The game is currently being developed for Windows supported PCs, Mac and Linux operating systems, with PS4 and Xbox One ports in the works as well. While there is no specific launch date available for the game, a look at the Kickstarter page, from which the game was funded, can help point us towards a possible release window.

The first Kickstarter tier for a pledge was $20, titled the early bird tier. Those who pledged to it will receive a digital copy of the game in November 2016. A release date for the Xbox One and PS4 ports, along with a commercial release, is still pending.

• 1. Development
• 2. Story
• 3. Gameplay
• 4. Characters

Development

Video is for representation purpose only.

The development of Pathologic finds its roots in wanting to build upon and improve a previous game that developers Ice-Pick Lodge worked on. Their first title as a legitimate video game development studio was Pathologic, which released in 2005. Despite the game having a number of problems, it still proved to be successful in Russia where it garnered critical acclaim and has since grown to establish an international fan base.

Speaking about the original Pathologic, Ice-Pick Lodge has said, “It succeeded in spite of numerous flaws. The ideas behind the game were novel and interesting, but the implementation turned out to be mediocre, to say the least. Pathologic was our first project as a game development studio, so a lot of things were done impromptu. Turned out learning by trial and error is charming, but leads to cutting lots of features and details out. The game was clunky, it looked outdated even back then, and the translation was atrocious.”

This remake of the game aims to correct and ultimately improve upon a number of elements that they felt were either sub-par or just not included in the original build of the game. It also comes with new visuals and a new soundtrack as well as features that are being implemented thanks to having achieved a number of stretch goal targets.

The stretch goals included in the Kickstarter campaign were the inclusion of a small prequel, presumably setting the scene for the game, the addition of a Termitary and a Abattoir, Lucid Dreaming for the player characters, the Steppe extended (the Steppe is a “town formed around a behemoth slaughterhouse”) and the town extended.

Despite remaking the game, the developers have said that they are going to leave the following elements of the game untouched, thus preserving its legacy. “The atmosphere, the setting, the ideas that lie in the very core of the game, the general storyline, the characters, the map, the general feel and the concept of the Town -it’s already an existing place for us, so we won’t change it, but rather add more detail to it.”

Story

The story of Pathologic, takes place in a remote Steppe town that is based heavily on local traditions. When a plague breaks out, it’s up to you, the player, to combat the outbreak as one of three healers: A scientist from the Capital, the son of the local Shaman and a half mad girl.

Each one of these characters, as their background would explain, all have their own idea of how and where this horrific plague came from. Where the Scientist sees ridiculous magical practices, the Shaman sees a long standing traditional healing.

Gameplay

Players will take control of one of three characters as they combat the plague as is befitting of their upbringing and background.

The game will always aim at making the player feel under pressure, or “in a pinch”. This is due to the fact that time passes at a fast pace in the game. One game day equates to two hours in the real world. Every two hours the player puts into the game, another day has passed.

The player’s chosen hero isn’t beyond the limits of human endurance, however. They too must feed themselves, sleep when it’s required and even maintain their own immune system. This is the only way of ensuring you don’t catch the plague yourself. Players can take care of themselves by using various resources that they locate, such as fresh water, bandages, trading bullets for supplies and even bread and coffee grains.

In the game world, players are free to roam around and explore the town in a bid to find more stories, quests and events to play through. This can be done by bartering with other town inhabitants and by talking to strangers.

The time scale ties straight into the game the difficulty of the game. The developer has said that the game is “Rather hard, but not completely hardcore”. If players are assigned a task, or are attempting something in the game world, they need to accomplish the task within the amount of time allotted to that action. If they don’t, the opportunity will pass them by, and in turn characters will pass away.

The game is set to span twelve in game days and the developers claim that finishing the game, with the aid of a walk through, will take somewhere in the region of 70 hours.

Characters

The game contains three playable characters, though for this remake the details surrounding the characters aren’t yet available. What we do know is that there will be three of them.

One playable character is a Scientist, the other is the son of a local Shaman and the third is a half crazed girl.

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.

The game is centered around three playable characters as they receive quests from NPCs, however at  midnight of each day, the incomplete quests are erased from the player’s notebook. GamingBolt caught up with Alexandra Golubeva, Creative Director/Writer at Ice-Pick Lodge to know how the game is shaping up.

Rashid Sayed: The game puts a ridiculous amount of emphasis on choices. What kind of branching can players expect? Is it going to be similar to what we saw in The Walking Dead series by Telltale Games?

Alexandra Golubeva: Not really. While we do intend to make a certain amount of branching quests, it’s not the game’s selling point; what we’re talking about are emergent choices (that can even be described in terms of resource management). You main question is always How do I spend my time? Do I risk it hoping to loot a theoretically lucrative abandoned house, or do I play it safe trying to barter with the townsfolk? Do I help someone for the moral reward and the possibility of changing future events, or do I eat to keep myself alive and healthy?

