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[Helios]

Hey, Hey people, Sseth's alternate persona here !


I was contemplating buying this game a while ago but I felt like Pathologic 1 was a game that I could never get into because of all the walking and the extremely abstract characters. Based on Mandy's review it seems like those are dialed down and the world looks much, much better. I'm actually really interested to play this now.

 

[ChoosableOne]

This is the most fucked up game i ever played. If i have to describe it with one word, it would be "unusual".

Spoiler: Story Intro

Your physician father requests your help via a letter. And you, a surgeon, return to your town after all that years

It is an open world rpg survival horror(lite, only atmospheric horror so far) game. It reminded me that Call of Cthulu game from 2006(which was great and unusual too). 2-3 hours in, i started to understand what's going on. It's hard to get in to so you have to encourage yourself a bit. Interesting story so far. I want to know how they wrap things up in the end.

I'm playing on "intended difficulty". You can only save in some houses. If you fight with someone and lose health, you must apply some bandage or rest in some place(i found only one place so far).
You have 12 days it seems so if you rest a lot, you can miss some events. And bandages hard to find. So you have to avoid fights(at least in the beginning).

I'm surprised how it didn't get any attention here. You can try it on "Gamepass" pc or console.

 

[GrayChild]

This is the most fucked up game i ever played. If i have to describe it with one word, it would be "unusual".

Spoiler: Story Intro

Your physician father requests your help via a letter. And you, a surgeon, return to your town after all that years

It is an open world rpg survival horror(lite, only atmospheric horror so far) game. It reminded me that Call of Cthulu game from 2006(which was great and unusual too). 2-3 hours in, i started to understand what's going on. It's hard to get in to so you have to encourage yourself a bit. Interesting story so far. I want to know how they wrap things up in the end.

I'm playing on "intended difficulty". You can only save in some houses. If you fight with someone and lose health, you must apply some bandage or rest in some place(i found only one place so far).
You have 12 days it seems so if you rest a lot, you can miss some events. And bandages hard to find. So you have to avoid fights(at least in the beginning).

I'm surprised how it didn't get any attention here. You can try it on "Gamepass" pc or console.

Just wait until you get to the seventh day or so... This is the most oppressive and dark game I've ever played and makes pretty much every other horror game cheesy and obsolete in terms of atmosphere, lore and writing.

 

[Cliff Underside]

The first one was great, but the meta narrative stuff tarnished the experience for me a little bit. I heard the second one, despite being a remake, was vastly different and has even more of that, so I've been holding off playing it until I get the itch.

 

[ChoosableOne]

Just wait until you get to the seventh day or so... This is the most oppressive and dark game I've ever played and makes pretty much every other horror game cheesy and obsolete in terms of atmosphere, lore and writing.

Wow, i thought it will go like this till the end. I am returning to it right now

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

This is the most fucked up game i ever played. If i have to describe it with one word, it would be "unusual".

Spoiler: Story Intro

Your physician father requests your help via a letter. And you, a surgeon, return to your town after all that years

It is an open world rpg survival horror(lite, only atmospheric horror so far) game. It reminded me that Call of Cthulu game from 2006(which was great and unusual too). 2-3 hours in, i started to understand what's going on. It's hard to get in to so you have to encourage yourself a bit. Interesting story so far. I want to know how they wrap things up in the end.

I'm playing on "intended difficulty". You can only save in some houses. If you fight with someone and lose health, you must apply some bandage or rest in some place(i found only one place so far).
You have 12 days it seems so if you rest a lot, you can miss some events. And bandages hard to find. So you have to avoid fights(at least in the beginning).

I'm surprised how it didn't get any attention here. You can try it on "Gamepass" pc or console.

I had never heard of this before but it sounds like a game I could enjoy.

I have PC GamePass so why not

 

[Deleted member 774430]

I had never heard of this before but it sounds like a game I could enjoy.

I have PC GamePass so why not

Highly recommended.

The first one might be my favourite story in a videogame ever.

The premise is really cool, surviving the outbreak from two different perspectives (plus a third one as post game), the lore is cool af and most of it is inspired from legends and true stories.

Like Grace, the caretaker of the cemetery tells you that the steppe air is so thick, it makes her feel tired and gives hallucination, that happened to hundreds of people in Kalachi and Krasnogorsk in Kazakhstan multiple times.

Sleeping sickness traps Kazakh town in waking nightmare

Scientists are baffled by a mysterious illness that has sent hundreds of people into days-long slumbers

www.telegraph.co.uk

 

[GrayChild]

The game is currently 50% off at GOG:

Pathologic 2

Pathologic 2 is a narrative-driven dramatic thriller about fighting a deadly outbreak in

www.gog.com

A year later, my opinion on this game has only improved.

I will say it right here - in my ~25 years of gaming I have not played a single game that is as well-written and unique as Pathologic 2. Yes, it's hard as hell. Yes, the gameplay systems may be obtuse at first. But anyone who's even remotely into psychological horror or survival games is doing a great disservice to themselves by skipping this gem.







This is the most oppressive, scary and downright depressing game I've played. All this without using a single cheap jumpscare or gross-out tactic.

The fact that people praise the writing, characters and lore of TLOU2, Disco Elysium or Amnesia: Rebirth over Patho 2 is a fucking crime.

