Pathologic 2 Review

[@MandaloreGaming]

Pathologic 2 on GOG - gog.la/PathologicButAVideoGameNow THE LIST - docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_K3ziSxT9zcUUGCddS4sF1uNJTWHSbOwB1CQX2Rx4Uo/ Game has received patches which improved the performance issues by a lot for me. Your results may vary.

[@Ma_ksi]

Hi

[@errinwright3700]

this got me more hyped than the second coming

[@fragsinus2076]

Recommend you to play Fear and Hunger - hidden gem.

[@SpecShadow]

glad to see you again just keep going and review obscure and forgotten old stuff, don't waste your time on games everyone and their grandma knows. Just sayin... also - can skip UnderRail review since your evil twin Sseth is going to make one

[@isidorbanuta4765]

first killer queen now the pillar men, its nice to know both personnalities like the same anime, must make it a bit easyer to live with one another

[@grosezero8834]

Pathologic 2 is like a video game adaptation of Pathologic

[@MandaloreGaming]

Now this is a great post

[@grosezero8834]

Thanks mandy

[@skeletonwizard708]

Can confirm.

[@Sela1]

XD Savage

[@Unexpectedstuff]

Noice

[@Slaanash]

I like how instead of "neutral" reputation, "nobody cares about you."

[@handler8838]

Russian neutral mode

[@SSshalashaska]

I remember running from hated district to hated district dying of hunger and looking for food. When finally I reached the "No one cares about you" district. And I thought: No-one caring about me is good enough for me. And then realised how sad that idea actually was. What a game!

[@Ribbons0121R121]

i love games that arent afraid to say stuff like that its a very subtle way of jabbing at the player and either makes a good laugh or gets a vibe to the gaame

[@georgsgrants9925]

That’s only in the english translation. In the russian it is “neutral”

[@inigolo9339]

@@georgsgrants9925 maybe Russian neutral is nobody cares

[@SsethTzeentach]

I'm glad you're okay. We're glad you're okay. I'm glad I'm okay.

[@tochka832]

SsethTzeentach okay

[@triplekane9656]

*un'altra persona starts playing*

[@johnny-smith]

Review Crusader Kings 2 AKA medieval horse incest simulator

[@wholesome1844crucifier]

This is getting too esoteric for me

[@IXIskarfaceIXI]

based

[@Influfferious]

I actually recommended it to my uncle who is an archeologist and never played a game in his life. He absolutely loved it.

[@leon6777]

Bold move but I'm so glad you did

[@Kaleestraza]

wtf this makes me feel so warm and fuzzy inside

[@rikkithinn7258]

@@saulwright5663 He is an archeologist, they dig up things for a hobby, obviously he'd like a game where it pays attention to detail.

[@NutyRiver]

@@rikkithinn7258 oh that’s actually adorable. Plus I’d bet not having expectations for how video games “work” helped him have an open mind to the experience.

[@LanderKoenig]

Beautiful

[@johndrumm9914]

I loved one punishment that meant I couldn't hug any NPCs. I went yeah whatever but soon after one character specifically requests that you hold them for comfort. I never came across any other game that did that.

[@LanderKoenig]

Now I want this game

[@Toporshik]

This sounds brilliant

[@jmiquelmb]

Same man. I already expected that the not hugging someone would hit hard, but when it came it hit even harder than I expected. In fact being able to hug is one of my priorities when I play this game again

[@monstergonads11]

Can you break the rule and hug someone? I’m guessing you can since this game gives you so much freedom.

[@everythingpony]

​@@monstergonads11 no it litterly disables hugging, specifically because there's only one person you can hug

[@noeren4695]

Nikolay Dybowski - the founder of Ice Pick Lodge - was giving a speech at one small game developers event at Tomsk some time after the release of Pathologic 2. In his words that was quite a hard thing to push through release. They went into the whole remaster thing thinking that they will just pump up graphics a bit and figure proper English release, but it all got so much more complicated down the way... And after release it barely covered itself. At the closing of his speech he said that they would probably never do games in that way any more. I'm not sure if it covers other characters from original game, that were supposed to be released later... Honestly, that's all a real shame. As someone from Russia, I can count proper Russian game developing studios by the fingers on my one hand and with a few to spare. And among those, Ice Pick Lodge was really doing games as an art. And seeing how they are having troubles just because they are not pushing another fortnite riddled with lootboxes... it's heartbreaking, really. And yeah, I can totally see a point in Dybowski's words - he actually needs to pay people, so they can eat. And it's Russia, so it's not like they are on some EA-bullshit-levels of payroll. So yeah, guys, from the bottom of my heart - go try this game out. It's deep, beautiful theatrical experience with some amazing story. Try it out on GOG, on Steam, return it if it's not your thing, but give it a chance. It's one of the best games I've ever played. It's not perfect by any means, but it's just gorgeous in it's storytelling and atmosphere.

[@alexflorczyk6531]

How scary is it? I don't do horror games too well

[@noeren4695]

@@alexflorczyk6531 Well... that's a tough one to answer straight... It's not really a classic horror game per se, in my opinion (it's defined as a thriller, I think it's somewhat appropriate), there are no screamers and other cheap horror stuff here, at least generally... but it can and will get creepy at times. Mostly it's due to the atmosphere - it's a game about a town hit by the plague, so you can imagine. Depression and sickness are literally in the air. And there is stuff that is quite uncomfortable here... I don't really want to spoil anything, but I can guarantee that your first proper visit to the Termitary will give you chills at the least. That's quite an experience. All and all... If you can handle at least some creepiness, I recon you should be fine. I'm not really a big horror enthusiast myself and I can't say that it was nightmare fuel for me. For what it worth, I would say that moments of fright in that game are a core part of your experience and I would recommend to embrace them. As a doctor, you should be frightened when you enter a house full of sick people. That's just how it goes. And this game works with that concept on a several different layers. So yeah, give it a try.

[@alexflorczyk6531]

@@noeren4695 okay yeah I'll give it a try it sounds cool

[@alexflorczyk6531]

Is the atmosphere similar to stalker?

[@noeren4695]

​@@alexflorczyk6531 No, not at all. It has more of a theatrical and maybe somewhat Lovecraft-ish feel to it.

[@4Deadserious]

"The Graveyard: You're always welcome here" Top tier stressful experience 10/10

[@irinaandreev6950]

The Russian translation in the game actually says something closer to "They're always waiting for you here" which I love.

[@monstergonads11]

I know when I first noticed that and realized lol. You aren’t welcome anywhere but the cemetary, if you catch my drift lol. This game is so macabre and charming

[@Bloodlyshiva]

Now, you see, O read that and that just makes me think of Undead 'Cheers' or 'Friends'.

[@Ark_3311]

😊​@@irinaandreev6950😊😊😊😊

[@maxducks2001]

The reason the culture is so strange is because it’s not just one culture. It’s at least two, those being Russian and Mongolian. When people think of Russia, they usually think of western Russia and Siberia. Pathologic takes place somewhere in southeastern Russia, where it meets the Mongolian steppe. The game presents these two cultures clashing with each other frequently, and the three playable characters(or at least the planned ones/the ones playable in the first game) represent one or the other or a mix. The Bachelor is purely scientific, representing modern Russian science. The Changeling uses mysticism, similar to the traditions and folklore of the steppe. And the Haruspex is stuck between the two, a man who hails from the steppe society, but who went west to become a doctor. It was a great choice to pick the Haruspex as the first character released, because players could experience both cultures if the other two characters are never released.

[@stor314]

Wind up bird chronicle anyone?

[@nikitachumachenko3412]

Russian culture itself is a mix though. We've historically interacted with and adopted so many cultures it turned out to be it's own thing, kinda like it does in pathologic. We have antient slavic culture from the times where Russia was decentralized, asian culture from numerous interactions with Mongolia among the others, we have western european culture from when the empire was built etc

[@iggyschekelburger5023]

That's cuz the entire Steppe Culture is ripped off from the Buryat culture, my culture It's a real culture that exists 99% of all the words used in constructing the "Steppe language" come from the Buryat language, the "weird and incongruous" way the Steppe culture blends Russian and Mongolian ways of life is how Buryatia and surrounding regions function today Which would be fine if Dybowski acknowledged it in any way but he didn't and he doesn't He just took the language, the concepts, the history, and decided to make a game out of it, for westerners and other ethnic Russians to gawk at

[@durema9720]

@@iggyschekelburger5023 Так стоять, когда у вас быков почитали? У вас их даже не было. Ну а насчёт языка, в принципе такое возможно, ибо в первой части брали куплеты из индийской пословицы. Это нормально для них.

