Pathologic 2 on GOG - gog.la/PathologicButAVideoGameNow THE LIST - docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_K3ziSxT9zcUUGCddS4sF1uNJTWHSbOwB1CQX2Rx4Uo/ Game has received patches which improved the performance issues by a lot for me. Your results may vary.
glad to see you again just keep going and review obscure and forgotten old stuff, don't waste your time on games everyone and their grandma knows. Just sayin... also - can skip UnderRail review since your evil twin Sseth is going to make one
I remember running from hated district to hated district dying of hunger and looking for food. When finally I reached the "No one cares about you" district. And I thought: No-one caring about me is good enough for me. And then realised how sad that idea actually was. What a game!
i love games that arent afraid to say stuff like that its a very subtle way of jabbing at the player and either makes a good laugh or gets a vibe to the gaame
I loved one punishment that meant I couldn't hug any NPCs. I went yeah whatever but soon after one character specifically requests that you hold them for comfort. I never came across any other game that did that.
Same man. I already expected that the not hugging someone would hit hard, but when it came it hit even harder than I expected. In fact being able to hug is one of my priorities when I play this game again
@@IncognitoSprax True, but consider the kinds of people that would actually play, let alone enjoy, this kind of game. I would naturally encourage people to read the actual reviews, but chances are there's less "noise" as with more popular titles
I never played the original. I just randomly picked it up and loved it because the story is so expertly entwined with the gameplay, and it's quite well written.
It's because journalism as whole is dead and games journalism in particular is so dead, they are always comically, categorically wrong and have completely stopped being a source of information. I cannot remember when I last even read a review that conveyed any sort of pertinent information. People get their games news from Sseth and Mandalore, and the world is better for it. I mean, I had never even heard of Starsector before Sseth, and now I realise what I have been missing all these years. Or that Republic Commando could be so much fun.
Because his first game review was a mixed one of a really interesting but terrible game. Despite that the devs came back and actually reached out to him to review the second one. And it's sounds a lot better. It's a success story.
@@rikkithinn7258 oh that’s actually adorable. Plus I’d bet not having expectations for how video games “work” helped him have an open mind to the experience.
yup watched his review on EYE divine cybermancy and bought the game just a few days later, would have skipped right past it without his coverage. I really want to buy this too but my wallet is telling me not to.
@@kekitsjack5765 I bought it... it is actually amazing. Way better than I ever thought it would be. I personally am a bit burned out on games in general these days. Yet I haven't enjoyed a game as much as Pathologic 2 in the past year and a half.
Personally this doesn't look like anything that I'd want to play through, but it's truly interesting to see this game through his eyes. I feel like I'm getting a glimpse at something I wouldn't have the patience for.
I know when I first noticed that and realized lol. You aren’t welcome anywhere but the cemetary, if you catch my drift lol. This game is so macabre and charming
The reason the culture is so strange is because it’s not just one culture. It’s at least two, those being Russian and Mongolian. When people think of Russia, they usually think of western Russia and Siberia. Pathologic takes place somewhere in southeastern Russia, where it meets the Mongolian steppe. The game presents these two cultures clashing with each other frequently, and the three playable characters(or at least the planned ones/the ones playable in the first game) represent one or the other or a mix. The Bachelor is purely scientific, representing modern Russian science. The Changeling uses mysticism, similar to the traditions and folklore of the steppe. And the Haruspex is stuck between the two, a man who hails from the steppe society, but who went west to become a doctor. It was a great choice to pick the Haruspex as the first character released, because players could experience both cultures if the other two characters are never released.
Russian culture itself is a mix though. We've historically interacted with and adopted so many cultures it turned out to be it's own thing, kinda like it does in pathologic. We have antient slavic culture from the times where Russia was decentralized, asian culture from numerous interactions with Mongolia among the others, we have western european culture from when the empire was built etc
That's cuz the entire Steppe Culture is ripped off from the Buryat culture, my culture It's a real culture that exists 99% of all the words used in constructing the "Steppe language" come from the Buryat language, the "weird and incongruous" way the Steppe culture blends Russian and Mongolian ways of life is how Buryatia and surrounding regions function today Which would be fine if Dybowski acknowledged it in any way but he didn't and he doesn't He just took the language, the concepts, the history, and decided to make a game out of it, for westerners and other ethnic Russians to gawk at
@@iggyschekelburger5023 Так стоять, когда у вас быков почитали? У вас их даже не было. Ну а насчёт языка, в принципе такое возможно, ибо в первой части брали куплеты из индийской пословицы. Это нормально для них.
@@durema9720 это не пословица, это буддийская мантра Зелёной Тары "У нас тут" быков не почитают, но это не играет роли, потому что язык взят бурятский, концепции степной жизни и слияния русской и монгольской культур параллельны истории Бурятии, Калмыкии, а также множества других азиатских культур на территории РФ Дыбовский мог это отметить хоть единожды, но этого не сделал, и теперь почивает на лаврах от чужого невежества касательно чужих культур
Nikolay Dybowski - the founder of Ice Pick Lodge - was giving a speech at one small game developers event at Tomsk some time after the release of Pathologic 2. In his words that was quite a hard thing to push through release. They went into the whole remaster thing thinking that they will just pump up graphics a bit and figure proper English release, but it all got so much more complicated down the way... And after release it barely covered itself. At the closing of his speech he said that they would probably never do games in that way any more. I'm not sure if it covers other characters from original game, that were supposed to be released later... Honestly, that's all a real shame. As someone from Russia, I can count proper Russian game developing studios by the fingers on my one hand and with a few to spare. And among those, Ice Pick Lodge was really doing games as an art. And seeing how they are having troubles just because they are not pushing another fortnite riddled with lootboxes... it's heartbreaking, really. And yeah, I can totally see a point in Dybowski's words - he actually needs to pay people, so they can eat. And it's Russia, so it's not like they are on some EA-bullshit-levels of payroll. So yeah, guys, from the bottom of my heart - go try this game out. It's deep, beautiful theatrical experience with some amazing story. Try it out on GOG, on Steam, return it if it's not your thing, but give it a chance. It's one of the best games I've ever played. It's not perfect by any means, but it's just gorgeous in it's storytelling and atmosphere.
