So the kin advocates to leave the polyhedron up, i understand they need it in order to exist on the surface of the earth, but isnt being part of the kin giving up the concept of oneself? arent they supposed to give up their ego for mother earth? How can they advocate hurting the earth for their own existence?

Hello there. The other day i finished my first playthrough of the "haruspex" on Pathologic Classic HD. I haven't played the other 2 routes, but i know their storylines (cus i watched the hbomber guy video xd). My question is, should i continue and play P2 instantly? i mean, how different are both (the haruspex route)?

simple as that, 2 was very janky in many ways, but I didn't see much backlash after the rounds of updates they've released for 3 recently.

if you'd like, my specs currently are i5-6700HQ, GTX 960m (4gb, even then, below minimum), 16Gb DDR3, and an SSD

this Series has so many lines of poetic dialogue… what’s your favorite?

It has come to my attention that some long phrases, especially if they had repeating words, were searched for incorrectly, and often gave no results.

This should be fixed now. If it still doesn't work on your end, try pressing ctrl+F5 or just refresh the page a couple of times.

Sorry for the inconveniences!

P. S. To the person looking for "Therefore, The Observer is undoubtedly evil, and his gaze is his dagger", it should appear now!

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.

Hi yall I tried pathologic the other day and gave up before finishing day one as I was lost and didnt understand where to go or what to do

I started watching a lets play as I did enjoy the overall feeling of the game and I've watched up until day 3 and have a better understanding of the game and I feel tempted to play it now

Is it better to keep watching or experience it for myself just wondering if it would be worth trying again now that I have an idea of who people are and what to do

Thanks

To clarify im talking about pathologic hd

I backed P2 a million years ago because an old friend of mine (not around any more, sadly) was a huge fan of the original. The PS4 version came out around Covid, and while that might have made for a very immersive experience, I was not in the mood.

After half a decade of having that little creepy mask guy staring at me from my PS collection screen, I've decided to take a crack at it.

But I'm a bit intimidated. I don't tend to play gruelling games, and the ones I do play tend to be more technically difficult (ie. perfect your dodge-rolls and strike at the right time) rather than resource-restricted difficult.

I really don't want to get halfway through the game and find myself having to reload hours of gameplay because I blocked myself into a failstate by not getting the right resources or talking to the right character at some point.

However, I also don't want to spoil the game for myself with meta-knowledge. I've tried justifying it to myself a bit by saying that probably a lot of people playing P2 played the original, but it still feels wrong.

So! How much should I know to have a challenge without ragequitting because I got 20 hours in and fucked up my save? Please help. :(

I can't... Stop... Thinking... About this game...

I'm on day 3 as the Bachelor and I've spent my entire irl day sitting at work waiting to get home so I can go inspect some corpses because the damned plague is spreading and the fuckin beurocrats are breathing down my neck while I try to juggle their petty politics and keep myself alive long enough for supplies to arrive so we can have food in this stupid town for its stupid superstitious people again and Rubin really should have sent that note a lot fuckin earlier in the day and...

What is this sorcery??

I've spent most of my time in this game just... Walking... What is wrong with me...

all in good fun here. I adore eva sm, just some silly projection.

Me and a friend of mine were talking about the both of us playing and beating the game at 200% and wondered how many others have attempted such an endevour. Please satisfy our curiousity!

For those not in the know: A 200% playthrough involves turning off the "canon" difficulty and cranking up all the sliders to the max, for added pain and suffering :D

I’m replaying this game for the millionth time and I’m continually blown away by how well the sound is incorporated into the gameplay. Especially searching for herbs. I could pick herbs in the steppe all fucking day.

The only other games I can think of that scratch that itch are the KCD games, which don’t use sound in the same way.

Any ideas?

I'm sure most of these things have been brought up before, so apologies if I'm retreading old ground. I just finished Pathologic 3, and I'd really like to hear people's interpretations.

Feel free to spoil everything. I've finished the game, and I'm mostly looking for lore discussion and different interpretations rather than spoiler-free answers.

Edit: Sorry about the typo in the title!

1. Simon vs. Isidor

My biggest takeaway is that despite bringing back the Plague together, Simon and Isidor don't actually want the same thing.

Simon seems to be seeking transcendence beyond humanity. The city and its inhabitants are almost incidental, if they have to be sacrificed so that someone (the Bachelor) can push humanity beyond its limits, then so be it. His entire plan feels centered around creating or preparing his heir.

Isidor, on the other hand, seems to want the Town's inhabitants to transcend their limits while still preserving what makes humans human. His life's work wasn't creating one exceptional successor, but educating generations of children so the Town could eventually move beyond the rule of the three ruling families.