[@iggyschekelburger5023]

@@durema9720 это не пословица, это буддийская мантра Зелёной Тары "У нас тут" быков не почитают, но это не играет роли, потому что язык взят бурятский, концепции степной жизни и слияния русской и монгольской культур параллельны истории Бурятии, Калмыкии, а также множества других азиатских культур на территории РФ Дыбовский мог это отметить хоть единожды, но этого не сделал, и теперь почивает на лаврах от чужого невежества касательно чужих культур

[@TheAldiraies]

Hearing Mandalore promoting/defending the game makes me happy and I don't know why.

[@MDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMD]

Because mainstream video game "journalists" are still stupid hacks

[@travalisarcane9112]

M D Y-you can’t just say such wildly true things, what are doing?

[@Wolf_Larsen]

It's because journalism as whole is dead and games journalism in particular is so dead, they are always comically, categorically wrong and have completely stopped being a source of information. I cannot remember when I last even read a review that conveyed any sort of pertinent information. People get their games news from Sseth and Mandalore, and the world is better for it. I mean, I had never even heard of Starsector before Sseth, and now I realise what I have been missing all these years. Or that Republic Commando could be so much fun.

[@guyshafor1320]

Because when you own a PC you get to say whatever you want, DAD 😠😤😡

[@dragonwaz]

Because his first game review was a mixed one of a really interesting but terrible game. Despite that the devs came back and actually reached out to him to review the second one. And it's sounds a lot better. It's a success story.

[@mullerpotgieter]

Well the steam page is overwhelmingly positive. So at least the audience is happy

[@dryued6874]

I would imagine it mostly attracted whoever liked the first one, and if that video is any indication, it improved on most things.

[@IncognitoSprax]

Steam positivity or not isn’t a good unit of measurement though. Bias is a huge thing.

[@mullerpotgieter]

@@IncognitoSprax True, but consider the kinds of people that would actually play, let alone enjoy, this kind of game. I would naturally encourage people to read the actual reviews, but chances are there's less "noise" as with more popular titles

[@do0myk]

but only 940 reviews at this moment. This is a small indie game amount of sold copies.

[@Seanmcfarlane115]

I never played the original. I just randomly picked it up and loved it because the story is so expertly entwined with the gameplay, and it's quite well written.

[@wiiu42]

"I'm not a good salesman." You're entirely wrong. Your reviews always make me want to try games that I otherwise wouldn't have looked at.

[@teodordelta39]

Saw the sunless sea review ,20 minutes later bought sunless sea and sunless skies

[@planescaped]

@@teodordelta39 I'm looking on grabbing those, or at least sea, next holiday sale.

[@kekitsjack5765]

yup watched his review on EYE divine cybermancy and bought the game just a few days later, would have skipped right past it without his coverage. I really want to buy this too but my wallet is telling me not to.

[@planescaped]

@@kekitsjack5765 I bought it... it is actually amazing. Way better than I ever thought it would be. I personally am a bit burned out on games in general these days. Yet I haven't enjoyed a game as much as Pathologic 2 in the past year and a half.

[@skycat1820]

Personally this doesn't look like anything that I'd want to play through, but it's truly interesting to see this game through his eyes. I feel like I'm getting a glimpse at something I wouldn't have the patience for.

[@DoktorPaj]

The lack of character models for the different classes is kind of a feature, since it makes it easier to identify what characters they are, especially if you're in a rush. Instead of running up to a lot of people to see what they're trading, you can immediately tell the drunks from the children and ladies. I wish it was that easy in my town.

[@mikeryan1043]

It also makes every important character look distinct.

[@Maurrokh]

The game even makes explicit reference to the distinction between 'main actors' and 'extras'. I think the theater framework works really well here, it adds another layer of 'suspension of disbelief' to the game.

[@thenaivevigilante4379]

It's actually explained and justified too in the first game (still haven't played the second one) if you save every bound in town. I'm sure it started as a limitation, but the way it was turned into a gameplay AND story feature is genius.

[@blasuqar]

@@thenaivevigilante4379 havn't played the first, just finished the second. You should definitely play, this is the narrative game that everybody should look forward to. The game that uses its mechanics to capture an experience instead of making them for being fun regardless of the story you're intended to live. With this, the fact that the story is brilliant clearly doesn't hold the game back.

[@thenaivevigilante4379]

@@blasuqar Definitely gonna play it. Just saving money rn to buy a system that can handle it.

[@whipid]

"But it's ok because we're here together" I've never felt more safe and secure in my life

[@chastermief839]

he was there for me when no one else was

[@lucasZr113]

@@chastermief839 da real mvp

[@williamjeffery9653]

That "Mind Map" system for keeping track of quests and information sounds legitimately innovative for an RPG/story-based game. I hope that is something that is pursued in other games in the future.

[@Raeker]

It already is! Outer Wilds came out around the same time as Pathologic 2, and features a very similar "Rumour Mode". It's absolutely awesome to see narrative-driven games pursue a system like this, as it's a beautiful way of conveying information to the player.

[@Goozeeeee]

Raeker I was just about to mention Outer Wilds! Instantly what I thought of when I saw it in the vid

[@234ne14]

To tell you the truth...It kinda reminds me of a dating sim flow charts (not that that's a bad thing).

[@spenceduggs]

It’s something I certainly want to emulate in a title I’m working on!

[@Spaceboyy95]

Problem is most RPGs don't have stories deep enough to use mind map, it would just be a straight line.

[@3rd-helix]

"Junji Ito's Mongolian thunderdome." Truly a phrase i'll never forget

[@xxx1x47x41x3]

very true

[@dilophosaurussk4333]

"ITS a bUdgeT skyRIm" These are the things i can find that it has in common with Skyrim. -You walk in it. -Its on Steam. -Its a video game. -Its a sequel (Kinda). -You have an inventory. -You fight people. -There is an rpg element in both games (Although its stronger in Pathologic 2: Electric Boogaloo) -There are ranged weapons. -Thats... it....

[@StardustLegend]

Honestly even as a fan of Skyrim the comparison to Pathologic 2 is insulting. It's literally like comparing apples to oranges.

[@n5284]

the main diference is that Pathologic 2 is actually good

[@StardustLegend]

N I mean, i like playing both but I can’t help but agree with this:..

[@nonono7973]

To me it was how the game played that made me draw comparisons, although they consist mostly of the dialogue system, the similar loading screens, LOOOTS of painfully long loading times, and the menu system and combat mechanics feeling almost identical (other than inventory/looting). They are obviously VERY different styles of game with entirely different story directions but there are some valid comparisons in my eyes. And this is coming from somebody with 2500+ hours in skyrim lol.

[@DrTacoPHD665]

But what if, hear me out here, we add _guns_ to _skyrim?_

[@Holyduck777]

Journalists: Games are art Pathologic 2: We have a game with a geniune artistic vision Journalist: Yeah but you're hard tho.

[@Horseofhope]

More like "wtf poor man's soulsian skyrim why?"

[@williehawaii9967]

What did you expect from the fake news media

[@Mooedf]

It's such a weird sentiment to say that art should be easily accessible. Most artsy movies require you to delve deep into them, some don't. Some books require you to re-read pages until you get it. You struggle, and that's part of the experience, like difficulty in an interactive art form like games.

[@EasterTurkey]

@@williehawaii9967 Being an idiot game reviewer doesn't constitute fake news

[@Mangulwort]

Saying the term "fake news" makes you sound like a whako.

[@iowa9113]

Russian games and Mandalore. Name a more iconic duo.

[@ncrvako]

rayvachic and mandalore?

[@nachoolo]

fixing barely working PC ports/old games and Mandalore.

[@CaboosePootis]

sseth and illegal organ harvesting operations

[@Scrubwave]

Mandalore and spinal fluid.

[@Powoga]

Laurel and Hardy. And Knuckles.

[@Table53]

It's finally here!! Hope your back is feeling better too Mandalore!

[@MandaloreGaming]

It'll be a few months until I'm truly 100% but I was good enough to get this done!

[@Table53]

@@MandaloreGaming well I'm sure I speak for everyone who watches your videos in wishing you a speedy recovery! And I hope you're doing alright Great video btw :)

[@rebralhunter6069]

@@Table53 what happened to mandalore?

[@HotRossBuns]

@@MandaloreGaming I love you.

[@rhemorigher]

@@rebralhunter6069 He died.

