Pathologic 3
Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Critic Reviews for Pathologic 3
Intentionally and unintentionally thorny, but still one of the most compelling mystery adventures since Disco Elysium.
But perhaps that’s the point. Pathologic 3 is about disease and friction and difficult choices. It is not a game for everyone, and it doesn’t try to be. It’s demanding and deliberately obscure, and asks you to embrace failure as part of its teaching method; that will put people off.
With that said, the Pathologic series has always demanded tolerance for a certain level of frustration because the payoff is so splendid, and in this regard, the third game is no exception. Intricately plotted and atmospheric, Pathologic 3’s great achievement is its reexamination of the series from a new perspective, with sweeping changes to the core that are as bold and ambitious as they are a totally natural extension of the new protagonist. It doesn’t match its predecessor’s level of tension, but in many ways it’s even more immersive and detailed. Not only does the Town-on-Gorkhon still make for one of the medium’s most transportive settings, but Daniil Dankovsky emerges as one of the medium’s richest protagonists.
Defying all traditional game design conventions like its predecessors, Pathologic 3 offers a consistently compelling journey of morality in the face of death.
Pathologic 3 is a familiar survival horror concept brought to life by artists with twenty years of experience – a mature, competent, and precisely tuned work. One of the best stories in video games, told in an extremely unique way. Is it still imperfect? Of course; Pathologic 3 still struggles with the limitations of its engine and budget, but these rarely bothered me.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Given a little more time to cook, Pathologic 3 would be an easy recommendation to players looking to see what this cult series is about. For those returning, tragic healers, these wobbles will hardly detract from the allure of another deadly vacation with gaming's most neurotic medicine man.
Pathologic 3 is the most approachable title in the series, offering a good mix of narrative, carefully crafted atmosphere, management elements, and tense infected district sections. Players need to diagnose patients correctly to stand a chance of keeping the population alive, which in turn earns the time needed to discover all the town’s secrets.
