Pathologic 2 made great strides to make the awful experience of 1 actually playable and it did not deliver for me. The game is just really boring, the unique setting, interesting dialogue, and characters do not offset the simple fact that you are doing literally nothing 80% of your playthrough, the game is supposedly "hard" and "brutal"... except for the fact that you can easily game it with quicksaves and that picking one district off the beaten path to pillage for supplies over and over takes care off all your money, hunger, and health problems for your entire playthrough. Could not bear to finish it, I get that you can have despair, paranoia, and tedium as intended reactions from your audience but there are plenty of games that also do that and also provide some "gameplay" in your fucking "videoGAME".

É bem difícil comentar sobre esse jogo. Hehe.
Minha vontade era de só escrever "puta que pariu" e deixar por isso mesmo, mas depois de tanta luta... não dá pra deixar assim.

Patológico 2 é um jogo extremamente artístico que me atraiu desde o início, principalmente após assistir ao vídeo do hbomberguy sobre a Genialidade de Patológico HD. Todas as interações com o mundo do jogo possuem particularidades e simbolismos únicos, mesmo aquelas que envolvem apenas a troca de itens, o que confere um inegável charme à experiência.

Entretanto, devido ao fato do jogo ser notoriamente cruel, a experiência de cada jogador é restrita e individual. É impossível criar uma concepção completa do mundo com base em uma única experiência, já que muitas vezes é impossível inclusive sobreviver, fazendo com que grande parte do jogo envolva custos de oportunidade... intensos. Inclusive, cheguei até a sonhar com escolhas que deveria ter feito, mas não fui capaz de raciocinar no momento certo.

No entanto, isso não é algo negativo para mim, pois acredito que quando um jogo te estressa a ponto de você sentir remorso genuíno, isso significa que você está imerso de fato. Afinal, viver é perigoso e Patológico 2 não deixa você esquecer disso.

Enfim, trata-se de um jogo bastante singular, repleto de identidade e com uma trilha sonora absolutamente fantástica. Um prato cheio para mim. Certamente jogarei novamente em algum outro momento da minha vida.

Este jogo é uma expressão artística da ansiedade no mundo dos videogames. Todas as decisões tomadas têm consequências, mas nem todas seguem o padrão que conhecemos nos jogos de grande orçamento, com finais diferentes. Algumas têm impacto direto no jogador, podendo matá-lo ou matar alguém com quem se conectou, além de conceder efeitos negativos. Além disso, o jogo apresenta várias metalinguagens, explorando aspectos de desenvolvimento de jogo, cultura eslava e até mesmo a apresentação teatral.
Como jogador, você se envolve com a cidade, mesmo sabendo que ela constantemente está tentando matá-lo. Você se apega aos personagens, mesmo que sejam pessoas desprezíveis, porque compartilha do sofrimento deles, enfrentando a fome, a praga e as perdas juntos. É por isso que, mesmo com toda a sua estranheza e mistério, você acaba se conectando, encontrando amizades em meio ao inferno.

Pathologic é o jogo mais único que eu já joguei. UM tipo de experiência que nunca tive com nenhuma outra obra, uma imersão que nunca antes senti.

Eu amo quando um jogo usa todos os recursos que >>ser um jogo<< permite para criar um experiência única que só pode ser sentida naquela mídia e daquela forma, ao invés de só tentar imitar o cinema, como a maioria dos triple A. E ao meu ver, nenhum jogo faz isso melhor que Pathologic.

