After reading several article and playing the demo I got off Fileplanet, I decided I must buy this game, so ordered the UK version off Amazon. I'm quite excited, since despite having an Athlon Dual Core PC (Windows XP), the demo runs just fine. Perfectly in fact. Very stable.

I have some questions:

1) Now, I've recently seen mention of StarForce being in it. Does the UK retail version feature Starforce? If so, is there any way to remove it / patch it? I don't want to install anything that uses Starforce.

2) Does the Fileplanet demo contain Starforce? I tried checking my system, but it's French and I have serious trouble navigating the windows file menus (I don't think I have it).

3) I got the guide, but I don't want to read it for fear of spoiling it, but I'd like to know what I need to keep in mind to finish the game correctly. Basically if I complete each Day Quest, and I save some powders for day 12, I'll be fine, right? Does it matter too much if I get infected? Because I can't seem to avoid it in the demo!

4) Was the ability to kill the children removed from the UK release? I ask because on Rock Paper Shotgun it said you could kill them in order to steal their medicines... I'm embarrassed to say that I did attempt this in order to steal some powders, but was unable to do so. There did not appear to be any collision detection in the child NPCs - they ran away unharmed in the demo. I'm wondering if it was censored for the west? If so, that's a little disappointing, since not only do I dislike censorship in general, but it also profoundly affects the gameplay and difficulty curve, since although you can still kill adults in the demo there are certain items (such as powders) which they do not carry. Does anyone know the full truth behind this - is it perhaps specific to the demo?

5) Does Ice-Pick have any intention of revisiting Pathologic, either in an updated remake or sequel? It's such a fantastic concept, and I prefer its real-world setting to The Void, that it seems a shame if it's now run its course.


Thanks for all the work. Although I've only played the demo, this seems like precisely the kind of game I'm always looking for - complicated and technical, with desperate survival mechanics. There's no hand holding like a lot of other games, and while the industry has become obsessed with the easy win, this proves enjoyably challenging. It also reminds me a lot of Deadly Premonition and maybe a little bit of Stalker, two of my favourite games.

Welcome, Sketcz!

I don't know what is this Starforce you're talking about, so I'll skip directly to the questions I can answer.

Basically if I complete each Day Quest, and I save some powders for day 12, I'll be fine, right? - That's correct for the most part, except for one decision around Day 8, where you can supposedly lock yourself out of the good ending if you don't do the right thing. I won't spoil it for you, unless you specifically ask.

Does it matter too much if I get infected? - Yes, it makes for a much better gaming experience imo Coupled with the fact that you have to sleep, eat and take care of your wounds, it makes your character feel unusually alive. Getting sick is definitely manageable and I'm pretty sure it's unavoidable if you want to 100% the game, at least for the first two characters.

Was the ability to kill the children removed from the UK release? - unfortunately, you can't kill kids in the English version. I was sort of disappointed about that as well, and not because it makes powders more difficult to get. The RPS article contains quite a number of minor inaccuracies, but it's very much in the spirit of the game. Inaccurate but not misleading in the slightest, how's that for a review?

Hopefully the smarter guys are keeping an eye on this forum so you can get an answer to the rest of your questions. I really hope you'll be able to play Pathologic, it really is worth it.

As far as I know, only the Russian version uses Starforce.

Thanks for the replies.

Starforce is a copy protection thing which has received negative press - it does bad things to your PC, apparently, which is enough for me to be wary of it. A Google should explain more.

I'll keep an eye out on Day 8 - thanks for the warning.

My copy will be dispatched on Tuesday, so I should have it by the end of the week. Based on the demo, I wouldn't say it's impossibly broken at all. It has a lot of charm and I absolutely love the survival mechanics. One thing I hate about modern games is recharging health bars. Where is the fun in that?! Depending on how motivated I feel I might, maybe, write a feature on this for a website I write for.

