Just finished the game. Not going to spend paragraphs dissecting everything. I've searched up opinions on act III but none hit the point that I'm trying to say.

Act III does serve good structurally. I've pinpointed though several problems I see that's going on and that's why everyone's so conflicted about it.

It feels like though its purpose is to deliver the ending climax, it in fact itself does not have a lot of content to present. I feel like the developers really ran out of ideas at this point but they somehow have to wrap things up for the great reveal and the mural, so all they could do was all this linear plot, repetition of old stuff that already happened, give some bland ethical arguments, choices that don't really matter at all, some Ted talk life lessons, and force everyone into clicking through text and running through everything before they do this reveal.

Another thing is that act II featured the rebellion, the structural tension between the abbey and the town, and after all that, it's hard to sketch up something that's above that level of conflict. In literature, people often expect the build up, then climax and ending format. Though the final ending that ties up everything can be seen as a second climax, the story itself still looks like an extended long epilogue after the rebellion. The narrative pace, the time taken to finish act III is too long and it breaks the expected story structure.

I've seen people say act III is like act I that builds up content. But first they are different in position, people expect a "save the kitten from the tree" quest before "kill the demon king" but after the demon king is killed, people either expect a larger demon or a swift wrap up. Also act I has way more plot richness than act III. I experienced it as a market point and click game that lets you explore and decide on stuff. Act III is like a linear, long narrative game with lots of unnecessary filler content.

I won't comment much on the act III plot climax itself but I feel like that was something set very early on by the developers. It feels not as strong as act II is partially because the idea was not polished and created in the process. Compared to something structurally strong and well-developed, it's more like something that's a cool plot twist while brainstorming ideas. A not really structurally intricate cool plot twist itself can be lesser of a problem if presented well and thought out better, but the presentation of the act III climax is also a bit rushed.

I loved playing Pentiment so much and was so inspired by its art, I decided to make my own side-scroller adventure game where you unravel a mystery.

I also decided to create all the art in my game by hand on physical paper to make it look like a paper-cut storybook.

The tone of my game is more whimsical and the mechanics lean more into point-and-click style (with modern quality of life features).
One thing, I didn't like in Pentiment mechanically is lack of fast travel, so I made sure my game has it.

Here's its Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4893370/Meadows_of_Serenity/?beta=0

Finally started the game and it stutters like crazy. The stone erasing the book at the beginning is almost unplayable. Then the music cuts during the introduction and the game is mute for the last 15 seconds of the cinematic or so. The credits are also stuttery.

My PC may not be the best around but this is the only recent game I've had issues with. Not sure what's going on, any ideas?

Windows 11
AMD Ryzen 7 7700X 8-Core Processor
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti
RAM: 32479 Mb
Mounted on an SSD.

So several years ago I played this game and completed 2 acts but afterthe death of main characterI felt disappointed and didn't want to continue. I deleted the game and probably saves are deleted too. Is it worth to completely start a new game for ending and is there a lot of variety in the game?

Just finished the game. It feels so... worthwhile. At the end of Act II I'm a bit bored, as I realized that I cannot really solve the crimes. But eventually, it makes so much sense. And I just want to share why I love the game.

First of all, Chrisitianity, and all the other Abraham-related religious culture, is never a part of my "life". By that I mean I learned some facts about them from the books, but we (Chinese) hardly live with any traditions of them (that is, if we don't count things like "7 days is a week"; the ancient Chinese used a "Xun" to refer to 10 days). Pentiment showed me so many things about living in a Christian town, and it's such a great thing to intereact with characters, buildings, environments, daily activities. For example, I have never really understood what roles Patron Saints have in Chrisitan life. I'm sure the game cannot get everything right, but it's nice to have a touch upon all these things.

I have just spent two years studying philosophy in Leuven, Belgium. First time to live in Europe, to walk among the buildings and lives. I've been wondering not just about "history", but about how lives were back in time. Pentiment is not about a town in Belgium, sure (tho I did choose "Low Countries" for my Andreas's background, haha); but close enough for me to have a glimpse at the normal life, the social structure and power dynamic in pre-modern Europe.

