Video Game / Pentiment

”The wheel of time stops for no man, Andreas.”

— Prester John

Pentiment is a 2D narrative-based Adventure Game developed by Obsidian Entertainment, released on November 15th, 2022.

A journeyman illustrator, Andreas Maler, has nearly finished his Wanderjahre and will shortly be returning to his home in 16th-century Nuremberg. For the moment, however, he's staying in the small Bavarian town of Tassing and working on his latest commission — a prayer book — at the local monastery. Things are going well enough, even as he works under a stern prior and abbot and awaits his marriage to a woman he's never met.

Then his friend and mentor, Brother Piero, is found clutching a bloody knife next to a dead man's body.

It's up to Andreas to clear Piero's name and pin the crime on someone else by any means necessary. Doing so, of course, will only draw him deeper into the mysteries that lie beneath Tassing...

Pentiment was directed by Obsidian Entertainment's Josh Sawyer. Pentiment's story takes place over twenty-five years, allowing the player to see how Andreas' actions have changed the town of Tassing -- for better or worse.

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The game provides examples of:

• All Hail the Great God Mickey!: The finale of the story reveals that the association of St. Maurice and St. Satia with Tassing were the result of Christian settlers' misinterpretation of the ruined Mars statue and Diana's shrine respectively. This is revealed as the motive for the Thread-Puller, as such a revelation would cause disillusionment for Tassing's inhabitants.
• Abandoned Mine: There's an old salt mine on the outskirts of town, a relic of the Roman occupation.
• All for Nothing:
  • Otto and the other villagers finally organize into a resistance against Kiersau Abbey and Father Gernot for their mistreatment of Tassing. Depending on your actions, the new lord of Tassing that replaces Father Gernot can be even more strict and extortionate.
  • When researching the mural several people warn Magdalene that certain options might upset Father Thomas, so the player may choose to avoid them. However he dies before the mural in unveiled, so you'll never have to worry about his ire.
• Ambiguous Situation: Notably, while multiple suspects are presented for the murder, it's left deliberately ambiguous who actually committed it. Instead, the player is left to determine the most likely/plausible suspect, build their case, and see how things play out from there. Even when the instigator is uncovered in the climax of the game, the culprits he motivated in to committing the murder are never revealed, leaving the question of whether Andreas correctly identified the perpetrators unanswered.
• And Now for Someone Completely Different: After Andreas's apparent death at the climax of Act II, point of view shifts to the printer's daughter Magdalene, who has her own separate set of skills.
• Art Imitates Art:
  • Andreas is strongly associated with Albrecht Dürer's works - his Ex Libris portrait stands in the same pose as Dürer's Self-Portrait at Twenty Eight, the art shown when he does his penance references Praying Hands, and Melancholia is straight out of Melencolia I.
  • Magdalene's Act III portrait is modeled after Artemisia Gentileschi's Self-Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria.
• Art Shift: The title screen and opening credits are depicted in 3D, then the style switches to a 2D medieval art style when the story begins. Once the story concludes, the style returns to 3D while showing Magdalene's mural and the mural depicting the fates of the NPCs.
• Artistic License – Art: While most of the art is very accurate to one 16th century style or another, the young children of Tassing are drawn with a distinctly modern (and adorable) cartoon look.
• Artistic License – History:
  • The town of Bad Aibling would not be given that name until the late 19th century when its famous baths were built, in the timeframe of the game it would have simply been known as 'Aybling'.
  • Advent is anachronistically referred to as 'Yuletide' by some characters.
  • It is unlikely that a small town the size of Tassing would have had access to a printing press, which were generally only found in established shops in large cities in the early years of their invention. Josh Sawyer acknowledged this in a 2023 Game Developers Session talk and said he attempted to use various visual tricks to make the town look bigger than it actually is to mitigate it.
  • Sawyer also admitted to several of what he called 'Crimes Against Archaeology' in the same talk, to note:
    • There are no extant examples of Roman statues with inscriptions on the helmet, so the whole issue of the statue of Mars' true identity being revealed would never have happened.
