I went out in steam Pathological 3: Quarantine (aka Mor: Court 3: Quarantine) – a kind of demo for the new part of the cult series, which, however, positions the developers as a prologue for the main story, a fully separate game. And not without reason.
Ice-Pick Lodge is experimenting again: the battle with the plague overgrown with a plague overgrown with elements of a detective in style “Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” (Adventures of Sherlock Holmes), time travel and new survival mechanics. If you want to be short, you want life – kick the waste. Impressions of about three hours of gameplay Sea, but which we will tell you below. The extra spoilers that can spoil the game experience will try to avoid.
Something new
For the first time in the history of the series Pathologic The game does not start in the same stepp city that is about to cover the plague, not on the train that goes there and not even in a bad dream. We are in the nameless capital, and from that it is blowing directly to St. Petersburg from the beginning of the last century. A very special aesthetics that is fun to meet somewhere, except the old cinema.
The main character This time is the Bachelor of Medicine Daniil Dankovsky. Those who are familiar with the series already know very well what kind of character it is, but in case we explain it: this is a medical scientist with an extremely ambitious goal to cure death. For the first time we meet his workplace and colleagues for the first time in the “quarantine”, but not at the best time. They want to close the laboratory and everyone who works in it is rejected.
Do you know Mor?
Because of this conflict, the game is gradual, neat and dosed, introduces new mechanics. There are many of this time. Pathological is now also a detective. With the click of the button you can “dive” in the spirit of the bachelor and look at the world with his eyes. He will find what to say for almost every reason.
Weapons are not so much to photograph as for intimidation. The bluff workshop in the form of a non -fertilized revolver that is brought to the enemy will save your life, but if you tighten or give yourself an attempt to shoot with an empty drum – you will end up. Interesting, fresh and even looks much more logical for the scientist, who probably never sung the trigger in his life.
And in one of the first detailed dialogues, the game immediately makes it clear that even with such an unwavering base of gameplay as conversations with other characters, it was decided to experiment. I don’t want to spoil how – a surprise element plays this “sheet” in the hand. Let’s say this innovation has pleasantly surprised us.
And all this – only in the capital, which acts as a kind of prologue for the prologue. When it comes to the city and collisions with sand pests, there are more surprises.
Etude in Karmozijnrode tones
The story in the “Quarantine” is not -linear. He throws out of the prologue in the epilogue, and then in the middle – on the fifth day of the stay of Dankovsky in the city. The gameplay for the bachelor is now work in the hospital, diagnoses, collecting information about the sick with the full immersion of the player in the process. You can also feel a detective in the skin of a doctor: people lie, hide the details, are afraid of saying excess. It is not enough to treat here, you must dig to the bottom.
Medical examinations look like mini games, where it is important to consider the symptoms, to analyze the environment and even talk to the patients’ neighbors and then bring patients into cards. Gameplain This whole promotion is similar to the “Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” of Frogwarees, only with characteristic “Mora” with a note of hopelessness and psychedel. There is even a local doctor Watson who looks at Dankovsky in the mouth of an assistant autodidact.
Why do patients diagnose in a city where an incomprehensible virus is raging? And the whole point is that part of the Zandpest is not so pronounced. The bachelor believes that this is due to the corresponding diseases and discovers which. It is not easy to find out this ball. In the “Quarantine” you only have to diagnose three patients – let’s say, the first time we didn’t succeed in doing this. Cases are confusing, symptoms and indications often contradict each other, but this is only more interesting.
Not without controversial solutions. For example, a fast movement system was made mandatory. In our opinion, this robs the city of integrity: it is no longer a single organism, but a series of individual zones, between which you can jump at will. In the past where the player dissected every street, every dark corner, such an approach, would look blasphemy. And although this will save long slow runs from one end of the map to another, I want to ask – is this absolutely “more”?
In some areas, however, you still have to walk. For example by infected. And here is again the peculiarity. There is a feeling that the bachelor is physically unable to catch the plague. He got a gadget in his hands, which ‘drives away’ the disease and cleans the air it thickens by infection.
It seems to be interesting, but it seems that if the device is not used, nothing really happens. As if the bets have fallen. But the basis of the struggle between life and the death of the protagonist made another mechanics.
