Obsidian’s new and acclaimed RPG Pentiment wouldn’t have been possible without Game Pass, director Josh Sawyer has said.
Speaking on the Waypoint Radio (opens in new tab) podcast (thanks, PC Gamer (opens in new tab)), Sawyer explained that he wouldn’t have “bothered” even pitching Pentiment in a world where Game Pass doesn’t exist.
“I never would have proposed making Pentiment without Game Pass,” Sawyer said. “Like, I literally just wouldn’t have done it. I just don’t think it would have been possible.”
The narrative-focused RPG isn’t a conventional game by any means, less so in relation to Obsidian’s prior body of work, and Sawyer felt that a traditional developer-publisher model wouldn’t have supported his vision.
“In a traditional model, I just don’t think I would have even bothered because no one’s going to pick that up. Even if my boss were supportive of it, it would have been so incredibly difficult to get a publisher to pick it up. And that’s why this specific environment is the only way in which I really conceive of it being viable.”
Sawyer went on to say that Xbox Game Studios was “very supportive” of Pentiment precisely because it’s a niche title with “a high appeal to a very enthusiastic audience.” He also said “the process is quite different from the old publisher model” and that “so far, it’s been different in a positive way.”
I’ve always loved how Game Pass affords me the opportunity to check out games I otherwise wouldn’t have, and I appreciate it even more knowing a neat little game like Pentiment likely wouldn’t exist without it. Our Pentiment review loved its robust and meaningful dialogue choices and rich historical detail while noting its occasionally slow pace.
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