Pentiment is a 16th-century narrative adventure game produced by Studio Design Director, Josh Sawyer, and released by Obsidian Entertainment. Illuminated manuscripts, woodcut prints, and a rich historic panorama provide the aesthetic foundation for this immersive gaming experience.
To harmonize with the game’s unique style, the Pentiment team endeavored to produce a soundtrack reflecting the musical styles of 16th century Europe. The team worked with the early music ensemble, Alkemie, who use shawms, hurdy-gurdies, and myriad other period instruments to produce an authentically evocative sound. Alkemie composed original music for the game score, adapting historical pieces from the 14th to 16th centuries for pivotal moments throughout the narrative.
The soundtrack also features a track from Kristin Hayter, of Lingua Ignota, who composed and performed the song Ein Traum for the game’s epilogue. Kristin drew upon 19th century German Lieder traditions for the piano accompaniment and adapted a Heinrich Heine poem, Ich hatte einst ein schönes Vaterland, for the lyrics.
Excecuted at near life-size, the album cover painting depicts the game’s protagonist, Andreas Maler, seated in a symbolically rich environment featuring thematic elements from the game. The portrait was painted in part from life, referencing a live model and physical props in the studio, using the renaissance-inspired egg tempera and oil, ‘Mische Technique’. Amongst the myriad of correlations to the game which appear in the painting are exactingly rendered facsimilies of the the mysterious notes, a landscape showing the monastery in the bavarian Alps, and an actual pentimento of the Mithraic tauroctonym, which exists under the architectural motif showing the winged bull of St. Luke.
The digital soundatrack is currently available on multiple streaming platforms including Spotify and iTunes. A digital copy of the album can be purchased on Pentiment’s Steam page. A double vinyl LP will be released later in 2023, featuring the Andreas Maler Poträt on the cover, a gatefold sleeve with liner notes, and a painting of Our Lady of the Labyrinth by Pentiment’s art director, Hannah Kennedy, on the back.
Special thanks to Josh Sawyer for producing this epic project.