    • There were no windmills in early modern Bavaria, as its high altitude and hilly terrain make it poorly suited for them. Indeed, the only two windmills in modern day Bavaria were built elsewhere and moved there to go on display in museums.
    • The interior of the Roman aquaduct that Andreas and Caspar run around in is several times bigger than any real aquaduct.
• Artistic License – Religion:
  • In historical Alpine folklore, Perchta was a mischevious spirit in the vein of the Bogeyman and doesn't seem to appear in the literary record any earlier than the 13th century, while the game depicts her as an ancient nature goddess worshipped by the people of Tassing even in pre-Roman times.
  • Characters in-game seem to take for granted that Saint John's Eve bonfires are an ancient Germanic pagan custom that was appropriated by the church. In reality, they're first mentioned in 12th century France (although some historians think they're probably slightly older).
• Asshole Victim: A number of characters can fit this description. Baron Rothvogel, the first murder victim, is a violent, lecherous rapist; Brother Guy, who can be executed in Act II, is a notorious jerk who's been stealing from the abbey; and Hanna, the inkeep's wife who can also be executed, is a greedy adulterer.
• As the Good Book Says...: This pops up occasionally, as expected in a setting where religion is ever-present, but with a theology background Andreas can take it to the point where even monks get annoyed with him.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: In Act III the dream court in the center of Andreas' mind is in ruins, and in the background there is a kaiju sized fool / jester laughing and toppling buildings.
• A Storm Is Coming: Big Jorg invokes this when Andreas first steps out of the Gertner home. The storm arrives right in time for the Baron's murder.
• Beauty Equals Goodness: Averted. Lenhardt and Werner are both noted to be very good looking by other residents of Tassing, but their highly unpleasant personalities also make them the least popular people in town.
• Betting Mini-Game: A variation of Lansquenet can be played while fishing for information at the Golden Hand. There is one achievement for winning everyone's money and another for losing all of yours.
• Birth-Death Juxtaposition: Esther Sommerfeld is born the same night as Act II's violent climax.
• Bittersweet Ending: Magdalene and Andreas put an end to Father Thomas's plots, but only after his actions lead to many deaths, including Claus who succumbs to his head injury. The identities of who killed the Baron and Otto and whether Andreas accused the correct people are never confirmed. Tassing is still recovering from the failed revolt, and are possibly under a harsher lord than when they were ruled by the Abbey, but there is still a chance for recovery, growth, and change. Magdalene is able to move on from her father's death and leaves for Prague, while Andreas is able to overcome his trauma and decides to live a peaceful life in Tassing.
• Blatant Lies: Oratory allows you to tell absolutely brazen lies at times, with special mention going to digging up a monk's grave for evidence and then claiming it was donated to you by someone who wishes to remain anonymous.
• Bonfire Dance: A major part of the St John's Eve festival.
• Book Burning: One of the books Illuminata asks Andreas to retrieve is destined for this, but he can intervene. Later, Peter destroys the whole library this way in a last-ditch effort to strike out against the abbey's power.
• Cast of Snowflakes: The entire cast is very diverse in facial features and body types, with some such as Brother Sebhat even being in different art styles.
• Central Theme: The stories people tell about the past, and how they influence the future when layered together.
  • The title itself is thematic. Pentiment is an Anglicization of the Italian loanword pentimento, which refers to paintings that have been painted over. This relates to the knowledge that the Christian beliefs of the town's origins have been painted over the pagan beliefs of the town's founding.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • One caused by a gameplay mechanic — early on, it's revealed that the script used for people's dialogue isn't based on who they are, it's based on how Andreas perceives them. When learning about Til reading half the library, his dialogue goes from Peasant Script to Cursive Script. When Sister Amelie is revealed to be illiterate by Father Thomas, her dialogue changes from Church Script to Peasant Script. When it's revealed that Sister Amelie is the one who wrote the notes, her dialogue changes to match.
  • Otto will bring up his illiteracy to Andreas in an idle conversation in Act I. In the climax of Act III, Father Thomas confesses that he arranged Otto's murder because he uncovered the head of an old destroyed statue of Saint Moritz and intended to reveal it to the town, him not being able to read the inscription on the helmet that would reveal that it was actually a statue of the Roman god Mars.
