opinion: A full 92 percent of all Steam reviews rate Pathologic 2 positively. Nevertheless, the role-playing survival mix remains in secret.
Pathologic 2 is like the weird great aunt you meet every few years at a family party. Not everyone wants to engage with her eccentric ways, many jump off after small talk and the majority just avoid her straight away.
Many players are put off straight away by Pathologic 2’s dated and outlandish graphic style. Others don’t want to slog through the game’s tough first hours. Still others criticise the tedious story, the unnecessary grind and the stiff controls. But why then do 92 percent of the more than 5,000 Steam users rate the game so positively?
I have to admit that it’s not easy for me to put into words my fascination with Pathologic 2. I could explain all the gameplay mechanics, introduce the characters and list the pros and cons of the game. But none of that would do justice to this strange role-playing game.
Instead, I want to tell you what Pathologic 2 does to me and why it’s one of the most extraordinary gaming experiences I’ve ever had.
What is Pathologic 2 even about?
It’s difficult to pigeonhole Pathologic 2 and assign it to a single genre. The closest thing is probably “surreal mystery-survival-RPG-walking-simulator with horror elements”. I slip into the role of the surgeon Artemy Burakh, who receives a mysterious letter from his father and then returns to his hometown for the first time in years.
But instead of calls of welcome and open arms, he receives only tragic news: His father has been murdered. And as if that were not bad enough, Artemy himself comes under suspicion. Now he has to prove his innocence and find his father’s real murderer. To make matters worse, a deadly plague breaks out in the small town.
Do I need to have played Pathologic 1?
No. Pathologic 2 is not a classic sequel, but a remake of parts of the first game. Russian developer Ice-Pick Lodge funded the remake of the iconic role-playing game via Kickstarter in 2014.
It tells the story of one of the three protagonists from the first Pathologic game. At the same time, however, it expands the environments and the story and is thus both a remake and a retelling. The stories of the other two protagonists are also to follow.
Fever dream or twisted reality?
In my opinion, one of the greatest strengths of Pathologic 2 is the world and the way the story is told. I am released into the dark game world right from the start without much explanation. And right at the beginning I find it difficult to classify the events. Is this reality? Or is this a fever dream of Artemy?
These questions accompany me throughout the game. Pathologic 2 does not specify in which time the story takes place, whether it is a fantasy world or not. The city and its inhabitants are strongly reminiscent of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. However, the beliefs of the inhabitants seem to be rooted in an indigenous culture. In addition to human NPCs, I also frequently encounter unusual creatures, mysterious mask wearers and figures dressed like plague doctors.
At any given moment, the veil between reality and visions is so thin that I can’t clearly tell what’s happening at all. And that’s what makes Pathologic 2 so appealing to me.
I have to get to know the game first and put all the details together like little puzzle pieces as I move through the open world. Pathologic 2 is also incredibly good at making me feel like I’m starting to understand what’s going on around me – only to confront me with a new situation that shuffles everything up again.
Sometimes I feel like I did back in school when my teachers watched me solve exam problems. Even when I’m sure I’m doing something right, I always have the uneasy feeling that I’m making a fatal mistake, overlooking something important or falling for a nasty ambush.
The fact that every decision I make affects the world and the outcome of the game doesn’t ease the pressure. The inhabitants of the world react to my actions. If I do something they don’t like, I’m no longer safe on the streets. If I only mind my own business, I may not manage to save the city and its inhabitants.
At this point I don’t want to tell you more about the story and the characters, because part of the game experience is to explore and find out everything for yourself. But this much can be said: Pathologic 2 is not a casual game for in-between and doesn’t want to be.
A game against time
To find out what the murder of Artemy’s father is all about and how it is connected to the plague, I only have twelve in-game days. Pretty soon I realise: I can’t possibly do it all!
Many of the quests are only available on certain days. If I don’t have enough time and leave something undone, there’s a good chance I won’t get a second chance. So I have to decide anew every day what I want to focus on.
This urgency and time pressure only creep up on me in the course of the game. At the beginning, it seems as if I have all the time in the world to explore the city and get to know the game. However, the slow and almost sluggish flow of the game picks up noticeably after a few days. At the latest when the plague breaks out.
As a surgeon, my medical skills are naturally in high demand in times of epidemic. So I diligently gather herbs, make painkillers and healing potions, cut patients open and, if possible, cure their diseases. Optionally, I can also let them die and farm their organs – but the townspeople don’t like that very much.
At the same time, I have to take care of my own health. I have to eat, drink and sleep enough and keep up my immune system so that I don’t die of the plague. Survival is not that easy. I can find drinking fountains on every corner, but sleeping places are scattered around the city and sometimes I can’t get access to them. This is because the plague keeps spreading, blocking entire areas, beds and storage points.
This often leads to situations in which I have to make a decision: Do I do another quest in the remaining two hours of the day and risk my own death? Or do I go back to my shelter on the other side of the city, where I have stashed bread and eggs in the cupboard and can find a warm bed to sleep in?
Pathologic 2 is not for everyone
Negative reviews often criticise Pathologic 2 for its dated graphics and poor animations, rancid combat system and perpetual grind. For me, however, these criticisms quickly evolved into a strength of the role-playing game.
The graphics and the eerie faces of the characters – Uncanny Valley says hello! -contribute so incredibly much to the atmosphere of the game. Everything looks dirty, squalid, terrifying and, coupled with the fantastic sound design, triggers that “I don’t want to be here” feeling in me.
I always feel uncomfortable when I play – and I mean that in an absolutely positive way! If I meet the black, masked figures standing around motionless in the city, my stomach tightens and I get goosebumps. No jumpscare in this world scares me more than the cuttingly dense and dark atmosphere of Pathologic 2.
Many players don’t like the heavy survival system and the grind because they distract from the story and take up too much time. For me, however, that is exactly why it is so exciting! I constantly have to ask myself what is more important to me: my own health, completing quests or the lives of others? I don’t have enough time for everything, I can’t save everyone. Pathologic 2 will also probably be one of the very few titles that I will play through multiple times. I’m just too interested to see what story unfolds in front of me if I choose a different play style.
Pathologic 2 is truly not for everyone. I can’t play it for long at a stretch either and have to keep breaking it down into small bites. It’s a very special game and you really have to be ready to get into it. But if you give it a chance, fight your way through the first tough hours of play and are open to the otherness of Pathologic 2, then I promise you: you’ve never experienced a game like this before!
