This is a really touching and emotional visual novel with some light puzzle and point and click gameplay elements. It does feel a bit awkward to control and navigate at times, but I don't know how much it really matters for this type of game. If you're going to play it, you're going to play it for the atmosphere and the story, and there is a lot of heart there. If you're familiar with these developers and enjoyed their bigger games like The Void or Pathologic, then you should know going into it that this game is a lot simpler, and maybe the writing is not quite as good as you've come to expect, but there is still a lot to like here and it's definitely worth a try.
Pathologic is a fascinating, unique game from one of the most brilliant, unique studios making games right now. You can expect an interesting and original story (which suffers significantly from how sparse it becomes towards the end as well as the fragmented way in which it is told but is nonetheless full of cool ideas), an impeccable grim atmosphere, a strong and occasionally gorgeous visual style, and, maybe most importantly, a nontraditional design philosophy. The game is about a catastrophic plague and a town that gradually collapses over twelve days, and that permeates not only the story but also the gameplay. Pathologic is difficult, frustrating, and stressful to play -- by design. It sacrifices conventional fun for genuinely excellent gameplay-narrative integration. Do not confuse this for realism -- there is nothing realistic about, say, the hunger meter in this game. But the relief or excitement it makes you feel when you find food is spot on for a starving, dying town. The mechanics are all geared towards a specific effect that's perfectly aligned with the story/theme. It may sound kind of unpleasant, and it is, but the game remains engaging throughout -- even if this gameplay design doesn't work for you at all, you've still got a good story, philosophical themes, complex characters, great atmosphere, and a strange and surreal setting. All that said, keep in mind that the game has some serious technical issues at the moment. Performance and optimisation are subpar, and the game becomes increasingly buggy towards the end, to the extent that some storylines can become dead ends as crucial dialogues or other quest interactions randomly become unavailable. But if you can deal with the technical problems, and especially if you're interested in more experimental games or at the very least enjoy games for their atmosphere and story, you will probably find a lot to like here.
If you want to experiment with something different and don't mind figuring things out with no handholding whatsoever, you'll probably find something interesting in Knock Knock. If you've played and enjoyed Ice Pick games before, you'll probably like this as well. Be warned that this is a pretty odd and unforgiving game. Confusion is at the core of both the story and the gameplay. Knock Knock is about figuring out how its mechanics work. You are given enough hints to do that, but it's still fairly difficult as the game outright lies to you occasionally. You will be confused, disoriented and frustrated. That's the point. Doesn't sound fun? Strangely enough it kinda is.
Absolutely recommended, IF you know what you're getting into. In terms of narrative, Pathologic is easily one of the most ambitious games out there, not just in the multi-layered way the story is structured but also its ideas (I suggest you don't look these up any further if you're planning to play it -- it's best to go into it blind). There are very few other games like this out there, and most of them by this same studio. However, the rest of the game doesn't live up to the same standard. You could argue that the game is bad at communicating things to you, but I'd say it uses a more realistic/natural way of communication than UI prompts or blatant quest text. A more objective complaint is the graphics, which are bad by modern standards, if you care about that sort of thing, and the gameplay, in spite of all the original ideas it tries to execute, is a bit broken -- but it's not too bad, definitely not as bad as most people/media like to paint it. Ironically, it still manages to be one of the best examples of gameplay-story integration, in my opinion. But if you don't mind an old-looking, somewhat clunky, very text-heavy game, and especially if you play games for their story, Pathologic is unique. P.S. If you're doing multiple playthroughs, save Changeling for last.
