Pathologic is Genius, And Here's Why 

I unironically love that we live in a world where a guy can talk about a video game for 2 straight hours, praising it constantly, only to tell you not to play it.

There's a positive review on steam that describes Pathologic as like "reading Dostoyevsky but the book is beating the shit out of you" and i really feel like that sums up the vibe

In this video, you can see the clear rate of the Day 1 achievement is 13.2%. 4 years later, I checked the achievements, and the Day 1 clear rate is 16.5%. In 4 years, there has only been a 3.3% increase of players who actually went this far. And yet, somehow, it has 88% positive reviews from 2942 users. One of the top POSITIVE reviews literally states "made my mental illness worse." EDIT: Apparently it's an increase of about 25%. Thanks random math nerd

It just hit me that this came out 2 months before we were all dodging the actual plague in real life "So a plague is starting, but no one with the power to take proper action will help because everyone has their own agenda."

I just wanna note something someone said in the premiere chat: Most kids are all "I wanna have magic powers!" and these kids are like "I want this bachelor of medicine to realize his quest to conquer death is ultimately futile."

As a native russian speaker I feel like I need to point out that the remastered english translation is EASIER and LESS CRYPTIC to understand than the original russian text, that's how weirdly it is written. Every conversation you'll ever have in this game will feel like you're trying to communicate with a half-dazed semi-senile theatre prima who someone forgot to notify about the fact that the show has been over for several decades now and who is clearly on meth. But they are my half-dazed semi-senile meth addicts and I love them.

"Don't catch the plague, shithead" has to be some of the best life advice I've ever heard.

Wow, I can't believe Daniil Dankovsky plagerised that quote.

So now I'm a girl in a small Russian town in the middle of the plague. It's time to start speaking like I have a PhD in philosophy.

RU-vid Algorithm: Do you want to watch the 2 hour long "Pathologic is Genius, and Here's Why" video for the fifth time? Me: yeah

It's fair to criticize the fact that none of the NPCs are doing anything or talking to each other when you enter a room, but if you think about it... Doesn't that illustrate the themes of the game and the secret ending? The fact that they're dolls who only act when their god decides to play with them?

4 years, you waited 4 years for that joke.. respect, honestly.

Giving you a 6 shot revolver and then pitting you against exactly 7 guys is hilarious

This is a 2h long documentary depicting a man developing Stockholm syndrome towards a game. 10/10 fun.

i watched this when it first came out and all these years later "DANIIL DANKOVSKIYS FUN STEPPE VACATION was just the tutorial for ARTEMY BURAKHS TORMENTOUS NIGHTMARE" still lives rent free in my head

Based on my experience and reading this comments section, I feel like the 8M views are just 1M people who have watched this video an average of 8 times lol

This reminds me of a tweet I've read a while back. "A Russian book is only truly good if either the writer, the reader, or the characters suffer" and the reply "And only if all three suffer, can it truly be considered a masterpiece".

"honey, it's 4pm, time to watch Pathologic Is Genius and Here's Why again" "yes dear"

A pretty meta thing that Hbomb didn't mention is that with as the bachelor as your first playthrough the town, exploring a place that doesn’t make sense to you is really fitting. But the moment you play as the other two, you're playing with the knowledge you have of the town, which makes sense as they’re both residents of the town. This means that as separate playthroughs the knowledge you had to fight to gainmin the first, comes as a given for others.

BABE WAKE UP its time for the bimonthly rewatch of the hbomberguy pathologic video essay

Haha, imagine officials denying an obvious plague is going to kill everyone, that could never happen now...

I am from Russia, many of us played it as kids with no internet, it felt normal-paced because we usually didn't have too many games to play. So we never questioned if it was weird.

Dankovsky is the purest embodiment of that “His autistic personality and transgender looks have captivated me” tweet I’ve ever seen

had a nightmare about pathologic last night, but it was one of those self aware ones so I was just like "WHAT AM I DOING SLEEPING I NEED TO BUY A DELICIOUS EGG"

27:03 “A plague is starting, but no one with the power to take proper action will help because everyone has their own agenda.” This aged well.

Still can't believe that Tommy Tallarico made the soundtrack for this masterpiece.

