I just found out that this remarkable artefact of Russian game design is on Steam. There is a 2017 remake by the original developers, which I know nothing about, and there is a Classic HD remaster of the 2005 original. This game was special, one of the really outstanding experiences I had at a keyboard and monitor, in the same line as Planescape, but with a world, dare I say it, more original and freaky.
Pathologic is brutal. In a surface way -- it has terrible, clunky graphics and controls that were subpar even at release, but also on a story and atmosphere level. You stop caring about the graphics very quickly, and actually some of the scenes will even stun you visually, somehow. But what's really stunning, really to the extent of a gut-wrenching paralysis is the story and the world. You arrive in a steppe town, the town is about to be hit by plague. The town has the usual inhabitants -- shopkeepers, labourers, children, an aristocracy of sorts. It is also beset by creatures, who appear to be out a theatre, or maybe the whole town is a theatre, which is incidentally the building of the first scene, but that's something you won't quite figure even at the end. Plague will come and it will start killing, and the town will be in panic. You will attempt to save yourself, and after you figured out how to do that (not easy, several tries), you will try to save others. Actually, saving yourself and saving others are two sides of the same coin -- others mean access to food, to shelter, to water, to sanctuary from a maddening crowd that wants to lynch you. You are a guest in the town, and if the hosts you have chosen die, so will you. Except they have to die, at least some of them and they can feel it, so they will lie, and exploit you, and do everything they can to postpone their miserable fate.
And then there are the children. They play, they make gangs, they attempt to survive, they live in their own reality, but one inevitably linked to that of adults and the plague. You have to interact with them and delve into their games, but of course occasionally they will also die. And sometimes you couldn't do anything, and you know, because you've tried 30 reloads, and nothing works.
Nothing is scripted, everything is systems-driven. Time is short and doesn't wait, resources are short, danger is everywhere and you can't save everyone. Eventually you'll save just enough of the right ones to get to the end of the game, and will probably never feel quite the same. Especially about cows and leather.
Pathologic is brutal. In a surface way -- it has terrible, clunky graphics and controls that were subpar even at release, but also on a story and atmosphere level. You stop caring about the graphics very quickly, and actually some of the scenes will even stun you visually, somehow. But what's really stunning, really to the extent of a gut-wrenching paralysis is the story and the world. You arrive in a steppe town, the town is about to be hit by plague. The town has the usual inhabitants -- shopkeepers, labourers, children, an aristocracy of sorts. It is also beset by creatures, who appear to be out a theatre, or maybe the whole town is a theatre, which is incidentally the building of the first scene, but that's something you won't quite figure even at the end. Plague will come and it will start killing, and the town will be in panic. You will attempt to save yourself, and after you figured out how to do that (not easy, several tries), you will try to save others. Actually, saving yourself and saving others are two sides of the same coin -- others mean access to food, to shelter, to water, to sanctuary from a maddening crowd that wants to lynch you. You are a guest in the town, and if the hosts you have chosen die, so will you. Except they have to die, at least some of them and they can feel it, so they will lie, and exploit you, and do everything they can to postpone their miserable fate.
And then there are the children. They play, they make gangs, they attempt to survive, they live in their own reality, but one inevitably linked to that of adults and the plague. You have to interact with them and delve into their games, but of course occasionally they will also die. And sometimes you couldn't do anything, and you know, because you've tried 30 reloads, and nothing works.
Nothing is scripted, everything is systems-driven. Time is short and doesn't wait, resources are short, danger is everywhere and you can't save everyone. Eventually you'll save just enough of the right ones to get to the end of the game, and will probably never feel quite the same. Especially about cows and leather.