@@alexflorczyk6531 Well... that's a tough one to answer straight... It's not really a classic horror game per se, in my opinion (it's defined as a thriller, I think it's somewhat appropriate), there are no screamers and other cheap horror stuff here, at least generally... but it can and will get creepy at times. Mostly it's due to the atmosphere - it's a game about a town hit by the plague, so you can imagine. Depression and sickness are literally in the air. And there is stuff that is quite uncomfortable here... I don't really want to spoil anything, but I can guarantee that your first proper visit to the Termitary will give you chills at the least. That's quite an experience. All and all... If you can handle at least some creepiness, I recon you should be fine. I'm not really a big horror enthusiast myself and I can't say that it was nightmare fuel for me. For what it worth, I would say that moments of fright in that game are a core part of your experience and I would recommend to embrace them. As a doctor, you should be frightened when you enter a house full of sick people. That's just how it goes. And this game works with that concept on a several different layers. So yeah, give it a try.
That "Mind Map" system for keeping track of quests and information sounds legitimately innovative for an RPG/story-based game. I hope that is something that is pursued in other games in the future.
It already is! Outer Wilds came out around the same time as Pathologic 2, and features a very similar "Rumour Mode". It's absolutely awesome to see narrative-driven games pursue a system like this, as it's a beautiful way of conveying information to the player.
It's such a weird sentiment to say that art should be easily accessible. Most artsy movies require you to delve deep into them, some don't. Some books require you to re-read pages until you get it. You struggle, and that's part of the experience, like difficulty in an interactive art form like games.
The lack of character models for the different classes is kind of a feature, since it makes it easier to identify what characters they are, especially if you're in a rush. Instead of running up to a lot of people to see what they're trading, you can immediately tell the drunks from the children and ladies. I wish it was that easy in my town.
The game even makes explicit reference to the distinction between 'main actors' and 'extras'. I think the theater framework works really well here, it adds another layer of 'suspension of disbelief' to the game.
It's actually explained and justified too in the first game (still haven't played the second one) if you save every bound in town. I'm sure it started as a limitation, but the way it was turned into a gameplay AND story feature is genius.
@@thenaivevigilante4379 havn't played the first, just finished the second. You should definitely play, this is the narrative game that everybody should look forward to. The game that uses its mechanics to capture an experience instead of making them for being fun regardless of the story you're intended to live. With this, the fact that the story is brilliant clearly doesn't hold the game back.
-immersive and forces you to become a part of the local ecosystem -encourages curiosity and full on 'I wonder how X is doing, I'll visit them since it's on the way' as that immersion into the local ecosystem takes root and you start networking and building relationships with the locals -full interaction in general -slavic jank that adds character and charm to the game Damn, this sounds and looks great.
Yes it does, but while it's not my kind of game, I might still buy it just to support the devs. Plus I always wanna see how survival games handle guns too to see if they made them ultra realistic, or just a few things for maintenance
The kind of immersion you're describing was present in the first game, the second doesn't have that. You first think about visiting them (marker on the mind map) and then go.
Who exactly left the studio? I know Alphyna left for sure (she already found another job) but I heard rumors about Meethos and SpaceLaika. Is that true?
I don't think that employees leaving the studio is a big deal. Alphyna's really young and she worked at the studio for nearly 6 years. Meethos, even longer, more like a decade. IPL never had issues with finding talent or keeping people around, more so with money.
Wait, did Meethos actually leave? I know SpaceLaika left last year, but I never heard anything about Meethos. Kind of worrying if it's true, considering that they were behind the art direction of most (all?) their games.
Well combat system really sucks ass. There are some points i noticed. 1) Enemy attacks frequently deal double damage for some reason, and you hear two hits right one after another. This could easily take most of your health and even oneshot you if it is ublocked knife attack. That exact thing pissed the shit out of me twice. 2) Enemy attacks deal absurd damage if you are facing away (and you run really slow with a weapon equipped), which means that if you try to run away to regen stamina, you'll most probably just get oneshoted by a knife to the back. 3) Enemy attacks will turn you around, slow you down and blur your screen if they hit you while you run, which will make you get cornered and die 90% of times. Though it's probably a feature. 4) When you're out of stamina, your hits will be really slow. That's OK, but for some reason they deal no damage to surrendered enemies, which will let them run and rob you of your loot. 5) Battle animations, and what really registers, can be really different. Enemies can easily dodge your hit a second after you thought you landed it, and you will constantly be taking damage seemingly out of nowhere, just because animations are slow and junky. 6) Stunlocks are OP, which means you easily win a one-on one knife fight by mashing LMB as long as you have stamina and functional knife. You can land unlimited stealth hits to a single enemy, which is absurd. You can dodge block-piercing foot kicks by spinning around the enemies, which will let you win fights agains unarmed guys. If there is more than one though, and they have knifes, you dead, bro, better start booking for that store door. 7) You better not go robbing houses in maradeur regions because strupid guards love to surrender in narrow hallways or doors, and you can't get out unless you finish them off.