"THAT'S what the game looks like???" -My loving partner who has heard me listen this video hundreds of times, but apparently never looked at the screen

What I find fascinating is your brief stint talking about immortality through art. Achilles was foretold he would either die young in the Trojan war or live long enough to see his name forgotten. He chose the former, and to this day we speak of the achilles heel. Gilgamesh was forced to give up on his quest for immortality, but the tale of this quest lives on today and is considered the world's oldest poem, being older than the entirety of the Imperial house of Japan. Pathologic joins a chorus of art proclaiming that art begets immortality, and actually does so with a question mark, asking us if this immortality is even good. It's a weirdly...nihilistic bend to the idea. These heroes of yore have become immortal in the written word, but the likes of Socrates detested the written word, as it can't defend itself, it can't change, it can't learn, it can't redeem itself. They've become immortal, and in that immortality have they been petrified. Achilles is remembered for his wrath and bloodshed, and his pettiness causing the death of many (including those he loved); Gilgamesh was such an asshole, the gods literally created Enkidu to bring him down a peg. In pathologic, you'll likely do AWFUL things. Maybe, ironically, the ones that do what they must to survive are the ones least excited over the chance to see their deeds immortalized. Maybe their mortality in spirit can be a solace; a universe that can forgive as it forgets. Thanks, I listend to you for so long, I started musing on the nature of nature like a total cockwomble.

Harris says that Pathologic is the most alone you can get with your thoughts in a game. he says this because clearly, hes never depersonalized while playing solitaire for multiple straight hours

january 2020: daniil dankovsky's fun steppe vacation may 2020: artemy burak'sh tormentous nightmare

Sometimes I wonder why the phrase "delicious egg" haunts me. Then, I return.

I’d argue that the revelation that you’re a toy is much better than a movie’s revelation that it was all just a dream. When you wake up from a dream, you’re absolved of all responsibilities and consequences you had in the dream since, well, it wasn’t real to you. So you have protagonists ultimately didn’t do anything wrong or right or anything at all, since it wasn’t real to them. It throws away any kind of importance to actions since you know it will be meaningless to the main character. An ant that is a dreaming person will wake up without any changes to their life. But for a character to discover that they’re a toy for a bunch of kids, what’s so different from this to meeting the big and cynical man upstairs? Their life may not have much meaning to the kids, but this doesn’t change the reality they live in. Even if dictated by some kids, their actions still have consequences for the town and themselves. They still have to eat, sleep, avoid the plague, etc. They can’t leave the reality they live in, they just got a chance to see what’s above their reality. An ant seeing their ant farm tank for the first time doesn’t change how they’ve worked to feed the colony.

a plague is starting and the people in power have no idea what they are doing and you feel completely powerless *haha i love fictional video games*

Imagine if the horrible translation was something unique to the Bachelor. He's not from there, he may not speak their dialect (or even language) all that well. Imagine getting turned off by the near unintelligible conversations and then you decide to play the Haruspex and suddenly everything is written perfectly crisp and clear.

Each time I rewatch this video and, "Now." gets farther and farther away, the harder that segment hits.

21:40 - Artemy: "People only fear bloodshed when it's _their_ blood and _their_ shed."

The 3 million views are just the same 30k people watching the video again

Playing Bachelor: "I hate this entire town." Playing Haruspex: "This entire town hates me." Playing Changeling: "Just like the simulations."

40:57 CITE YOUR SOURCES, BACHELOR

1:45 translated by a mystical rat 2:29 it's an amazing game! 3:20 and by ambiguous I mean,, imaginary 5:29 your gentle hands 17:21 a very powerful ability to strongly incentivize that you don't do whatever you want. 24:48 unless you submit yourself to their whims. 45:15 You're supposed to be asking this guy for help, Daniel! 45:59 the prickly prick that'll bury us all 51:30 GO, ONION! I NEED TO COLLECT THE TOOLS- 52:04 that is not how you pronounce chimmyray 54:45 apologizing if they don't make much sense 1:03:21 get good at walking 1:05:09 TORMENTOUS NIGHTMARE 1:09:37 give me the hherbs, Worm 1:14:52 he even says random latin phrases at you. I love this prickly little prick 1:19:21 I'm gonna cure the town! 1:20:23 DANKOVSKY YOU PRICKLY PRICK YOU'VE BURIED US ALL 1:21:23 there was nothing to hope for from the start 1:36:02 rude to you but in a cute way 1:46:00 forgive me if my speech is unclear or absurd 1:52:23 more brilliant when unfinished 1:54:06 but don't play it, it sucks

Have I played this? No. Do I even know what it is? Also no. Will I still watch the entire video? You bet.

"Come back in 6 months" Yeah I've played Pathologic 2. IN REAL LIFE, BABY.

1:31:10 the girl in the street is the same as the girl in the garden, right? unless it's just an instance of the same character design being used, i wouldn't be surprised if this was the girl's way of inserting herself into the story. she decides her toys need a bit of help, so she imagines herself there helping them. incredible

Maybe it's futile but I still dream of a day when we'll get the hbomberguy video for Pathologic 2

“So a plague is starting but no one with the power to help will take proper action because everyone has their own agenda...” *stares into the camera in American*

A 2 hour long film me: eh, a tad too long innit A 2h YT video me: ayyy, how about a 3rd rewatch

40:55 the distance Harry went to complete this joke 4 years later could circle the entire circumference of the earth 50 times over lmao.

