Pentiment review – a Renaissance murder mystery with an eye for historical detail

PC, Xbox; Obsidian Entertainment/Xbox Game Studios
An evocative recreation of 16th-century Bavaria examines how the tide of history crashes against the lives of everyday people, all framed by an intriguing crime story

Plenty of games have recreated historical places, but few even attempt to capture what it was actually like to live through these eras. Pentiment feels special because it excels at empathy. Its depiction of Renaissance Bavaria is remarkable in that it fosters a genuine connection with the ordinary people living, eating, working and dying through a period of tumultuous change.

This was a time which saw the rise of Protestantism following the radical teachings of Martin Luther, the popularisation of printed books, the uprising of peasants against cruel landowners and the blasphemous revelation that the Earth revolves around the sun. Much like the period we're living through today, long-held certainties were questioned, and established orders were swept away.

Pentiment is out on 15 November for PC (version played here) and Xbox; 14.99