So Ice Pick Lodge made a playable teaser of their remake of Pathologic to show at Gamescom and some other industry shows, which was meant to be a tone piece. It wound up being praised enough that they thought "hey, let's give this to the people who backed our kickstarter at the alpha access level" (I was one of those people). I played it and loved it and would not shut up about it (I also streamed a complete run of it), and it was kind of a shame that most people would never get to play it too!

Clearly Ice Pick Lodge agreed with me, because they've made it free to everyone who wants it. Seriously, you can go get it RIGHT NOW. It is one of the best games of 2017! I'm not joking.

There is some jankiness present, of course - this is essentially an alpha build and not terribly polished, and the initial load takes some time, y'all, because they did not optimize it or anything - but it is 100% worth it. The environment drips atmosphere, the music is fantastic, and the writing is... well, the writing is why Ice Pick Lodge games are held in such high regard. You are a doctor in a small town on the Steppe, and you have successfully managed to contain a Mysterious Plague! Congratulations! I am sure the weird dream you had where the plague showed up and taunted you that it had breached quarantine and asked if you were ready to die was just a weird dream and not an ominous portent at all.

Pathologic, (much like Massive Chalice in my opinion) puts you in an unwinnable scenario and asks how you want to die. Fortunately, there are people who can talk to you about death, and death, and also death! Aspity, the riddling soothsayer has her own opinions which she will even share with you - if you approach her right. The Tragedians have their own opinions, but you'll have to prove you've got a heart before they'll let you in on the secret. Even the children can help you, although it is possible they are only after your soul, so be careful about who you give nuts to. The tribal folk of the Steppe have their own opinions, and are holding a wedding that you might want to attend.

Everyone will probably lie to you. You will probably not be able to tell. Trust nobody. Trust everybody. Be sure to eat something - you look hungry. Find the plague's source. Or don't!

Go have a chat with your foe. It's waiting upstairs. You might learn something useful. You might even die properly.

Good luck.

It's kind of messing with me that in about six months give or take a few there will be a new (kinda) Pathologic game.

I've been following the development from the beginning (and donated possibly too much money to the project, if we're being honest), but I too find myself more or less unable to actually believe the game is actually gonna have a release soon(ish). I'm so goddamn excited about it! It's fucking wild. For a while I kept going back to the alpha build and running around in it just to run around, although now I'm considering whether or not to go back to finish my run through Pathologic HD (even though I'm pretty sure I'm doomed).