ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we explore how Pentiment (2022) serves as an example of a metareferential medium par excellence by remediating the paradigm shift from medieval oral and manuscript culture to Early Modern print culture. Our central question asks how the game's engagement with "bookishness" (see Pressman 2020) and the materiality of books enables it to function as a multidimensional, medium-reflexive narrative device. We argue that Pentiment transforms the book into a protagonist by fostering object-oriented intersubjectivity through the "ludex" (or book-in-the-game; see Milligan 2019) that invites players to become bookish players. This transformation enables players to engage with the game's layered narratives, drawing on intertextual and intermedial references to literary works, particularly Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose (1983 [1980]). Our methodology combines ludonarrative analysis with media theory, focusing on the game's remediation of medieval book production—transcription, illumination, and analog printing—and its thematic engagement with the political and intellectual shifts of the Reformation (see Eisenstein 1980). This analysis is significant for critical conversations around metareferentiality in games, demonstrating how Pentiment reflects historical shifts while redefining the relationship between players and textual media, offering new insights into the role of books in interactive storytelling.
