The original Indie Cult Classic returns fully restored, and more evocative than ever and includes the original version of Pathologic!
Pathologic Classic HD is the Definitive Edition of the original Cult Classic Psychological First-Person Survival game. The game represents a unique and unforgettable...
The original Indie Cult Classic returns fully restored, and more evocative than ever and includes the original version of Pathologic!
Pathologic Classic HD is the Definitive Edition of the original Cult Classic Psychological First-Person Survival game. The game represents a unique and unforgettable experience as it transports players in a weird town which crouches, ominous, in the far reaches of an ancient steppe. It was once a small drover settlement, huddled around a monstrous abattoir—but something about the butchery it was near has changed it. It has developed an odd social structure over the course of several generations. It could have quietly continued along its weird way, but a sudden outbreak of an unknown and inevitably lethal disease has decimated the citizens. Prayers did not help. Science did not help. So, finally, they have turned to outsiders for help: three of them enter the town in hope of finding a cure or—failing that—an explanation. The first outsider was a ruthless investigator, assigned by local authorities. The second is a far-sighted Ripper who has used his extraordinary abilities to gain a reputation as an ingenious surgeon, who has come to the town in search of his father's terrible heritage. The third—and last—outsider is an eccentric girl rumored to have mystic healing abilities; she may become the town's salvation were it not for the constant fear that plagues her, the memory of the horrors of her recent past.
On the surface, Pathologic is a first person horror adventure game where you control one of three "heroes." Dig deeper, however, and you’ll find an experience that will affect your emotional and psychological state. In the world of Pathologic you’ll find yourself in situations where morals and good deeds are meaningless in the face of raw despair and endless need. Talk to the denizens of the town and decide for yourself if you wish to ease someone else’s pain or save every bit of precious medicine to protect yourself from the invisible and inexorable plague. Become witness to the miasma of horror as the plague begins to overcome the town.
New Enhancements
Brand New in-house English script: For the first time ever, the game has cast off the major issue that had previously disallowed international audiences from accessing it.
Brand New Voice-overs
New content: A certain amount of text that had previously been cut from the international version of the game have now been restored
Updated textures and higher resolutions support.
New visual effects.
Newly Included Fan-Made Polish translation thanks to the hard work and generosity of Jakub Derdziak & Aldona Derdziak.
An indie cult classic.
12 days in a plague-ridden town. Time is running, and mostly it’s running out; numerous events unfold, whether you’re there to witness them or not.
70+ hours of real-time gameplay without grinding or repetitive quests. As time goes by, more and more things happen, inviting you to participate and change the course of events.
3 playable characters with 3 unique storylines. The Bachelor’s, the Haruspex’s, and the Changeling’s plots are interconnected, but every side of the trilemma is represented separately via unique events, quests, dialogues, and subplots.
The plot is critically acclaimed and often regarded as the high point of the game. It’s not just about the fate of the dying town—it’s about an ideological conflict, represented by a multitude of characters and factions, each with their own idea of what life, death, and miracles are.
An open-world game. While the plot is there to grab you, the town has no artificial boundaries: you are free to explore it from day one, carving out your own story.
Survival is tough. The dying town demands that you constantly keep an eye on your status, maintaining a full belly and decent immunity. That will require tough choices.
Communicate, barter, rob, or steal. There are many ways to acquire your bare necessities, each of them with its own benefits and drawbacks.
The atmosphere of bleakness and despair without cartoonish evil or bad guys. Playtime is over—there will be no jump scares or simple solutions. You will have to do it the hard way.
Goodies
avatars (Pathologic Classic HD)
wallpapers (Pathologic Classic HD)
concept art (Pathologic Classic HD)
concept arts
manual
soundtrack
avatars
wallpapers
artworks
official walkthrough
System requirements
Minimum system requirements:
Recommended system requirements:
Recommended system requirements:
Why buy on GOG.COM?
DRM FREE. No activation or online connection required to play.
This game features a lot of walking. It took me 25 hours to beat the Bachelor campaign, and 20 of those were probably spent walking, 3 were spent reading dialogue and two were spent quickloading.
And I absolutely recommend it. It's a very immersive experience, and later on your walks get spiced up with all kinds of obstacles.
Obviously, the selling point of the game isn't its walking mechanics, it's the story. But I am not here to spoil the story for you. You'll have to uncover that for yourself.
Pathologic is a very unique game. At least I know no other game quite like it. It consists of story for the most part. Other than that there's a lot of walking, which can unfortunately get quite boring at times. The story is about a plague in a small town, in which 3 doctors arrived, for different reasons, now trying to fight the plague. You have to play one of these three doctors. There are various quests you have to fulfill. The side quests sometimes have rewards that you can make use of, and as for the main quests... If you fail to fulfill those before the day ends, well something bad happens. Your actions in the game matter. There are many choices to make, most of which have at least some minor impact on the game. As for the gameplay, it's challenging. You have to eat and sleep regularly, so that you don't die of exhaustion or starvation. There are many enemies in the town, one way or another, you'll have to fight other's at some point, with a combat system which consists of either shooting with weapons, which never takes long, because most of the time a single shot with a weapon is enough to kill someone, including the player, or of running back and forth, with each time you're running forth, you attack and each time you're running back, it's mostly to dodge enemy attacks. And then there's the disease. (You can of course abuse saves to never get infected, or waste so many drugs on healing yourself that you won't have any drugs left for others).
Overall, I can say Pathologic is not a game for everyone to enjoy, but it is unique in it's own ways, and if you like rather challenging survival games with a lot of walking and reading, you should be enjoying this.
Personal rating: 7/10
Neutral rating: 5.5/10
Note: This review was shortened because of GOG's limit of letters. I have a slightly longer version of this review on the Steam page of this game! I am also currently doing a playthrough of it on my Twitch channel, the link to which you can find on my profile.
I liked this game and am glad I tried it. There are portions of Pathologic I will never forget, feelings it instilled in me that linger in my mind - how many games can say that?
But I also feel cheated by Pathologic. There are, online, copious warnings about how monotonous the gameplay can be, but I found the gameplay elements added a deal of gravitas to every action you as the player perform. Where do you choose to walk? Who will you take the effort to talk to? Do you engage in the local economies to aid your later survival, or do you rush to your next location, worried about ever-fleeting time? It's brilliant. Nor do the graphics bother me - the art direction (complemented by the strong sound and music choices) has a lasting strength, aging far better than mere polygons do.
No, I feel cheated because of Pathologic's oft-lauded writing. The game displays an adventure-game-logic to its dialogue options. Will this option continue a conversation, end it, fail a quest for you? Who knows! Select it and save scrum if you don't like it. Which major NPC in the previous conversation do you have to talk to next to continue the plot? Dunno! Sometimes the quest log helps you decide, sometimes it doesn't. Most often the journal is filled with nonsense and flowery descriptions of dialogue and events that are no way accurate. Sometimes there are map markers put down, sometimes there aren't. Sometimes places are referred to only by their colloquial names (Spleen, Tannery, Earth, etc.) that ARE NOT LABELED ON THE MAP (you figure some of them out quickly, others...), sometimes not. Sometimes the game outright tells you who to talk to, but others times you can wander around for hours looking for an NPC to give you the day's mission.
This is not the most important game you never played. This is a great work of art, and the passion of the creators should be lauded and supported. Video games can be art, but being artistic does not a good video game make.
Yeah, with the Covid-19 outbreak this is a great game to play in these trying times. Great story, yet horrible gameplay with me questioning my sanity for most of the game.
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