Talking to Obsidian design director Josh Sawyer forced me into a harsh realisation: I have the handwriting of a peasant. Decades of education and the internet’s infinite resources at my fingertips, and yet my messy chicken scratch would fit right in with a 16th century Bavarian peasant’s in Pentiment. It’s some consolation that Sawyer says his would, too.
In our defense, the printing press is a bit more established in 2022 than it was in the 16th century, when your writing spoke volumes about your education, social class, and profession. That granularity is why Obsidian partnered with design firm Lettermatic to, each telling you something about the characters you meet and talk to while trying to solve ’s mysterious murders.