Josh Sawyer Details the Ancient Greek Roots of Pentiment’s Moral Choices

When it comes to RPG design, Obsidian Entertainment’s Josh Sawyer isn't interested in the traditional moral compass. In a recent video exploring his creative influences, the veteran developer revealed that he prefers to move away from clear-cut "good versus evil" binaries, instead looking thousands of years into the past for inspiration.

Before his career in game development, Sawyer studied theater, a background that heavily informed the design of titles like Pentiment and Fallout: New Vegas. He notes that he often thinks about Ancient Greek tragedies, such as Antigone and The Oresteia when crafting the ethical dilemmas players face in his games.

"You have a lot of moral and ethical decisions that are extremely difficult," Sawyer explains. "Characters are put in situations that are truly, in the literal sense, agonizing and they're forced to make terrible decisions and those decisions are never purely good or they're never purely bad."

Moving Beyond the Moral Bar

For Sawyer, the goal isn't necessarily to make every player choice as painful as those in Greek drama, but rather to force players to pause and reflect. He argues that when games rely on a strict moral spectrum—like a bar that shifts from red to blue—players often pick a side early and commit to it for the duration of the story without truly engaging with the weight of individual decisions.

"Individual choices are just not that clear-cut," he says. By removing the pressure of a "good" or "evil" label, he believes players are more likely to sit with the discomfort of their choices, which ultimately prompts them to consider their own values more deeply. He points to the act of passing blame in Pentiment as a primary example of this design philosophy in action.

This approach aligns with a broader shift in the modern gaming industry. Recent heavy hitters like The Witcher 3 and Baldur's Gate 3 have largely moved away from rigid morality meters. Even the Fable series, once defined by its literal black-and-white morality system, has transitioned toward reputation mechanics where actions are treated as subjective rather than inherently virtuous or villainous.

Ultimately, Sawyer’s view is simple: if the ancient playwrights were onto something, there is no reason not to apply those same principles to modern interactive narratives. Whether players agree with the outcome of their choices in Pentiment or not, the design is intentionally built to ensure they don't walk away from the decision without a second thought.