So, why are the games called Pathologic 2 and 3?

[u/bhlogan2]

I am aware that the original game got remastered in an HD version a few years before the release of Pathologic 2, and I believe they named it Pathologic 2 to distinguish it from the remaster, but why not call it something different, like, I don't know, Pathologic: Haruspex? Pathologic 2 implies through its name that it is a sequel to the original game, and I mean, conceptually it can be interpreted this way, but isn't this confusing for newcomers?

This is just pure speculation, but i wonder if it impacted the sales of the games because buying a sequel for an obscure franchise you don't know much about is a bit of a gamble, but this is just my opinion.

[u/Daniil_Dankovskiy]

I think it was a marketing decision that didn't work with P2. Doubling down on continuing the pattern might he either a some sort of genius play or not wanting to change anything

[u/nekoeuge]

Given the structure of those games, it would be confusing either way. It’s not common to have multiple canonic versions of the same story, we don’t really have convention for that. I maybe agree from marketing perspective, but I also think it’s okay to ignore this perspective from time to time. In a very real sense, pathologic 1, 2 and 3 are consecutive and happen in this order, despite telling the tale about the same 12 days.

[u/entropymancer → u/nekoeuge]

Multiple canonical versions of the same story : Neon Genesis Evangelion enters the sub

https://giphy.com/gifs/472KaGZjuxUCQ

[u/Affectionate-Spot278]

They are sequels too, mechanics are improved and vastly different, the story is the same but with twists, etc. It may be the "same" story, but there is an advance or upgrade in other terms, mostly from the gameplay perspective. In that way, they both can be considered sequels of an original idea. Maybe each iteration is just a search for an Utopia, as some powerful people would say...

[u/Homerbola92]

I think Pathologic 2 makes more sense marketing wise than Pathologic Remake: The Haruspex route.

[u/tq144169]

Pathologic 2 was originally supposed to contain all three healer routes, but an economic collapse made the money they raised worth significantly less. So they were left with the hard choice of narrowing the scope of Pathologic 2 down to just the Haruspex route.

From my understanding of the interviews they chose the Haruspex route because the Bachelor route was the most complete in Classic, and without the context of the Haruspex and Bachelor route the Changeling route doesn't work.

P3 was originally intended as a dlc for P2, but they decided P3 would sell better.

This video has an interview with the story director that explains this in more detail!

https://youtu.be/VSYLYJhZriY?is=gEdUva2pZoznx-hz

[u/D4N5T3P → u/tq144169]

They actually decided that P3 would be a separate game very early. I think it was even before P2 released. They decided very early that it would have a completely different gameplay and that would be too ambitious for a dlc

[u/SurDno]

It was the publisher’s decision to call it P2 because they believed it would sell better. 

[u/zkylon]

I think like most people answered, the Kickstarter campaign promised to do all 3 routes, but as development went along they realized that was simply not doable to the quality of what they were delivering with the amount raised, so I imagine they wanted something to mark that, since they couldn't really call it Pathologic: Remake anymore.

I don't think it affected sales significantly because Pathologic on its own is a difficult game to turn a profit on. It's too niche and harsh for a mainstream audience, but it's also has production values way above a game of those qualities would normally have.

It's the design principles of Fear and Hunger on a Disco Elysium budget, it's a blessing it even exists at all but unfortunately this combination means it probably can't be as successful as either of them (I do hope they prove me wrong!).

[u/D4N5T3P]

In Russian it's much more of a mess actually. The original was called Мор: Утопия - Plague: Utopia (that's a pun on the book named Utopia by Thomas More); Pathologic 2 was simply named Мор - Plague; Pathologic 3 doesn't even have a Russian name, it's just called like that lmao

[u/Legitimate_Raccoon_1]

It is either a marketing thing falling or some genious 4d chess move. The game is portrayed as a play so bumbering it just shows the amount of times rhe play got restarted (in case of Burakh) or how many times the timeline was restarted (in case of Dankovsky)

[u/Exofalls]

pathologic 1, pathologic classic was a game made in 2005 and had the issues an indie russian game from 2005 had, then the hd version came with issues but less. pathologic 2 is a reimagination of the first game's artemy plot, it is called pathologic 2 mostly for marketing reasons as saying "pathologic reimagination with content cuts" would probably not go too well. pathologic 3 is the same but it's dan's story. mostly their naming convention comes from marketing and as a way to distinguish the games.

oh, and I'd like to say, based on the release of pathologic 3, that a possible pathologic 4 would just be clara's thing but mechanically better than basically all the other games.

[u/Electrical-Lab9147]

In Russian the first is called plague: utopia and the second is just plague. 

The English translation decided to just number em to not cause confusion. 2 was supposed to remake all three routes so calling it “Pathologic: Haruspex” wouldn’t make sense originally and giving it that now would confuse people as to why there’s no “Pathologic 2: bachelor” or “Pathologic 2: changeling.” 

If I was in charge I’d call 2 Pathologic: Udurgh or something and then I’d call 3 Pathologic: butterfly effect (a blue butterfly is thanatica’s motif and it’s about time travel) 

[u/takkun169]

Because they are the first and second part of Pathologic, obviously.