 

[The Cockatrice]

I love hard games especially unique as this but I heard the time limit is annoying and that is something I will never enjoy in games. Being rushed isnt hard, it's just annoying and even if you could remove it or change it or whatever, I would not feel right playing it since the game is mechanically built around it. I suppose thats why so many avoid it as well.

 

[Denton]

I kickstarted it because I always wanted to play the original with better translation. I have it installed, so hopefully I will get to it eventually.

 

[TintoConCasera]

Watched some videos of this game as it looks interesting but also like something I wouldn't enjoy.

Looks to be a very original experience with truly good writing.

 

[Maybe It's Medicine?]

The game is currently 50% off at GOG:

Pathologic 2

Pathologic 2 is a narrative-driven dramatic thriller about fighting a deadly outbreak in

www.gog.com

A year later, my opinion on this game has only improved.

I will say it right here - in my ~25 years of gaming I have not played a single game that is as well-written and unique as Pathologic 2. Yes, it's hard as hell. Yes, the gameplay systems may be obtuse at first. But anyone who's even remotely into psychological horror or survival games is doing a great disservice to themselves by skipping this gem.







This is the most oppressive, scary and downright depressing game I've played. All this without using a single cheap jumpscare or gross-out tactic.

The fact that people praise the writing, characters and lore of TLOU2, Disco Elysium or Amnesia: Rebirth over Patho 2 is a fucking crime.

Maybe I just don't have the taste for other people's farts, but one of things DE, tlou2 and amnesia do better right out the gate is create a better and more cohesive narrative than P2. While oppressive and depressing, the game isn't scary either. A good game should speak for itself, the fact that you feel the need to tear down other, better games only tells me that you are desperate to compensate for something the game lacks. Also, as far as oppressive, despressing, scary horror games go without jump scares, Dark wood was overall a more enjoyable game than pathologic 2.

 

[GrayChild]

I love hard games especially unique as this but I heard the time limit is annoying and that is something I will never enjoy in games. Being rushed isnt hard, it's just annoying.

It's not about simply being rushed. The time limits are there for a reason.

The game outright states the following:

You have limited time, resources and energy and you cannot be everywhere or see everything the town has to offer in a single playthrough. There are dozens of events happening simultaneously, but the game doesn't wait for you to do them all. Everything is about who you're willing to sacrifice, how far would you go to save yourself or the people you care about and for how long you can remain moral and good person when all odds are against you.

A Russian Crucible: Pathologic 2 and the Problem of Video Game Difficulty - EGM

How do you think about challenge and accessibility when the point is to punish the player?

egmnow.com

“Pathologic 2 was designed around an incomplete playthrough. The idea is for the player to fail, miss quests, and overall play suboptimally.”

And this is the most common misconception about Pathologic 2. The game does not expect you to clear all available objectives. In fact, without spoiling anything there are some benefits and hints which can only be unlocked after certain fail states.

 

[The Cockatrice]

It's not about simply being rushed. The time limits are there for a reason.

The game outright states the following:

You have limited time, resources and energy and you cannot be everywhere or see everything the town has to offer in a single playthrough. There are dozens of events happening simultaneously, but the game doesn't wait for you to do them all. Everything is about who you're willing to sacrifice, how far would you go to save yourself or the people you care about and for how long you can remain moral and good person when all odds are against you.

A Russian Crucible: Pathologic 2 and the Problem of Video Game Difficulty - EGM

How do you think about challenge and accessibility when the point is to punish the player?

egmnow.com

And this is the most common misconception about Pathologic 2. The game does not expect you to clear all available objectives. In fact, without spoiling anything there are some benefits and hints which can only be unlocked after certain fail states.

I edited my post after and u prolly didnt see but yes I'm aware how the game is built around the timelimit and that's fine for those who like that mechanic but I don't but I also would like to because the game has an amazing atmosphere.



I will probably get it sooner or later and will go through it. Thanks for the info

 

[Elpidio Valdés]

Do you guys know if this game was fixed on Xbox? I played the tutorial but the town/open world part was completely unplayable. The game stopped to load every 10 seconds. I have Game Pass Ultimate so I could always download it on PC and give it a try. I do prefer to play with a controller.

 

[GrayChild]

Do you guys know if this game was fixed on Xbox? I played the tutorial but the town/open world part was completely unplayable. The game stopped to load every 10 seconds. I have Game Pass Ultimate so I could always download it on PC and give it a try. I do prefer to play with a controller.

The game received a couple of performance-related patches on both Xbox and PS4, so it should be better now. Still, if you have a free choice between platforms - PC is the way to go imo, and it still has full controller support.

 

[Elpidio Valdés]

The game received a couple of performance-related patches on both Xbox and PS4, so it should be better now. Still, if you have a free choice between platforms - PC is the way to go imo, and it still has full controller support.

Thanks. I'm just going to download both the PC and Xbox versions. If the Xbox version is still laggy I will play it on PC. I really liked what I played a few months ago. The game was super creepy and weird.

 

[Hugare]

I want to play this game so bad due to its atmosphere and story

But I simply cant play shit with "limited time" or "everything happening at the same time, can't see it all in one playthrough"

It's too anxiety indulcing for me, unfortunatelly