Screenshots & trailers
Review sentiment over time
Weekly positive-review rate (green) and review volume (bars). Dashed lines mark significant patches; the amber line is the start of the current scoring window. Hover the dots to see what drove a dip or a jump.
How this score was computed
The VGC Score is a weighted blend on a press-comparable 0-100 quality scale. Steam approval rates are first calibrated (95% positive on Steam ≈ 89.5 quality, since Steam approval skews high). Press and tracked creator reviews each count ~2x a player review and share one cap against player evidence (creator buy/skip calls pool into an approval rate, calibrated like Steam approval); all-time sentiment is capped and halved (it's context, not verdict); reviews of the current build carry the most weight when a fresh patch anchors the window; and a 'typical game' prior keeps small samples from pegging the scale. Because press reviews and Metacritic user aggregates describe the launch build, their weight decays as the game ages (3-year half-life after a 1-year grace). That's how a game that launched rough can outgrow its old reception once updates win players over. Reviews under 2h playtime (the refund window), non-Steam activations, and free copies are downweighted.
| Component | Positive | Quality (0-100) | Weight (pseudo-reviews) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Press reviews (OpenCritic) | – | 86 | 105 |
| Creator reviews (1 tracked) | – | 97 | 1 |
| All-time Steam reviews | 95% | 90 | 1000 |
| Metacritic user ratings | – | 80 | 180 |
| Post-patch Steam reviews (trust-weighted) | 93% | 88 | 49 |
| Calibration prior (typical game) | – | 72 | 50 |
Scoring window: last 30 days (no significant patch detected) · 139 reviews sampled · 118 total reviews in window · weighted 109.5 up / 7.9 down · computed 2h ago · full methodology →
Press & Creators reviews (141)
Individual verdicts from outlets we track: scored reviews first, most trusted outlets first among them. The small badge is each outlet's trust score: how well its scoring history aligns with players.
- 90
“Pentiment is an unconventional take on a colorful and intertwined story that knows what it is doing very well. The free hand in decision-making creates a significant butterfly effect and can mess with the search for the killer. The period artwork enhances the entire experience wonderfully, and the solid historical foundations give the story even more depth.”
read full review ↗ - 85
“A journey to medieval Bavaria with its human joys and numerous sorrows, not without routine and uneven pace, without any intelligible gameplay, but authentic, vividly written and with a deep message.”
read full review ↗ - 60
“As a mystery to be solved and a mediation on how stories evolve over time, the game's focus wanders and ironically comes to fixate on elements like presentation and background lore that can all too easily overwhelm the basic tenets of telling an engaging story.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Pentiment is a delightful RPG adventure with stunning visuals, though it occasionally suffers from being a bit too chatty and sometimes struggles to strike the right balance in how much control to give the player. At its core, however, it is a rather exceptional title that will undoubtedly appeal to many players, provided they don’t mind doing a bit of reading while playing and aren’t put off by a bit of “meticulous” work. The game features plenty of interesting characters who will guide you nicely through the story, and the clever time mechanics keep the tension high from start to finish.”
read full review ↗ - 100
“Pentiment is a fantastic adventure RPG that revels in a studious approach to history and immaculate recreations of the styles and traditions of 16th-century Bavaria. There's a super smart, funny, and engaging murder mystery to investigate here, but it's how that mystery is so fully rooted in the world that's been lovingly crafted around it that really elevates this experience. It's one of the best games of the past decade, hands down, and to have that experience running and performing perfectly on Switch is a joyous thing - it feels like it was made for Nintendo's console. This is about as essential as games get.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Pentiment won’t wow you with its graphics, probably bore you with gameplay and perhaps scare away with its limitations. But it really is a perfect story with a superb script!”
read full review ↗ - 80
“From its humble development and gameplay characteristics to its excellent narrative and stunningly beautiful ending, Pentiment is a game we can all relate to in one way or another.”
read full review ↗ - 92
“These human texts open up genuinely insightful questions about authenticity in art and what it will come to mean centuries later, as well as what to do when your history has been lost to you. It is a beautiful portrait of history that doesn't limit itself from commenting on labor inequity, parental loss, or artistic hopelessness, all things the medieval and early modern art it draws from portrays so vividly. In bringing some of those stories to us today, Pentiment accomplishes the remarkable goal of being both clear-eyed about the period's faults, and sincere about its masterpieces.”
read full review ↗ - 85
“Pentiment is an excellent "artistic" game, although it suffers from overly simple puzzles and poor replayability. The excellent narrative section, combined with a very successful technical presentation, creates a title that is as playful as it is educational.”
read full review ↗ - 85
“For a title so reverent of history, it feels like divine justice that Obsidian's special narrative adventure earns such a high spot in the annals of its own.”
read full review ↗ - 100
“Pentiment’s incredibly compelling characters, immersive ambience and impactful choice and consequence make it a masterfully crafted RPG. Josh Sawyer and the team at Obsidian have created a truly special game.”
read full review ↗ - 90
“Pentiment is one of the most unique and clever games we've played in a very long time. It may be the fabulous art style that first draws you to this one, and it really is quite the looker, but it's actually the very obvious care that's been poured into the narrative and the exacting detail in every aspect of the world-building here that ends up selling the whole thing so well. With a story that really goes some places, tons of history to learn about, lots of fantastic characters to meet and plenty of fun and surprises along the way, this is one medieval murder mystery you should absolutely check out as soon as it hits Xbox Game Pass.”
read full review ↗
INDIANTVCZ
3DNews
Slant Magazine
Gaming Professors
Nintendo Life
GRYOnline.pl
Seasoned Gaming
Paste Magazine
SpaceNerd.it
VGChartz
Gfinity
Pure Xbox…and 129 more tracked reviews.
Patch history
- Patch 1.3.1845Oct 7, 2025
- Patch 1.3.1842Mar 5, 2024
- Patch 1.3.1840Feb 22, 2024
- Hotfix 1.2.1716Aug 7, 2023
- Hotfix 1.2.1715Aug 3, 2023
- Hotfix 1.2.1714Jul 11, 2023
- Hotfix 1.2.1713May 30, 2023
- 1.2 Patch NotesMay 30, 2023
- 1.1 Patch NotesDec 12, 2022
- Hotfix 1.0.1215Nov 18, 2022