@@Flatternschuchtern Some of what you listed is for realism, some for difficulty. I agree with your opinions on all of the annoying mechanics that make no sense in the game's context.
@@MandaloreGaming well I'm sure I speak for everyone who watches your videos in wishing you a speedy recovery! And I hope you're doing alright Great video btw :)
"ITS a bUdgeT skyRIm" These are the things i can find that it has in common with Skyrim. -You walk in it. -Its on Steam. -Its a video game. -Its a sequel (Kinda). -You have an inventory. -You fight people. -There is an rpg element in both games (Although its stronger in Pathologic 2: Electric Boogaloo) -There are ranged weapons. -Thats... it....
To me it was how the game played that made me draw comparisons, although they consist mostly of the dialogue system, the similar loading screens, LOOOTS of painfully long loading times, and the menu system and combat mechanics feeling almost identical (other than inventory/looting). They are obviously VERY different styles of game with entirely different story directions but there are some valid comparisons in my eyes. And this is coming from somebody with 2500+ hours in skyrim lol.
Who said that this is a budget Skyrim? Skyrim is a budget Skyrim, this game actually has a story and voice actors who aren't phoning it in. They were right, games journalism is a sham.
Honudes Gai Skyrim is a boring game with repetitive mechanics that requires mods to actually be made enjoyable. I’ve spent 500 hours on it, about 50 hours with the campaign and the rest WITH mods. Its not that its bad, its just BORING, repetitive and easy. It also has glitches that were honestly never fixed by the actual devs since they’re busy doing who knows what. I’ve lost track how many times I got stuck on stone ramps or fell out of the world. The fact that the game is open world is the most enjoyable part, but that idea can be replicated easily, just that not many would rather do so. The most irksome is the storyline and npc interaction. The storyline is just bland in its own terms since the story expects you to do these things which is VERY important via story stuff, but players can just push it off and do it later with no consequences. Alduin about to destroy Sovengarde? Screw that, lets go around picking herbs and building a house in the middle of nowhere. The title “Dragonborn” never made the player feel special. For some damned reason, despite being the almighty and legendary Dragonborn, you still get pushed around by a bitch that wants to kill your dragon-master, guards that patrols the ghettos of random places, and snobs. At least Dawnguard’s storyline was interesting, but thats about that. Skyrim has potential that was never, ever full used by the company itself but instead is being used by the modding community. But on its own WITHOUT mods? Meh, I’d rather play Organ Collector simulators.
"Pathologic 2 starts to feel less like an interesting failure and more like a budget Skyrim." Good lord, these people deserve the Bright Noah treatment.
@@remembertotakeshowerspleas355 Bright Noa is a character from the original Mobile Suit Gundam series and its sequels in the original Gundam continuity, the Universal Century. He is known for the several times he disciplines main characters for their reticent, bitching or otherwise just plain wrong attitude - most famously in the original series, where the very reluctant and constantly complaining pilot of the original Gundam, Amuro Ray, gets slapped hard for his behavior and replies with, "Not even my own father ever hit me!" The event garners a lot of traction not only for its meme potential, but because in real life the director of the series Yoshiyuki Tomino slapped Amuro's voice actor to get a real sounding indignant reaction to being slapped.
The fact that people are complaining about the game not being a walking simulator really does show how narrow-minded people are about how stories in games can be told.
it show cases how completely irrelevant word-only style reviews actually are, and how video game journalism is ultimately defunct. I mean how the hell did the reviewer come to the conclusion "budget skyrim"? what the fuck lmfao
Backed it, thought it was very mediocre. It wasn’t hard, just incredibly tedious. You spend the entire game micromanaging status bars, item durability and inventory space. It’s one of those “things degrade at 1000x speed” games.
Dojima Ryotaro yeah. I kinda get We are happy few wibes, and I played that after Pathologic. It feels like Ice Pick didn’t how bring more game to the game of pathologic. So they made more accent on those meters, and this game became the Void basically (which I hated so much). Still glad I played Pathologic 2, but I was underwhelmed.
I think the best way to describe this game is not "sequel" or "remake" but "Iteration". It's still the original concept of the first game and still acknowledges the first game exists, but iterates on and upgrades almost everything about the original game to make something new.
A lot of games as art people cant recognize art if it hit them on the head, unfortunately. Part of it is that those same people seem to not have spent any considerable time engaging with actual art outside of nerd/geek media, which is also why they will talk hours about how Star Wars or capeshit or whatever else popular pop culture piece of media is like the new Shakespeare, while condemning true art when they bump into it.
@touma Yeah there's nothing wrong with those kinds of games at all. But it does get frustrating when a lot of people consider those types of games to be the ONLY games worthy of being called art. Like some people just dismiss extremely well-crafted games because they're "too hard" or they aren't just allegories for anxiety or whatever.
I liked Hotline Miami, which was 100% centered about gameplay, but it also had this art values like commentary on violence in video games, and like we seem to ignore the fact that it is still violence. Also, the older i getting, the more i focus on the gameplay than story. Sometimes story IS the gameplay, like this game or some good rpgs with decision making, but in most aaa games, i starting to get pissed off when i cannot skip the cinematics.
