2022 may not have seen Microsoft releasing a great many prominent first party Xbox titles, though as those who’ve played Obsidian Entertainment’s Pentiment will tell you, there was still some pretty good stuff to come from the Xbox Game Studios banner last year. Offering a smaller, significantly more contained, and more experimental narrative-driven adventure experience, Pentiment is definitely one of Xbox’s biggest overlooked gems.
Given the nature of the game, it’s obviously done quite well on the portable device, Steam Deck, but is it possible that it somehow ends up seeing native releases for other handheld devices as well, in spite of the game’s nature as an Xbox first party titles? How about a Switch release, for instance? Well, interestingly enough, according to game director Josh Sawyer, that’s not completely out of the question.
In a recent interview with Touch Arcade, when asked about the possibility of seeing native releases for Pentiment on the Nintendo Switch or on iPad, Sawyer said that it’s certainly a possibility.
“I think it’s possible,” he said. “I think because of the Steam Deck, a lot of people immediately ask, could this be on Switch? I think that there’s nothing that would prevent it technologically from being on Switch. I would love the game to be on as many platforms as possible, but time will tell.”
Microsoft has, of course, brought some of its games to non-Xbox devices in the past, including the likes of Ori and the Will of the Wisps or even the recent Quake 2 Enhanced Edition, so it might not be entirely surprising to see Pentiment potentially getting a Switch launch in the future as well, especially since it’s one of Microsoft’s smaller and more experimental releases. Of course, there’s no official indication of that happening anytime soon, but it’s good to know the game’s director thinks it’s a possibility, if nothing else.
Pentiment is currently available on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC.