4/6/2023 0 Comments Illuminated manuscript letters![]() The title of the game perfectly captures this sense of ambivalence about our relationship to history pentiment or pentimento is an art historical term that refers to “a part of a picture that has been overpainted by the artist but which has become visible again” ( Oxford Reference), with its root in the word repentance. The player is left to decide how much to disclose to the community in a historical mural she is tasked with painting in the town’s new Rathaus. In the final act, a sinister plot linking the murders together is revealed, but even then, it is not clear how best to act on this revelation. Nevertheless, whether they are guided by reason, faith, pettiness, or wild speculation, the player must choose who will be punished for these crimes and sit with the consequences – which only become apparent years later. In each case, none of the suspects are wholly convincing, and rather than bringing a comforting resolution, each new discovery exposes deeper mysteries. ![]() With only a limited amount of time (measured by the canonical hours, and then by the town’s first mechanical clock) to explore the area, converse with locals, and search for clues, the player must assess the evidence themselves and decide whodunnit. ![]() In each act, our protagonists (and the player) are unexpectedly drawn into investigating a murder: first a brash and divisive visiting Baron, then the leader of a peasant uprising, and finally Magdalene’s father the printer. The game also uses its setting as the basis for a compelling exploration of the nature of historical truth and the media through which it is communicated, an apt theme for this period of epochal shifts. More, “they had lovely illustrated manuscripts prepared for writing, but it was usually the other way around.” More said, noting the inclusion of slanted desks, “a necessary detail for writing that is often missed in popular medievalisms” and the stages of the writing process, with “black letters first, rubrication later.” Of course, no historical representation is perfectly accurate: according to Dr. “I was amazed by how detailed (and accurate!) it was,” Dr. candidate in History who has taught courses on the Middle Ages in video games. Alison More was impressed with the game’s representation of the scriptorium after seeing the game in action at an event we organized in December with Ariana Ellis, a U of T Ph.D. As BMS and MST students know, at this point in history the print revolution and the Protestant Reformation are already under way, and the scriptorium is in the process of being consigned to history – indeed, over the course of the game, the abbey falls to ruin while the print shop thrives. The story begins in 1518 and unfolds in three acts spanning 25 years, with the player first taking on the role of Andreas Mahler, a journeyman illuminator apprenticing in the local abbey’s scriptorium, and later the town printer’s daughter Magdalene Druckeryn, a talented artist in her own right. Pentiment is a narrative-focused game set in a small 16 th-century Bavarian town during the transitional period between the late mediaeval and early modern eras. Mike’s sponsored undergraduate programs in Mediaeval Studies (MST) and Book & Media Studies (BMS). Moreover, this game has particular relevance to the St. It can be difficult to advocate for games as a legitimate cultural form and object of study in this context, so titles like Pentiment that challenge those assumptions are valuable. It’s like if people thought the medium of film was reducible to superhero blockbusters – I like superhero blockbusters, but there’s a whole universe of movies beyond that, and likewise for video games. ![]() Video games are a rich, diverse medium, but they are still primarily known for violent spectacle and craftily monetized mobile apps (and, increasingly, the convergence of the two in craftily monetized violent spectacles). His current research explores the production, distribution, and reception of independent or “indie” games, and the role of fan conventions like San Diego Comic-Con in contemporary popular media cultures. Felan Parker is an Associate Professor, Teaching Stream in the Book & Media Studies program specializing in digital media, video games, and media industries. InsightOut: A video game for book historians, media scholars, and mediaevalistsĭr.
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