Pathologic 1 is... hard to rate numerically. Played quite a lot of games in a wide variety of genres, but this might be the only game I either can't recommend despite how great it is, or can recommend despite how terrible it plays. This isn't merely a "love or hate" game, it's a "love AND hate" one. Or maybe just "hate". Depends on what you're looking for. Can't tell you if you're gonna like it, but I can try to give you an idea. Most players probably won't like this one. Recommended it to the friend of an artistically oriented colleague. Told me she thought it was trash. Looked at her friend play it, thought it was tedious and controlled like shit. She's right, especially since her friend picked the hardest character (Haruspex). Gameplay is repetitive in Pathologic. You're mostly walking around town trying to solve a mystery, and you're on a timer all the way. You're figthing not only against criminals, but also a lethal disease and your own bodily needs. It's an uphill battle. You'll be constantly stressed, wondering if you're doing what you should be doing, whether or not you're forgetting anything important, if you'll have time to go talk to that one character, visit the grocers to find something not too expensive to eat before night... And when it comes to the actual fighting, it's downright atrocious, shoddy, punishing, time-consuming and sometimes very unfair. I heard the game was made without an actual game-designer, and it shows. So, why a cult classic? Why are people talking about how painful the game is, despite the fact they can't quite put it away? Well, the writing is pretty damn good. The translation used to be terrible, but they fixed it in the HD version. The atmosphere is phenomenal. It certainly feels like you're living through a deadly pandemic. The town is isolated, it follows its own archaic rules, but they're consistent and easy to learn if you bother to talk to people. You'll be wondering what new level of weirdness you're going to uncover.
