The Biggest Gaming News For December 5, 2022
Pentiment Understands That History Is Just
IRL Lore
If you like well-realized, immersive settings, may I interest you in Pentiment's take on the real world?
Andreas Maler watching a monk dig a grave in Pentiment
Pentiment, the wonderful new adventure game from Obsidian, incorporates a feature that I've loved since I first saw it introduced a few years ago.
In Pyre, Supergiant Games added hyperlinks to in-game text so that, if you saw a term you didn't recognize, you could hover over it to read the definition. That game's setting was fantastical, so this was a way to keep the dialogue natural — avoiding expository lines like, "Well, President Roosevelt, we've been at war with Germany for two years now" — while still communicating all the necessary background information to the audience. It's like the commentaries Valve includes in some of its games, which allow you to hear the background information on certain aspects of development. But, instead of learning the history of the making of the game, you're learning the history of its world.
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I Want To Eat Everything In Pentiment
Pentiment does this too, though, fittingly, it presents this background information as marginalia, scrawled in the white space around the screen. If a character uses a term that is no longer used outside of its historical context — like "diet" to refer to a formal deliberative meeting of the Holy Roman Empire — you can click on the word, the camera zooms out to show you the screen as a picture in an illuminated manuscript, and read the quill-written definition. Pentiment does the same for locations that have a different significance in the medieval era. Florence is a different place in our cultural understanding in 2022 than it was in 1518, and Pentiment's glossary helps to quickly explain the realities of its era.
Pentiment - Glossary entry about Perchta
The game, as a whole, makes real medieval history as interesting and full of intrigue as fantasy. Though I've always enjoyed stories that take place in fantastical versions of the Middle Ages, like Game of Thrones and The Lord of the Rings, I've always struggled to find the actual real medieval era interesting. I love Obsidian games and Pentiment looked like my kind of game, gameplay-wise, but the setting didn't do much for me when it was announced. But, after playing several hours of the game, I feel as invested in this world as I ever did in the sci-fi setting of Obsidian's last RPG, The Outer Worlds.
In part, that's because Pentiment treats its medieval setting in the same way good RPGs treat their fantasy or sci-fi worlds. In the chunk of the game I've played so far, all the action has been confined to Tassing and the neighboring Keirsau Abbey, a monastic church perched on a hill above the Bavarian town. When you encounter references to Nuremberg or Rome, it isn't because those places will eventually become especially significant to the events in Tassing, or because Andreas will travel to visit them. (I assume; I'm only about five hours in). Instead, Pentiment weaves in references to the people and places outside Tassing because they help to give us a fuller sense of the world.
Even if I had never left the small town where I grew up, my life would still be impacted by the world outside it. Like Luke Skywalker on Tatooine, or Jon Snow in Winterfell, or Frodo in the Shire, Pentiment's Andreas knows about the world beyond his current home, and that knowledge — represented by several backgrounds you can choose for Andreas — informs how he interacts with the people he meets in Tassing. The references, then, feel like the background cities that parallax scroll past while Sonic the Hedgehog speeds by. The game doesn't need to let you visit them for them to make the world feel bigger.
The Biggest Gaming News For December 5, 2022
BY
JUSTIN REEVE
PUBLISHED 14 HOURS AGO
CD Projekt gives up on Gwent, Ramattra becomes easier to unlock, and Microsoft offers up Call of Duty to keep the deal with Activision Blizzard going.
Biggest Gaming News December 5 2022
This being a Monday, I’m sure that you’ve been getting back into the swing of things at work, meaning that you’ve almost certainly gotten behind on all of the biggest news in the world of gaming. Well, don’t worry because we’ve got you covered. Today, we heard that CD Projekt is no longer going to be supporting Gwent, Ramattra will be getting easier to unlock, and Microsoft has confirmed the decade long Call of Duty deal with Sony to keep the acquisition of Activision Blizzard moving forward. As always, there are just our top stories of the day, so please do read on for the rest.
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Warzone 2 Will Get Its Own Rebirth Island According To
Leaked Map
Warzone 2 is going to be getting its own Rebirth Island map, at least according to a recent leak. Players found an image of a map named Return that looks a lot like Rebirth from Warzone except a bit smaller. The latest speculation is that Rebirth Island will be used for the Resurgence, Ground War, and the DMZ modes. While there has not yet been any confirmation either unofficial or otherwise, Activision Blizzard has been issuing takedown requests, implying that Return is something that could actually be in the works.
CDPR Is Pulling Support For Gwent, Will Remain Online With
"Community Focus"
CD Projekt is going to be withdrawing support for Gwent, but the game is going to stay online with a “community focus” after 2024. According to Senior Communications Manager Pawel Burza, "the last seven years with Gwent were the best years of my professional career. I've met so many amazing people and made so many unforgettable friendships. I'll always look back at this time with a huge smile. Let's make 2023 as epic as possible!"
ZeniMax Studios QA Workers Organize To Form The First
Microsoft Games Union
Workers in the quality assurance department at ZeniMax Studios have been moving to unionize, the first time ever at Microsoft Games. “Today, we, a majority of QA workers at ZeniMax, are proud to announce the launch of our union with the Communications Workers of America,” the organization called ZeniMax Workers United announced. “We are the first group of workers at Microsoft to formally unionize. We are empowered to advocate for ourselves and build a future where we can thrive alongside the company.”
Blizzard Makes New Overwatch 2 Heroes Easier To Unlock
Blizzard has apparently been listening to fans of the franchise because the new heroes in Overwatch 2 are just about to get a lot easier to unlock. “Hey, all! Quick update on some changes coming to Season 2,” Game Director on Overwatch 2 Aaron Keller said on Twitter. “After reviewing data for Season 1, we're moving Ramattra into Tier 45 of the Battle Pass and making a few more weekly challenges easier to complete. Excited for you all to see everything new in Season 2 starting tomorrow!”
Microsoft Confirms Decade Long Call Of Duty Deal With Sony
To Advance Activision Blizzard Acquisition
Microsoft recently confirmed the longstanding rumors to the effect that Sony has been offered a decade long Call of Duty deal in order to keep the Activision Blizzard acquisition moving forward. The news comes directly from President at Microsoft Brad Smith who published an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, noting that “Sony has emerged as the loudest objector” to the proposed purchase, a deal worth nearly $70 billion. “We’ve offered Sony a ten year contract to make each new Call of Duty release available on PlayStation the same day it comes to Xbox,” Smith added. “We’re open to providing the same commitment to other platforms and making it legally enforceable by regulators in the US, UK, and European Union.”
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