Um jogo cruel, brutal, injusto, profundo e filosófico. Uma jornada que apenas um jogo poderia proporcionar.

it's incredible how much of an improvement it is over some aspects of the original pathologic. i was just so delighted with seeing all my thoughts and ideas about how pathologic could have been improved being implemented, such as finally being able to RUN <3 but it depleting stamina, and having fast travel options that also come at a different cost if they do save you time. the difficulty is still there, just instead of being boring or a nuisance, there's actual decision-making that goes into it and thus engaging difficulty. the visuals and art direction are as always impeccable, and the writing is great, though i still vastly prefer the russian-lit flowery dramatics of the original game

i am also very glad that this focuses on haruspex's route first, since his route in the first game was weaker than the bachelor's. but ngl i don't know if other routes will ever happen, or whether i will even play them anymore

that being said, wow this game is hard. patho 1 was also supposedly hard but also it's an old game that can easily be cheesed. this, however... i could not cheese this... i am quite bad at it so i did not get far. i hope i will be able to finish it someday

my nitpicks would be that i do not like yulia's new design at all :( eva's as well. also there's just smth about the original pathologic that resonates with me more in terms of its atmosphere and themes still, though otherwise the remake is an improvement in every way for visuals and gameplay

Artemy Burakh Route (cuz the other two ain't released yet)

The first Pathologic was an experience I had never lived before and after finishing it I was left wanting more, wanting to be able to play it as if it was the first time. Lucky for me; Pathologic 2 exists.

Pathologic 2 is the same situation and characters of the first game but "re-written". Like someone who brings out a book and revises it 10 years later, basically but more extreme since they changed almost all the mechanics and absolutely all the problems I had with the first installment were fixed (even the ones I didn't think were problems until I played Pathologic 2). The story is super improved in every way. Translation, dialogue, quests... when I say "everything" I mean everything. That I played all three routes of the first game and still got new information with this one was a pleasant surprise.

Oh right, I forgot to mention that while Pathologic 1 has 3 routes (aka three playable characters), Pathologic 2 (at the time of the review) only has one, with the second story just around the corner, and being as it took me 60 hours to do the first route without getting bored it's a great achievement since the first installment was 24 hours of gameplay per character + what you take to read and being that you couldn't run and the map was big.... yeah... it wasn't a fun experience (gameplay wise). Now in Pathologic 2 the map is smaller, you move faster, the combat is more interesting, the trading with the npcs is more interesting and above all the new plot twists and ways in which they tell things are MUCH more interesting.

If it's your first time playing Pathologic, I 100% recommend starting with this one and only play the first game if you really feel like it (no shame on using console commands!) but in the meantime, I can't wait for the game to be complete as the stories of all the characters offer a different point of view with different opinions, making the world of Pathologic richer in narrative. Highly recommended.

It's extremely difficult to explain exactly why Pathologic is so appealing in any sense, because without the context of having played it, writing down why you like it makes you seem like a masochist and this game a bizarre form of torture. Going into detail about how a good half of the game will be you in some variation of destitute, hungry, sick, constantly babysitting characters in a dice roll that goes increasingly out of your favor, etc. just makes me sound insane for not only playing it for hours on end, but loving it.

But I do love it specifically because of those aspects: the game is so cleverly written, with each character either knowing something that requires you to keep them alive just to help the others you do care for or simply liking them to begin with, just to constantly challenge to see how far you'll go to do so. Other games have attempted to make the player feel bad for doing things, whether it be in a plot sense or a gameplay segment: Pathologic is that entire segment, non-linear and completely up to your own discretion.

It simply puts you in situations you cannot control and DEMANDS that if you truly care about the people it has provided for you, then prove it: do things you wouldn't just to get ahead, be morally ambiguous, do something the truly desperate would do. Through that, it manages to make you feel the panic of the situation through how difficult and unwavering it is and how it will not hesitate to take away something you cared for, ESPECIALLY if you only put in the barest amount of effort in to protect it.

None of this is mentioning how good the characters, atmosphere, and general competency when it comes to presenting you this world and the people in it.

The only things stopping me from making it a perfect five is that the game is pretty buggy; every time I closed out of it, it would simply freeze and I would have to use task manager to end the process, and the fact the game is so experimental I can't see anyone except fringe weirdos enjoying it enough to finish it like I did. Other than that, I see no other word to use except masterpiece,