  • The Historia Tassiae, the book that Baron Rothvogel was planning to offer to Abbot Gernot in Act I, comes back in Act III and turns out to have been the Thread-Puller's main motivation for the Baron's murder.
  • Similarly, Otto's illiteracy and the head of the statue of Saint Moritz which he intended to present to the town's inhabitants as a sign of God's favor in their struggle with the Abbot are revealed in Act III to have been the reason for Otto's murder in Act II. The Thread-Puller could read what Otto could not — that the statue was not of a Roman convert to Christianity, but rather of the Roman god Mars, so Otto was killed to keep him from telling anyone else of the statue's existence.
• Chekhov's Gunman:
  • Sister Amelie, the local church’s anchoress. She appears sparingly throughout the story, and seems to be beyond suspicion in the Thread-Puller plot due to being locked in the church. However, it's revealed she's been traveling around town at night through a secret passage beneath her room, delivering the messages on Father Thomas' orders.
  • At the night during the Baron's murder, Andreas sees a ghostly figure walking on the Roman aqueducts, the nearby shepard Til says it's a ghost. If you lunch with Sebhat and the children and mothers of Tassing, Paul will claim he say a "Roman" raising from the dead near the aqueduct. In Act II, while you are exploring the aqueduct you can see a collapse passage leading to the church. Act III reveals Sister Amelie uses the "grave" on her chamber to go in the underground to transport herself using the Roman ruins and deliver the messages.
• Choice-and-Consequence System: Many things you say and do will affect you and everyone around you. Some decisions, like choosing who to accuse, have obvious, wide-reaching effects, and others are more subtle.
• Christianity is Catholic: Surprisingly averted, Brother Sebhat is a monk of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (not to be confused with Eastern Orthodox) and he mentions a previous ecumenical council between his church and Rome. Several other characters show interest in emerging Protestant teachings as well, and one in particular espouses Gnostic beliefs.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Members of the same family tend to wear the same colors e.g. the Albans primarily wear yellow and the Gertners wear beige, teal and brown. As the game progresses, the children of such marriages tend to combine the main colors in their wardrobe.
• Corrupt Church: Played straight with Abbot Gernot, though most of the individual monks and nuns are decent people and some openly disapprove of the Abbot's actions.
  • Subverted by his predecessor, Father Mathias. He accepted payment of taxes in goods, didn't raise taxes or forbid using the woods to gather food or wood. He also ate the same meals as the other brothers (with Gernot preferring a more lavish menu) and even went to town regularly and was friendly with everyone.
• Crapsack World: Most of the characters seem unhappy about their lot in life regardless of station, and it seems Tassing and Kiersau have always been that way.
  • World Half Full: In spite of that, there are many people who still believe that things do get better and many choices that Andreas made can create improvements in characters' lives.
• Crossover Cosmology: Some of the older townspeople still pay homage to the pagan goddess Perchta, despite otherwise being fully Christianized. An unintentional example underpins the entire story, as the townsfolk have been unknowingly venerating Ares/Mars and Artemis/Diana as saints.
• Cuckold: Niko the innkeeper is aware his wife Hanna is sleeping with the miller, Lenhardt, but he's too meek to do anything about it.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Martin and rapscallion Andreas both have brawling experience, but Samuel the Landsknecht knocks them out effortlessly.
• Dead Guy Junior: Both of Anna Mülleryn's children are named after people she cared about who she lost. Specifically, Ulrich and Andreas.
• Death of a Child:
  • Andreas's only son dies during the time skip, which doesn't help his marriage one bit.
  • Several of the villagers who die during the Act II Time Skip are children, including Wolff Bauer, a newborn infant. Talking to the Bauers and the Steinauers (Wolff's maternal grandparents) afterwards shows the traumatic effect this had on their lives.
• Developer's Foresight: There is a quest that drives Andreas to discover what is the secret passage to arrive at the library, but if you go out of your way to discover it before you first talk with Sister Illuminata, he will smugly smile about it when ending the conversation.
• Divine Race Lift: Brother Sebhat's copy of the Bible, being from Ethiopia, illustrates Jesus and his disciples as black men rather than the European-depicted white versions.
