Pentiment painter

Pentiment might not be the most famous or grandiose game from developer Obsidian Entertainment, but it’s a game that’s been garnering a ton of interest in the gaming community since it launched on Nov. 15. While the studio might be known for its bigger-budget games, Pentiment is a smaller-scale game that does everything it sets out to do well. It’s been getting a lot of buzz recently for its gripping narrative, appropriately scaled-down gameplay experience, and interesting art style inspired by medieval illuminated manuscripts.


In this adventure roleplaying game, players play as Andreas Maler, an artist living in a fictional Bavarian town as he illustrates the local abbey’s manuscript. As the story progresses, Andreas finds himself in the role of detective as he tries to solve a brutal murder in the usually quiet town. The player uses investigative-style gameplay to gather clues, chase leads, and eventually come to a conclusion regarding the mystery at the core of the game. That being said, how long will it take most players to solve the mystery in Pentiment and beat the game?

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How Long It Takes to Beat Pentiment

Pentiment crowd watching a fire

While it might have the look of an indie game, Pentiment offers a substantial number of hours, which is fitting for a studio owned by a large corporation. The game is split up into three acts that will take players approximately 15 to 20 hours to complete. It’s worth noting that it’s not really a game that will attract speedrunners, and the point-and-click-inspired approach will definitely pace the game appropriately. Additionally, these 20 or so hours are almost entirely narrative-focused as, unlike other RPGs, there’s no combat element or resource management, so the time players spend on the game is highly focused.

20 hours might seem like a small number for a studio that’s made some of the most beloved and expansive roleplaying games, such as Fallout: New Vegas and Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: Sith Lords. However, it’s important to remember that in Pentiment, there’s no way to do absolutely everything available to the player on each in-game day, and some content will be missed out on. Unlike other murder mysteries that allow players to painstakingly pore over details, in Pentiment, players will miss out on some leads as they spend their time following other clues. Completionists will definitely want to take the game through several playthroughs as they catch up on the content that they missed the first time around.

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How Long It Takes to Complete Pentiment

Pentiment Picking a Background

Pentiment is a game that emphasizes player choice, giving the player’s decisions a significant role in shaping the story of the game. This is especially relevant as there is no confirmed right or wrong answer at the heart of the murder mystery. Instead, Pentiment allows the player to come to the conclusions that make the most sense to them through conducting the investigation. By emphasizing the importance of player choice, the game attracts players to try out different choices in various playthroughs not only to uncover options they didn’t get the chance to explore before but to approach the mystery in a different way entirely if they so choose.

While every conclusion they might come to can technically not be wrong, it’s up to the player to decide if one is more right than the others. As a result, while the game offers an initial 20 hours or so of gameplay, only playing through the game once definitely is not the best way to enjoy Pentiment. Players should expect to double up on those hours as they explore different possibilities.

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