[@pippingtonne]

pathologic 1: 9 identical muggers run at you at once, no biggie pathologic 2: if you fight 3 people you might die

[@jacobcordova3825]

Like real life

[@thedumbdog1964]

its so fucking hard

[@Flatternschuchtern]

Well combat system really sucks ass. There are some points i noticed. 1) Enemy attacks frequently deal double damage for some reason, and you hear two hits right one after another. This could easily take most of your health and even oneshot you if it is ublocked knife attack. That exact thing pissed the shit out of me twice. 2) Enemy attacks deal absurd damage if you are facing away (and you run really slow with a weapon equipped), which means that if you try to run away to regen stamina, you'll most probably just get oneshoted by a knife to the back. 3) Enemy attacks will turn you around, slow you down and blur your screen if they hit you while you run, which will make you get cornered and die 90% of times. Though it's probably a feature. 4) When you're out of stamina, your hits will be really slow. That's OK, but for some reason they deal no damage to surrendered enemies, which will let them run and rob you of your loot. 5) Battle animations, and what really registers, can be really different. Enemies can easily dodge your hit a second after you thought you landed it, and you will constantly be taking damage seemingly out of nowhere, just because animations are slow and junky. 6) Stunlocks are OP, which means you easily win a one-on one knife fight by mashing LMB as long as you have stamina and functional knife. You can land unlimited stealth hits to a single enemy, which is absurd. You can dodge block-piercing foot kicks by spinning around the enemies, which will let you win fights agains unarmed guys. If there is more than one though, and they have knifes, you dead, bro, better start booking for that store door. 7) You better not go robbing houses in maradeur regions because strupid guards love to surrender in narrow hallways or doors, and you can't get out unless you finish them off.

[@uppindown8466]

​@@Flatternschuchtern Some of what you listed is for realism, some for difficulty. I agree with your opinions on all of the annoying mechanics that make no sense in the game's context.

[@pigeondance687]

are you kidding me that quest with like 8 bandits was a fucking nightmare. don't go around telling people that patho 1 is easy nope

[@ImperativeGames]

The developer, Ice-Pick Lodge, already lost some employees after release of the game. If you like this game, don't pirate it - please buy it ^^

[@RamizST]

I will need to buy an actual computer first. My current calculator can barely handle Skyrim with mods. And the first Pathologic.

[@k.7890]

Who exactly left the studio? I know Alphyna left for sure (she already found another job) but I heard rumors about Meethos and SpaceLaika. Is that true?

[@helter696skelter]

I don't think that employees leaving the studio is a big deal. Alphyna's really young and she worked at the studio for nearly 6 years. Meethos, even longer, more like a decade. IPL never had issues with finding talent or keeping people around, more so with money.

[@AndriusReadsBooksSometimes]

Wait, did Meethos actually leave? I know SpaceLaika left last year, but I never heard anything about Meethos. Kind of worrying if it's true, considering that they were behind the art direction of most (all?) their games.

[@leninthebeaniesouhacker.2459]

i'd love to buy it butt i'm poor and don't even have a credit card, third world country average life be like that.

[@themolman4191]

i thought seth finally managed to kill his escaped clone, seems i was wrong.

[@jakb17]

I miss the streak of Mandalore uploading a video then Seth would upload and vise versa.

[@jacobp.4593]

Nah, they forced SSeth to take his medds again.

[@brapmaster]

When has the clone ever been the sane one?

[@CoolSmoovie]

Sseth is probably just dumping all of his money into hentai artists again.

[@SsethTzeentach]

@@CoolSmoovie it's tax deductable!

[@Vincent-S]

-immersive and forces you to become a part of the local ecosystem -encourages curiosity and full on 'I wonder how X is doing, I'll visit them since it's on the way' as that immersion into the local ecosystem takes root and you start networking and building relationships with the locals -full interaction in general -slavic jank that adds character and charm to the game Damn, this sounds and looks great.

[@orderofdusk2382]

bUt IT'S Not aN arTiStic MaSteRPIECe LikE deAr eSthEr

[@markhirsch6301]

Yes it does, but while it's not my kind of game, I might still buy it just to support the devs. Plus I always wanna see how survival games handle guns too to see if they made them ultra realistic, or just a few things for maintenance

[@seaweed5269]

The kind of immersion you're describing was present in the first game, the second doesn't have that. You first think about visiting them (marker on the mind map) and then go.

[@Amazatastic]

I hope you ended up playing it, it really is great

[@TheRedKing247]

I think the best way to describe this game is not "sequel" or "remake" but "Iteration". It's still the original concept of the first game and still acknowledges the first game exists, but iterates on and upgrades almost everything about the original game to make something new.

[@RagnarRoxShow]

Thank you for a fantastic review that treats this game as the masterpiece that it is. IPL deserves more love (and sales)

[@MandaloreGaming]

Hope to see something from you too on it eventually!

[@RagnarRoxShow]

@@MandaloreGaming Working on it as we speak!

[@lupomagnotto8306]

You aren’t verified Ragnar... why? 😔💔

[@thelegendofner0]

@@lupomagnotto8306 who gives a shiiiiiet

[@SulMatul]

Amazing, thank you so much for publishing this review And thank you for the little shout-out too!

[@MandaloreGaming]

No one can do it like you boss

[@randomnamechannel9813]

@@MandaloreGaming *boös P.s. Thank you both guys, your content is amazing

[@laurinschwarzmayr]

Best Crossover of all time

[@Lauv]

I took your bow from your grave and I sold it for some skooma. Mad?

[@commander31able60]

[shoots man in the face] _you're respected here_

[@ПолинаТихонова-й1н]

It was a bad man

[@drippinwet774]

add_storable -storable:Safety_Net_Entity

[@navneetkaushik2482]

lol

[@kielbasamage]

Sounds about right.

[@masterzoroark6664]

just depends who you shoot and how many people liked it

[@viviancocoa8639]

Who said that this is a budget Skyrim? Skyrim is a budget Skyrim, this game actually has a story and voice actors who aren't phoning it in. They were right, games journalism is a sham.

[@thefalloutwiki]

Veronica Skelly lolol yes “Skyrim is a budget Skyrim” ... so funny and so true

[@АлександрКобяков-м3щ]

Some jerk from the "Rock`Paper&Shotgun".

[@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick]

Veronica Skelly Yeah, the more I try to come back to Skyrim the more I remember that I really don’t like Skyrim.

[@Nope-en9bo]

Honudes Gai Skyrim is a boring game with repetitive mechanics that requires mods to actually be made enjoyable. I’ve spent 500 hours on it, about 50 hours with the campaign and the rest WITH mods. Its not that its bad, its just BORING, repetitive and easy. It also has glitches that were honestly never fixed by the actual devs since they’re busy doing who knows what. I’ve lost track how many times I got stuck on stone ramps or fell out of the world. The fact that the game is open world is the most enjoyable part, but that idea can be replicated easily, just that not many would rather do so. The most irksome is the storyline and npc interaction. The storyline is just bland in its own terms since the story expects you to do these things which is VERY important via story stuff, but players can just push it off and do it later with no consequences. Alduin about to destroy Sovengarde? Screw that, lets go around picking herbs and building a house in the middle of nowhere. The title “Dragonborn” never made the player feel special. For some damned reason, despite being the almighty and legendary Dragonborn, you still get pushed around by a bitch that wants to kill your dragon-master, guards that patrols the ghettos of random places, and snobs. At least Dawnguard’s storyline was interesting, but thats about that. Skyrim has potential that was never, ever full used by the company itself but instead is being used by the modding community. But on its own WITHOUT mods? Meh, I’d rather play Organ Collector simulators.

[@MarshalHopalop]

@@Nope-en9bo "Skyrim IS a boring game." Glad we count rely on you to be our go-to objective standard for all things videogames.

[@ResandOuies]

Seriously, a Russian game with excellent English voice work? Not sure I've ever seen that. The game is almost worth buy just for that.

[@Someone-lr6gu]

Well, its not like they would hire someone who doesnt know english properly to do the voice acting, would they?

[@saibgassanov3378]

@@Someone-lr6gu тут скорее удивительно то, что актёры без акцента говорят. видимо носители

[@Someone-lr6gu]

@@saibgassanov3378 Так я и говорю, я не думаю что они бы наняли людей которые не могут говорить на английском без акцента, если они планируют релиз на западе.

[@a_shuchu_601]

Metro *cough cough* English voice acting there gave me a headache

[@ariel_ish]

@@a_shuchu_601 well, the accents were intentional to be fair.

[@Imperium83]

"... the illegal organ market is doing hot right now." *Sseth has entered the chat*

[@marcelosilvestre244]

Hope he makes a review on this soon

[@Deadsnake989]

Organ harvesting is an offensive term. I prefer the term "nonconsensual organ arbitrage".

[@Wolf_Larsen]

@@marcelosilvestre244 He already did. You just watched it.

[@5xg378]

Well... He already commented on this video

[@elFulberto]

@@Deadsnake989 or rather, "surprise organ donation".