Yes, I agree. While I am no a vivid hater of Walking Simulators, they never felt like the narrative would be good enough to carry me through the story. I play games for the interactivity that they provide, not just because they can tell a story that is a week long. Something like Dark Souls for example has for me been the greatest adventure I'v ever experienced in any media. Barely any plot gets told, except for some bits of dialogue, items with descriptions and true visual telling on the level designs. It was very basic, yet the entire experience was far more memorable as an adventure than most things I played before that. Its not the challenge alone or the lack of orientation or the invasions and bosses and the connected world that sold it for me. Its how all these things worked together as a whole that made it great and that is the sort of thing that you just can't replicate in any other form of media. No TV show, Movie, book or theatric play could ever be able to give you this experience. That's what is so unique about games. If developers, journalists and fans of the medium want to see it evolve as a true artform, they should look at Pathologic 2 as the example that does it right. It has a true artistic vision, yet also remembers to be a game. And games are ment to be played.
Walking through a plague district, hearing a baby crying, and knowing I can't do anything about it because I'll die? That sucks in the best way. This game hits hard.
@@saibgassanov3378 Так я и говорю, я не думаю что они бы наняли людей которые не могут говорить на английском без акцента, если они планируют релиз на западе.
@@hihihi1q23 Game journalists influence most people, not the other way around. Coupled that with bad publisher and you have not the best situation, but game criticis didn't help. Heck they even later said how the game got 'better' because you can play it on casual level. Imagine if people did that years ago.
@@hihihi1q23 barely covered, bad reviews, sales went ridiculous up after mandalores review. No. What it shows it was happen if you don't have the money to puts ad everywhere.
Well, and to be fair, neither they, nor their publisher, TinyBuild, were great with the marketing even given the budget they did have. This started with the Kickstarter campaign, when KS veterans generally believed they would have been able to secure substantially more funds if they ran it more efficiently, and continued all the way up to release. I followed the game quite closely, and even I was surprised at how quietly it launched. I suppose that was partly due to guilt on their part at failing to live up to the scope of the original game (and which they are still trying to do, with the lead having committed to releasing the other two scenarios regardless of how many more years it might take), but even so, that doesn't excuse TinyBuild's approach to marketing. They got big due to action-heavy, plot-light games like No Time to Explain, Party Hard and what not, and had no idea how to market this game, which is the polar opposite of their usual brief. Reportedly, whenever TinyBuild was at conventions, this game's stand was tucked away somewhere besides their "core" games, and it was only described as "open-world survival horror", which rather undersells this game's merits, to put it mildly.
A very interesting facet that you could look at regarding the NPCs not being 'varied enough' is the fact that they are implied to once more be part of the theater. The NPCs looking like one another is """""intentional"""", and even referred to by Immortell. They're background actors.
Of all the games to criticize for "being hard just for the sake of being hard", Pathologic 2 is possibly one of the worst choices. The stress and anxiety that comes with managing your survival is the most powerful way of tying you to the world of the game. As the townsfolk go hungry and starve, so do you. Your painful existance is being shared by all those that you see around you. And as you run out of time, as characters die for good, as you deliberate between completing a quest or keeping yourself healthy, the atmosphere that's been crafted through sound and visual design comes together on a whole other level. Its storytelling done through game design, and it's implemented brilliantly.
Also like how the game journalist assumes that the developers built their difficultly on souls game design and then immediately takes that assumption as fact, using it as the basis to criticize the game. Like wtf, this is shit they exactly tell you not to do in school when writing. How do you fuck up something this badly?
I really dislike that kind of defense. Criticizing bad gameplay is fine even if it's being used as a vehicle for the storytelling or experience, because at the end of the day the gameplay is still bad. And honestly the devs lean way too heavily into justifying a lot of the awful design or bad story elements by just getting meta about it and saying they know it's shit or it's intentionally supposed to be shit, acknowledging the flaws doesn't magically make them disappear. Pathologic and Pathologic 2 are objectively terribly designed games and their stories are honestly not much better, but the experience they offer is fantastic and worth playing for. The problem isn't that critics call out games for their poor gameplay, the problem is people using bad or unfitting games to deliver good stories or experiences, there's almost always an alternative medium or type of game that would've been a vast improvement over what was actually used. More than a few devs of such games are adamant about forcing their square pegs into circle holes because they refuse to acknowledge the perfectly good square holes and insist they must use the circle ones.
@@KaleidosXXI why are you stupid? You didn't actually respond to the comment you replied to you just went on a rant about "objectively bad design" as if your view on anything has any merit or value.
Actually I did play it coincidentally simultaneous with the epidemic, and it was super cool. It gave me mild paranoia though, like I think people are gonna infect me and murder me at night.
@@omiddoesnotomit9320 Have to strongly agree on that. I only got round to playing this during the quarantine and it's been a surreal experience. I find myself weirdly empathetic with doctors and understanding how serious the real world situation could be. I can't imagine playing this game without the corona virus now haha
After a couple months of venting his sexual frustrations through his alt, SsethTzeentach, Mandalore has returned to once again review a Slavic video game
“Pathologic to consider fighting three men at once a huge deal. That can be hard to wrap your head around. “ Me: *violently remembers all of Kingdom Come*
_approaches 2 muggers_ I can take them. _misses first stab and gets kicked against a wall by one, and punched by the other before I can recover_ Uh... I think I'll run _doesn't have enough stamina after the opening salvo to get very far, gets grabbed and pulled around by one, and killed by the second_ Knew I should've bought that revolver... 2 or more on 1 in this game is brutal without a gun or a real good knife. Assassin's Creed, this is not. XD
@@WriterPlaysMTG Underrail is actually really hard and can really easily lead to deathtrap-scenarios that you cannot escape from though. I do remember Depot A being an absolute chore because I just lacked the firepower to deal with the muties there. I also remember being able to gimp your character if you don't plan properly ahead. Haven't played since the psionic update, despite enjoying psionic characters the most so far, gotta have to check back. The only issue that I personally have with UnderRail is another one entirely though: it does it's job too well. You have so much build variety and so many interesting ways of tackling a challenge that you want to test out yet another build and give it a spin, which does absolutely nothing to keep you focused on the story ahead because you have your head stuck in potential new builds. I played the game for days and barely made it past core city simply because of how big of a gameworld there is to explore actually.
