Pathologic is a first-person psychological horror-adventure survival RPG sort of thing—it's hard to nail it down, really—that was originally released in 2005 by Russian indie studio Ice-Pick Lodge. It was intensely, impenetrably weird, as Phil noted a few years back when the studio launched a Kickstarter campaign for a remake, an effort that proved hugely successful. But then the studio opted to update and re-release the original game as Pathologic Classic HD, while still remaking the original.
The thinking behind the simultaneous remaster and remake is that the "new" Pathologic will be "reconstructed" in various ways, while the Classic HD version will give people the opportunity to experience the original weirdness, untouched but for better graphics and a proper English translation. Which is a fine idea, but also one that opens the door to potential confusion. To avoid all that publisher TinyBuild announced today that the remake has been renamed to Pathologic 2.
The updated game description on Steam sounds innocuous enough: "Pathologic 2 is an Open World Survival Horror game where you fight against a devastating plague. As the only medic around, save the town before it’s fully consumed." But there's a catch: You only have 12 days to do what needs to be done, whatever that is, and you'll have to eat, drink, and sleep while you do—all while avoiding the plague yourself.
The new gameplay trailer released today cuts a little deeper into what Pathologic is really like, especially once it gets rolling, with the plague doctor-looking thing, and the guys with the faces, and the autopsy of the dead child—which isn't at all graphic, but still far from the sort of thing you're going to see in the next Bethesda mega-hit.
TinyBuild also said that it's "working with the team at Ice-Pick Lodge to switch development to a more open approach." That means, among other things, that alpha builds will soon be going out to Kickstarter backers and other supporters, so the studio can "gather feedback from fans, and adjust the direction of development based on this feedback." The gameplay seen in the trailer comes from the demo built for PAX West, which begins tomorrow; TinyBuild CEO Alex Nichiporchik said that if it goes over well, it will be released to backers sometime after PAX.