[@Claymarrows]

A very interesting facet that you could look at regarding the NPCs not being 'varied enough' is the fact that they are implied to once more be part of the theater. The NPCs looking like one another is """""intentional"""", and even referred to by Immortell. They're background actors.

[@bavarianbanshee]

He mentioned that in his video on the first game.

[@BiomechanicalBrick]

Joseph anderson said something similar about the witcher 1

[@theaterobscura]

Walking through a plague district, hearing a baby crying, and knowing I can't do anything about it because I'll die? That sucks in the best way. This game hits hard.

[@Amazatastic]

You can save the baby! It's just really difficult and it sucks and then you can choose not to even take the credit for saving the baby 😅😭 it's great !

[@miguelbranquinho7235]

@@Amazatastic It's the greatest game about selflessness.

[@mgsPWlover]

>New mandy video >It's Pathologic 2 > It's 27 minutes Yeeeeeeeeeees

[@planescaped]

33 minutes too short.

[@thespacedisland5746]

After a couple months of venting his sexual frustrations through his alt, SsethTzeentach, Mandalore has returned to once again review a Slavic video game

[@Tinkererer]

So, it's animal crossing but in a horrible slavic plague town and people die?

[@ImortalZeus13]

Tinker It’s Animal Crossing in an alternate universe where Tom Nook was the mayor all along.

[@cookies23z]

lol, I will try to push this on my friend who loves animal crossing, but also dark worlds filled with suffering, best crossover for him

[@semibreve]

Of all the games to criticize for "being hard just for the sake of being hard", Pathologic 2 is possibly one of the worst choices. The stress and anxiety that comes with managing your survival is the most powerful way of tying you to the world of the game. As the townsfolk go hungry and starve, so do you. Your painful existance is being shared by all those that you see around you. And as you run out of time, as characters die for good, as you deliberate between completing a quest or keeping yourself healthy, the atmosphere that's been crafted through sound and visual design comes together on a whole other level. Its storytelling done through game design, and it's implemented brilliantly.

[@D00000T]

Also like how the game journalist assumes that the developers built their difficultly on souls game design and then immediately takes that assumption as fact, using it as the basis to criticize the game. Like wtf, this is shit they exactly tell you not to do in school when writing. How do you fuck up something this badly?

[@user-garnet]

“Omg pathologic 2 is so hard” Its the F##KING *PLAGUE*

[@KaleidosXXI]

I really dislike that kind of defense. Criticizing bad gameplay is fine even if it's being used as a vehicle for the storytelling or experience, because at the end of the day the gameplay is still bad. And honestly the devs lean way too heavily into justifying a lot of the awful design or bad story elements by just getting meta about it and saying they know it's shit or it's intentionally supposed to be shit, acknowledging the flaws doesn't magically make them disappear. Pathologic and Pathologic 2 are objectively terribly designed games and their stories are honestly not much better, but the experience they offer is fantastic and worth playing for. The problem isn't that critics call out games for their poor gameplay, the problem is people using bad or unfitting games to deliver good stories or experiences, there's almost always an alternative medium or type of game that would've been a vast improvement over what was actually used. More than a few devs of such games are adamant about forcing their square pegs into circle holes because they refuse to acknowledge the perfectly good square holes and insist they must use the circle ones.

[@kaiserigorvonhabsburg1828]

@@KaleidosXXI Since when hard gameplay became bad gameplay?

[@cameronsprague101]

@@KaleidosXXI why are you stupid? You didn't actually respond to the comment you replied to you just went on a rant about "objectively bad design" as if your view on anything has any merit or value.

[@TedTeddison99]

“Is someone shilling Raid Shadow Legends near me?” Bro you took a great review and made it amazing

[@PTRNovi]

How is it that every time they advertise a mobile game they claim it's not like other mobile games, then it ends up being exactly like other mobile games.

[@wiiu42]

PTRNovi It’s not like some other mobile games because some other mobile games are good.

[@RenegadeVile]

@@PTRNovi Yeah, I don't know who they are fooling. I just have to look at their ad to know that's a blatant lie. For fuck's sake, they have an auto-resolve function. As if that isn't the biggest tell ever that this is just a waiting simulator.

[@themrfives]

The fact that people are complaining about the game not being a walking simulator really does show how narrow-minded people are about how stories in games can be told.

[@pringles_mcgee]

it show cases how completely irrelevant word-only style reviews actually are, and how video game journalism is ultimately defunct. I mean how the hell did the reviewer come to the conclusion "budget skyrim"? what the fuck lmfao

[@dojimaryotaro6563]

Backed it, thought it was very mediocre. It wasn’t hard, just incredibly tedious. You spend the entire game micromanaging status bars, item durability and inventory space. It’s one of those “things degrade at 1000x speed” games.

[@cannibalisticvegan8461]

@@dojimaryotaro6563 fallout (hardcore) then

[@coolsiideri]

It probably should've had a "games journalist" difficulty option.

[@Unexpectedstuff]

Dojima Ryotaro yeah. I kinda get We are happy few wibes, and I played that after Pathologic. It feels like Ice Pick didn’t how bring more game to the game of pathologic. So they made more accent on those meters, and this game became the Void basically (which I hated so much). Still glad I played Pathologic 2, but I was underwhelmed.

[@stevensmith1031]

Most of the "games are art" people seem to just want games to be interactive movies rather than let video games be their own unique medium.

[@Wind_Falcon]

A lot of games as art people cant recognize art if it hit them on the head, unfortunately. Part of it is that those same people seem to not have spent any considerable time engaging with actual art outside of nerd/geek media, which is also why they will talk hours about how Star Wars or capeshit or whatever else popular pop culture piece of media is like the new Shakespeare, while condemning true art when they bump into it.

[@stevensmith1031]

@touma Yeah there's nothing wrong with those kinds of games at all. But it does get frustrating when a lot of people consider those types of games to be the ONLY games worthy of being called art. Like some people just dismiss extremely well-crafted games because they're "too hard" or they aren't just allegories for anxiety or whatever.

[@mikeangelo2886]

I liked Hotline Miami, which was 100% centered about gameplay, but it also had this art values like commentary on violence in video games, and like we seem to ignore the fact that it is still violence. Also, the older i getting, the more i focus on the gameplay than story. Sometimes story IS the gameplay, like this game or some good rpgs with decision making, but in most aaa games, i starting to get pissed off when i cannot skip the cinematics.

[@DerultimativeOzzy]

Yes, I agree. While I am no a vivid hater of Walking Simulators, they never felt like the narrative would be good enough to carry me through the story. I play games for the interactivity that they provide, not just because they can tell a story that is a week long. Something like Dark Souls for example has for me been the greatest adventure I'v ever experienced in any media. Barely any plot gets told, except for some bits of dialogue, items with descriptions and true visual telling on the level designs. It was very basic, yet the entire experience was far more memorable as an adventure than most things I played before that. Its not the challenge alone or the lack of orientation or the invasions and bosses and the connected world that sold it for me. Its how all these things worked together as a whole that made it great and that is the sort of thing that you just can't replicate in any other form of media. No TV show, Movie, book or theatric play could ever be able to give you this experience. That's what is so unique about games. If developers, journalists and fans of the medium want to see it evolve as a true artform, they should look at Pathologic 2 as the example that does it right. It has a true artistic vision, yet also remembers to be a game. And games are ment to be played.

[@McGregor43]

A lot of "Games are Art" people can't play games, that's why they love walking simulators.

[@fugu_3467]

The Corona virus is going to be the best marketing plow to ever happen to this game

[@omiddoesnotomit9320]

Actually I did play it coincidentally simultaneous with the epidemic, and it was super cool. It gave me mild paranoia though, like I think people are gonna infect me and murder me at night.

[@pdfpockethole]

@@omiddoesnotomit9320 Have to strongly agree on that. I only got round to playing this during the quarantine and it's been a surreal experience. I find myself weirdly empathetic with doctors and understanding how serious the real world situation could be. I can't imagine playing this game without the corona virus now haha

[@theosamd]

...ploy, right?

[@Loromir17]

Ikr, it's basically reporting from the scene.

[@prototype8137]

Thats not what a ploy is.

[@achi5170]

Holy fucking shit, those faces look great. All of the detail, their eyes and all of the micro-movements (eyes twitching a little, eyebrow movements influencing eyelids etc.). Work of art.

[@ianhall6614]

Puts a lot of newer games to shame

[@AJPDing]

@@ianhall6614 mass effect andromeda anyone?

[@ianhall6614]

@@AJPDing I may get crucified for this but I think the Frostbite engine or whatever EA uses makes for some of the ugliest faces out there in gaming that seemingly everyone thinks looks great. There's just a slight uncanny valley on them and my brain instantly recognizes it as something trying to be something it's not. Environments can be great but holy hell I hate the faces.

