First of all I wanna say excellent job on this game. I never got far, always getting killed on day 2 or 3. I had to stop because for some reason I found this game really terrifying.

The environment and character design is really unique, I've never seen anything like it before but I really like the style. So most importantly I was wondering is there some russian folk tale this game is based off of? Or are there any books similair to it?

Glad you've enjoyed it! ^___^

If you're getting killed, you can always use cheats, they are pretty easy to use, and can be found on the net easily - I'm not posting them not to tempt you. )) The game is not based on any book in particular, but it's creation was greatly influenced by some - Albert Camus "Plague", a bit from Ourwell's "1984". As for plain similar books - check out The Arkady and Boris Strugatsky books - "The Ugly Swans", "Roadside Picnic". These should be pretty acessible on the net for free in English. )

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ugly_Swans
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadside_Picnic

There is a russian game called Stalker which is loosely based on the movie, or perhaps the book which the movie is based on, are you familiar with it? I haven't played it myself, and have to admit that I don't know any russian games except for Tetris and Soviet Unterzögersdorf, but are there some more interesting out there? "You are empty" sounds promising but was described as a "brainless shooter" in Sweden which isn't quite what I'm looking for.

I'd definitely recommend 'S.T.A.L.K.E.R.' - I haven't played it much yet (really need to upgrade my machine) but it puts the player into a bleak yet beautiful environment that is somewhat reminiscent of 'Pathologic.' It also reminds me of 'Fallout,' from what I've seen so far. Check out some reviews online.

'You Are Empty' *is* a very simplistic and linear shooter, though once again, it features an attractive, yet bleak setting. It's not an amazing game, but it's quite fun (if you like shooters) and does have a certain charm to it.

I do like the setting of stalker, and just as Allan Poe said that melancholy is the natural tone of poetry I too believe that, which makes those kind of environments quite interesting. People may show their "real" colors when in extreme situations.

I have nothing against shooters, but I don't like them enough to play something else than the absolute best when it comes down to simple shooting. Half-Life 2 beats everything, I've heard, but for me it wasn't interesting the whole way through. I'm more of a people person, even when it comes to gaming.

I totally agree. I think decrepit buildings and rusted machinery can be incredibly beautiful in their own way
Good point, and once again, I agree. 'You Are Empty' is far from being the best shooter out there... In fact, it's not particularly good... However, I still like it and apparently it's a pretty short game to play through (around 4 hours). It also has giant mutant chickens

If you think STALKER the game is atmospheric (which is true), try reading the book its loosely based on - "Roadside Picnic". )

About the difficulty in Patholofic by the way, I have to say that it's too difficult. Some things I loved, the fact that you really have to be sparse with the usage of food, the different prices, and that you basically should avoid combat completely, and kill assaulters only when they assault someone else than you... but when you do that then it means that you let someone die without interfering, just so that you could kill that person afterwards... but I did end up loading A LOT of games, just because I couldn't get rid of an infection and so. I was too scared playing on a save with infections because I noticed that they wouldn't go away. Loading is bad in games, and I really would like to see more games where there is only one save at a time, where you perhaps can choose chapters and such. In some games loading is a part of the challenge, and Pathologic didn't strike me as one of those, basically. I hope that Tension has those thoughts somewhere, because death is one of the most problematic things in video games in general, and adventures that have immersive qualities and don't want the playing to be trivial has to come around that illusion somehow. Just going across town caused me to load games, and that's not good.

I had to reload quite a lot, as well. The game can be difficult.

However:
* Enemies can be killed with one shot if you manage to hit them in the head.
* If you're infected, it takes a couple of days before you die. You can use basic medication to slow the infection, then one dose of the 'children's medication' to cure yourself entirely. (As the children's medication is limited, though, I have to admit that I reloaded sometimes when I got re-infected.)
* Use your 'vision' tool (default key: v) when going into infected areas. This will allow you to see clouds of pestilence up ahead.

I suck at first person shooters so I used bullets mainly in forced encounters, but I reloaded sometimes because I felt that I used too many bullets! Hm, maybe I was a bit paranoid when thinking that infection=death. Although I still believe that the amount of actual death/number of reloads should be quite limited as it breaks "the illusion", which in fact can be quite nice sometimes! Silent Hill was very well balanced in that matter, where Resident Evil is more inclined towards action and bosses and therefore didn't have to be as balanced because it focuses more on the gameplay challenge.