I would argue it isn't because they don't love video games and everything they could be, but because of the pressure they are under to, as you say 'push forward to complete' and get a review out while the game is still relevant in the eyes of their bosses. That environment could only be stifling.
@@katieroberts7012 Oh those poor game journos having to do their job. I bet if they got a paycheck under the table they would do what IGN would and praise it.
Holy fucking shit, those faces look great. All of the detail, their eyes and all of the micro-movements (eyes twitching a little, eyebrow movements influencing eyelids etc.). Work of art.
@@AJPDing I may get crucified for this but I think the Frostbite engine or whatever EA uses makes for some of the ugliest faces out there in gaming that seemingly everyone thinks looks great. There's just a slight uncanny valley on them and my brain instantly recognizes it as something trying to be something it's not. Environments can be great but holy hell I hate the faces.
@@ianhall6614 it’s not frostbite, in games were the engine was designed to be used on it looks and works beautifully, it’s the developers, andromeda looked quite good back when it was made in unreal engine, and when the switch to frostbite was enforced on them they had to retool and remake everything that they couldn’t import, which was most if not all of the assets, they were handed a toolbox that they were not familiar with and had to remake everything that an RPG needs in an engine infamous for not being suitable to that task, some things like the driving and the shooting were superb in frostbite, that’s the thing the engine excels at, but everything else was more or less needed to be jury rigged, I mean dragon age: inquisition is proof of how fucked the engine is for open world rpg’s and that was the main development team, ME:A was relegated to the B-team, so I hope that with the remaster of the trilogy it might bring some sense back into BioWare and more importantly EA to go back to UE for its rpg needs, or at least any other engine that ain’t frostbite.
I'm glad you called out the shallowness of some reviews. I think the highest-quality analysis is coming from RU-vidrs like you and Caldwell-Gervais. You have very different styles, but you both see what a game is attempting as a work of art and judge it based on that rubric, while acknowledging that you have your own biases and preferences, something I rarely see other reviewers do unfortunately.
DIEGhostfish I can understand that perspective, but I've always admired that Caldwell-Gervais analyzes games the way an essayist might analyze a book. A lot of reviewers focus strictly on the mechanics of a game and treat it as a product, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but Noah's willingness to explore how those mechanics interact with more intangible aspects like a game's themes and evaluate a game's worth beyond basic enjoyment give him a particular niche imo. That sort of critical evaluation is an avenue for games maturing as an art form, I think.
How is it that every time they advertise a mobile game they claim it's not like other mobile games, then it ends up being exactly like other mobile games.
@@PTRNovi Yeah, I don't know who they are fooling. I just have to look at their ad to know that's a blatant lie. For fuck's sake, they have an auto-resolve function. As if that isn't the biggest tell ever that this is just a waiting simulator.
@Templar Knight in pathologic 2 haruspex is fairly accessible and having no access to the bald guys now that they have multiple roles plus having most of the people fuck with you just because you're a city boy means the Bachelor is probably gonna be the harder start if they add him. Which I honestly like as a shift. If done well it'd be great.
@@malachiconstant7745 Yeah, I read that interview. It's long, so I believe they missed the crucial part, where the lead said "I ran this studio for 19 years; I have never broken a promise and I don't intend to start. The two scenarios will be coming, regardless of how many more years it might take."
Same. I probably won't play it now because it doesn't look like my cup of tea and I am occupied with hollow knight at the moment. But I will probably buy it to support the creators. They seem like the kind of people that realise that is not enough to make it unique, you need to make it good in its uniqueness. And judging by the gameplay and fan opinion, they nailed it.
@@davidcolby167 You can always learn and get better, thats how all skills are developed. at one point in your life you needed to learn how to walk and talk, and trust me, you were shit at it, but you didn't stop until you got it, same with this, give it enough tries, maybe watch a video or two, look at wiki and you will get a hang of it. If you are interested in it and want to explore it, accept the challenge that the game is proposing to you and beat it, don't give up and show that you are able to adapt despite being thrown into an alien situation and conquer it.
I think the tutorials did the best at teaching me subconsciously what to expect when I was in the dream sequence where you arrive at your father's house and I was thinking, what kind of train pulls up right at the front yard? And then as I was looting items out of drawers and cabinets, I began to hear the laughter. Oh, the laughter. And I knew exactly what it was. I was being laughed at. I kept thinking, "They're laughing at me." Over and over. And I thought, is this yet another dream? Am I wasting my time looking for items? (I was) The Developers and their in-game equivalents were laughing at me. And that's when I knew this game would be a rich trip into the unknown.
So basically they made a sequel faithful to the original games’ concept, while improving the overall experience on every aspect. Whether you like this game or not, it’s clearly a success
"I don't wanna watch it fade away and then in 5 years we're into some publication that gave it a bad review say that it was a hidden a gem and we all just missed it." Mandalore, you're a saint; I must say that I'm hating to see that today with: movies like Blade Runner and Star Wars Ep 1 to 3, games like the first Pathologic, Call of Cthulhu, Turok, System Shock, Space Marine, Hellgate London, Anachronox, Gothic series, point and click adventures, and they're starting to do that hypocrisy now with Doom 3.