[@AJPDing]

@@ianhall6614 I don't think they are the worst but they can be pretty bad. ME 2 deffinitely looked better than Andromeda though.

[@joescannoli7660]

@@ianhall6614 it’s not frostbite, in games were the engine was designed to be used on it looks and works beautifully, it’s the developers, andromeda looked quite good back when it was made in unreal engine, and when the switch to frostbite was enforced on them they had to retool and remake everything that they couldn’t import, which was most if not all of the assets, they were handed a toolbox that they were not familiar with and had to remake everything that an RPG needs in an engine infamous for not being suitable to that task, some things like the driving and the shooting were superb in frostbite, that’s the thing the engine excels at, but everything else was more or less needed to be jury rigged, I mean dragon age: inquisition is proof of how fucked the engine is for open world rpg’s and that was the main development team, ME:A was relegated to the B-team, so I hope that with the remaster of the trilogy it might bring some sense back into BioWare and more importantly EA to go back to UE for its rpg needs, or at least any other engine that ain’t frostbite.

[@nativechatter999]

Game journalists: "Budget Skyrim" Also game journalists: "WhY dOn'T pEoPlE rEsPeCt uS?"

[@Superschokokeks]

"Budget Skyrim with Dark Souls-like stuff"

[@hihihi1q23]

This game sold like shit, though. So clearly journalists are reflecting the people's interests here?

[@popcioslav]

@@hihihi1q23 Game journalists influence most people, not the other way around. Coupled that with bad publisher and you have not the best situation, but game criticis didn't help. Heck they even later said how the game got 'better' because you can play it on casual level. Imagine if people did that years ago.

[@Superschokokeks]

@@hihihi1q23 barely covered, bad reviews, sales went ridiculous up after mandalores review. No. What it shows it was happen if you don't have the money to puts ad everywhere.

[@azurebookllet9216]

Well, and to be fair, neither they, nor their publisher, TinyBuild, were great with the marketing even given the budget they did have. This started with the Kickstarter campaign, when KS veterans generally believed they would have been able to secure substantially more funds if they ran it more efficiently, and continued all the way up to release. I followed the game quite closely, and even I was surprised at how quietly it launched. I suppose that was partly due to guilt on their part at failing to live up to the scope of the original game (and which they are still trying to do, with the lead having committed to releasing the other two scenarios regardless of how many more years it might take), but even so, that doesn't excuse TinyBuild's approach to marketing. They got big due to action-heavy, plot-light games like No Time to Explain, Party Hard and what not, and had no idea how to market this game, which is the polar opposite of their usual brief. Reportedly, whenever TinyBuild was at conventions, this game's stand was tucked away somewhere besides their "core" games, and it was only described as "open-world survival horror", which rather undersells this game's merits, to put it mildly.

[@hutzfandango9613]

"Pathologic 2 starts to feel less like an interesting failure and more like a budget Skyrim." Good lord, these people deserve the Bright Noah treatment.

[@markhirsch6301]

Bright Noah?

[@PareeLabbyu]

@@markhirsch6301 S L A P P E D

[@remembertotakeshowerspleas355]

...What's Bright Noah?

[@mishatarkus]

@@remembertotakeshowerspleas355 Bright Noa is a character from the original Mobile Suit Gundam series and its sequels in the original Gundam continuity, the Universal Century. He is known for the several times he disciplines main characters for their reticent, bitching or otherwise just plain wrong attitude - most famously in the original series, where the very reluctant and constantly complaining pilot of the original Gundam, Amuro Ray, gets slapped hard for his behavior and replies with, "Not even my own father ever hit me!" The event garners a lot of traction not only for its meme potential, but because in real life the director of the series Yoshiyuki Tomino slapped Amuro's voice actor to get a real sounding indignant reaction to being slapped.

[@tussletoes]

Skyrim is a poor man's RPG

[@blackmonish]

HEY EVERYONE: Right now Steam is having a user awards for games. If you want to show the team some love, go on there and vote this game as the winner of a category. I did "Game of the Year," but there are a ton of options.

[@bennemeth625]

Plague Tale: Innocence won best story rich game. Extra sad, considering the similarities in theme. It's tragic, winning that award might have boosted sales and helped icepick lodge stay in business. But nope, let's vote for the admittedly pretty but shallow "story rich" experience instead.

[@puppetstudio4989]

@@bennemeth625 they still in business after this vid, so everythingis find for now till their next big game

[@tatujuntunen7668]

@@bennemeth625 they still probably got some publicity for even being nominated

[@SashaFYI]

11:40 There was no "suka" there. That was a really lazy "siuda". He said "Hey, come here".

[@RAFMnBgaming]

I take it that muggers are a lot more laid back in russia.

[@planescaped]

Oi, tosser!

[@LedoCool1]

Though there's occasional "Ah ty suka" in their dialogue when fighting, so passable.

[@kurgo_]

You destroyed it for me, in my language "suka" means "suck it" and that would have been so much fun to hear all the time.

[@Sever.s.Server]

@@kurgo_ Play some CSGO, even none Russian using it there XD

[@TimGlshv]

Thank you for supporting this wonderful underrated game. You, probably, made a better advertising campaign than a publisher.

[@kanalkucker14]

he did

[@CC856]

I hope this review means more sales, which means I can finally play the Bachelor.

[@thespanishinquisition4078]

@Templar Knight in pathologic 2 haruspex is fairly accessible and having no access to the bald guys now that they have multiple roles plus having most of the people fuck with you just because you're a city boy means the Bachelor is probably gonna be the harder start if they add him. Which I honestly like as a shift. If done well it'd be great.

[@malachiconstant7745]

CC856 twitter.com/reseterant/status/1164889431775612928?s=21 they ain’t doing to hot, bro.

[@azurebookllet9216]

@@malachiconstant7745 Yeah, I read that interview. It's long, so I believe they missed the crucial part, where the lead said "I ran this studio for 19 years; I have never broken a promise and I don't intend to start. The two scenarios will be coming, regardless of how many more years it might take."

[@AngryTheGnome]

I JUST FINISHED WATCHING THE DRUID VIDEO AND LAWRY IS HAUNTING ME AGAIN FROM THE PAST! 1:25 Dammit

[@mirceazaharia2094]

He's a little like Giygas from EarthBound in that regard.

[@TsuladanGaming]

Same

[@kanalkucker14]

Damn I haven't seen him in after watching the video around 10 times

[@chaosrebel1]

“Pathologic to consider fighting three men at once a huge deal. That can be hard to wrap your head around. “ Me: *violently remembers all of Kingdom Come*

[@planescaped]

_approaches 2 muggers_ I can take them. _misses first stab and gets kicked against a wall by one, and punched by the other before I can recover_ Uh... I think I'll run _doesn't have enough stamina after the opening salvo to get very far, gets grabbed and pulled around by one, and killed by the second_ Knew I should've bought that revolver... 2 or more on 1 in this game is brutal without a gun or a real good knife. Assassin's Creed, this is not. XD

[@drharnsaft1005]

Just walk backwards with your bow.

[@waterguyroks]

I'm glad you called out the shallowness of some reviews. I think the highest-quality analysis is coming from KZbinrs like you and Caldwell-Gervais. You have very different styles, but you both see what a game is attempting as a work of art and judge it based on that rubric, while acknowledging that you have your own biases and preferences, something I rarely see other reviewers do unfortunately.

[@DagLagPurjo]

c a d w e l l g a n g

[@DIEGhostfish]

Caldwell's a little pedantic and snobby but can be pretty good.

[@waterguyroks]

DIEGhostfish I can understand that perspective, but I've always admired that Caldwell-Gervais analyzes games the way an essayist might analyze a book. A lot of reviewers focus strictly on the mechanics of a game and treat it as a product, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but Noah's willingness to explore how those mechanics interact with more intangible aspects like a game's themes and evaluate a game's worth beyond basic enjoyment give him a particular niche imo. That sort of critical evaluation is an avenue for games maturing as an art form, I think.

[@WorthlessWinner]

21:30 we have more than enough walking simulators already. I'm glad it's difficult.

[@Oscar-j6b]

Same. I probably won't play it now because it doesn't look like my cup of tea and I am occupied with hollow knight at the moment. But I will probably buy it to support the creators. They seem like the kind of people that realise that is not enough to make it unique, you need to make it good in its uniqueness. And judging by the gameplay and fan opinion, they nailed it.

[@davidcolby167]

I'm tempted to try it, but scared of being shit at it...

