Pathologic 2

Pathologic 2 is a horror role-playing game released in 2019, developed by Ice-Pick Lodge and published by tinyBuild. It began as a planned remake of the studio’s 2005 title *Pathologic*, but its scope expanded significantly during development. The final product has been called a remake, a reboot, and a remaster, incorporating elements of all three. The game was originally intended to include three storylines, matching those of the Bachelor, Haruspex, and Changeling from the original. Only the Haruspex’s story was included at launch on May 23, 2019. On October 7, 2024, it was announced that the Bachelor’s route would instead become a standalone sequel, *Pathologic 3*, with a different gameplay style and scope, targeting a 2025 release window.

A free playable demo, *The Marble Nest*, with its own short story, was released on December 2, 2015, alongside an alpha build on September 11, 2017. Another demo came out on April 24, 2019, a month before the full game. An updated version of *The Marble Nest* was released as Steam DLC on October 28, 2020, free for anyone who owned the base game before that date.

Gameplay takes place in the Town on the Gorkhon River, with occasional tutorial sequences and one-off events. The town is split into districts named after body parts, such as “The Gut” or “The Hindquarters,” which can become infected or abandoned due to the plague. Player actions directly influence which districts fall ill or stay healthy, and traveling through infected areas—sometimes necessary for objectives or scavenging—greatly increases infection risk. The game runs on day cycles, with a day and a short night. During the day, most activities are available, shops are open, children play, and citizens move about. After midnight, the night phase begins, locking off many events until the next day or permanently. Shops close, few citizens remain except night watchmen, and bandits may attack the player or rob unsuspecting townsfolk. Each night, a play is rehearsed at the central theater, featuring bizarre, surreal scenes that cryptically hint at future events. After the play, the Dead Item Shop opens at a random location, where the player can trade normally useless “dead” items—like wrappers, broken bottles, or used bandages—for various goods, sometimes rare.