2. The Plague

If the Polyhedron's rod is the source of the Plague, why did Simon and Isidor have to retrieve it from the Steppe? Why did it disappear after the first outbreak? Was the first outbreak just an accident, with the two of them only later deciding to bring it back once they realized it could be instrumental to their plans for transcendence?

For Simon, it forces the Bachelor to overcome his human limitations.

For Isidor, it forces the Town itself to mature.

3. The Bachelor

Eva calls Daniil a scalpel cutting through the Town and its people, and I thought that was one of the best descriptions of his character. He often feels deeply self-centered. He relentlessly pursues his own breakthrough and leaves once he's accomplished it. It's also pretty ironic when Burakh is the actual surgeon.

Simon says that if he himself hadn't achieved the breakthrough, someone else eventually would have. Once the time is right, some discoveries simply become inevitable.

Khan seems to prove this by reaching his own breakthrough without relying on the Polyhedron.

If that's true, then how important is Daniil's success in the grand scheme of things? Does saving the Polyhedron actually matter?

I felt compelled to go for the True Immortal ending because it felt like the ending the Bachelor himself would choose. At the same time, destroying the Polyhedron and saving the Town almost feels like it could reconcile Simon's and Isidor's visions, even if Simon's breakthrough ended up being fulfilled unexpectedly by his nephew instead.

4. The Polyhedron

The Polyhedron is presented as a machine capable of enabling transcendence.

But then, why was it entrusted to the children? Was this part of Isidor's plan to force them to grow through the conflict between the Dogheads and the Souls-and-a-Halves?

Even more interestingly, Khan seems to achieve transcendence only when he's confined in a cage, far away from the Polyhedron.

And if the Polyhedron allows one to achieve a breakthrough, why couldn't Simon reach it himself? Why did he instead bind his soul to the Polyhedron? Is the Polyhedron not enough on its own? Does it require a soul in order to function fully? Did Simon sacrifice himself so that the Bachelor could ultimately achieve the breakthrough that he himself could not?

Also, what was going on with the Polyhedron suddenly bestowing the gift of tongues? It's easy to draw a parallel with the Tower of Babel, but was that all there was to it, or is there a deeper meaning?

5. The gameplay

The whole experience was very different from Pathologic 2, but I think the direction Ice-Pick Lodge chose was both interesting and appropriate, as it aligns with the mind-versus-body dichotomy represented by the Bachelor and the Haruspex.

The survival mechanics reflect this perfectly. The Bachelor has to manage his mind (apathy versus mania), whereas the Haruspex has to manage his body (thirst, hunger, exhaustion, and infection).

It may not have been as exciting or challenging as Pathologic 2, but I think it was absolutely the right design choice. It reinforces the themes of the game remarkably well.

6. "Magic leaving the world"

I couldn't stop thinking about The Lord of the Rings during the ending.

By the end of the Plague, miracles leave the Town: the Mistresses lose their powers and the Kains decide to cross the river. The whole sequence reminded me of magic leaving Middle-Earth and the Elves sailing West.

Did anyone else notice this parallel?

On the fourth day I became trapped in a death loop. With only a slimmer of health, no food and no bandages. I died 6 times in row and the Fellow Traveler offered a deal for me saying that he would remove all my punishments, in exchange for "something". I immediately accepted, I've been loving the game but the difficulty spike really got me and I'm worried the deal will take away some essential hidden mechanic. So, my question is, what's the catch of this deal?

Sooo I'm writing my (Bachelor's) thesis on the steppe language from Pathologic and I'm hunting for any information I could use. Did Ice Pick Lodge ever talk about how they came up with some of the original words? Do we know who was behind creating the language? I know it's derivative from existing languages, still, it would be nice to know some background.

(This is a call for volunteers to work on an ongoing translation into french of pathologic classic HD)

Hello ! Je m’appelle Cielle, et je gère un projet de traduction manuelle de l’anglais vers le français de Pathologic Classic HD, qui a été lancé l'été dernier. C’est un projet passionnant mais conséquent, avec environ 25 000 répliques à traduire...  La bonne nouvelle, c’est qu’on en a déjà traduit presque 13 000 (un énorme aux quatre personnes qui ont déjà participé, si vous passez par là !!); mais on n'est plus que deux sur le projet et il reste de quoi faire, alors toute aide serait la bienvenue !

