I just started playing as the haruspex, and have finally managed to stay alive to the end of the first day, but as soon as it hits midnight it kicks me to the menu. What's going on?

The first couple times it happened was while I was sleeping, and it showed the scene with the guys in the plague masks and the dummy on the table, with the Russian voiceover (so I didn't know what it was saying). But if I'm awake at midnight, the game just ends.

Each day, you have one main goal that you must complete by the end of that day. Otherwise, it's game over. You can check the walkthrough if you need to.

Sorry, hydra9, but that's not how it works. First day task is obligatory for Dankovsky and Burakh.
Feel free to fail all other tasks, though, as they are not.

Really? I thought the 'main task' for each day was compulsory. That's how I played both characters, anyway. Very interesting...

Thankfully I had enough time left in the day to get where I needed to go. My first couple attempts I'd rested for an hour before heading out again, but skipping that allowed me to make it to my destination and complete the day.

Very frustrating, though. Seems like a nasty bug to just end the game without any sort of game over screen or even hint as to why the game ended.

Sorry, I believe that's our fault. For some reason we had forgotten this voiceover in the video, and it remained in Russian. Most likely that happened due to it being the only voiceover that occurs in the video and not in the game itself (other videos don't have any voice). The text says something like "We hoped he'll make it, but he failed to get prepared, and the plague had him," which is quite vague but, on the other hand, makes it quite obvious that it is you who did something wrong. Nevertheless, many players are still confused when they get this out of the dark.

Make sure to look at the task list; finished tasks should have an entry starting with three dots. Now and then it may not mean you have completed it properly, but at least this means you've gained some certain result. In some cases you may also fail your task, often after a really bad choice in a dialogue in the lines of "Gosh, I've had enough. Do it youself, man." Then you usually get a final entry "Oh, somehow it seems I couldn't help him" or like that.

I believe you won't need any more help if you finished Burakh's day 1 (it starts out pretty tough + the translation is far from being unintelligible). Still, if many problems arise, you may use our official walkthrough: http://www.pathologic-game.com/path_walkthrough_eng.pdf . It's written mainly without any additional info, just pointing out where to go and what to do for each quest - maybe with some advice. So you won't get spolers unless you read ahead of your actual progress.

There's a translation of that voiceover here, if you're interested.

I wasn't so much worried about the endgame voiceover, but it all makes a lot more sense now after the explanation (and thanks for the translation!). I've since made it to the 3rd day and have a much better grasp of what's going on.

After a little bit of investigation, I've tracked down what really bothered me, though. I still have a saved game @ 22:40 on the first day, near a bed. Out of curiosity I loaded it up again, slept for an hour, and then waited. It showed the scene. hitting "w" ends it, though. Tried again, but this time let it roll over while I was walking - and nothing. It skips the game over scene without so much as a blip. That's what I had been talking about when I said it kicked me straight to the menu.

And yet I keep coming back. I have to say, this game's grabbed me in a way very few games have. If any.

Hooray! Glad to hear it!

In the italian edition death_fail.wmv and death.wmv are the same, without any voiceover. °° I suppose it was just a "rough fix" by the Italian publisher for the problem. XD