Pathologic: Remake coming 2016
10-24-15, 12:33 PM
#1
Banned by request
Thread Starter
Pathologic: Remake coming 2016
Has anyone here heard of or played Pathologic? I discovered it when I downloaded a game on iOS called Knock-Knock! from Russian developers Ice-Pick Lodge (which I highly recommend, it's a very unique game with wonderful art direction). Anyway, turns out the same developers released a game called Pathologic back in 2005, which was largely ignored in America but has a cult following of people who think it's brilliant.
The game takes place in a Russian town stricken by plague, and three healers appear to try and save the town. The problem is that the plague appears to be beyond the powers of the healers, and so they have to dig deep into the town and its secrets to save it, while watching the people die and go insane the longer it takes. The game stresses the hard decisions that one must make in life or death situations, and virtually every choice you make in the game affects how it unfolds. You have to manage time, survival (you have to eat to live and food isn't available in random drops or hidden spots), your immune system, all while trying to heal others. You have to barter for supplies on the black market and while doing all of this you have to complete quests before time runs out on them, otherwise you lose the opportunity to do the quest and more people die.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun devoted three articles to the game, and the description made me immediately want to play it (the second two articles have spoilers, so you have been warned):
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008...rt-1-the-body/
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008...rt-2-the-mind/
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008...rt-3-the-soul/
However, reading the comments, it appears the game is borderline broken. The mechanics are antiquated and the Russian to English translation is patchy at best. Most of the people commenting on the articles recommended not to get the game in its current state.
Disappointed, I decided to do a general search on the game to see what I could find, and lo and behold, I discovered that Ice-Pick Lodge is planning to do a full remake with better mechanics, better balancing, more quests, etc. They apparently had enough money to make the game through corporate backing, but ran a Kickstarter for additional funds to make the game even better, and are now continuing to take donations through the game's website: http://pathologic-game.com/
It's $25 for a digital copy of the game on Mac/PC/Linux or Xbox One or PS4 (I opted for Xbox One), and given that the total game time is around 72 hours (you can play through the game as each of the three healers, all of whom have different storylines, and you don't get the full story unless you play all three), I think that's a very fair price. I went ahead and donated because the game seems so damn unique and interesting.
Here is the earnest, if somewhat cheesy Kickstarter video:
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/104932299" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>
By the way, for those who are interested, here's the Steam page for Knock-Knock! It's available on PC, Mac, iOS, and PS4: http://store.steampowered.com/app/250380/
The game takes place in a Russian town stricken by plague, and three healers appear to try and save the town. The problem is that the plague appears to be beyond the powers of the healers, and so they have to dig deep into the town and its secrets to save it, while watching the people die and go insane the longer it takes. The game stresses the hard decisions that one must make in life or death situations, and virtually every choice you make in the game affects how it unfolds. You have to manage time, survival (you have to eat to live and food isn't available in random drops or hidden spots), your immune system, all while trying to heal others. You have to barter for supplies on the black market and while doing all of this you have to complete quests before time runs out on them, otherwise you lose the opportunity to do the quest and more people die.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun devoted three articles to the game, and the description made me immediately want to play it (the second two articles have spoilers, so you have been warned):
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008...rt-1-the-body/
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008...rt-2-the-mind/
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008...rt-3-the-soul/
However, reading the comments, it appears the game is borderline broken. The mechanics are antiquated and the Russian to English translation is patchy at best. Most of the people commenting on the articles recommended not to get the game in its current state.
Disappointed, I decided to do a general search on the game to see what I could find, and lo and behold, I discovered that Ice-Pick Lodge is planning to do a full remake with better mechanics, better balancing, more quests, etc. They apparently had enough money to make the game through corporate backing, but ran a Kickstarter for additional funds to make the game even better, and are now continuing to take donations through the game's website: http://pathologic-game.com/
It's $25 for a digital copy of the game on Mac/PC/Linux or Xbox One or PS4 (I opted for Xbox One), and given that the total game time is around 72 hours (you can play through the game as each of the three healers, all of whom have different storylines, and you don't get the full story unless you play all three), I think that's a very fair price. I went ahead and donated because the game seems so damn unique and interesting.
Here is the earnest, if somewhat cheesy Kickstarter video:
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/104932299" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>
By the way, for those who are interested, here's the Steam page for Knock-Knock! It's available on PC, Mac, iOS, and PS4: http://store.steampowered.com/app/250380/
Last edited by Supermallet; 10-24-15 at 12:39 PM.
10-24-15, 12:49 PM
#2
Banned by request
Thread Starter
Re: Pathologic: Remake coming 2016
And finally there's also a remaster of the original game coming out on October 29th, Pathologic Classic HD. This one is the original game with issues fixed and I assume some hi-res textures and such: http://pathologic-game.com/blog/en/c...ks-not-really/
The remake branches out from the original game and has changes, this remaster has no changes, just issue fixes and a new English translation since the original was considered to be terrible.
It's available for Windows only for $12.99, or $9.74 if you pre-order now. Since it's under $10 I'll probably pre-order it to try before the remake comes out.
The remake branches out from the original game and has changes, this remaster has no changes, just issue fixes and a new English translation since the original was considered to be terrible.
It's available for Windows only for $12.99, or $9.74 if you pre-order now. Since it's under $10 I'll probably pre-order it to try before the remake comes out.
I'm already chomping at the bit to play the remaster. 4 more days!
10-29-15, 02:51 PM
#6
Banned by request
Thread Starter
Re: Pathologic: Remake coming 2016
Even with the textures updated and all the graphics settings on, it's still clearly a 10 year old game. But on the plus side, the English translation now makes sense! And it works with my 360 controller.
07-03-20, 04:12 PM
#7
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Re: Pathologic: Remake coming 2016
This is a great (two hour!!!) video explaining why this game is brilliant. It's genuinely worth a watch, and can prep y'all for the sequel, if you're inclined to play that and not this. A key point of this video is that it covers everything you need to know about it. So buckle up nerds. I wish 'mallet was still around to comment on this 