• Eccentric Townsfolk: Most of the denizens of Tassing have their share of quirks, especially the elderly.
• End of an Age:
  • The game marks the end of the Medieval era with the background of social unrest and the Protestant Reformation.
  • Andreas' occupation reflects this, as the printing press would make his job as an illuminator obsolete in short moment. By Act II, he's switched over entirely to painting.
  • Magdalene invokes this trope in her mural, which reflects the distinct eras that Tassing and Kiersau have went through.
• Evolving Title Screen: After you beat the game, the title screen updates to show the mural Magdalene painted in the background.
• Festival Episode: There are quests where the town prepares for and celebrates St. John's Eve and Christmas, both featuring villagers in elaborate costumes.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: In Act III, the shadowy figure stalking Magdalene approaches Claus, and after some words, you get a set of dialogue choices for the shadowy figure, moments before it's revealed that the figure is Andreas.
• Food Porn: Whenever Andreas joins the inhabitants of Tassing for the meal, the focus shifts to detailed drawings of food. While the choice of food won't affect gameplay, the quality and type of food often hint at the social status of the host.
• Freudian Trio: Saint Grobian, Socrates and Beatrice.
• From the Latin "Intro Ducere": Til discusses the etymology of the phrase "summer solstice" with Andreas at the St John's Eve festival.
• Funetik Aksent: Given the German setting, English is rendered this way.
  Angelo Gacharini: Ei Þink itz schit.
• Future Imperfect: A mostly destroyed statue of Mars has been reinterpreted by the locals as one of St. Moritz. Similarly, the eponymous pentimento turns out to be an icon of Mary holding a labyrinth in the local church, which has been painted over an older image of Diana, but metaphorically refers to the way in which traditions and beliefs become painted over by changing values and biases.
• Gambit Roulette: The Thread-Puller's modus operandi is to send letters to everyone who hates the intended murder victim to remind the recipient of the soon-to-be victim's crimes against them. As long as at least one recipient is angered enough to murder the target, the plan works.
• Gossip Evolution: When Niko first meets Andreas, he'll tell an exaggerated story about whoever was executed in Act I. Andreas can either directly call this out or coldly excuse himself.
• Grey-and-Gray Morality: As per Obsidian games, the game will make the players choose questionable decisions as they progressed the plot.
  • In the first act, all of the suspects in the murder case are victims of Baron Rothvogel, and have very good reasons to want him dead.
  • The second act increases the ambiguous tone of the dilemma with investigations of all suspects revealing more hints to them likely being not guilty despite their alibi.
• Happy Place: The game starts off in one located inside of Andreas' dreams. It's a lovely city in the middle of an ocean, populated with historical and legendary figures like Socrates, Prester John, Saint Grobian and Beatrice. He goes there some nights and they give him counsel on his life and troubles. In Act I, the night before the Archdeacon arrives they help give a summation of the existing evidence and his options when presenting it to the Archdeacon to save Brother Piero.
  • Subverted in Act II, where he has turned it into a maze to keep his Repressed Memories of his deceased son August and estranged wife. It has deteriorated to the point it becomes a burnt out ruin, with Socrates, Prester John and Grobian gone as Andreas has let those parts of his personality wither. Beatrice remains, but changed from a voice of thoughtful caution into one of paralizing doubt.
• Hijacked by Jesus: In-Universe, some of Tassing's folklore comes in both "pre-Christian" and "post-Christian" versions. It turns out this happened on a wider scale to the entire town, whose veneration of Saints Moritz and Satia is derived from damaged and repurposed idols of Mars and Diana.
• Historical Fiction: The story is heavily defined by late-medieval Catholicism and the burgeoning Reformation as they affected the Holy Roman Empire.
• Interclass Friendship: Andreas is a highly-educated middle class man living with farmers and working with the clergy. As such, he is on friendly terms with members of the peasantry, the nobility, and everything in between. Navigating these social divides is not always straightforward, especially with the rising tensions of Act II.
• Italians Talk with Hands: A Bar Brawl ensues after Martin Bauer mistakes the gesturing of a Bolognese scholar for a Bring It taunt.
