Pathologic 2

What happens when you gather a bunch of philosophy majors and theater kids and tell them to make a bad game? You get Pathologic 2, a game that simultaneously insists upon its own bad design in the name of meaning, yet also implicitly asserts that it has none. I'll start with the redeeming qualities: P2 nails presentation, has SOME interesting dialogue, and has a mysterious world and lore that hook you from the start. That's it. I enjoy "stressful" games; games with stakes that punish losses and make you think about your every action. Games that force you to sometimes make decisions based off of limited information, having no idea what's ahead and whether or not you're ready for the next thing the game throws at you. Games that are unable to be played perfectly; where things can go wrong, but can always be "fixed" or made up for in some way. I also love games with good, philosophical dialogue that makes you think. I've heard for years how P2 was this deep, brilliant game, and given the previous points it seemed right up my alley. My first impressions were great, and seeing the game's vibe and intro, I was hooked. Or so I thought. P2 is designed to be an antinatalist's view of a "life simulator." Suffering is baked into every facet of this game, from the meters you have to manage with your increasingly limited resources to the devious map design, which sometimes feels restrictive in oddly specific ways (an artful detail of the game that I admire). It's admirably perverse game design that is very intentional and meant to create ludonarrative harmony with the game's story. But does such design justify itself? P2 is arrogantly insistent that you play on its "intended" difficulty because "Harsh trials are a part of P2." So I did. I found myself surprised when I softlocked my first run. Apparently I failed to hoard enough resources and with 9 deaths under my belt on day 6, I knew I had either softlocked or gotten close enough to one where I didn't feel like breaking out of it (i.e. playing save scum simulator). It became clear that I had played "wrong" somehow, but I never really learned how. I thought if I just kept persevering despite my bad situation, I'd make it in the end, even if resources kept getting more scarce; the game surely had some plan in mind. This "suffering" must have "meaning," right? lolno When you play a survival horror, you learn to not hoard; to not be afraid of using the means at your disposal to escape increasingly bad situations. That it's okay to not be perfect and that you'll persevere if you press onward. The way forward is hard, but there's (usually) always hope. When you play a soulslike you die constantly, but you learn from each death and mistake, which in a way can be considered changing who you are over the course of the game. These games are trials containing lessons that one can incorporate into their own lives. They're difficult games, but the lessons they teach are a part of what make them worth playing. P2 supposedly has similar messages and lessons, but is intentionally mean-spirited and cruel to the player, claiming that it must be so because it's the only way it'll have meaning. If you don't micromanage resources perfectly you'll die and learn nothing from those deaths because the deaths themselves had nothing to teach. Which brings me to my main point: P2 fails to understand that trials and cruelty are not the same. Trials teach. Cruelty doesn't. P2's idea of a trial is kicking you in the balls, and when you scream it kicks you in the balls again because you screamed and so on, claiming that you must overcome the pain of being kicked in the balls. The aforementioned analogy is what every conversation with this game's self-insert philosophy major is like and it's about as eyeroll worthy as you'd expect. P2 seems to assert that the more suffering that exists, the more meaning life has, which is a message I'd reject on a fundamental level. Deifying suffering - and viewing life as lesser without it - is a self-abusive mindset no one should embrace. Thematically, P2 is supposed to be about fate/free will. Combine that with the fact that it's an "immersive sim" - a genre that encourages players to think outside the box and promises a vast amount of freedom to the player, primarily through use of multiple solutions to a problem - you should end up with a good ludonarrative to showcase these themes. Let's say you're hungry in this game. You notice someone has food, but you can't afford to barter. Being the civilized person you are when the chips are down, you might resort to crime, but even this won't save you as NPCs' trading inventories and lootable inventories are different, meaning you can't kill someone for food that they could trade you. But surely you can rob a store or something right? Nope, apparently you're too good of a person for that. There's no thinking outside the box; P2 is a box that's taped up with the player trapped inside. P2 implies the existence of fate and your free will despite it, but your free will isn't that free. 90% of your dialogue doesn't matter and there's only 2 abrupt, underwhelming endings that you can unceremoniously choose, neither of which are satisfactory rewards for the suffering endured and both of which make previous buildup (meant to be inspirational and hopeful) fall flat. The story is ok I guess (the lore itself is more interesting), but not good enough to justify a bad game for. You're given no reason to care about most of the characters you're meant to be saving (presumably intentionally), and therefore their lives or deaths lack any kind of weight with very few exceptions. I tried to save whoever, but if they died I didn't really care and I get the impression the game wanted me to. So what exactly is the profound message of P2? P2's gameplay is often claimed to be "in service to its story" but that's a claim I'd challenge, as anyone can make an intentionally unfun game and claim its a work of art about how one reacts to suffering and seeming meaninglessness. If P2 is supposed to be a deconstruction of gaming, it isn't an intelligent one because it proves nothing and leaves us with nothing. If P2 is not meant to have meaning, then it's oddly insistent upon itself to prove that it does, given its comments that push you to play its intended difficulty. If the meaning is "what you get out of it," then that's just a philosophical dead end because such "meaning" cannot be analyzed or examined as it's subjective. So I feel lied to when I was told this game was deep. To directly quote another negative review: "The problem is that the meaning in the game isn't proportionate to the suffering the player experiences during the game." Hence why I just gave up on my first run. This game's commentary would probably compare that to giving up on life because its too difficult, but not having the will to continue P2 and not having the will to continue life are obviously not the same. Life can be cruel, but it is not purely so. P2 is, and cruelty never has meaning; it should reflect negatively on no one should they choose not to subject themselves to it. This has all been a very verbose way of saying: This game is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Philosophically and ludonarratively. I'd say "Don't waste your time," but if you're hell-bent on playing it, I'd advise you to NOT play on the intended difficulty so you have actual time to learn the lore, experience the most dialogue, and immerse yourself in the world because those things are its strongest points. All of which are easier to do when your meters don't sink like rocks. To borrow some speech from the game, you can't "cut the bull" when the bull is actively charging at you, and you can't "follow the lines" when you're so dehydrated and famished that you can't see where they are. P2 MIGHT be worth a shot for its cool setting and vibe, but certainly not for its genius game design or profundity. And yes, skill issue. And no, I don't get it.

