Pathologic 2. Video Games With the Best Stories
Table of Contents
Pathologic 2 was added to the list as part of the update, unrelated to the main vote.
INFORMATION
- Genre: part RPG, part survival and to some extent a walking simulator
- What's good beyond the plot: torment, suffering and pain
A bunch of homeless kids tells me walk to the end of a blind track and think about a train. I do, though there are other matters, maybe much more important. The road takes about a minute. I stand by the rail barrier. I'm looking for a place where I can activate a context-based action button, but nothing happens. I'm thinking of a train. Still nothing. I'm about to leave, and then... No, I'm not gonna spoil it to you.
Pathologic 2 is essentially a remake of a much older game, while being neither a sequel nor its faithful translation into contemporary gameplay. It's the same story, recreated by the same author, who felt that when he wrote the original, he was young and stupid.
But let's start from the beginning. We arrive in a small town in the middle of the steppe years later. When we get there, it turns out that our father, the only physician, is dead. Good thing we followed in his footsteps. At first we try to explain the mystery of this death, but then comes the plague, which turns this already strange and incomprehensible game world upside down.
On this occasion, we discover that the town is a nest of vipers, with a whole host of hidden conflicts – some of them fundamental, others trivial. But no one tells us which are which. More and more persons requiring help appear with each passing moment. Which one of them really needs medication and which one just wants to talk? Saving which is more important? In the game, we also have to fight for food, search for water and herbs, and avoid opponents. There's always a lot more to do than we have time for.
And it's all bathed in an aura of weirdness with tons of interesting, philosophical dialogue and lots of decisions. But importantly, we need to understand for ourselves which choice is really important and which is just a superficial distraction. You don't play Pathologic 2, you experience it, and that's despite the fact that there is a lot of actual gameplay here.
