Pathologic Demo

Adventure games usually take on another perspective when it comes to providing players with a memorable experience, mostly because the action is not as fast-paced as in action titles, or even RPG games. Hence, a much greater emphasis is put on character development, story line and the puzzles that must be unlocked in order to advance further into the tale.

Pathologic is an adventure game that revolves around a very well-written plot and the unique characters that take part in it, rather than non-stop action at every step. Because of this, the entire experience feels much more like a book, except for the fact that you get to influence the events and play a role in the grand scheme of things, by directly controlling one of the main characters.

As such, the story line follows the fate of a mysterious city that's affected by a surge of deaths caused by a lethal disease, which has yet to be identified. To investigate the manner and get to the bottom of the mystery, you can choose to play as either of the three available characters, each one of which has a distinct personality and a rich background story to explain their actions.

One thing that truly impresses at the game is the fact that, after you choose to play as one of the characters, the other two are still part of the story and they actively work against you in your quest. Hence, you are always in danger, whether it's from the strange disease going around, or the two enemies that do everything in their power to bring you down and cause you to fail.

Moreover, the entire town is affected by your choices and reacts adequately to your decisions, since every person can change his or her attitude toward you in the blink of an eye. This can also be achieved through conversation, due to the large palette of dialogue options you are presented with each time you talk with someone, whether to investigate something, or just find out more about them and the town.

In the end, Pathologic has the unique ability to catch you in its atmosphere and give you plenty of food for thought, even when you are not actually playing it. Thus, thanks to the rich background story, interesting characters and captivating gameplay, the title is pretty difficult to put down once you start playing it.