I tried this game a couple years ago and then recently tried it again to have more patience with it and really give it a chance. The idea of it is actually sooooooo freaking cool. It's the whole reason I really wanted to play and the first few minutes had me sucked in, but I was INSTANTLY lost shortly after. The game tries waaaaayyyyyyyy too hard to be quirky and different to the point quite literally NOTHING makes sense. Even when the game actually finally starts, everyone talks like some cryptic teenager and you're left even more confused as time goes on. Even the so called tutorial basically tells you how to play in a riddle. I was just confused, bored, disappointed, and no longer felt the urge to find out more.

Pathologic 2 is perhaps THE BEST apocalyptic game in the recent time. Note that it is NOT "POST-apocalyptic", but a game happens during an apocalypse, meaning you get to experience the progressive desperation of a regular person trying to survive during a plague and I really mean it. The game is difficult to the point that reaching an ending is a rare Steam achievement (with only 10% players reached it) but it serves the apocalyptic experience in my opinion. The game is not perfect with many flaws, but it doesn't mean the game is bad. In fact, I will give it a 10 out of 10 in gameplay, game plot, and world building. It is truly a once-in-a-life-time experience!

+++

I have no idea why I suddenly bought this game and jumped in without knowing anything about it, but man am I glad I did. I had no idea what to expect and I got my ass handed to me SO FAST. I had no idea what was going on, had no idea how to stop dying on the FIRST DAY, yet I couldn't stop playing. As many others have already said, it's definitely a game worth sitting through, even if you want to pull your hairs out and feel frustrated and stuck a lot of the time. I remember somehow getting myself stuck in a deathloop and miraculously getting myself out of it after what, 7 tries? Felt AMAZING. What kept me around the first time was trying to learn more about the story and town, later on I wanted to do better and save more people, then it became an addiction and one of those games that's always just on my mind. You learn from your mistakes, try to prevent them in the next playthrough, and uh oh, you done ♥♥♥♥♥♥ it up again. TIME FOR ANOTHER PLAYTHROUGH. Definitely go in blind if you can.

Дарк соулс в сравнении с этим лёгкая прогулка. Я играл на задуманной сложности. Прожил 5 дней. Персонаж жрёт, как слон, свежий хлеб восстанавливает лишь половину шкалы и занимает 6 ячеек инвентаря, в игре очень темно, даже в собственном подвале дверь ищешь на ощупь, спичек для лампы мало и быстро расходуются. Ужасная планировка города и много беготни от одного персонажа до другого. Даже если понизить сложность, игра всё ещё очень сильно растянута из-за постоянной беготни от одного персонажа к другому, в чуму это усложняется, некоторые районы будут заражены и понадобится защитная одежда и много иммунников, а перевозчики не будут возить из заражённых районов. Понравились персонажи. Постановщик пьесы похож на Михаила Горшенёва, Гриф напоминает Князя(тоже из Короля и Шута), перевозчики напоминают огромные пельмени с глазками, у пёсиков прикольный дизайн. Дизайн больных чумой до ужаса хорош, при виде их хочется сразу бежать из дома. Все персонажи хорошо озвучены, большая часть реплик в текстовом формате, но диалоги интересные. В театре каждую ночь ставят сценку, мне понравилось, не пропускал их. Взлом классно реализован, я первый раз такой вижу. Музыка и эмбиент напоминают Сталкер, бывает, что идёшь ночью и вдруг что-то очень жуткое начинает шуметь, будто на тебя химера сейчас выпрыгнет или что похуже...

Симулятор кочевания от одной детской площадки к другой. Можно еще заняться лечением народа и спасением города, но это опционально.

This is a game about stress, time management, and difficult decisions. You are a surgeon trying to save a backwards, somewhat magical Russian village from a mysterious plague. Gameplay is basically, being given 5 tasks and only enough time to do 3 of them. Choose what you want to do each day and run from point A to B to C, while scavenging what you can and trying not to die. It is an improvement on Pathologic 1 in basically every way. I don't think it's for everyone, but if you like games that put stress and pressure on you, if you like interesting and unique worlds, this is one of the best games you will ever play.

Way too pretentious in a "it's supposed to be bad" kind of way

this game is one of the greatest narrative experiences i've ever came across