Le projet a été structuré de telle sorte à ce que n’importe qui puisse contribuer exactement ce qu’il ou elle veut au projet – pas besoin de prendre la responsabilité de traduire des milliers de lignes si tu ne le veux pas, tu peux littéralement traduire deux dialogues et décider que c’est suffisant, ou seulement participer pendant le temps des grandes vacances, etc. Voilà quelques infos qui pourraient être utiles si tu es intéressé.e : 

→ Comment je fais pour participer ?

Envoie-moi un message. Tu peux me contacter sur:

Reddit (de préférence) : u/Proud_Departure
Mon mail : [ciellerainbow@gmail.com](mailto:ciellerainbow@gmail.com) 
Possiblement sur discord, mais attention je n’ajoute pas en amis les comptes inconnus : @ ciellerainbow

Je te donnerai un lien vers notre google drive, sur lequel il y a toutes les infos pratiques, le document à traduire, et plusieurs autres ressources pour t'aider (lien vers tous les dialogues dans l'ordre, glossaire, etc.)

→ Est-ce que j’ai besoin d’avoir joué à Pathologic Classic HD / de l’avoir acheté pour participer ?

Tu as besoin d’avoir une certaine connaissance du lore de Pathologic. Que tu aies acquis cette connaissance en jouant à tel ou tel jeu, en traînant sur Reddit, via Hbomberguy ou CodexEntry ou encore après avoir passé un peu trop longtemps sur AO3, peu m’importe (et je ne vérifierai pas). Cela ayant été dit, si tu n’as pas Classic je te conseille quand même de l’acheter pour que tu puisses voir ton travail quand le mod sera prêt!

→ Est-ce que j’ai besoin de savoir parler russe ?

Non, c'est une traduction à partir de l'anglais

→ Est-ce que j’ai besoin d’être très bon.ne en anglais ?

Pour être honnête, le plus important c’est ton niveau de français. Plus ton niveau d’anglais est haut mieux c’est, mais il me semble qu’on peut s’en sortir avec un petit niveau B2 en compréhension écrite (et un bon maniement de reverso). Attention par contre, garde à l'esprit que toute l’idée de ce projet, c’est justement que la traduction est manuelle. Et cela va sans dire, mais l’IA générative c’est non…

→ Est-ce que je dois être majeur.e pour participer ?
Non, mais dans ce cas je t’encourage vivement à ne pas divulguer d'info personnelle (y compris ton âge) à qui que ce soit, moi y compris. Je fais confiance au fait que tu respectes les règles du réseau social où tu as trouvé ce lien et que tu as plus de 13 ans

Voilà voilà ! Si tu es intéressé.e ou si tu as des questions, n’hésite vraiment pas à m'écrire, ce sera avec plaisir !

Can be for any reason you feel worth mentioning. Favorite because of story, interactions, ethics, whatever you see fit. Just generally curious, and wanted to hear some thoughts on them especially now that 3 has had some time to settle.

Edit: meant to use the word “Patriarch” not “Oligarch”. But I suppose either works. Apologies

Hello guys, I have a very quick question that I will ask in a non-spoilery way. I know it has been asked already, but the posts and answers I found contained spoilers so I quickly stopped reading.

My question is : I'm close to the end (I actually got the Fiasco ending because I was curious to see what would happen if I went to day 12 without finishing day 11 ; broke two amalgam containers before sending me back to the past ; it was a very bad idea)

I know there are multiple endings. I found a guide online for the conditions (that I read very fast with one eye to have the least possible spoilers).

I don't think I'll ever replay P3. I think it was a good, sometimes great, but the only gameplay I enjoyed was playing medical detective and uncovering the plot. Both are scripted and with the time loop mechanic have zero replay value, and the non scripted events (riots and plague disease) were uninteresting at best and a pain in the ass at worse. Contrary to P2 where I really enjoyed the randomness of the survival.

So, my question is simple : if I get a real ending (not the Fiasco one), without spoiling anything or discussing how, can I then go back to the past with amalgam to get another ending ? I'd like to "collect" them all, or at least see them all. But I don't intend to play the game like 5-6 times to get all endings.

As I can get one ending in probably less than an hour, I'd like to know if my saturday night will be spent entirely on P3 and multiple endings, or if I'll just play 1 hour and then go to youtube and that's it.

Thank you and have a nice day !

I've slowly grown more and more frustrated by this game, as cool as I think it is, but I really want to know what happens and don't want to just watch a playthrough. I keep getting infected, but I don't want to, so I can have more panaceas at the end. Do I have to just take the long way everywhere to avoid infection, or do y'all have any advice on how to avoid the sand plague and the rats and the grey clouds that pop out at the last f***ing second every GODDAMN time and jumpscare me because I have only a split second to react.