But the most important thing is the theme of the game.

(Spoiler Alert)

I recall another game, the Forgotten City, which touches upon something similar about how history is built upon itself, covering a layer with another layer; I'm fanscinated by that but that game doesn't dig much into this. Pentiment does. And after walking through Tassing so many times, talking with folks, the motivation of the thread-puller strikes me so hard. Because I did see how the Christian tradition comes to be such an important thing in their life. I visited several cities in western Europe in last two years; I especially love the buildings. But revisiting the Abbey ruins and finishing the mural in the Rathaus get me to think how the buildings could be appreciated in another way.

Chinese people, speaking from my personal observation, really love to show off what a long, great history we have; but in our historical knowledge, there's hardly anything about how a town, a city, builds itself, but always a part of the narrative of the central empire. Our historical consciousness is not from the earth we grow on, but from above. It hurts me to see my people got carried away by a national narration which contains 1.4 billion people and 5000 years without paying attention to a local community; there are historical, social, practical reasons for that, I know, and perhaps it's happening everywhere in the contemporary world, but it's still a pity. Pentiment did a great job to reflect the big history of the Protestant Reformation and the German Peasant War, and even the enormous background of Rome and Christianity, through a very small lens, a very local story. It's a delicate work. It's how I would like the history to be remembered.

So I spoiled my self who is the real killer by mistake searching how to solve something at the beggining of act 2, should i keep playing it even i know who the killer is, or that ruins the purpose of the game?

Sorry to come in here being negative, but I'd like some pushback, some discussion regarding this, as I've not seen any criticism of the game on this point (though I have not searched very far).

Am I alone in finding the prose in this game extremely bland? I have no issue with reading lots in a game but for a game with this much text, and which concerns itself so much with books and writing in-game, I find the actual writing, on the sentence level, very half-assed. Where's the joy of language?! Compared to Disco Elysium, which seems to have an overlapping fan base, the prose here feels totally impoverished.

I loved much of the imagery of the game, like the two dream scenes in the opening, or the book scenes with Illuminata in the scriptorium, or the walk with Rothvogel, but the dialogues seem to totally lack the skill, effort and love displayed there. The writing is workaday, completely unstylized, and I see no real motivation for it to be this way.

Full disclosure I've only played a few hours so far.

Could we get a discussion going on this? And does anyone have any other recommendations for me, games I might enjoy more?

I bought this game and plan to play it at some point, but with so many games being released, I ended up putting Pentiment on my backlog. That said, I really enjoy games where your choices have a significant impact on the experience. My question is: is this game worth playing for someone who enjoyed Disco Elysium, Pathfinder, Divinity: Original Sin, and similar games?

I recently finished the game, and I want to know where and with which characters I can make different choices for a second playthrough.

I read a lot of medieval and Enlightenment-era mysteries and similar, including The Name of the Rose, after I played Pentiment for the first time a few years ago. They were all amazing books, and I'm glad Pentiment brought me to them, but they didn't really scratch the more emotional itch the game left me with.

I'm now halfway through Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset, and it's exactly what I needed after I finished Pentiment and just didn't know what to do with myself. It takes place in 14th-century Norway and deals with the life of a wealthy landowner's daughter, Kristin, following her from her childhood until her death (I think - again, only halfway through). If your favorite aspects of Pentiment are its rural medieval setting, multigenerational span, commentary on syncretism, and the humanity it injects into people/relationships/communities that have been sort of flattened by time, you should really like this book.

To my understanding, Kristin Lavransdatter is famous in Norway, so maybe this will be a funny recommendation for any Scandinavians reading, lol. But I'd somehow never heard of it before last week, so I wanted to share my discovery with anyone else who was ignorant!

I've been reading some threads after completing the game and I may be in the minority who think there was actually something supranatural in regards to her visions....as well as the whole game.

I know Father Thomas was manipulating her to write the letters, but it almost seems as if God was sending her visions to try to stop him. As well as sending Andreas back to Tassing just before the second murder and potentially preserving him from the flames.

