Pathologic 2 a difficult game to recommend but a must try

You should try this game, you will probably not like it, you probably won't have fun in the traditional sense and you may be incredibly frustrated and likely stressed. It may however just be one of the best things you ever experience, I implore you to try it without a guide.

You're a doctor dropped into this town as an outsider with little idea of how things work, what the customs are and with few friends to guide you. You'll need to intuit and understand the rules of this place to survive. It'll often feel like you're digging yourself deeper and deeper into a hole that you're unlikely to be able to get out of.

Pathologic is not particularly skilful game, there's no reflex based gameplay or immensely difficult button presses, If you know what to do it's fairly easy. The experience at its core is simple decisions, do I go to this quest or that? Do I go into this district or do I go around? Do I make this trade or not? All of it framed by the passage of time which builds pressure into every moment, there's never enough time and you need to prioritise. It is novel and obtuse to the extreme.

The game is incredibly cruel and frustrating, there are many jokes played on blind players. For the majority of quests you don't know if what you're doing is optimal or if it'll even get you closer to your ultimate goal of finding a cure, decisions have consequences and will come back to bite you. It's best to accept the situation and move on, it will test your resolve like few other games can.

The presentation is very unique, many parts are weird to say the least, the opening is probably the best narrative tutorial I've ever seen.

On your first playthrough you'll be getting through by the skin of your teeth, many will die because you're too busy trying to survive. Tough decisions are everywhere, you can't save everyone, there simply isn't the time.

Games are not necessarily only pixels on a monitor. For me the game on screen is just an aid, the real game is what's happening in your head, thinking about the events, plotting the next move. I don't think any other game really captures this quite as well as pathologic, I certainly have spent more time thinking about this game than actually playing it.

If you're unsure about committing to such an intimidatingly long game then try the marble nest first. I found it's condensed nature much less daunting and the tight narrative experience is very well done. Don't worry if the setting and characters are unfamiliar and confusing to start with, it'll all make sense in an hour or so.