It may sound a bit generic, but with enough variance it’s not. Always being pressured for resources adds weight to every decision you’re making, be it an emergent situation or a “quest-log” thing (although we’re hoping to blur the line). It’s very easy to be the good guy when you’re cozy and warm yourself. When you’re cold and starved? Not so much.

As for the branching, it’s less about creating a number of “parallel universes” (as Telltale did—brilliantly) and more about making sure no choice goes unnoticed. Say, you’ve finished a quest, collected your reward, and things seem to be in order; but are they really? The consequences of your actions may catch up to you later when you expect it the least, and you may not even be aware as to how you’re changing the lives of those around you. You may not get an immediate reward or punishment, but The Town will remember your actions and reflect them accordingly.

"Each storyline gives you answers while piling up more questions regarding the other two sets of eyes. And we hope that’s reason enough to keep playing."

Rashid Sayed: The game promises to deliver 70 hours of gameplay. How are you planning to deliver a storyline that will keep players to go on for that many hours?

Alexandra Golubeva: The story is told through the eyes of three different characters. Each of them lives twelve days in The Town, each day taking two real-live hours. It’ll take 72 hours to live through it all.
The general events of those twelve days remain the same, but you get a different perspective each time you’re living through them.

A bull is found slaughtered in the streets one day, leaking possibly infected blood all over the place. It’s a hazard, so naturally Bachelor issues an order to burn the body. You’re free to leave it as a minor event, but if you try to play Haruspex’s storyline, you’ll find out that the bull was sacred, his blood instrumental in curing The Plague, and get a chance to save the body from Bachelor’s cluelessness. Same event, different interpretation (and no copy-pasted dialogue, of course, everything’s different).

You’re free to play a single storyline (24 hours) and leave it at that. But what could possibly have been Haruspex’s reasoning for butchering that dancer? And did Changeling really infect everyone in the only safe house? And how could Bachelor disregard the lives of children so easily?

Each storyline gives you answers while piling up more questions regarding the other two sets of eyes. And we hope that’s reason enough to keep playing.

Rashid Sayed: Back in 2005, Pathologic kind of revolutionized the survival genre by not opting for a zombie approach, instead opting for gameplay mechanics that include Hunger, thirst, fatigue, immune resistance, and reputation for survival. Do you think it could work its magic again in this age?

Alexandra Golubeva: The age has finally caught up with us!

I’m being ironic, of course, but we really feel that the time for Pathologic has come. While we’re not sure we’re happy with the systems as they were (the reputation system was kinda awkward, unrealistic, and encouraged min-maxing), the general gist will remain the same. The players are unafraid to be challenged with multiple systems these days. The next step is making sure each of them is truly meaningful and doesn’t turn into juggling numbers.
We want to make a survival game that’s not just resource management and optimizing your logistics. We want survival to mean something more than the preservation of the flesh. And that is why The Plague is more than just a disease.

"The Plague is not a simple disease—it’s an entity. It would be an overstatement to way that it has a mind of its own, but it’s definitely capable of decision-making."

Rashid Sayed: What can you tell us about the The Tragedian and The Executor and how do they tie into the gameplay and story line?

Alexandra Golubeva: They are your kind assistants, probably benevolent and mildly useless. They can offer advice and serve as guides when you’re lost. There are actually more than two of them,they just all wear similar masks.

Tragedians are, well, tragedians. They work in The Theatre, trying to make sense of what goes on around them and representing it with silent pantomimes. Remember the Faceless guy from Spirited Away before he turned all weird? That’s what they are—the dolls that require no face, hero platzhalters,actors in the play that bears an uncanny resemblance to life. Or is it the other way round?

Executors are, simply put, plaguebringers. They announce deaths while collecting bodies, and their weird costumes are there to protect them from infection (they are probably just ordinary people inside). Their arrival marks death, but they’re also surprisingly helpful and willing to give some advice while chuckling at your plights.

Rashid Sayed: Tell us more about the kind of realistic behavior patterns that you plan to add to the disease?

Alexandra Golubeva: The Plague is not a simple disease—it’s an entity. It would be an overstatement to way that it has a mind of its own, but it’s definitely capable of decision-making. So that’s exactly what we’re planning to implement: a chance-based system that changes the likelihood of you getting infected and various events happening.

Rashid Sayed: What can you tell us about the game’s engine and the kind of updates you have made to it since the original came out?

We did the best kind of an upgrade: we changed it completely. The original Pathologic was developed using our own homebrew engine, and while it was impressing considering the resources, time constraints, and team size, updating it would lead to way too more issues, and creating another one would be unwise resource-wise. So now we’re switching to Unity 5. You can read more about why we’ve chosen it in a Kickstarter update from out CTO, Ayrat.

Rashid Sayed: Is there anything else you want to tell us about the game before we let you go?

Alexandra Golubeva: Well, there’s a whole lot we want to tell, which is why we’re making this game. Deeds and products speak louder than words.