  • The game has a credited Italian Hand Gesture Consultant.
• It Will Never Catch On:
  • Despite the development of the printing press in the 16th century, the monastery still maintains a traditional scriptorium, with Andreas and several monks employed to hand-write and illuminate books. By Act II, the scriptorium has gone out of business.
  • In the beginning of Act I, Baron Lorenz shows an interest in Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses and attempts to start a debate with the Abbey, much to Abbot Gernot's objection along with causing shock among the monks. This becomes the context of unrest in Act II that coincided with the Peasant War.
  • Act II involves Andreas joining a hunting trip with musket-wielding Lenhardt Müller. Dialogue choices allow him to show his disdain for his weapon.
• Job-Stealing Robot: The coming of the printing press has mostly made scriptoriums obsolete. By Act II, this finally catches up with Kiersau Abbey.
• The Krampus: Several villagers dress as them during a Christmas parade, they can even be seen making the costumes earlier in the day.
• Landmark of Lore: The Shrine of St. Satia and remnants of the statue of St. Moritz are important to the faith of the locals and are later revealed to be part of a historic misinterpretation of Roman gods.
• Legend Fades to Myth: The history around the founding of Tassing has become this by the time of the games. Act III is spent investigating the oral history of Tassing and searching for artifacts and hidden, abandoned or locked off locations to get evidence.
  • If Ursula is encouraged to "learn the old ways" from Ottilia (and she isn't singled out as the murderer), Ursula will reveal that some of the Christian settlers in Tassing came from Switzerland, worshipped Saint Mortiz as a patron saint, and spoke Romansh.
• Locked Away in a Monastery: The nuns at Kiersau Abbey spend much of their lives cloistered in the convent, with most of them forbidden from speaking with men. Some of them, such as Sister Susanne, have been placed there unwillingly due to their families' connections with the Church.
• Love at First Sight: In Act II, Tassing's blacksmith mentions his infatuation with a potter he saw when traveling to a larger town. Andreas can encourage him to pursue her, or caution him against making such a big decision for someone he's never met. If he goes for it, by Act III, the two are Happily Married.
• Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: All of the Gertner children have bright red hair... except for Eva, who Lenhardt shows an unusual amount of care for. Johan states that it is something townsfolk "don't talk about".
• Meaningful Name: Almost all of the townsfolk have a surname that is simply the German word for their profession: Endris Schmidt the blacksmith, Lenhardt Muller the miller etc. This reflects the fact their job will have been passed down in their family for generations.
  • Else Mülleryn's maiden name, Caviezel, becomes a plot point in Act III as Magdalene researches the origin's of Tassing. If Ursula has studied with Ottilia, and Magdalene has the Poliglot education, she can note that the name is not typically Bavarian or Pagan, and is more likely a Romansh name from Switzerland. This and the Commonality Connection that Tassing and the Swiss both had Saint Moritz as a patron saint allows Magdalene to paint a unique Mural panel showing the early Christian settlers were not all evicted Pagans returning to their homes, but refugees. Needless to say, choosing this upsets Else and other townsfolk.
• Medieval Universal Literacy: A Zig-Zagged Trope that becomes a major plot point, as the medieval era gives way to the Renaissance, with many Tassing denizens learning to read thanks to the proliferation of written works with the rise of the printing press. This becomes a point in Act II, where they are able to read and comprehend the contents of Twelve Articles — a list of demands for human rights and civil liberties, considered the first in continental Europe since the Roman Empire — with enough supporters to read them out to those who remained illiterate, such as Otto.
• Mental World: Andreas occasionally journeys to a strange, abstract kingdom in his dreams, which shifts and warps with his mental state.
  • In Act I, the world is inhabited by Prester John (representing Andreas's piety), Saint Grobian (representing Andreas's self-interest and capacity for mischief), Socrates (representing Andreas's logical side and scholarly interests) and Beatrice (representing his empathy and feminine side).
  • In Act II, Prester John, Socrates and Saint Grobian are gone, and Beatrice has transformed into Melancolia to represent his depression. The kingdom is in ruins, and shadows cling to the walls.
