Xbox & Obsidian Entertainment
- Visual Identity
- Key Art
- Logo Design
- Style Guide
- Campaign Toolkit
A Conspiracy Hidden in a Living, Illuminated Manuscript
With reverence for art history, and unrivaled attention to detail.
Set in 16th century Germany, and deeply rooted in the art and culture of the time, Pentiment is the latest immersive gaming experience from the mind of Josh Sawyer at Obsidian Entertainment. For this program, Skylight was asked to work closely with the team at Obsidian to develop a logo and key art package that balanced the rich art history the game is rooted in, with the demands of a piece of marketing content intended to excite fans, and invite them into the world.
The Opportunity
For Skylight, Pentiment represented a dream project. A chance to merge our love of art history with our expertise in entertainment branding. We worked closely with Xbox and Obsidian to understand the details of the game design and its influences, and brought those same elements into the art and logo we produced. We explored methods of the time such as illuminated manuscripts and Northern Oils, as well as masters like Grünewald, Dürer, Bosch, and Bruegel. This thoughtful approach allowed us to generate a compelling Visual Identity that feels authentically rooted in the game, while energetically standing out in digital storefronts.
The Details
Woven into the art are layers of iconography related to the mystery that players will unravel through the game. From Shrike to skull, every item a part of the tapestry that is Pentiment.
The Depth
We even took the opportunity to develop our own danse macabre for this program, leaning into the Totentanz style of Holbein to inspire an authentic execution.
For the logo, our team took inspiration from the title and era of the game. A pentimento is an underlying image revealed over time as layers of paint are removed or eroded. And, the 16th century represented a moment when hand lettering was being replaced by the printing press. These ideas informed the lettering and textures we used to bring the Pentiment logo to life.
Working with Skylight was a seamless experience. They understood the goals and personality of our project right away, collaborating with them felt like an extension of our own development team. They managed to take our initial pitch and return to us a piece of key art that conveyed our original vision in their own voice, and I am so pleased to use it to represent our game.
Once the visual identity was completed, our team extended the core elements with a toolkit of assets to support the Xbox and Obsidian teams with everything needed for the announcement of Pentiment at the 2022 Xbox Games Showcase.