A lot of things you listed ARE considered "hidden gems." A lot of those games sold very poorly, which means they're not well-known, which qualifies them for "hidden gem" status, even if they are good enough to stand out in your mind, or the minds of a few niche gamers. Gothic in the US is not well-known at all; System Shocks 1 and 2 both sold poorly, to the point that Irrational was hesitant about even bringing up System Shock 2 in their BioShock pitch; Anachronox sold poorly enough that Ion Storm Dallas shut down not long after its release. The only ones that look truly hypocritical are the mention of Doom 3 and point-and-click adventures, some of which were incredibly popular in the 90s (they even maintain some level of popularity now, enough to warrant sequels to venerable series like Broken Sword or entirely new IPs that do well like Deponia and Machinarium, among others). Oh, and the movie mentions, but I've literally never seen anyone attempt to claim with a straight face that two incredibly influential and popular movies (Star Wars OT and Blade Runner) are "hidden gems."
I love that dig you gave to the crowd who fawn over walking simulators as art but didn't like Pathologic 2 just because of its survival mechanics. That was beautiful. Just because they're not trendy anymore, doesn't mean they weren't put into the game for a reason.
HEY EVERYONE: Right now Steam is having a user awards for games. If you want to show the team some love, go on there and vote this game as the winner of a category. I did "Game of the Year," but there are a ton of options.
Plague Tale: Innocence won best story rich game. Extra sad, considering the similarities in theme. It's tragic, winning that award might have boosted sales and helped icepick lodge stay in business. But nope, let's vote for the admittedly pretty but shallow "story rich" experience instead.
@@lusteraliaszero Yeah, it's the reviewers. The "video games as art" crowd is literally anyone who thinks video games are a viable art form, so it feels weird to throw that entire umbrella under the bus just because some people who might not even be related to that thought. Honestly, I feel like that line came out of nowhere just to attack walking simulators. It doesn't detract from the review as a whole, which was pretty good, but that was a pretty uncharacteristically shallow dig.
_The vidya game journalist crash course!_ (*free of charge!*) | Video game: requires you to be able to breathe and think at the same time. | AND/OR ~ is in third person and has a lock-on system. | AND/OR ~ has an inventory screen with description on objects. | | Verdict: _There's definitely some Soulslike influence in there_ (continue with fluff) ( *IMPORTANT SIDENOTE* : if the game is in 2D, replace "Soulslike" with "Metroidvania") | Video game: is an open world RPG. | AND/OR ~ has quests with player driven branches. | AND/OR ~ player decision can influence the main plot. | | Verdict: _It's like Skyrim but with [X]_ (continue with fluff) ( *IMPORTANT SIDENOTE* : change "Skyrim" with "The Witcher 3" based on what crowd you'd wish to attract) | Video game: is horror themed. | AND/OR ~ has inventory management. | AND/OR ~ is set in or around a house. | | Verdict: _Obviously follows the footsteps laid by P.T._ (continue with fluff) ( *IMPORTANT SIDENOTE* : change "P.T." with "Frictional Games" if unsure)
You forgot to mention them seeing some bullshit political view that isn't there/forcing in their own if its a current release. One of the worst reviews I've ever seen is the one that says Cuphead is a bad game for not addressing the racial issues of the 1930s-40s because it uses the animation style from then.
So many game journalists have their heads up their ass about what is and is not "art" in a game. "Art" games are the walking simulators, as you've put it. So, when a game takes a break from telling a "pure" story via nothing but a first-person camera, diary entries, and dialogue, it's seen as "gamey". Plenty of games have both excellent uses of mechanical elements, while also having great narratives. These people so often only see half of the picture. It has become increasingly clear to me over the years that many game journalists are writers first and enthusiasts second. Why have a game where you're a survivor of a plague outbreak when you could just be an immortal tourist? It seems so boring to consider games this way. This is why many RU-vidrs such as yourself, Mandalore, are filling a much-desired niche. I would personally like to thank you for telling me that this game existed, and offering it's finest qualities for me to see. Because of this, I am going to purchase it, support the devs, and form my own opinion. Something that I wouldn't have done if I was just reading reviews on mainstream websites.
Really well put, but I think calling game journalists "writers" in even a remotely professional sense is an affront to the art of writing. They write, but if they can even be called writers, then they are 'bad writers', nothing more and perhaps a lot less.
@@movealongplease6891 I feel like the issue isn't that gaming journalists are fools who can't appreciate games with mechanics, but that professional games journalists have deadlines to write to. When a game expects you to die 30 times and really take your time to learn specific mechanics or enemy interactions.. then that's frustrating because now it might be hard to finish the game by Wednesday and submit copy by Thursday evening. I remember hearing a games journalist (can't actually remember which one) sound a little exasperated that the game they were reviewing for IGN was a puzzle game - because if the puzzles didn't click with them then trying to finish the game within three days to write a review might be impossible.
@@Table53 That's entirely fair, of course. After all, how can you fully explore a game when you have a few days at most to play it AND write the review? No issue there, but my problem lies within the review itself. buzzwords like "Soulsian" or "Skyrim", the occasional "hate-click" titles, the pedantry and double standards that a good number of high-profile games journalists adhere to. A "rushed review" isn't a "lazy review". The former can still be passionate, informative and transparent.