  • In Act III, the world is in flames; the buildings are in even greater disrepair and a huge grinning giant is shown destroying the city in the background. Melancolia is still present, but armed demons advance on her, representing Andreas' dwindling will to live.
• Modular Epilogue: After the story ends, you get a scene depicting the eventual fates of NPCs you've influenced over the whole game. Specifically, in the form of a genealogy tree.
• The Mountains of Illinois: Andreas — more specifically if he spends his Wanderjahr in the Low Countries (modern-day Netherlands and Belgium) — can invoke or subvert this trope on Lenhardt, who is ignorant of the area's geography despite his admiration of his Dutch-style windmill.
• Multiple-Choice Past: At the start of the game, the player chooses what Andreas is like as a person, what sort of things he learned at his university, and where he spent most of his Wanderjahre. In Act II you get to pick where he spent time in the last 7 years. At the start of Act III, you get to similarly choose elements of Magdalene's backstory... though part of it is also determined by what book Andreas bought her when she was still a small child.
• Murder by Mistake: Lenhardt Müller will attempt to stop the lynch mob you send in Act II by attempting to shoot Peter Gertner, but will end up missing and killing another person instead.
• Narrator All Along: The author of the book that the game takes place in is revealed to be Sister Amalie.
• Necessarily Evil: The outlook of the mastermind behind the killings, Father Thomas. He feels deeply guilty for his involvement and for taking advantage of the anchoress under his care, but nonetheless thinks it's essential to maintain the lie the town is built on in order to save the locals' souls.
• NPC Roadblock: On the first day, a number of the Bauer family's escaped sheep have flooded into town, blocking Andreas from exploring most of it. (This is to make sure he goes straight to the monastery instead of wandering.)
• Off with His Head!: If the player successfully accuses Prior Ferenc of the Baron's murder, he is executed in a violent, botched beheading.
• Oh, Crap!: Lenhardt Müller suffers this when he aims for Peter Gertner, misses and instead kills Ulrich Alban. He knows, right there, that he's not surviving the night.
• Painting the Medium:
  • Characters "speak" in one of several fonts; most of these are medieval scripts reflecting their social standing or level of education, but printers instead use serif print (which, the first time they speak, is seen "being printed" onto their speech bubble). Sometimes a character's font will even change if Andreas learns something that changes his perception of them.
  • The way the passage of time is marked in-game changes between acts. In Act I and II, it's represented as a rotating chart of the day, with the prescribed times to eat, sleep and work as well as the Liturgy of Hours marked on it. In Act III, it's replaced by a calendar clock that simply shows the hour, time and month. This represents not just a more technologically advanced and secular time, but also, a far longer passage of time than the first two acts.
• Patron Saint: Tassing has two: a former Roman legionary, St. Moritz, and a local peasant woman, St. Satia, both of whom converted from paganism early in the history of Christendom. A shrine at the monastery hosts a relic purported to be Moritz's arm, and attracts many pilgrims.
• Perpetual Frowner: Ulrich Alban is always dour-faced, but is otherwise an amicable and charitable baker.
• Pilfering Proprietor: Though Tassing's innkeep Hanna seems to treat her guests well enough, she's revealed to be a greedy, adulterous woman who's suspected of killing Otto to keep him from revealing a secret that could drive away customers.
• Positive Friend Influence: Seemingly minor encouragement to certain characters can result in significant improvements for their future.
  • If Endris is convinced to talk to the Innsbruck pot seller, they are happily married in Act III.
  • Being kind to Werner results in him embracing his place in Tassing. He becomes much more respected as a result.
  • Telling Else that she can have a life outside her family responsibilities results in her being more social in later life, with her even running a reading circle.
• Preferable Impersonator: In Act II, it can be revealed that the supposedly "matured" Martin Bauer has actually died and been replaced by an imposter — his brigand partner took his identity after Martin was killed during a botched robbery. However, Martin's wife reveals that she knew Martin had been replaced all along, yet stuck with him because the impostor was kinder and more responsible than Martin ever was.
• Pyrrhic Victory:
  • At the end of Act II, the peasants manage to free themselves from the abbot’s grip through the destruction of the abbey. However, many of them are slain by the army sent to put down the revolt, and the town is subsequently dominated by a lord who potentially even harsher than the abbot.
