and clear passion for their time period.