Developer Ice-Pick Lodge’s masterful plague survival horror Pathologic 2 will, following its launch on Xbox One and PC last year, finally be making its way to PS4 this Friday, 6th March.
Pathologic 2 is a haunting, unforgettable experience for all sorts of reasons (and certainly not for everyone), but the first important thing to note is that you needn’t worry about the “2” in the title. No knowledge of its predecessor is required, and it’s more of a much-enhanced remake, expanding on the original’s themes, than a sequel in any traditional sense.
Like its predecessor, Pathologic 2 charts the sudden decline of a small town on the edge of the Russian Steppe. As the game begins, you, as surgeon Artemy Burakh, return to this strange corner of the world, having received an urgent missive from your father – and things rapidly start to go wrong, as a mysterious plague rains death and chaos on your childhood home.
Pathologic 2 – Release Date Trailer | Children of Gorkhon Watch on YouTube
What follows is something like a cross between an immersive sim and a survival game, unfolding across 12, increasingly desperate days. Within each 24-hour cycle, there are relationships to rebuild, and new narrative threads to tease out by ensuring you’re in the right place at the right time – all of which needs to be done alongside the relentless hunt for food and supplies so you’re suitably prepared to survive the imminent onslaught of misery.