I am really disappointed to hear about the censorship though. Can kids still die in a crossfire between NPCs, or are they immortal now like they are in Fable? If so, that somewhat reduces the grim reality the game is trying to portray. I mean, you could break into a house, kill the parents, but the kids would still be running around like invincible robots... In the Russian version, did the child gangs fight with each other ever? I'm curious to know to what degree this censorship affected the mechanics.

My other question then would be:
Is it possible to mod the game to undo the censorship?

Was the censorship the result of major changing of the original code, or was it simply switching a 1 to a 0 in some of the NPC data files so the collision detection was removed? I remember making my own custom STALKER mods because all you needed was to edit some text files (very versatile!). I don't know how the file structure works here, but I'm hoping it's easy to fiddle with?


Does anyone know what other changes were made between the Russian original and the UK release?

Yeah, the game is nowhere near "impossibly broken" if you ask me, nor is it buggy. I must've been playing a different version than the one most reviewers saw. The translation is bad, but again, not incomprehensible, and I do think it adds to the charm and weirdness of the game. I guess some of the detractors just haven't seen metaphors before, especially in a videogame.

The kids are immortal, but the game isn't _all_ about grim reality. More like magic realism... you'll see You might actually find a justification for the children's immortality if you listen carefully to what they tell you.

In the Russian version, only teenage boys are killable and if attacked they would fight back instead of fleeing. In the English version, teenage boys were made invincible and some quest related kids were replaced with killable adult midgets.

You can't toggle it, and the script files aren't human readable.

As far as I know there isn't any gang activity in any version. The game world is quite static outside of scripted quest events.

It is fun to watch the men chase the ladies around town though. Trying to save them got me killed my first playthrough

I see. So the kids with powders are immortal in both versions, thereby forcing you to trade regardless of the version you have? Well, that's re-assuring to know - if it was part of the original design team's final version, then that's fine. Strange that RPS would make such a glaring error in their write up - they made the game seem like absolute lawless pandemonium.

My concern is mainly when foreign publishers start making changes to a team's original vision, in some strange attempt to cater to a local audience. I like authenticity in my games, with as few changes between regions as possible.

As an interesting aside, I seem to recall you could kill kids in the original Deus Ex.

Sketcz: The UK retail release does not use Starforce - It just has a simple check to see that the disc is in the drive. And that can be removed with a no-CD crack.

Thanks for further confirmation - now I just need to wait for it to arrive.

But the men are so dense that they stop to punch the air. Someone needs to make a video, speed it up, and then put that Benny Hill music to it.
I would love more real world settings too. Familiar environments are a playground of subtle themes and allusions.
Pathologic begins with you beneath its boot, and then it starts crushing.

Checked the post this morning, and it's still not here.

Tomorrow hopefully...

Finished it and did a write up:
http://blog.hardcoregaming101.net/2011/ ... ic-pc.html

A fantastic game. Loved the secret ending. Wished more games dealt with disease and economics like Pathologic did.

Only criticism: the walk speed was too slow!

Oh, and maybe different styles of architecture for each district would have been nice, to help differentiate them.

Even so, despite being nearly 6 years old, it was still an incredible experience.

It makes me so happy when people *get* this game, like you have.

Will you play the other two characters? The way the game offers different perspectives on the same events was another big plus in my opinion. It's amazing how characters that seemed likeable and noble when playing as the Bachelor reveal a very different personality towards the Haruspex and the Impostress. (and viceversa)

Brilliant article and I'm also really happy that you like the game so much

One of my favourite paragraphs: And another: I felt exactly the same. And weirdly enough, this is also part of what makes Pathologic 'fun'. Grim fun, but fun all the same.

I will do, after giving it a break. It's a very draining game and the slow walking speed puts me off slightly. I might play it again with Flying on, just to speed it up slightly...

Wish I'd played as the Haruspix, since his scenario seems the more challenging, and you can make medicines and steal organs. The Bachelor in comparison is very simple and very easy.