Guys I am so excited about this that I cannot even begin to form words. I am a massive fan of Pathologic (I have died in it a lot, usually because I forget to eat, or eat spoiled food, or... anything like that), so Ice Pick Lodge's formal announcement that the game's being re-made (assuming their kickstarter is successful) has me dancing with glee.

I always felt like Ice Pick Lodge was one of the first larger development teams (okay like twelve people) to really push the envelope when it came to what games could do. You could make the argument that the mechanics of Pathologic (particularly the need to manage hunger and illness and overall health) made it one of the first "survival" games, in that you can literally die from an infected gunshot wound. I read about Pathologic on Rock Paper Shotgun back when Quintin Smith wrote his lengthy series on the game a few years back (actually all the way back in 2008, holy shit. Those are worth a read, by the way--the three parts are all found here) and almost immediately hunted down a copy. It's up on GoG now if you feel the need to experience the game in its original form--the terrible, terrible Quake II-era graphics (I think it was Quake II), the impenetrable dialogue, the janky-ass combat--but if you haven't at this point, I'd just wait for the remake to come out. If you want a game similar to Pathologic in tone but a little more navigable, Ice Pick's The Void is pretty similar mechanically (although really only in that you have to manage resources; color instead of food/medicine), and gives a good idea of the tone, at any rate.

MAN I am fucking excited. Gonna pay an extra $65 to those dudes and get a copy of the tabletop(!) version of the game as well. I really hope the kickstarter succeeds, although Ice Pick does say they've enough money to put out a smaller, less ambitious version of the game should the Kickstarter fail. I'd prefer it not come to that. SUPER EXCITED to run into the Executors again, but looking way cooler. So, am I the only one excited for this?

I actually played through the Bachelor's story just a few weeks ago and loved it. I think mechanically, there's things that could be greatly improved on. For example, the first few days gave a sense of desperation and lack of resources, but after a while I was pretty good to go on all fronts, and reputation was rarely an issue. Still, this is a really special game, and this remake could make it an absolute masterpiece.

I was planning on playing through as the Haruspex soon, but I might just leave that for the remake.

it could not have possibly come at a better time. a story-driven player-as-an-actor open-world survival adventure game is like the ultimate culmination of the current landscape of indie games and the focus on what's important in a game, and Pathologic came out before any of the games that popularized that stuff and already proved that it could do all of those things very, very well.

the announcement that they're targeting PS4/XBO is fantastic too because it guarantees wider acknowledgement, and IPL deserves success more than any other developer i can name.

this is literally the most important thing in my life right now and i cannot possibly imagine it failing

@brackstone: I started a game as the Haruspex and died of an infected wound. I think my Bachelor wound up getting killed in his sleep for some bread. I am terrible at this game, but I am giving them an embarrassing amount of money (because having been made aware of its existence, I now desire a tabletop version of the game SO BAD). Hilariously, this announcement has me thinking I will fire it up when I get home from work tonight, because I don't know if I'd be able to wait the couple years development is going to take.

@domowoj: Yeah this feels like the perfect climate in which to release a game like Pathologic. What they've shown of the new graphics look solid, and there's a lot of care being taken with the translation/localization this time around (RPS has a story about it that goes into a little more detail). With all these horror/survival games like the Forest running around, it will be good to see the first (and best, if you ask me) finally get the exposure it deserved. THE STARS ARE RIGHT.

From all the times I've tried to play Pathologic, I'm not sure I quite grasp the appeal. I dig the atmosphere and unique setting, but it seemed a little extreme in how demanding it was with timed events and deadlines. The game just seemed way too eager to let you completely fuck yourself over, often in ways that wouldn't reveal themselves until a number of game days later. Maybe that sort of "good luck, fucker!" approach of teaching you to swim by throwing you into the ocean is what some people like.

I may still give it another try. I hope it's more polished than Knock Knock, though.

@ford_dent: I didn't even know you could die from infected wounds. I only ever died in combat or from overdosing on meds. Oh, and that one time I fell off the Polyhedron. I might end up playing the Haruspex before this comes out, since it sounds like there'll be plenty of new content, but I definitely need a break after my first run through. Even though I didn't find the game as difficult as most seem to, it was definitely a draining experience in all the right ways.

The tabletop game is definitely the best possible thing they could have included as a reward. I love board games, I love Pathologic and I've been getting sick of another disease based board game, Pandemic, so this is right up my alley.

@bbalpert: I would say that Pathologic is definitely an acquired taste. I didn't really enjoy my first attempt at playing, but every time I go back (and die again, or realize I've completely fucked up again), I like the game a little more. It is one of those things where victory is never assured, or even where victory isn't the point. I've failed, but I've failed in so many interesting ways. There is no experience like those first three or four days of game time, as you watch the world begin to rip itself apart (and nobody seems to want to explain what the hell is going on).

@brackstone: Yeah, if you don't treat a wound it will slowly eat away at your health. You can take painkillers to keep going, but eventually your health drops to zero and that is that. If you are wounded you are also more susceptible to the plague.

@bbalpert: that's sort of the thing, though, is that fucking yourself over isn't really. the game is open-ended enough that even if you fuck up and make mistakes it's all still leading to something. usually not a good something, but still something.

Pathologic lays a bunch of stuff on the table and tells you what you need to do but doesn't tell you enough to really understand what you need to do, and then further hinders your efforts by throwing the concept of time into the mix. time as the enemy is an underlying theme in everything IPL does.

it all kind of falls back into the "do games need to be fun?" argument, only in this instance the game is at times openly hostile to the player. if you fight it enough you'll win.