Pilgrimage Road

Pilgrimage Road
Getty Museum | Experiential & Immersive — Games
Would you survive a medieval road trip? That’s the question at the heart of Pilgrimage Road, an in-gallery touchscreen computer game developed by the Getty Museum’s Interpretive Content Digital Media Team in collaboration with the Department of Manuscripts, created for the 2025 exhibition Going Places: Travel in the Middle Ages. It marks the first game of its kind in Getty’s history of producing interpretive interactive content, an 8-bit-style adventure built in-house and presented exclusively on kiosks in the exhibition gallery.
The game immerses visitors in a 620-mile medieval pilgrimage from Toulouse, France, to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain — a popular, if arduous, 14th-century route. After choosing to be a knight, a peasant, or an aristocratic lady, players faced hazards like river crossings, plague, and bandits as they worked their way toward the cathedral. Successful choices allowed players to advance on the route, while unsuccessful choices ended in immediate death, creating a fun and memorable way to experience the challenges of medieval travel.
Built using Twine for narrative architecture and Vue.js for the full interactive experience, the game layers in pixel art, character animation, and 8-bit sound design, with storytelling offered in English and Spanish. Pilgrimage Road sparked over 380,000 interactions with near-constant gallery use, a clear signal that the format resonated across Getty’s audience. By turning the gallery into a place of active participation, it demonstrated that immersive game experiences belong in the art museum, not as novelty, but as a legitimate vehicle for historical understanding and delight.
Learn more at: https://www.getty.edu/news/pilgrimage-road-medieval-computer-game/