The fact that the advice about Nina is the most replayed part if the video implying people went back to remember it while playing the game makes me really happy

I love playing Pathologic. It’s easier than people think. You just press play, and this nice British man explains it to you!

Next time someone tries to argue with me, i'll hit them with the ol "YOU ARE BROKEN. I, ON THE OTHER HAND, AM USED TO WINNING"

By this point we all know Daniil is an onion, but you should all also know that in Polish, "burak" just means beetroot. So Artemy is just..... Mr. Beet

at 9:04 when he says, "you might be wondering why I'm reading the words out when they're on the screen, and that's because some people like to listen to these videos," it felt like a nice moment as right then I was in an art class and listening to this while doing an assignment, idk it just made me smile. He puts so much work into these videos for anyone to enjoy it however they can.

The Bachelor: *says something pretentious* The Player: Im not with him. Ive never met this man before in my life

broke: "i digress" woke: "forgive me if my speech is unclear or absurd"

Hbomberguy: "So a plague is starting, but nobody with the power to do anything about will take proper action, because everyone has their own agenda" Me: *sees video was released in November 2019* Apollo_dodgeball.jpg

I fell asleep listening to this, and thought I imagined most of it up. The hunger, the price change, especially shmowder. I'm astounded that my brain made none of this up except for putting into a Stardew valley art style.

"I put a lot of effort into my visuals, but, y'know... that's fine." I'M SORRY HARRIS I HAVE ADHD

its *my* stress induced meltdown and *i* choose the comfort media

4 years later and we finally get payoff for a joke. Good job hbomb

I might be disgustingly late to this idea, but I thought I'd bring it up: the sound of a child crying that plays whenever your reputation goes down... Is one of the kids from the garden making that noise, weeping because their story has taken yet another turn for the tragic? Again, this has only occurred to me as a possibility after listening to this video about a dozen times. (btw sorry mr. bomberguy, my job won't let me have my phone out :(

This is *MY* sleepover and *I* get to choose the movie!

"you are broken Lara. I, on the other hand, am used to winning" is something you'd expect Shadow the hedgehog to say, swiftly followed by "you're a beta male, Sonic!"

Coming back here four years later when Harris finally actually reincorporated that bit about quoting Danil. Perfection..

As I was rewatching this today I was struggling to hand-sew a patch with a very tough backing onto denim, it was a difficult and unpleasant experience during which I pricked my fingers numerous times and considered giving up to try again a different day. Hbomberguy's resilience against this game inspired me to keep sewing until I was finished, and similarly to him I felt satisfied and rewarded for my efforts by the end of it. Thanks for giving me the drive to continue :)

On my 6th rewatch and only just now realizing that there are worm people in this world probably because there are worms in the kids' sandbox.

Ukranian Russian here, I might be able to explain the "Dragon/Leviathan" bit. So its not them using weird words just cause. The phrase Immortal Dragon has cultural connotation because our folklore and children's tales often feature a superhuman tank of a knight called a bagatir fighting various enemies, like baba yaga, koschei the "death-less" , and a dragon named zmei gorynych. They essentially created a smorgasborg of Slavic folklore as a backdrop for the story and this phrase is a small example, they combined the famous titles of two villains central in our cultural folktales, and this led to: "the dragon without death". Or a little more concisely: "the immortal dragon" as seen in the "out of place" translation. Leviathan may make more sense to English players in context but it loses depth when the cultural/nostalgia feeling is replaced by a simple overused metaphor. It isn't a fully faithful translation, but I got no problems cause this may actually be impossible without a player having intimate cultural and lingual knowledge of the origin. But yea 95% of quirky translation here is just direct or adapted translation of a creative mash of slavic slang, references, idioms, etc. used in this story to draw in Slavic players by drawing on their memories and cultural identity with clever and subtle slips to create a feeling of even further depth in the setting and and increases the game's inherent draw to that subsect of players.

40:55 You did it. I've been waiting so long, but you finally did it. I feel complete now

Me, having this on while I do chores around the house: wow I'm so glad hbomberguy videos don't need me to watch them the whole time Hbomberguy: y'know I put a lot of effort into these visuals...

