After receiving an infuriatingly vague letter from his father stating that a "great trial" awaited him, a depressed man pretending to be doctor returns to his hometown inhabited entirely by socially-inept autistic british people who get pissed at you for asking the time of day to find that his father was murdered and the town is dying to a mysterious, seemingly unstoppable plague that can only be cured by force feeding magic potions with questionable properties to dying people on the street while every bastard within a one mile radius tries to stab you for breathing the same air.

Pathologic 2 makes it very clear that you cannot save everyone. This is kind of like Schindler's List: The Game in that it's entertaining to watch and certainly a good movie but you definitely won't walk out of the theater with a big-ass grin on your face after watching it. This game is depressing. Your friends drop dead left and right. You can choose who you want to save, but the town knows who you pick. If you only save people closest to you, the town's opinion of you will only worsen because ♥♥♥♥ me for wanting to save the people who aren't complete ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

Great world building, fun to explore (with what limited time you have), and some genuinely memorable moments and set pieces. The biggest gripe I have with this game, however, is that there's barely any voice acting in it. If you initiate conversation with a major character, they'll say a sort of "catchphrase" line, and the actual dialogue will be completely text. Their (admittedly very expressive and well designed) faces are vignetted on the left of your screen when talking to them, text and dialogue options on the right, but it's complete silence. I feel like the immersion would be out of the park if a voice acting update were to be a thing.

If you don't like games that make you stressed, pass on this one. High stress, this one. People are trying to kill you, bacteria is trying to kill you, and everything and everyone is trying to break your mental fortitude. Who killed your dad? What's going on with the government? What is that gravity-defying Chuck E Cheese playground and what the HELL is going on in the theater? Are you helping people, or just making things worse? The less people you save, the less enemies you have, right? Am I a horrible person? Maybe I should just save myself and forget everybody. What did they do for me, anyways? Where is the hospital? Why don't we have a hospital? Why is the city doing so little to help their people? Why won't they give me more time? Is any of this real?

All these questions won't get answered, but you can sure as hell try.

After receiving an infuriatingly vague letter from his father stating that a "great trial" awaited him, a depressed man pretending to be doctor returns to his hometown inhabited entirely by socially-inept autistic british people who get pissed at you for asking the time of day to find that his father was murdered and the town is dying to a mysterious, seemingly unstoppable plague that can only be cured by force feeding magic potions with questionable properties to dying people on the street while every bastard within a one mile radius tries to stab you for breathing the same air. Pathologic 2 makes it very clear that you cannot save everyone. This is kind of like Schindler's List: The Game in that it's entertaining to watch and certainly a good movie but you definitely won't walk out of the theater with a big-ass grin on your face after watching it. This game is depressing. Your friends drop dead left and right. You can choose who you want to save, but the town knows who you pick. If you only save people closest to you, the town's opinion of you will only worsen because fuck me for wanting to save the people who [i]aren't[/i] complete assholes. Great world building, fun to explore (with what limited time you have), and some genuinely memorable moments and set pieces. The biggest gripe I have with this game, however, is that there's barely any voice acting in it. If you initiate conversation with a major character, they'll say a sort of "catchphrase" line, and the actual dialogue will be completely text. Their (admittedly very expressive and well designed) faces are vignetted on the left of your screen when talking to them, text and dialogue options on the right, but it's complete silence. I feel like the immersion would be out of the park if a voice acting update were to be a thing. If you don't like games that make you stressed, pass on this one. High stress, this one. People are trying to kill you, bacteria is trying to kill you, and everything and everyone is trying to break your mental fortitude. Who killed your dad? What's going on with the government? What is that gravity-defying Chuck E Cheese playground and what the HELL is going on in the theater? Are you helping people, or just making things worse? The less people you save, the less enemies you have, right? Am I a horrible person? Maybe I should just save myself and forget everybody. What did they do for me, anyways? Where is the hospital? Why don't we have a hospital? Why is the city doing so little to help their people? Why won't they give me more time? Is any of this real? All these questions won't get answered, but you can sure as hell try. [h1]8/10, would lockdown again[/h1]