@@--___--d I think you did haha. I still haven't played it - I have a metric ton of games to play besides it... The biggest downside to gaming is the time you can spend on it is limited. But for quite some time I've been doing the "can't play for more that 1.5h at a time" thing. Miss the time when I could just shut up my brain and play.
I blame TinyBuild. They're not a good publisher. They release a lot of undercooked games, some of which had horrible PR. They have no standard for quality and hence they aren't a great company to associate your product with. Pathologic 2 is actually the first high-profile game they published when you think about it, and I don't think they handled it well. There wasn't much done in terms of advertising or anything.
Yes. Here I see some comments like "I didn't knew the game had come out already". People who may be interested in it just don't aware of it's existence. Damn tinyBuild
When I read the comments for the release trailer, a good 70% of them were basically "Yeah that's cool, but when's the next Hello Neighbor". Really shows you the demographic they made for themselves.
Agreed, I just bumped in it from RU-vid algorithm, and even though I want to buy it, it seems there's little to no info on the game. Is it really really been released for PS4? Some news say it has been, but I can't get it anywhere but on steam
After watching your review of Pathologic Classic, I thought "Yeah, I'm glad Mandalore has played it and generated this video for me to enjoy without having to actually *walk* myself through the game, because I'd be bored out of my mind.", but after seeing this review, I'm actually all for buying Pathologic 2. Seems like a great game, especially when you focus on the decisionmaking process and consequences - from your description it seems like some best RPGs out there could learn some things from Pathologic 2 devs.
@@Coco-vv8nf I hope you both do, these seem like mechanics I am not huge on between being bad at videogames and a huge softie who crumples with moral choice, but these devs deserve money. Lots of it.
Agreed. After seeing both reviews and how it has been received, I'd feel it a disservice not to buy this game when I have money again. It looks real neat.
Отличный обзор, MandaloreGaming! Хотел бы отдельно поблагодарить людей, которые переводят твои обзоры на русский язык. Сам я не всегда могу понять некоторые куски текста, а благодаря им просмотрел все твои обзоры (ладно, почти все, в некоторые игры я пока не играл, чтобы смотреть по ним обзоры) ggl trnslt: Great review, MandaloreGaming! I would like to separately thank the people who translate your reviews into Russian. I myself can’t always understand some pieces of text, and thanks to them I looked through all your reviews (well, almost all, I haven’t played some games yet to watch reviews on them)
@@BeGayDoCrimez конечно нужно. К сожалению, многих культовых иностранцев никто не переводит, поэтому их очень сложно смотреть, хоть и очень хочется. Но что поделать. А тут канал в первую очередь зацепил именно тем, что переведён, а уже потом тем, что Мандалор красавчик :)
@@DashStan ну что тут сказати - делитесь, рассказывайте друзьям. Главное, чтобы Мондич не переставал верить в нашу полезность, а то мне ещё волшебного бычка кормить :D
Mandalore: "Ok, no more wierd russian games..." Knoc-Knock and Two versions of The Void: "Allow us to intoduce ourselves!" P.s. Give your money to Ice Pick Lodge ASAP. We need them Nerd and Satanic Girl routes.
What's the difference between the two versions of The Void? I tried watching an LP of it a while ago, got halfway through, and realised I made a mistake.
@@Guymanbot97 There is a difference in a story and difficulty of the game. The Void is a remake of Turgor (original Russian game) for English-speaking auditory, there were added quests (in the original game no one tells you what to do), The Colour has become a third party of the conflict with its own quests, The Sisters lack personality and in the remake you can't talk to them anymore, The Brothers have been demonized and become clearly "bad guys", there is much more pointers and activities in the remake, one of the endings was cut.
@@andrewdyagilev1653 what are you talking about? You still can talk to the Sisters just fine, only not as much as before, and Brothers were more interesting and expanded. The Void is more like a Director's Cut on steroids of Tension aka Turgor, it uses same engine, same assets, tells mostly the same story, but with a few cool twists and better overall quality.
@@Horseofhope In the original game there were two more conversational glyphs, through which you can learn some info about the Void and about sister's past. Well, that is your opinion about remake being better than the original, i heard and red quite the opposite opinion about gameplay in the remake being eased, the story less metaphoric and more straightforward.
You know, I wasn't planning on getting this game. Your Pathologic review had made it pretty clear it wasn't for me. But this looks very playable. I think I'll pick it up.
This game deserves to do way better then it is right now. Please people, if you buy one game this month BUY THIS ONE. Don't wait for a sale or wait for the nearest sale, but just do it!
Welcome to game community right now. Most people don't like games when you need to think and when somebody disagrees - they claimed to be an "idiot" or something similar
I did and had to refund it. I have installed the game, tried booting it and it never worked. My computer has the specs to play it but me and many others are unable to even give it a chance.
Whats up with you people i played through it when i was 14 and i have good memories of it. I mostly like the part how they made the bolters very canon.
I gotta say the extent that they took community feedback from the first game is pretty admirable. They clearly learned a LOT from the release of Pathologic 1
I see the reaction to this game as video game criticism itself going through some growing pains. Film criticism is split pretty well in half between the "Arty" films and the "popcorn" flicks. We all understand the distinction and know where to get our reviews from. You know which reviewers focus on disposable trash and which ones focus on impenetrable nonsense. Video games sort of have this, but the thing is video games can be difficult in multiple ways: either difficult to play, or difficult to understand. A video game like dear Esther is, imo, difficult in precisely the same way as holy motors. It's hard to understand what's going on and what it's trying to say. By contrast, cup head is just fuckin hard to play. The plot takes zero brain cells to understand, but the gameplay is taxing. Pathologic is both, and I think that's why it's getting a critical paddling. It appeals neither to the cuphead or Esther crowds. It is a difficult game mechanically and its hard to understand. I also think most of game "reviews" are just buyers guides, and that definitely isn't helping. This game appeals to very specific individuals, and players that just want to turn their brain off and have fun are gonna hate this.