*_Pathologic, a Game where the Player becomes the NPC, but the Protagonist never appears._*

Of course Dankovsky has so much walking to do, he's gotta meet his daily Steppe goals.

i was told by my drama teacher to watch this so i have it on in the background while im restoring a danse macabre woodcut

In case anyone was curious, like i was, a haruspex is like.. an ancient roman priest that divines the future through sacrificial organs. A more modern translation might be “necromancer” but honestly i think haruspex is completely on the nose 😳

Time for my monthly viewing of "Pathologic is Genius, And Here's Why" I hope it'll be just as good as the other 15 times I've watched it

It is vital that everyone know that in pathologic 2 the bachelor is so short that in one of the parts where you meet him outside of isidor’s house the devs had to make him float a few inches off the ground in order to make him easily noticeable so you don’t step on him. This fact is important to me

IT'S BEEN THREE YEARS. WHAT IS THE SECOND STILL OBJECT

The Bachelors quote "Truth does not do as much good in the world... as its counterfeits do evil" is incredible, his character constantly assumes his perception is the truth where it isn't and that perception, the "counterfeit truth" does terrible damage to everyone. He's arrogant enough to preach this quote profoundly but only because he assumes, to the point of 'knowing', his perception is the truth and as such can't follow his own quote, he's a walking contradiction.

"A plague is starting and no one with the proper power to help is taking any action because they all have their own agenda." Damn, thats some dystopian shit right there man hahaha, thank god it'll never happen in real life oh

This video infected my brain because I watched it shortly after getting a job in food service and every time I went to grab onions out of the cooler I said to myself "go, onion, i need to collect the tools"

Shopkeeper is seriously looking you dead in the eye and telling you a egg is worth 1650$

I’m on day 5 of the bachelor’s storyline and this game absolutely rules. “You weren’t playing a game where you have to eat food to survive. You were playing a game about starving.”

“Your main quest is getting these warring factions to admit that the obvious problem exists.” Hmmm, wonder what that’s like

Man, the Bachelor's story hits different when you've had unaccomplished life goals sitting on your list for two years, set before the plague completely wrecked everyone's priorities.

Oh Pathological video essay. The time for you to assist me has come again. The hour grows late yet I find myself not tired. Sing me to rest as you have done many times before. Only you, a video I’ve watched like 6 times all the way through can do this task for me

rip hbomberguy you would've loved fear and hunger 🙏🙏🙏

An interesting detail I noticed: at the end of the opening play all of the characters exit the stage but they all exit in different ways. the bachelor takes the stairs thereby ruining the illusion of the performance. The haruspex exits back through the wings of the stage as most stage actors would. And lastly Clara hops off the front of the stage like a child. Just an interesting detail

Great job everyone, since this video’s been released, we’ve gotten the Pathologic first day completion achievement up to a whopping 15%!

Ok. Ok so I ADORED this video first of all. I love Pathologic's strange and convoluted story but I'm SO impressed with how you managed to dismiss the Changeling's story for THAT LONG just to reveal the secret ending twist and carry on to explain the last playthrough. Like that was EXTREMELY well delivered, I'm super pleased by this outcomr

Sometimes you just gotta watch pathologic vids just to feel something

I wish there were more games in the “Playable Russian Literature” genre

26:54 "a plague is starting but no one with the power to take proper action will help because everyone has their own agenda"

there is an emotion evoked by the knowledge this video was published in november 2019 that i cannot name but it is absolutely looming for two straight hours. very well done

41:08 was that joke four years in the making??? Holy shit that's dedication lol

As a med student i can confirm that clinics and surgeons often end up trying to hunt each other down

Boy, don't I have the attention span to watch a 90 minute movie without being on my phone anymore. But I sure can watch a two hour video about a game I haven't played for the 7th time!

00:00:00 Intro 00:00:30 Title 00:03:00 Part I: What is Pathologic? 00:09:00 Part II: Futility & Disempowerment 00:25:28 Part II.ii: Day Two 00:33:46 "Recontextualising" 00:40:37 Part III: The Writing 00:43:28 i. Lies 00:44:37 ii: Perspective 00:56:01 Part IV: The Jank 01:05:52 Part V: The Haruspex, or the real Pathologic starts here 01:21:25 Part VI: The Endings 01:22:48 The Bachelor's Ending 01:24:10 The Haruspex's Ending 01:34:43 Part VII: The Changeling Run 01:49:21 The Changeling's Ending 01:52:24 Conclusion 01:54:13 Pathologic 2 01:58:45 Credits

Fun fact: The one and only time I have ever fallen asleep while on my computer was when I was playing this game. Genuinely, no joke. I was walking for so long that my head just fell forward and I took a nap for like 2 hours. Thanks for introducing this game to me, Mr. Bomberguy.

Me at the start: "2 hours!!?" Me at the end: "I wish there was more"

"Thousands and thousands of rubles! Almost 50$ worth!" I laughed so hard, but then I remembered that I live in Russia and cried

you have NO idea how excited i got when the bachelor quote he said to watch out for actually showed up in his latest video (plagiarism and you(tube)) i actually screeched. IT FINALLY HAPPENED

all the bachelor slander was so funny 😭😭