The length of Obsidian Entertainment’s Xbox exclusive, Pentiment, has been revealed, and it will take over 20 hours to finish.
The studio design director at Obsidian Entertainment and director of the narrative adventure role-playing game Pentiment, Josh Sawyer, took to Twitter to reveal the length of his third full playthrough of Pentiment, which came in at a little over 21 hours.
It’s worth highlighting that this was Sawyer’s third playthrough, and he’s also seen the game’s development through, knowing the ins and outs. Therefore, the 21 hours length should only be taken as a rough figure, and players would be expected to spend more time during their first playthrough.
Pentiment is an upcoming adventure video game by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Xbox Game Studios. The game is slated to launch on Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S platforms in November 2022. It is a narrative adventure role-playing video game set in Bavaria in the 16th century. As the journeyman artist Andreas Maler, the player looks into their friend’s alleged role in a high-profile murder.
The true murderer is never canonically revealed over the course of the 25-year plot. Instead, the player is expected to accuse someone based on either who they believe did it or who they believe deserves to be punished the most. Other crimes and conspiracies are ongoing at the same time as the main murder investigation. The game’s art style is a mix of late medieval manuscripts, early print, and woodcuts at the transition from late medieval to early modern art.
Darklands, a 1992 role-playing video game by MicroProse that combined the Middle Ages with supernatural themes, provided inspiration for Sawyer’s historical fiction. It wouldn’t appeal to many people outside of history enthusiasts, in Urquhart’s opinion. After the 2018 release of Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, Sawyer pitched Urquhart once more while they were both employed by Obsidian Entertainment. He recast the game as a mystery-filled narrative adventure with gameplay akin to Night in the Woods or Oxenfree.