  • Can happen at the end of Act III, depending on the player’s choices. If they choose to reveal Father Thomas’ misdeeds, they’re able to finally reveal the truth of the Thread-Puller’s plot to its inhabitants. However, the town’s inhabitants are forced to grapple with their town’s history being built upon lies, on top of the other struggles they’re already facing.
• Railroading: While certain characters and parts of the town will react differently depending on the choices you made, the main plot thread remains the same.
  • No matter what evidence you gather while trying to spare Brother Piero from execution, and what you disclose during the investigation, Brother Piero will be cleared of the murder and one of the other suspects will be executed in his place. Brother Piero subsequently dies during the timeskip, before Andreas gets to speak with him again, and the scriptorium is closed.
  • Regardless of who you accuse at the end of Act II, Lenhardt Müller dies alongside the accused, most of the monks and nuns flee, the abbey library is burned and Andreas disappears in the fire attempting to save as many books as he can.
• Rainbow Speak: In non-printed fonts, references to God are written in red (rubrication), emphasis in blue or green.
• Repressed Memories: A tragic event between Act I and II, which are 7 years apart, makes Andreas turn the city in his dreamland from a place of refuge into a maze where he locked away the memories of his son dying to the plague, and his lonely wife because he spends years traveling.
• Retired Badass: Brother Florian served as a mercenary in Poland, where he lost his eye but gained experience on wounds (plus sexually transmitted diseases) which he demonstrates during his inspection of Lorez's corpse to prove Piero's innocence.
• Retro Universe: In Act I, Kiersau is described as a "place out of time" due to being a double monastery and still having an operating scriptorium.
• Revenge Is Not Justice: Andreas can clearly state throughout his investigations that he's trying to make sure justice is served, and not to get back at anyone. In Act II, he can use this same line against a lynch mob led by Peter Gertner, to get them to release Father Gernot and the monks. It doesn't work.
• Reverse Psychology: In Act III, two of Magdalene's friends, Krafft and Martha, have tough decisions before them and they ask Magdalene to help decide on. For Krafft it's whether to leave Tassing and take up an apprenticeship (or study at university), and for Martha whether to join the Poor Clares or look for a husband elsewhere. It's possible to convince them either way with the "Haggle" reputation and a few good dialogue choices. However, since they will choose the opposite of whatever Magdalene suggests if she doesn't get enough successes, it becomes possible to essentially trick them into doing what you want by purposefully "arguing badly" and recommending they do the opposite.
• Running Gag: When told one thing is longer than another, Andreas asks "Innsbruck inches or Nuremberg inches?" He says Nuremberg inches are longer, as a joshing reference to the rivalry between the two cities.
• Secret Relationship:
  • Sister Matilda and Brother Wojslav secretly make love to each other when they leave the abbey to purchase supplies in town. In Act III, assuming both survive, they leave the Church and marry, becoming regular townsfolk.
  • Brother Mathieu and Brother Rudeger are secretly in a homosexual relationship, which they keep secret for... obvious reasons.
  • Lenhardt Müller and Hanna (the innkeeper’s wife) are having an affair behind their spouses’ backs. Both of their spouses are actually aware, but both keep silent.
• Shout-Out:
  • To the Brother Cadfael novels, which feature a medieval monk investigating crimes; one of the texts on herbalism in the abbey's library is apparently written by him.
  • Sneak into the library in Act I and you can find a book and map referencing a labyrinthine library exactly like that in The Name of the Rose. If the player chooses an education in Italy as a background for Andreas, he might comment that he believes a professor from Bologna told him of a place like that in Piedmont.
  • Josh Sawyer himself posted a list of books that he read during the development of the game, with some being referenced so heavily that knowing the book spoils plot points in the game.
  • There's one to another Obsidian work in Act I: when spoken to rudely by Werner Scholz, Andreas has the option to [Glare silently.]
  • Several in the achievement list:
    • The achievement for solving the cipher with the volvelle is titled "Like A Record Baby".
    • The achievement for uncovering the imposter in Act II is titled "Among Us".
    • The achievement for shooting at the deer is titled "The Deer Hunter".
