Ice Pick Lodge posits the bold question- just how ♥♥♥♥♥♥ can one town be?

Pathologic 1 is almost certainly one of the best written games in history, held back purely by a lack of budget, polish, and some mediocre gameplay when it comes to interacting with the town. Pathologic 2, the sleeker and bolder successor is one of the greatest games of all time. Every moment spent in the town is steeped in feelings of anxiety, terror, despair, and most ephemerally, beauty. While the game retains the masterful writing of its predecessor (and fortunately commits to giving all characters an important role and oppurtunity to speak in the Haruspex route this time) I hesitate to mention how deep and well-thought this symphony of perspective is as it may cheapen the way the themes and ideas that creep up and consume the player from all angles.

What I would like to state clearly however is that this is perhaps the greatest example I have ever seen of games as art. Not games whose artistic voice is cinematic or theatric a la Metal Gear, or literary like basically every VN (bar totono), but engraining its message and voice through the laws that govern the world and the decisions you are allowed to make as a player. While the game is at all times cruel are very few times when the game is explicitly "unfair", which are given very clear voice and reason by the plot surrounding it. As such the player is engrossed in the role of Burakh and the decisions you make are legitimized by the honesty in not railroading the player in this or that way. Who you choose to save, who you must ignore, and what you say to influence future events are never really guided truly by the developer. In fact the developers wish instead that they could remove even their helping hand in taking away your guides and journals, but admit that such a degree of abandonment would probably make the art oblique to the point of being unplayable by most.

But beyond the mere freedom afforded the player the choices matter to a magnificent extent. When characters die they are truly gone, and the void they leave behind is palpable. Quests you do on one play-through could be entirely missing on another because you let the certain characters pass. Likewise you may choose the wrong dialogue choice and lose someone's trust for days, or prevent a shelter from being opened for the entire run. It's seriously something that must be played at least twice, not just for the ending but for a different perspective throughout. The interactive elements provide such a broad degree of the town where you can better understand everyone in it, it's something that could only be done in this medium.

And adding on top of that peak aesthetics and OST, some of the most memorable moments I've had in games, and just enough of that slavic artistic strangeness and you have an absolute masterpiece. It goes on sale for <$10 fairly often, you MUST pick this bad boy up. In theory the best way to experience it is by playing P1 first starting with Bachelor, but given its high barrier to entry I totally understand starting from here (as I did).

If they never release Bachelor route I will be very upset.

Ice Pick Lodge posits the bold question- just how fucked can one town be? Pathologic 1 is almost certainly one of the best written games in history, held back purely by a lack of budget, polish, and some mediocre gameplay when it comes to interacting with the town. Pathologic 2, the sleeker and bolder successor is one of the greatest games of all time. Every moment spent in the town is steeped in feelings of anxiety, terror, despair, and most ephemerally, beauty. While the game retains the masterful writing of its predecessor (and fortunately commits to giving all characters an important role and oppurtunity to speak in the Haruspex route this time) I hesitate to mention how deep and well-thought this symphony of perspective is as it may cheapen the way the themes and ideas that creep up and consume the player from all angles. What I would like to state clearly however is that this is perhaps the greatest example I have ever seen of games as art. Not games whose artistic voice is cinematic or theatric a la Metal Gear, or literary like basically every VN (bar totono), but engraining its message and voice through the laws that govern the world and the decisions you are allowed to make as a player. While the game is at all times cruel are very few times when the game is explicitly "unfair", which are given very clear voice and reason by the plot surrounding it. As such the player is engrossed in the role of Burakh and the decisions you make are legitimized by the honesty in not railroading the player in this or that way. Who you choose to save, who you must ignore, and what you say to influence future events are never really guided truly by the developer. In fact the developers wish instead that they could remove even their helping hand in taking away your guides and journals, but admit that such a degree of abandonment would probably make the art oblique to the point of being unplayable by most. But beyond the mere freedom afforded the player the choices matter to a magnificent extent. When characters die they are truly gone, and the void they leave behind is palpable. Quests you do on one play-through could be entirely missing on another because you let the certain characters pass. Likewise you may choose the wrong dialogue choice and lose someone's trust for days, or prevent a shelter from being opened for the entire run. It's seriously something that must be played at least twice, not just for the ending but for a different perspective throughout. The interactive elements provide such a broad degree of the town where you can better understand everyone in it, it's something that could only be done in this medium. And adding on top of that peak aesthetics and OST, some of the most memorable moments I've had in games, and just enough of that slavic artistic strangeness and you have an absolute masterpiece. It goes on sale for <$10 fairly often, you MUST pick this bad boy up. In theory the best way to experience it is by playing P1 first starting with Bachelor, but given its high barrier to entry I totally understand starting from here (as I did). If they never release Bachelor route I will be very upset.