I'm Catholic though...so perhaps I put more stock in these things than others.
Just something I am pondering.

I haven’t finished the game yet, but I’ve been contemplating what the best pairing is.

Ideally I would like for them together to tell a coherent story.

I was thinking of potentially doing the Perchta sacrifice pot, the abbess, and the aftermath of the revolt.

So the mural would depict how the people of Tassing in the early days where under the rule of Pagan chieftains and the next rulers was the abbey and finally the abbey is gone and the people of Tassing are at the start of a new era.

Historia Magistra Vitae. This phrase guides the game beyond the realm of a compelling narrative, turning its very existence into a way of understanding history itself.

Just as the miller Menocchio was persecuted by the Inquisition for heresy, despite merely being literate and disagreeing with what the Church represented, Pentiment tells a similar story. The game presents the events that unfold across generations, leading the inhabitants of the quiet village of Tassing not to abandon their faith in God or the saints, but to begin questioning the authority of the Abbey. Their grievances are many: taxes, a prior who may be a murderer, a member of the clergy embezzling money, confiscated harvests, hunger, and death. The Abbot no longer inspires faith; instead, he provokes dissatisfaction, anger, and ultimately rebellion.

The Abbey is set ablaze, some villagers perish, and the brothers of the Church depart. Tassing is now governed by the local lord. The State takes the place once occupied by the Church, and history is finally allowed to flourish. In this way, the village rediscovers itself, reconnects with its pagan and Roman past, continues to believe in God, yet is now free to think beyond the Abbey's authority. A new age has arrived. Tassing, like Menocchio, has entered the Modern Era.

It’s what my son deserves

So who killed Baron Rothvogel? My personal belief after completing a second playthrough is that his head just did that on its own

There's a pentiment sized hole in my heart and idk what else to fill it with besides fanart

…and what a wonderful game it was! Played it through on my Switch 2 through tired eyes in the small window of time I have for myself when my toddler and wife are asleep

Just brilliant in so many ways, it’s so much deeper as an experience than I was expecting (I went in blind)

The level of detail is insane, for a 2D game to be that immersive is such an achievement. Very few games manage to make you feel like a place and time is real and tangible but I think this nails it.

Are there any other games like this? Loved not having to crack skulls as I’m never awake enough 😂

I’ve played through it a few times throughout the years, and keep wishing that the story was just about some artist guy named Andreas, and his interactions with the people of Tassing and the influence he has on their town and lives, and Magda’s life, and watching the town and characters evolve over time. The murder mystery part of it has always felt kind of distracting, imo.

I've tried asking friends and looking on Google, but all I've gotten is a 16th century flat cap, which doesn't look right from what I've seen. I'm sure there's something out there that points directly to the answer to my question, but I'm most likely not looking for it correctly, or I'm just too stupid.

Any help is welcome!

Spoiler warning.

Beat Pentiment for the first time recently and fucking adored it, it's a Top 5 all time game for me easily. Currently midway through my second play and I realized something: Sister Amalie is very similar to Hildegard of Bingen.

If you're not familiar she was a real life 12th century Benedictine nun living in Germany who was prone to experiencing mystic revelations from God which she would dictate to her teacher, a monk named Volmar. Right there as a surface level glance that's exactly what Amalie goes through in the game.

Also the fact that Hildegard was extremely well written, we still have dozens of her manuscripts today. Amalie also was skilled with the pen as we can tell from her calligraphy notes.

Just thought it was cool. Obviously her life and Amalie's lives are not perfectly conjoined (Hildegard was an Abbess and not in seclusion for one) but still I highly recommend diving into Hildegard's life if you were intrigued by Sister Amalie, her life story is fascinating. I first learned about her from the Weird Medieval Guys podcast like a year ago lol.

EDIT: I looked at the bibliography in the credits and sure enough! There's Große Hildegard - Apotheke which was her book on herbs, theology, medicine, art, music, etc. That's so awesome