It’s all in my head
We are talking about mechanics of mania and apathy. Bachelor is a rational person, but even he is not safe for nervous breakdowns. Too many mistakes, too cruel peace – and the hero starts to delve into paranoia. Or vice versa, he will lose all motivation, stop seeing the meaning in his actions.
Both states influence the perception of reality and therefore the gameplay. In a manic state you can see tips that were previously hidden, but in a state of apathy losing even the most important events their meaning. And if the main character falls entirely into despair, he can, as they say, throw away the skates. This is even Achivka for this.
The game with a direct text, through the mouth of the pathological actors-gallucinations, says: “Observe the balance.” This can be done by normally maintaining the psychological condition in two ways: using drugs or interacting with the environment. It was then that poor waste suffers: to “discharge”, the bachelor has to kick them. Cut your foot on the urn and life will shine with new colors.
Regarding the usual hunger, thirst, fatigue – there are not, such as the scale of infection with a plague. Food and water no longer play a key role. The developers decided that the bachelor does not need a constant search for provisions. At the same time, exchange trade, whose life depends, has always been the fundamental part of the game experience in the “Sea”. There is still this in quarantine – you can exchange medicines. You still can’t do it without searching for useful waste. But even in comparison with the indecently old original survival mechanism, it now seems like a kind of minced meat.
TIK-T
Perhaps the survival mechanics are cut for a reason. The most important enemies of the bachelor are their own head and steadfast ticking of the watch. Ice-Pick Lodge decided to play with this and presented an extremely interesting concept time travel.
As mentioned above, he does not throw us on the first, but immediately on the fifth day. And Dankovsky slowly understands that he has made many mistakes. Serious mistakes. The city rebelled, people took to the streets with a pitchfork.
And then the game represents one of the most important chips-the opportunity to return on time and play events again. Not only “Save and Load”, but a fully nourished game element: made a mistake, no evidence found, wrongly diagnosed – let the clocks of the watch go back in the opposite direction, come back, try again. But remember that this has a price.
To get to know this concept completely in the “quarantine”, the game ends when the bachelor decides to go into the past. But the application is powerful. Very, very intriguing.
Technical Moments
Chart Pathological 3: Quarantine made a small but step forward. The architecture of the city has become more interesting, the interior has been detailed in detail, the lighting creates expressive contrasts. Optimization is better than the second part of the release. However, bugs of a different nature are found. For example, it is often impossible to communicate with objects or signs.
The interface remains something to be desired. Especially the novelty – bags or the fast use system. But Ice-Pick Lodge at the first launch warns honestly: onion is not final and does not reflect what it will be in the “full meter”. Well, one can only hope and believe.
Sound as always at the top. Admittedly, as in “Mor. Utopia” and Pathological 2 from music arose that we had never heard this before and that it is unlikely that they will ever hear, then the soundtrack in the “quarantine” is of high quality, but not so specific. Not so sticking to his alien. Perhaps because of the protagonist who is not so immersed in the motifs of the steppe and holds on to the usual one-scientific thinking and the memories of the capital. In general, why this is all: maybe the change of soundtrack is not bad, just different.
The voice acting is also of high quality, the only thing is the English translation we have been able to evaluate seems to be Kutsy. Perhaps against the background of the wealth of the great Russian language. Dialogues in Pathological 3: Quarantine, as in the past parts, are beautiful: they are confused and give a good classic, especially Dostoevsky.
In general, Pathological 3: Quarantine magazines in anticipation. The game experiments, develops somewhere, radically changes the gameplay mechanics and adds new ones. The output is a unique game experience that simply has no analogues. You don’t expect another from Mora.
That is why it seems that the new part will be in the best traditions of the cult series: atmospheric, deep, philosophical, professionally frightening and retaining in excitement. And Ice-Pick Lodge still has time to smooth the roughness. The most important thing is not to make fatal mistakes such as a bachelor: it will not work out to rinse back for hours, like him.
Source: VG Times
Christina Moncayo is a contributing writer for “Social Bites”. Her focus is on the gaming industry and she provides in-depth coverage of the latest news and trends in the world of gaming.