[@IceWolve67]

@@davidcolby167 couldn't have said it better haha

[@ravenseeker8267]

@@davidcolby167 You can always learn and get better, thats how all skills are developed. at one point in your life you needed to learn how to walk and talk, and trust me, you were shit at it, but you didn't stop until you got it, same with this, give it enough tries, maybe watch a video or two, look at wiki and you will get a hang of it. If you are interested in it and want to explore it, accept the challenge that the game is proposing to you and beat it, don't give up and show that you are able to adapt despite being thrown into an alien situation and conquer it.

[@schluffing5692]

@@davidcolby167 In this case failing is part of the FUN!

[@GBugden]

Absolutely love how they do the faces and eyes in the conversation scenes

[@lhays117]

Really? I hated it so much lol. It just felt so uncanny, but not in a creepy way, just in an off-putting way. To each their own though.

[@jholotanbest2688]

When you look at Steam charts you can see that after this review Pathologic 2 got at least hundred concurrent players more.

[@Player-10]

I think the tutorials did the best at teaching me subconsciously what to expect when I was in the dream sequence where you arrive at your father's house and I was thinking, what kind of train pulls up right at the front yard? And then as I was looting items out of drawers and cabinets, I began to hear the laughter. Oh, the laughter. And I knew exactly what it was. I was being laughed at. I kept thinking, "They're laughing at me." Over and over. And I thought, is this yet another dream? Am I wasting my time looking for items? (I was) The Developers and their in-game equivalents were laughing at me. And that's when I knew this game would be a rich trip into the unknown.

[@GabrielOnuris]

"I don't wanna watch it fade away and then in 5 years we're into some publication that gave it a bad review say that it was a hidden a gem and we all just missed it." Mandalore, you're a saint; I must say that I'm hating to see that today with: movies like Blade Runner and Star Wars Ep 1 to 3, games like the first Pathologic, Call of Cthulhu, Turok, System Shock, Space Marine, Hellgate London, Anachronox, Gothic series, point and click adventures, and they're starting to do that hypocrisy now with Doom 3.

[@Selvyre]

A lot of things you listed ARE considered "hidden gems." A lot of those games sold very poorly, which means they're not well-known, which qualifies them for "hidden gem" status, even if they are good enough to stand out in your mind, or the minds of a few niche gamers. Gothic in the US is not well-known at all; System Shocks 1 and 2 both sold poorly, to the point that Irrational was hesitant about even bringing up System Shock 2 in their BioShock pitch; Anachronox sold poorly enough that Ion Storm Dallas shut down not long after its release. The only ones that look truly hypocritical are the mention of Doom 3 and point-and-click adventures, some of which were incredibly popular in the 90s (they even maintain some level of popularity now, enough to warrant sequels to venerable series like Broken Sword or entirely new IPs that do well like Deponia and Machinarium, among others). Oh, and the movie mentions, but I've literally never seen anyone attempt to claim with a straight face that two incredibly influential and popular movies (Star Wars OT and Blade Runner) are "hidden gems."

[@crawlingchaos2811]

Most of those games are awful tho

[@miguelbranquinho7235]

The star Wars prequels do not fit in those examples. They're absolutely awful and boring.

[@planescaped]

@@Selvyre I remember growing up in the 90's people were saying Blade Runner was a hidden gem. It only got such acclaim posthumously.

[@557deadpool]

@@miguelbranquinho7235 only the second one

[@DashStan]

Отличный обзор, MandaloreGaming! Хотел бы отдельно поблагодарить людей, которые переводят твои обзоры на русский язык. Сам я не всегда могу понять некоторые куски текста, а благодаря им просмотрел все твои обзоры (ладно, почти все, в некоторые игры я пока не играл, чтобы смотреть по ним обзоры) ggl trnslt: Great review, MandaloreGaming! I would like to separately thank the people who translate your reviews into Russian. I myself can’t always understand some pieces of text, and thanks to them I looked through all your reviews (well, almost all, I haven’t played some games yet to watch reviews on them)

[@RainbowRenegade]

Спасибо! Приятно знать, что хоть кому-то это нужно.😆

[@DashStan]

@@RainbowRenegade конечно нужно. К сожалению, многих культовых иностранцев никто не переводит, поэтому их очень сложно смотреть, хоть и очень хочется. Но что поделать. А тут канал в первую очередь зацепил именно тем, что переведён, а уже потом тем, что Мандалор красавчик :)

[@RainbowRenegade]

@@DashStan ну что тут сказати - делитесь, рассказывайте друзьям. Главное, чтобы Мондич не переставал верить в нашу полезность, а то мне ещё волшебного бычка кормить :D

[@TimGlshv]

​@@RainbowRenegade огромная благодарность за труды. Это действительно потрясающая работа)

[@josephhalim8180]

Yes

[@ДядюшкаШео]

11:35 actualy it's "hey suda" (means "come here" or "closer") insted of "hey suka". Don't know which is better

[@11Mixail11]

@@willjones4992 Native speaker here. I confirm it, it's sounds more like "suda" than "suka".

[@cabbagemontage6999]

Yeah, it can't be "Suka". Suka is usually accompanied by a friend called "Blet".

[@garbage7927]

Your reviews are soo well built. Always a pleasure to watch.

[@dryued6874]

I don't even remember how I got watching 30-minute long game reviews, but I have no regrets.

[@ritabanchanda8052]

Stand name : [ Hey Hey People] Stand User: Mandalore/Sseth

[@Master-Bait]

Sseth: *Oh Mandalore, my adorable Mandalore...I have given you portion of my power [Merchant's Guild], now is the time to use it!*

[@zeronikku3549]

Sseth is the Diavolo to Mandalore's Doppio.

[@dannylamb456]

The Curious Case of Dr Mandalore and Mr Sseth

[@masterzoroark6664]

so he is like Diavolo

[@alext5497]

Are they the same guy or?... I feel like i need context

[@moredetonation3755]

Mando 2018: "I don't *hate* anime." Mando 2019: "WRYYYY"

[@arempy5836]

Avery has dragged him down into the mid with the rest of us.

[@Alexeiyeah]

A review of a bizarre and very cult russian game, after three months of no content... Begins with a Jojo reference N O I C E

[@hrdwan2000]

AWAKEN

[@tylerulfmann4586]

Ask Nicely For Heals awaken my sand plague

[@EternalDeath14]

AWAKEN MY MASTERS

[@howlerofthegrey9368]

OH NO!

[@ubiquitouspanda4466]

MY MASTER HAS AWAKENED MEEEES

[@KubinWielki]

- Is it a remake or a sequel? - Yes. 10/10 would play re-sequel again!

[@guyofminimalimportance7]

So the Games are art crowd is offended by a game taking advantage of its specific art form; ironic.

[@lusteraliaszero]

*video game reviewers not the video games are art crowd.

[@Selvyre]

@@lusteraliaszero Yeah, it's the reviewers. The "video games as art" crowd is literally anyone who thinks video games are a viable art form, so it feels weird to throw that entire umbrella under the bus just because some people who might not even be related to that thought. Honestly, I feel like that line came out of nowhere just to attack walking simulators. It doesn't detract from the review as a whole, which was pretty good, but that was a pretty uncharacteristically shallow dig.

[@controllerfreak78]

I really like how the Haruspex is framed as a foreigner returning to his hometown where many things have changed, and he has often either forgotten several things or situations and customs have changed on him. Its a great route to start from since we, the players, might also be familiar with the old game but have to relearn the customs and mechanics of this reimagined world

[@planescaped]

I love that dig you gave to the crowd who fawn over walking simulators as art but didn't like Pathologic 2 just because of its survival mechanics. That was beautiful. Just because they're not trendy anymore, doesn't mean they weren't put into the game for a reason.

[@xanaxodgrindcorelover9191]

it was necessary

[@Overwar100]

_The vidya game journalist crash course!_ (*free of charge!*) | Video game: requires you to be able to breathe and think at the same time. | AND/OR ~ is in third person and has a lock-on system. | AND/OR ~ has an inventory screen with description on objects. | | Verdict: _There's definitely some Soulslike influence in there_ (continue with fluff) ( *IMPORTANT SIDENOTE* : if the game is in 2D, replace "Soulslike" with "Metroidvania") | Video game: is an open world RPG. | AND/OR ~ has quests with player driven branches. | AND/OR ~ player decision can influence the main plot. | | Verdict: _It's like Skyrim but with [X]_ (continue with fluff) ( *IMPORTANT SIDENOTE* : change "Skyrim" with "The Witcher 3" based on what crowd you'd wish to attract) | Video game: is horror themed. | AND/OR ~ has inventory management. | AND/OR ~ is set in or around a house. | | Verdict: _Obviously follows the footsteps laid by P.T._ (continue with fluff) ( *IMPORTANT SIDENOTE* : change "P.T." with "Frictional Games" if unsure)

[@chrisg5219]

This is one of the best comments I've ever seen in my life. I'm dead serious.