• Shrouded in Myth: Andreas' involvement in resolving the murder in Act I has become this by Act II. With Niko the Innkeeper (who was not there in Act I) recounting a badly distorted version of events.
  • By Act III, Andreas' involvement in the peasant uprising has also become this, and the rebellion as a whole, with people misremembering or giving a more one sided interpretation of events.
• Signature Headgear: Karl Pfeiffer and his spoon-hat.
• Storybook Opening: The whole game is framed within an early modern manuscript, complete with Latin text and marginalia that can be viewed at any time.
• Theme Twin Naming: Apollo and Artemis Gertner(yn). Their Trickster Twin tendencies are semi-jokingly attributed to being named after pagan gods.
• Time Skip: Seven years pass between acts I and II; nearly twenty more pass between acts II and III.
• Too Upset to Create: In Act II, Andreas is emotionally exhausted due to his failing marriage and demanding patrons, which leaves him so miserable and disillusioned that he's looking for any excuse not to return to Nuremberg.
• Torches and Pitchforks: After Otto's murder in Act II, an angry mob armed with pitchforks and torches chases Andreas, Caspar and the monks into the abbey's library.
• Translation Convention: As the characters speak German by default in-universe, many "English" conversations are written in period-appropriate writing and spelling. This is only apparent when you speak to Angelo—who speaks English as well as Latin and Italian—during the investigation at the tavern.
• Unnecessarily Cruel Rejection: At the end of the game, while Magdalene is preparing to leave for Prague, Ötz will ask if she's sure she doesn't want to marry him. One of her three standard responses is the already-cold "I'm sure. No.", but playing her with the Barbs reputation offers the incredibly cruel quip of "I'd rather have my chest crushed under Paul's heaviest millstone."
• Unwinnable by Design: Though Magdalene can find the Historia Tassiae in Act III, the quest associated with it will fail regardless of what the player does, as its Latin is too complex for Magdalene to translate and anyone else with the skill to do so are too busy preparing for Christmastide to help. The actual significance of the book will only be made clear once the Instigator is confronted in the game's climax.
• Unwitting Pawn: Whoever actually carried out the murders, they were pushed into it by notes sent by the local anchoress, who in turn was just writing down her "visions" under the instructions of Father Thomas.
• Wham Shot: After the Christmas feast in Act III, Magdalene spots the shadowy figure stalking her throughout the act and goes to her house to check in on her father. After a brief conversation, Magdelene leaves the room to get some soup... and the door closes, revealing that the shadowy figure was in the room the whole time.
• What the Hell, Hero?: If Andreas accuses Sister Matilda of the Baron's murder and gets her executed, some of the other characters won't have very nice things to say about it.
  • The same goes for Lucky, only Lenhardt is happy they are accused and executed. his wife Agnes has nothing but scorn for Andreas for the rest of the game.
• Who Murdered the Asshole: It becomes apparent that there's no shortage of suspects for the Baron Rothvogel.
• Whole-Plot Reference: Seems to be this for The Name of the Rose, another historical murder mystery set in a Benedictine abbey, to the point that the book itself is in the game. Andreas will even comment that he's heard the story from "an old Bolognese professor."
• The Wild Hunt: This is a major part of Tassing folklore, this version is led by the pagan nature goddess Perchta. Madgelena has the option to depict it in the first panel of the mural.
• Written by the Winners: A major theme throughout the game, especially in Act III, is how much the truths and traditions which people live by are handpicked to reinforce the beliefs of those who lived through those events.
  • Tassing has been inhabited by several faiths throughout its history, from paganism to Roman mythology to Christianity. The last of these, having dominated the town in recent centuries, has slowly co-opted and rewritten local legends into much more Christianized ones. This even applies to the town’s patron saints, who are revealed to be misinterpretations of Roman mythological figures.
  • In Act III, much of Magdalene’s dilemma is in deciding which parts of the town’s history to depict, and there’s significant urging from the townsfolk to shine a positive light on the “successful” revolt against the abbey. Further deconstructed in that the murders are revealed to have come about as a result of the Thread-Puller desperately trying to conceal the extent to which the past had already been rewritten.

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