Pathologic 3
Ice-Pick Lodge · 2026 · Psychological Horror, Horror, Story Rich, Atmospheric, Survival Horror
PC
Very Positive81% · 2,43479Metacritic
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About Pathologic 3
Pathologic 3 is a psychological horror game where you have only 12 days to save a town from a mysterious plague.
You are Daniil Dankovsky: physician, researcher, prodigy. Your research into the nature of death has brought you to this remote town deep in the eastern steppe, looking for a man said to be immortal.
But the outbreak of a deadly contagion sweeps through the town. The immortal man is dead. You failed to stop it.
Now you must return to the beginning. Fix your mistakes. Save the town.
Every minute counts. Save them all, discover the secrets of immortality... don't go mad in the process.
Bring your medical training to bear. Observation and knowledge are your tools. Work with patients face-to-face.
Examine the sick and make diagnoses. Each patient is a unique story — and a medical mystery. They may lie, omit the truth, or hide their motives. You must separate fact from fiction, and identify the real symptoms. Step by step, you'll get closer to developing a vaccine that could change everything.
Fight for every new day. Ensure the town's survival by imposing your own rules: enforce quarantines, confiscate precious medicine, vaccinate the population, suppress riots, deploy patrols, and declare curfews.
You will make mistakes, face their consequences, and unlock new decrees. Your actions will shape the town—even if the people grow to hate you for it. Power is in your hands. It's up to you whether the streets will see gunfire or fireworks.
Made a mistake? Go back, and fix it.
Time is your tool for navigating a narrative web filled with moral dilemmas and branching paths. Rewind if you think you could have done better. Keep your eye on your ultimate goal—even if the road there is paved with sacrifices.
How far will you go to find the truth? Your mental state directly affects your actions, and even how you interpret events. Falling into apathy or wandering into mania may lead you to new insights... or to your death.
DLC & expansions
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What Steam players say
Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.
✦ AI summary
Players praise Pathologic 3 as a remarkably well-written and narratively innovative experience with meaningful choices that genuinely impact the story, alongside excellent voice acting and atmosphere that creates an emotionally resonant experience unlike most games. However, many note the game is notably verbose, mechanically complex with some questionable design decisions, notably different from its predecessor, and somewhat technically rough around the edges, though these flaws don't prevent it from being compelling and unique.
PATHOLOGIC PATHOLOGIC PATHOLOGIC PATHOLOGIC PATHOLOGIC PATHOLOGIC PATHOLOGIC2 found this helpful
tl;dr play Classic or 2 instead I loved Classic and 2 but 3 just struggles to engage me. Poor pacing, watered down survival and gameplay mechanics, excess repetition, grinding, poor immersion, the game is way too long... The writing has neither the mystery and abstractness of Classic, nor the brevity and efficacy of 2. Dialogue tends to feel verbose for its own sake. Trying out new mechanics and things as a developer is nice, but I think this game was fumbled. I'm not sure who it's for. It feels too esoteric for a newcomer and too basic for a long time fan. It's a pain to say these because I love the previous entries a great deal. If you are interested in Pathologic, redirect your attention to Classic or 2. They respect you as a player far more than 3 does, even if they have jank here and there.1 found this helpful
As a huge fan of the series, I was a bit hesitant at first. I wasn't sure if the new approach to the gameplay would benefit the unique structuren of these book-like games, but I was pleasantly surprised. The new mechanics are well developed and fleshed out, and most importantly, the pressure and difficulty is preserved without being too unforgiving. I have yet to finish the game, because IT'S LONG. The delightfully non-linear storytelling encourages the player to explore every nook and cranny it has to offer. The English translation seems to be a lot better than in the previous game. It's well localized without sacrificing meaning and cultural contexts. I re-translated Pathologic 2 from Russian into my native language in my own time for my own enjoyment, and I can already see this game would be a much higher mountain to scale with the sheer amount of excellent writing. The game is definitely accessible to people who aren't familiar with the setting, but of course that external knowledge helps. I would still encourage trying Pathologic 2 first, but it isn't necessary. If I could, I would travel back in time to experience this game with a clean slate ;). My only caveat - at le…1 found this helpful
Such a strange game. In a good way. Daniil Dankovsky's fun steppe vacation just got a lot more interesting, if a bit more convoluted. There's multiple endings, and in none of them do you do what one would expect the premise of the game to be. This game is not about the Town on the Gorkhon. It feels like it's only tangentially about Daniil Dankovsky. It's really about Simon Kaine, and the ideas he represented. Purchase the game. It's premise is unique, the mechanics- not often used in other games. The story, as always for this developer, is mint. The characterization is phenomenal. The atmosphere is... just pretty good, sadly. But this is the only game where a betrayal ever actually made me feel betrayed. Fantastic. My only gripe is that there are no survival elements to the game, which is a huge part of why I liked the previous game. You have a health bar, which I only ever had run out about twice throughout my entire playthrough. It's very easy to simply heal, or not take damage in the first place, if you put in a minute amount of effort. There is also, essentially, a mental health mechanic. It's very cool, very unique, and if you manage it improperly, very miserable. On brand …
Story & Plot Development 2/2 Graphics 1/2 Sounds 1/2 Gameplay 2/2 Replayability 2/2 Overall: 8/10
It's a janky mess of a game, be aware of that going in. I have to reinstall it every day I want to play it. Who knows what kind of bugs you will encounter. However I feel the world and the setting are interesting enough to explore to warrant it. A youtube video essay is good for a summary and themes, but just doesn't give you everything. Be prepared for the story to get [i] WEIRD. [/i] It's a story in three parts/layers. [spoiler] First, the linear sequence of events, of cause and effect, which the main character is disconnected from and able to time travel in to change how certain things happen. Second, the battle of wits against an interrogator, who is trying to pin blame on the main character as they discuss the events of the story after they happen. Third, the meta layer where the game knowingly presents itself as fake dressed up in the tapestry and language of the theater. [/spoiler]
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