~ Difficulty ~
🔲 Stupid easy
🔲 Easy
🔲 Normal
🔲 Heroic
☑️ Legendary

~ VISUALS ~
🔲 Awful
🔲 Passable
🔲 Good
☑️ Excellent
🔲 Masterpiece

~ MUSIC ~
🔲 Awful
🔲 Passable
🔲 Good
☑️ Excellent
🔲 Masterpiece

~ PRICE
🔲 Waste of money
🔲 Overpriced
☑️ Fairly priced
🔲 Fantastic value
🔲 Free

~ REQUIREMENTS ~
🔲 Entry level PC
🔲 Mid-range PC
☑️ High-end PC
🔲 Top-spec PC

~ LENGTH ~
🔲 Stupid short (0 - 4 hours)
🔲 Short (4 - 15 hours)
🔲 Average (15-40 hours)
☑️ Long (40-80 hours)
🔲 Extremely long (80-120 hours)
🔲 No ending

~ FUN ~
☑️ Agonizing ***See notes at bottom***
🔲 Boring
🔲 Average
🔲 Quite amusing
🔲 Exhilarating

~ STORY ~
🔲 Doesn't exist
🔲 Bad
🔲 Average
🔲 Excellent
☑️ Masterpiece

~ REPLAYABILITY~
🔲 None
🔲 Only for achievements
🔲 Average replayability
☑️ High replayability
🔲 Never gets old

~ WORTH BUYING ~
🔲 No
🔲 Wait for sale
☑️ Yes ***See notes at bottom***
🔲 MUST BUY

~ Conclusion ~
It's hard to conform my usual way of reviewing games (up above) to what this game achieves. This game is truly a masterpiece at giving the player a different feeling than any game I can think of (and I've played many). The intent is to make the player feel truly helpless while balancing decisions and consequences, knowing a holistically positive outcome is unachievable. As I implied above, it can be an agonizing game--but that's the point, and in the end I enjoyed playing a game that pushes me to the limit, that is brutally hard for a reason, and coming out the other side having achieved anything under such horrific conditions is hugely satisfying. The game isn't flawless, but if you've ever seen the first Pathologic you can appreciate how perfectly this updated title improves upon the goals, adding graphical beauty and polish to an existing masterpiece. Despite a few small issues, and the prospect that perhaps it could still be balanced in some way, for the higher form of ideas explored and the excellent execution I've decided to award a 5/5.

THAT BEING SAID, can I recommend this game to anyone? If you are used to streamlined mainstream games which consistently outline what is expected of the player, I probably would not attempt this game. If you don't typically play challenging ambiguous games I would recommend NOT playing the Imago difficulty right out the gate. Start with larva or even cocoon if you really want to give it a shot and aren't used to truly challenging games.

FINAL SCORE: 5/5

~ Difficulty ~ 🔲 Stupid easy 🔲 Easy 🔲 Normal 🔲 Heroic ☑️ Legendary ~ VISUALS ~ 🔲 Awful 🔲 Passable 🔲 Good ☑️ Excellent 🔲 Masterpiece ~ MUSIC ~ 🔲 Awful 🔲 Passable 🔲 Good ☑️ Excellent 🔲 Masterpiece ~ PRICE 🔲 Waste of money 🔲 Overpriced ☑️ Fairly priced 🔲 Fantastic value 🔲 Free ~ REQUIREMENTS ~ 🔲 Entry level PC 🔲 Mid-range PC ☑️ High-end PC 🔲 Top-spec PC ~ LENGTH ~ 🔲 Stupid short (0 - 4 hours) 🔲 Short (4 - 15 hours) 🔲 Average (15-40 hours) ☑️ Long (40-80 hours) 🔲 Extremely long (80-120 hours) 🔲 No ending ~ FUN ~ ☑️ Agonizing ***See notes at bottom*** 🔲 Boring 🔲 Average 🔲 Quite amusing 🔲 Exhilarating ~ STORY ~ 🔲 Doesn't exist 🔲 Bad 🔲 Average 🔲 Excellent ☑️ Masterpiece ~ REPLAYABILITY~ 🔲 None 🔲 Only for achievements 🔲 Average replayability ☑️ High replayability 🔲 Never gets old ~ WORTH BUYING ~ 🔲 No 🔲 Wait for sale ☑️ Yes ***See notes at bottom*** 🔲 MUST BUY ~ Conclusion ~ It's hard to conform my usual way of reviewing games (up above) to what this game achieves. This game is truly a masterpiece at giving the player a different feeling than any game I can think of (and I've played many). The intent is to make the player feel truly helpless while balancing decisions and consequences, knowing a holistically positive outcome is unachievable. As I implied above, it can be an agonizing game--but that's the point, and in the end I enjoyed playing a game that pushes me to the limit, that is brutally hard for a reason, and coming out the other side having achieved anything under such horrific conditions is hugely satisfying. The game isn't flawless, but if you've ever seen the first Pathologic you can appreciate how perfectly this updated title improves upon the goals, adding graphical beauty and polish to an existing masterpiece. Despite a few small issues, and the prospect that perhaps it could still be balanced in some way, for the higher form of ideas explored and the excellent execution I've decided to award a 5/5. THAT BEING SAID, can I recommend this game to anyone? If you are used to streamlined mainstream games which consistently outline what is expected of the player, I probably would not attempt this game. If you don't typically play challenging ambiguous games I would recommend NOT playing the Imago difficulty right out the gate. Start with larva or even cocoon if you really want to give it a shot and aren't used to truly challenging games. FINAL SCORE: 5/5