Pentiment is a murder mystery wrapped in the aesthetics of medieval art. It's a beautiful game, a monastery scroll in movement, full of interesting characters and a well-realized town for you to explore. It also offers a lot of historical background, so its attention to detail may even spark an interest in Reformation-era history.
When you're done Pentiment, you may feel a gnawing feeling in your chest - a desire for a whodunnit mystery, for a carefully crafted world that bursts with history, or something in between. Hopefully, some of these games will ease your craving.
9 Fallout: New Vegas
What do post-apocalyptic Nevada and pre-Reformation Bavaria have in common? Well, frankly, not much. Maybe the focus on Roman culture and architecture, but that's about it. Still, Fallout: New Vegas is considered to be Pentiment developer Obsidian, and Fallout, at its absolute best. This game has limitless opportunities to do and be whoever you want. The Wasteland lives and breathes with you, and your choices impact your future in tangible ways.
Of course, Fallout: New Vegas' main character is player-created, a completely blank slate for you to modify physically and personality-wise. Player choice thrives in Fallout: New Vegas, though don't forget: the game was rigged from the start.
8 Pathologic 2
Ever wanted to micro-manage life in a video game? Keep on top of hunger, thirst, health, and sleep while also trying to deal with a terrible, deadly plague, dwindling supplies and a reputation that is not set in stone? Pathologic 2, a deeply melancholy survival experience, gives you all that and more.
Pathologic 2, like Pentiment, is about community in its own way. It's about understanding the people around you, their schedules, and how you impact them. Your actions can lead to plague-ridden districts, dissatisfied townsfolk, and a town worse than when you got there. Being an outsider is hard - it's harder when people hate you, and you have to barter for items.
7 A Plague Tale: Innocence
In the 14th century, during the Hundred Years' War, A Plague Tale: Innocence is as horrifying as it is intriguing. The game centers on two siblings from a noble family in France - teenage Amicia and her five-year-old brother, Hugo. Stealth is vital - not only are there Inquisition soldiers around but also terrifying, murderous rats that can give the swarms of man-eating rats from Dishonored a run for their money.
The use of historical events ties A Plague Tale to Pentiment, in a sense, though it also uses supernatural elements to tell its story. You may finish A Plague Tale with a newfound interest in history, and we can't blame you.
6 Vampyr
You stalk the dark, dreary streets of Edwardian London as Doctor Jonathan Reid, a new addition to the undead. Vampyr requires you to pay attention to dialogue and character as you try to unravel the strange plague that haunts the people that surround you. Characters in Vampyr have schedules, places to be, and people to see.
Vampyr needs you to understand people, their unique lives, and the places they call their home. You might be a vampire, but you're also a doctor, and you have patients to care for. Jonathan feels like Andreas because he is a fixture of the community and has the power to change it for the better. Or the worse.
5 Night In The Woods
Half slice of life, half mystery, Night in the Woods centers on college dropout Mae after she returns to her hometown. People in Possum Falls have been going missing lately, though Mae isn't out here trying especially hard to solve the case or anything. Instead, she's just here to hang out with her friends, who she feels have grown and changed without her, to play bass in a band, and to figure out just what she is doing with her life.
Strange things are happening just behind the curtain of Possum Falls. You may choose to steal a closed, bankrupt grocery store's animatronic mascot with best friend (and best fox) Gregg, but something nefarious is brewing. Mae will be forced to deal with it sooner or later.
4 Disco Elysium
One of the most beloved CRPGs of recent years - and perhaps decades, Disco Elysium places you in the shoes (well, one shoe) of detective Harrier DuBois in the city of Revachol. You're investigating a murder with your highly competent partner, the much beloved Kim Kitsuragi, and your brain will not stop yelling at you.
Revachol was the site of a failed communist revolution long before your story began. This history is written into the crumbling architecture, felt in the hollow cold of every space, barely held together by the people who call Revachol their home. There is a rich history to discover in the backdrop of the mystery you're trying to solve.
3 Return Of The Obra Dinn
Five years ago, the merchant ship Obra Dinn went missing. And then, it reappeared near England, floating aimlessly in the cold, treacherous waters, all sixty souls on board either dead or missing. In the eerie Return of the Obra Dinn, you play as an insurance inspector tasked with discovering precisely what happened to the ship, and the crew, during its long voyage.
Obra Dinn is a terrifying enigma. What horrors could have occurred here, on the decks of this modest vessel as it crashed through the waves, lonely and forgotten? The corpses can't speak, so you must use the tools at your disposal to account for, name, and discover the fates of every person who had the misfortune of being on the Obra Dinn.
2 Valiant Hearts: The Great War
If the historical elements of Pentiment intrigue you, Ubisoft's 2014 game, Valiant Hearts: The Great War can satisfy your desire for knowledge. Featuring multiple protagonists, all navigating the hell that was World War I, Valiant Hearts' attention to historical accuracy and details makes it both entertaining and educational. Much like Pentiment, Valiant Hearts offers dedicated explanations of certain artifacts - the only difference being that you must collect some of them yourself.
Brace yourself, though. Valiant Hearts is a profoundly emotional experience, one that will haunt you long after you've stepped away from the controller. Do not let the cutesy character designs fool you - Valiant Hearts pulls few punches when portraying a futile war's devastating effects.
1 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
A Witcher is not unlike a detective in more ways than one. In The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, you play as Geralt of Rivia, the titular Witcher, who is on a quest to find his surrogate daughter, Ciri. Of course, detective work is in the main questline, but if you're hungering for some clue-gathering and deducing, you can find Witcher contracts on every bulletin board throughout the continent.
There are also murders to solve, caused by different monsters. Not just actual monsters, either - people are just as capable of cruelty, after all. Nevertheless, the Witcher 3 offers you a rich world to explore, with people to care about. Your choices have significant impacts on the lives of the peasants, though - so wield your deducing power with caution and care.