Although Pillars of Eternity takes inspiration from classic CRPGs and Pentiment draws from both point-and-click adventures and visual novels, both are narratively very similar and have decision-based elements that influence the way the story plays out. These choices greatly enhance the experience of both games as they help immerse the player in their respective worlds and makes them feel like they have agency over the actions of their characters. However, the finales of these games turn this idea on its head by revealing that the player did not have as much influence as they thought they did, with a greater, uncontrollable force guiding events the whole time.
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Pillars of Eternity’s Artificial Gods Drive the Game’s Overarching Conspiracy
The history of Pillars of Eternity’s land of Eora is one of religious violence and competing cultures. For centuries prior to the events of the game, conflict between religious sects dedicated to different deities had plagued Eora to the point where widespread devastation was rampant. In an effort to try and end the conflict, the society known as the Engwithans used their knowledge of animancy and the advanced scientific technology available to them to try and discover who the true gods were. This search for religious truth is a common idea that is iterated upon over the course of the game’s narrative.
Throughout the story of Pillars of Eternity, the Watcher and their companions must deal with the effects of the Hollowborn Plague, which causes newborn children to be born without a soul. The concept of a soul play an important thematic role in the game and the traditional notion of what a soul is gets explored throughout the game’s story. At this point in time, science and animancy have advanced enough that the process of transferring and holding souls outside a body is common practice. However, the ongoing plague of Hollowborn children has stifled further research in this field as the scientists and animancers are blamed as the source.
The finale of the game reveals that the modern, relatively harmonious age of Eora is only due to the creation of artificial gods by the Engwithans after their search for truth revealed that there were no gods at all. Through ritual sacrifice of souls, the Engwithans created a pantheon of new gods who could appear to mortals to guide their morality and create a unified culture, preventing future religious wars. With the truth of the gods only being known by a select few, a conspiracy to keep this truth hidden from the masses formed and led to the events of Pillars of Eternity.
Thaos—the main antagonist of the game—has been keeping the truth from being revealed by stealing the souls of Hollowborn children to feed the goddess Woedica thereby empowering a god who opposes animancy and shifting the blame for the Hollowborn Plague onto the animancers, effectively preventing them from finding out the truth of the gods. With his defeat, the player must make the difficult choice to either return the stolen souls to their original bodies, let them reincarnate, or continue feeding them to Woedica and let the truth remain hidden. This is the culmination of the player’s choices throughout the game and serves as a final act of player agency in a world seemingly controlled by a centuries-old conspiracy.
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Religious Conflict and Conspiracy are Also Key Themes in Pentiment
Stories of religious conflict are nothing new in games, but the similarities between those of Pillars of Eternity and Pentiment demonstrate a common theme that Obsidian likes to explore in its games. Pentiment takes a more grounded approach than the fantasy world of Pillars of Eternity, focusing on the historical conflict between Catholicism, Protestantism, and Paganism present in Europe throughout the 16th century. The game offers players a look at a small slice of this conflict in Pentiment’s Bavarian setting of Tassing and the neighboring Kiersau Abbey.
Pentiment’s village of Tassing has quite a storied history that plays a major role in the game’s narrative. It was originally settled by pre-Christian pagans who were later replaced by Romans during the empire’s heyday. Even after the Roman Empire fell and Tassing was settled by Christian refugees, remnants of its old structures such as statues and aqueducts remained. The establishment of Kiersau Abbey and the creation of the shrine to St. Moritz made Tassing a hub for Catholic pilgrims, but many of the town’s older residents resented the change and wished to honor its pagan roots.
The central conflict of Pentiment comes down to the murder of several characters in an effort by the Thread-Puller to maintain the conspiracy that Tassing was blessed by St. Moritz and St. Satia, as its Christian settlers believed. The truth that these saints were actually reinterpretations of the Roman gods Mars and Diana was kept hidden in order to keep the town’s identity as an important site for traveling pilgrims intact. It is the maintenance of this facade that drives the Thread-Puller to orchestrate the murders of those who were getting too close to the truth.
Similarly to Pillars of Eternity, Pentiment gives players a tough final choice of whether to expose this truth to the town or continue to keep its secret. The ways in which both games see players uncover a religious conspiracy only to throw a twist choice at the end shows that Obsidian and Josh Sawyer like to make the player feel like they are in control while influencing their actions through the guise of a higher power. This is a very effective narrative strategy in both instances and compels the player to keep playing, questioning their every action by the game’s end.
Pentiment is available now for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
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