I agree, but to make a long story short it would help if game reviews better address who the game is for. I'd love a "type of gamers that might like/hate this game" paragraph in the conclusion. Also, it's fine if a reviewer admits that he doesn't enjoy a certain type of game. The review is still valid. But people can judge for themselves if that specific review holds enough value for them.
@@hkr667 That's something that you'd thing would be more common in games journalism, but it really isn't for some surprising reason. I think I've only read 2 reviews this year which say something along the lines of "if you're the type of person who enjoys [x] you'll enjoy this game", and they were both about an old 90s game
I do feel kinda worried about Pathologic's future. With game failing at sales and some people leaving IPL, I'm afraid we might not see Bachelor's and Changeling's (i still don't get why she was translated like that) campaigns at all. Quite a pity, considering the first part being my nearly first computer game ever and an experience influential enough to make me take a gamedesigner career. :c
Re: Clara's title - you know sidhe, the og elves, from the Celtic mythology? They lived under the hill, were immortal and very nasty to humans, and occasionally stole babies. However, for their gambit to go unnoticed, they'd always leave an impostor elf/spirit child that looks the same, but is different - a changeling. Of course, it isn't 1:1 correlation to the in games events, but there are enough of them for me to consider this a brilliant translation. Miles better than the original Devotress, at least.
Clara's original title in Russian was twofold: apparently it could mean liar or impostress and on the other something like she-who-would- become . It was a very ambiguous title. In the original english translation it was translated to devotress, something which gave it a somewhat religious feel to it. Not entirely wrong, but it kind of missed the sinister/ambiguous context of the original. Changeling on the other hand keeps the ambiguous feeling : changelings are fairy children who were put in by their parents as replacements for human children who had been kidnapped by fairies. They looked like the children taken but did not posses a conscience and lacked an understanding of good and evil. They could therefore be quite dangerous. If you are familiar with Clara you'll understand why this title suits her well.
I really like how the Haruspex is framed as a foreigner returning to his hometown where many things have changed, and he has often either forgotten several things or situations and customs have changed on him. Its a great route to start from since we, the players, might also be familiar with the old game but have to relearn the customs and mechanics of this reimagined world
An opinion is only as good as the logic, experience and understanding behind the person giving it. Shame the internet can't discern between people like Mandalore and say, a 15 year old cellphone kid. >__>
Gotta be honest, I generally re-watch these reviews simply for the fact that over the past 6 months because of what it does for my mental health, I developed anxiety to the point of ultimately having to be submitted to a partial hospitalization. This was due to a new job in the military and it broke me in a way that I'm still grappling with, but the way Mandalore reviews and his voice is able to bring me back to a more leveled state of mind instead of my brain feeling like its in a state of constant fight or flight.
Thank you for sharing, and I wish you all the best. I find that madseasonshow (in spite of being all about wow) has quality and care to the videos which you may appreciate.
Greetings, like zimbly i recommend madseason to you as well, i think you'd enjoy his demeanor, and with the launch of WoW:classic he has a lot of fresh content if you're into that kind of thing. Good luck.
Glad to hear you are feeling better, I hope you have an easier time from here on out. Listening to this channel always puts me in a good place, too. Never hesitate to holler, we are here for you.
Hey there, I have crippling anxiety and had to drop out of college 7 times because of it :). It's horror to answer the phone, the door, etc. I hope you're doing well.
The mindmap was a huge improvement. Still though the game will be a hidden gem, its a niche game and for a very specific audience but for that audience its a dream come true. I have to say i enjoyed every bit of it, especially when the game opens up and takes you for the proverbial ride. Its a very well thought game and it would have been so much better had they some more budget.
Im so thankful Mandalore for this review as i was starting to be scared that this game will not spread to more people. It does have a lasting effect on me and even after i finished it completely, i still just want to play it and look around the town and its inhabitants. Tbh i knew you would review this game (you are the one that forced me to buy this awesome game after your review of the first game) but i was kinda scared that you will review it after another 2 chars will be released and that would be too late as i would suspect and would not see that this game is finished right now and those new characters will only be something like a free story expansion. So thank you from all of my heart Mandalore.
love that he puts some spotlight on slavic games. there are sometimes real gems coming from slavic countries, but they are often not very well known. still have fond memories from space rangers 2 back in the day.
“i cant beet gaem, must b desinned liek that gud hrd 1 ppl tulk about. how desprit and unoriginel LOL” But as a published game article written by someone trying to be taken seriously
It's just as valid as the opposite though. Being hard or unclear or having a steep learning curve doesn't mean it makes the game better. There should at least be some intent behind it. And it's up to the player to decide if that intent makes it a good game or a game that is just hard to be hard. This makes me think of the discussion about gaming with disabilities, where many a people argued that games shouldn't have a difficulty option because it would ruin the game if other people have a choice.
@@hkr667 I hope you aren't describing Pathologic 2 as unclear. The devs made a bunch of improvements specifically to the clarity, and it would be a terrible shame if people kept saying "more" instead of recognizing those improvements.
"The kind of friend who emerges from a coffin and wants to tell you a secret." Oh, I didn't know you were actually reviewing an old Shadowrun video game.
