A town rotting from within, a clock that never stops, and you, the surgeon who always arrives too late.

On gut instinct, with no criterion, Pathologic 2 finishes ahead of two thirds of games. That is already a lot for something this hostile. And the detail explains why the instinctive vote holds. The art style ranks ahead of 84% of titles, the wish to rediscover it for the first time climbs above average, desert island sits mid-pack. But controller feel collapses near the very bottom, on few votes admittedly, and attachment stays low too. The tension is head-on: it is respected, it is called strong, and nobody takes pleasure in holding it. That is exactly what the game claims. Hunger, exhaustion, failure, these are not design bugs, they are the subject.

Within narrative survival, it stands as a radical exception: where others try to reward you, this one makes you negotiate with your own defeat.

So, who is it for? For you if you want a game that resists you, an atmosphere that clings to the skin, writing that refuses to spare you. Much less so if you want a system that treats you kindly.