[@mumfol4791]

Both the content and structure of this comment are amazing.

[@Wazzen563]

This is painfully accurate.

[@Darksky1001able]

I imagine thier heads would explode if they played Doom 93.

[@trashman3319]

You forgot to mention them seeing some bullshit political view that isn't there/forcing in their own if its a current release. One of the worst reviews I've ever seen is the one that says Cuphead is a bad game for not addressing the racial issues of the 1930s-40s because it uses the animation style from then.

[@Mariofan7]

So basically they made a sequel faithful to the original games’ concept, while improving the overall experience on every aspect. Whether you like this game or not, it’s clearly a success

[@amadeus8802]

The mindmap was a huge improvement. Still though the game will be a hidden gem, its a niche game and for a very specific audience but for that audience its a dream come true. I have to say i enjoyed every bit of it, especially when the game opens up and takes you for the proverbial ride. Its a very well thought game and it would have been so much better had they some more budget.

[@MegaGladbag]

Mandalore: "Ok, no more wierd russian games..." Knoc-Knock and Two versions of The Void: "Allow us to intoduce ourselves!" P.s. Give your money to Ice Pick Lodge ASAP. We need them Nerd and Satanic Girl routes.

[@Guymanbot97]

What's the difference between the two versions of The Void? I tried watching an LP of it a while ago, got halfway through, and realised I made a mistake.

[@seaweed5269]

Changeling isn't Satan, she's a God, when will you all finally get it!

[@andrewdyagilev1653]

@@Guymanbot97 There is a difference in a story and difficulty of the game. The Void is a remake of Turgor (original Russian game) for English-speaking auditory, there were added quests (in the original game no one tells you what to do), The Colour has become a third party of the conflict with its own quests, The Sisters lack personality and in the remake you can't talk to them anymore, The Brothers have been demonized and become clearly "bad guys", there is much more pointers and activities in the remake, one of the endings was cut.

[@Horseofhope]

@@andrewdyagilev1653 what are you talking about? You still can talk to the Sisters just fine, only not as much as before, and Brothers were more interesting and expanded. The Void is more like a Director's Cut on steroids of Tension aka Turgor, it uses same engine, same assets, tells mostly the same story, but with a few cool twists and better overall quality.

[@andrewdyagilev1653]

@@Horseofhope In the original game there were two more conversational glyphs, through which you can learn some info about the Void and about sister's past. Well, that is your opinion about remake being better than the original, i heard and red quite the opposite opinion about gameplay in the remake being eased, the story less metaphoric and more straightforward.

[@ImortalZeus13]

So many game journalists have their heads up their ass about what is and is not "art" in a game. "Art" games are the walking simulators, as you've put it. So, when a game takes a break from telling a "pure" story via nothing but a first-person camera, diary entries, and dialogue, it's seen as "gamey". Plenty of games have both excellent uses of mechanical elements, while also having great narratives. These people so often only see half of the picture. It has become increasingly clear to me over the years that many game journalists are writers first and enthusiasts second. Why have a game where you're a survivor of a plague outbreak when you could just be an immortal tourist? It seems so boring to consider games this way. This is why many KZbinrs such as yourself, Mandalore, are filling a much-desired niche. I would personally like to thank you for telling me that this game existed, and offering it's finest qualities for me to see. Because of this, I am going to purchase it, support the devs, and form my own opinion. Something that I wouldn't have done if I was just reading reviews on mainstream websites.

[@movealongplease6891]

Really well put, but I think calling game journalists "writers" in even a remotely professional sense is an affront to the art of writing. They write, but if they can even be called writers, then they are 'bad writers', nothing more and perhaps a lot less.

[@williehawaii9967]

Call them what they are. Fake news

[@Table53]

@@movealongplease6891 I feel like the issue isn't that gaming journalists are fools who can't appreciate games with mechanics, but that professional games journalists have deadlines to write to. When a game expects you to die 30 times and really take your time to learn specific mechanics or enemy interactions.. then that's frustrating because now it might be hard to finish the game by Wednesday and submit copy by Thursday evening. I remember hearing a games journalist (can't actually remember which one) sound a little exasperated that the game they were reviewing for IGN was a puzzle game - because if the puzzles didn't click with them then trying to finish the game within three days to write a review might be impossible.

[@movealongplease6891]

@@Table53 That's entirely fair, of course. After all, how can you fully explore a game when you have a few days at most to play it AND write the review? No issue there, but my problem lies within the review itself. buzzwords like "Soulsian" or "Skyrim", the occasional "hate-click" titles, the pedantry and double standards that a good number of high-profile games journalists adhere to. A "rushed review" isn't a "lazy review". The former can still be passionate, informative and transparent.

[@Mangulwort]

People who use the term fake news are even bigger twats then bad writers in my opinion.

[@SpicyChickenGodAJ]

Truly the only man qualified to talk about this game after living it.

[@greybayles7955]

I gotta say the extent that they took community feedback from the first game is pretty admirable. They clearly learned a LOT from the release of Pathologic 1

[@MacherSvK]

Starting off with a JoJo refrence, this is going to be a good video. Edit: thanks for the reddit gold.

[@Nickong67]

YES YES YES YES YES

[@Wanky_Woop]

I agree and i feel dirty for it

[@maboi0007]

0:12 AWEKEN MY MASTAR!!!

[@AwfulWaffle8474]

It's never a wrong way to start imo

[@TheOnlyRise]

You better buy it. And by "it" I mean both Pathologic 2 and the bull in Pathologic 2. Be a BVLLCHAD.

[@xdearlifex]

I see the reaction to this game as video game criticism itself going through some growing pains. Film criticism is split pretty well in half between the "Arty" films and the "popcorn" flicks. We all understand the distinction and know where to get our reviews from. You know which reviewers focus on disposable trash and which ones focus on impenetrable nonsense. Video games sort of have this, but the thing is video games can be difficult in multiple ways: either difficult to play, or difficult to understand. A video game like dear Esther is, imo, difficult in precisely the same way as holy motors. It's hard to understand what's going on and what it's trying to say. By contrast, cup head is just fuckin hard to play. The plot takes zero brain cells to understand, but the gameplay is taxing. Pathologic is both, and I think that's why it's getting a critical paddling. It appeals neither to the cuphead or Esther crowds. It is a difficult game mechanically and its hard to understand. I also think most of game "reviews" are just buyers guides, and that definitely isn't helping. This game appeals to very specific individuals, and players that just want to turn their brain off and have fun are gonna hate this.

[@hkr667]

I agree, but to make a long story short it would help if game reviews better address who the game is for. I'd love a "type of gamers that might like/hate this game" paragraph in the conclusion. Also, it's fine if a reviewer admits that he doesn't enjoy a certain type of game. The review is still valid. But people can judge for themselves if that specific review holds enough value for them.

[@Crypted112]

@@hkr667 That's something that you'd thing would be more common in games journalism, but it really isn't for some surprising reason. I think I've only read 2 reviews this year which say something along the lines of "if you're the type of person who enjoys [x] you'll enjoy this game", and they were both about an old 90s game

[@PaladinGuy]

Nice, an actually good criticism of game reviews / reviewers.

[@SchwartzBOSS]

I bought the game because of your review, best decision of my gaming life.

[@--___--d]

I bought it because of this comment.

[@inthestorm4949]

@@--___--d I was 90 % beyond the fence but this was the tipping point so... I bought it because of this comment to the comment that sold it to you.

[@--___--d]

@Dmitry .... fuck now I have to buy it too. I just wanted to boost the sales by the 'crowd acceptance' phenomena.

[@davide2711]

Now I'll have to buy it too...

[@inthestorm4949]

@@--___--d I think you did haha. I still haven't played it - I have a metric ton of games to play besides it... The biggest downside to gaming is the time you can spend on it is limited. But for quite some time I've been doing the "can't play for more that 1.5h at a time" thing. Miss the time when I could just shut up my brain and play.

[@LimakPan]

I blame TinyBuild. They're not a good publisher. They release a lot of undercooked games, some of which had horrible PR. They have no standard for quality and hence they aren't a great company to associate your product with. Pathologic 2 is actually the first high-profile game they published when you think about it, and I don't think they handled it well. There wasn't much done in terms of advertising or anything.

[@thetrapperest]

Yes. Here I see some comments like "I didn't knew the game had come out already". People who may be interested in it just don't aware of it's existence. Damn tinyBuild

[@Guymanbot97]

When I read the comments for the release trailer, a good 70% of them were basically "Yeah that's cool, but when's the next Hello Neighbor". Really shows you the demographic they made for themselves.

[@Henrque123]

Agreed, I just bumped in it from KZbin algorithm, and even though I want to buy it, it seems there's little to no info on the game. Is it really really been released for PS4? Some news say it has been, but I can't get it anywhere but on steam

[@thetrapperest]

@@Henrque123 No. There's a plan to release it on PS4. But if it'll remain to be a commercial faliure, Pathologic 2 will not get this release

[@nemoguy]

They also made them changed the title too making people think it's a sequel

[@compassionatecurmudgeon7025]

Maybe you'll inspire a WH40k Fire Warrior remake lol

[@coot33]

One where we know how to kill the Valkyrie at the beginning of the game. It's never killed itself when I tortured myself playing this game ages ago.

[@sigma6656]

I'd rather have a rouge trader vidya game.

[@compassionatecurmudgeon7025]

@@sigma6656 Rouge Trader: A video game where you buy and sell cosmetics

[@sigma6656]

@@compassionatecurmudgeon7025 Damn. You got me there. I think my right hand index finger was a bit too quick on the draw.

[@DerFreiegedanke]

Whats up with you people i played through it when i was 14 and i have good memories of it. I mostly like the part how they made the bolters very canon.

[@KeyUSeeCZ]

Im so thankful Mandalore for this review as i was starting to be scared that this game will not spread to more people. It does have a lasting effect on me and even after i finished it completely, i still just want to play it and look around the town and its inhabitants. Tbh i knew you would review this game (you are the one that forced me to buy this awesome game after your review of the first game) but i was kinda scared that you will review it after another 2 chars will be released and that would be too late as i would suspect and would not see that this game is finished right now and those new characters will only be something like a free story expansion. So thank you from all of my heart Mandalore.

[@jackryan2612]

"is someone shilling raid shadow legends near me?"

[@skeletonwizard708]

Buying it because it looks playable now and to spite people who want more walking simulators. Thanks Mandalore!

[@tomtheconqerur]

The Virgin Horror Walking Simulator Vs The Chad Horror Game With Restrictive Combat

[@spaceinventor6477]

I do feel kinda worried about Pathologic's future. With game failing at sales and some people leaving IPL, I'm afraid we might not see Bachelor's and Changeling's (i still don't get why she was translated like that) campaigns at all. Quite a pity, considering the first part being my nearly first computer game ever and an experience influential enough to make me take a gamedesigner career. :c

[@seaweed5269]

Re: Clara's title - you know sidhe, the og elves, from the Celtic mythology? They lived under the hill, were immortal and very nasty to humans, and occasionally stole babies. However, for their gambit to go unnoticed, they'd always leave an impostor elf/spirit child that looks the same, but is different - a changeling. Of course, it isn't 1:1 correlation to the in games events, but there are enough of them for me to consider this a brilliant translation. Miles better than the original Devotress, at least.

[@RenegadeVile]

How come some people left the company? It's a shame as this seemed to be a passion project for everyone involved.

[@LadyFranch]

it's the best selling game by tiny build right now

[@chocolatMouse]

Clara's original title in Russian was twofold: apparently it could mean liar or impostress and on the other something like she-who-would- become . It was a very ambiguous title. In the original english translation it was translated to devotress, something which gave it a somewhat religious feel to it. Not entirely wrong, but it kind of missed the sinister/ambiguous context of the original. Changeling on the other hand keeps the ambiguous feeling : changelings are fairy children who were put in by their parents as replacements for human children who had been kidnapped by fairies. They looked like the children taken but did not posses a conscience and lacked an understanding of good and evil. They could therefore be quite dangerous. If you are familiar with Clara you'll understand why this title suits her well.

[@soldierlego297]

HE LIVE! THE KING OF LIMBO LIVES! LONG LIVE THE KING! LONG LIVE THE KING srs bro i'm happy ur back

[@fuzz_god]

1:25 Holy shit you stuffed a Mystery of the Druids meme in here you fucking foreshadowing legend.

[@mr.machina5306]

These reviews are extremely entertaining, I can always come back a week or two later just to watch the same review.

[@JohnathanJWells]

Thought I was the only one that did this

[@KubinWielki]

After watching your review of Pathologic Classic, I thought "Yeah, I'm glad Mandalore has played it and generated this video for me to enjoy without having to actually *walk* myself through the game, because I'd be bored out of my mind.", but after seeing this review, I'm actually all for buying Pathologic 2. Seems like a great game, especially when you focus on the decisionmaking process and consequences - from your description it seems like some best RPGs out there could learn some things from Pathologic 2 devs.

[@Coco-vv8nf]

me too i want to try it out

[@DIEGhostfish]

@@Coco-vv8nf I hope you both do, these seem like mechanics I am not huge on between being bad at videogames and a huge softie who crumples with moral choice, but these devs deserve money. Lots of it.

[@PrivateCritter]

Agreed. After seeing both reviews and how it has been received, I'd feel it a disservice not to buy this game when I have money again. It looks real neat.

[@planescaped]

I bought it after seeing this review. First game in years that's kept me up until 1am playing it. What an utterly fantastic game.

[@AsaelTheBeast]

You know, I wasn't planning on getting this game. Your Pathologic review had made it pretty clear it wasn't for me. But this looks very playable. I think I'll pick it up.

[@fconstraints]

"Junji Ito's Mongolian Thunderdome" Hahahahahahahahahahahaha. That's worth a subscribe right there.

[@thefalloutwiki]

Rawshark agreed lol

[@mourad3795]

You can't subscribe more than once

[@huntclanhunt9697]

@@mourad3795 Not true. I unsubscribed just so I could subscribe again.

[@darylchurch2115]

I absolutely loved that phrase.

[@Melheck]

You made me consider Pathologic but all my doubts disappeared with this one. I would have missed it if not for your reviews and I pretty much instantly bought it and completed the Haruspex route and enjoyed all of it. Thanks!

[@lucyarisato6850]

God I’m so thrilled to see this. Glad you’re mostly back in action-aaaaand a Pillar Man joke. I take it back, you’re back in full.

[@Blackemperess]

Hope your doing better health-wise Mandalore! Don't be shy about taking time to yourself to recuperate, videos can wait, your health can't.

[@andriibilych]

MandaloreGaming: The slavic specialty dish Me: *happy slavic noises*

[@danielthundersteel7146]

love that he puts some spotlight on slavic games. there are sometimes real gems coming from slavic countries, but they are often not very well known. still have fond memories from space rangers 2 back in the day.

[@mirceazaharia2094]

>happiness >slav The two are incompatible. Does not compute. :V

[@id30i18]

@@mirceazaharia2094 Can confirm, am slav

[@TekkenShazam]

Woah... the game that almost killed Mandalore. His last upload before he disappeared into the (possibly) Russian wilderness. Thank you Mandalore.

[@InternetHydra]

This game deserves to do way better then it is right now. Please people, if you buy one game this month BUY THIS ONE. Don't wait for a sale or wait for the nearest sale, but just do it!

[@5xg378]

God damnit I really wanna buy It. But damn my luck It Just cost 3 and a half numbers over my budget. Just fucking 3 and a half.

[@raven75257]

Welcome to game community right now. Most people don't like games when you need to think and when somebody disagrees - they claimed to be an "idiot" or something similar

[@IlhagThePoor]

Sure, I'm gonna buy it

[@fingusa]

I did and had to refund it. I have installed the game, tried booting it and it never worked. My computer has the specs to play it but me and many others are unable to even give it a chance.

[@HellStarKunai]

@@fingusa If it was freezing on startup all you have to do is wait like 10-20 seconds and it starts working. It does that every time I start it

[@4Deadserious]

PATHOLOGIC 3 JUST ANNOUNCED

[@sipofsunscorchedsarsaparil6052]

I noticed this in the first game already, the revolver is the 1900 SA/DA Webley made by Colonel Fosbery. You can identify it by the channels on the cylinder. It is definitely not an imprecise or low rate of fire weapon, and the round has about the power of .45 ACP. Just some trivia facts. The model looks great, even the safety is there, though I didn't like how it worked in the first game.

[@piggosalternateaccount4917]

One of my favourite details, it feels deliberate.

[@ArchonZach]

I didn't even know this game had come out already! Great video as usual my dude thanks for talking about this game

[@MadmanEpic]

I suddenly want to play Raid: Shadow Legends entirely and exclusively of my own accord.

[@loremasterdasmodeus8285]

Same here.

[@Shenaldrac]

"The kind of friend who emerges from a coffin and wants to tell you a secret." Oh, I didn't know you were actually reviewing an old Shadowrun video game.