Pathologic 3

Steam Reviews

Read all reviews on Steam

• Recommended Posted January 10, 2026 on Steam I think the sooner players realize this is a Noir Detective Mystery Thriller with time travel and mental health themes and not another Hobo-Survival-Simulator or "Horror Game" the more fun they will have.
• Recommended Posted January 9, 2026 on Steam You know the phrase "In russian literarute everyone suffers. The characters, the author, and the reader." Pathologic games are the embodiment of this it. I waited for this game for so long and its finally out! I already played for 2 hours and it's fantastic! Ice-Pick Lodge cannot disappoint. For steam deck users - controls are perfectly supported , but you'll need to lower graphics for smoother experience.
• Recommended Posted January 12, 2026 on Steam If you look at the negative reviews they boil down to being confused about why the game is non-linear, the new travel system and the lack of traditional survival mechanics, which is interesting considering how WELL the devs have communicated all of these changes and what this game actually was going to be. So if you don't read or look into things before buying them you may as well give Baldurs Gate 3 a bad review cause its terrible as a First Person Shooter. I guess I went in with the right expectations because I'm loving it so far. It's a really creative concept, an interesting take on the pathologic world and it's really good at what it does. Despite all the changes it still truly feels like a Pathologic game, as it keeps the spirit of what the game actually is, and it feels like a really refreshing way to return to the town after all these years. I'm really glad the devs decided to make something new instead of just making bachelor from the first game with updated graphics. The story is really fun, and the time travel mechanics make it feel more involved for me at least, as exploring decisions and outcomes it more accessible than it was in pathologic 2, considering how long the game was. It also lets the devs be a bit more bold with the consequences, which made me really paranoid. The Apathy/Mania mechanic also makes me feel a need to think carefully about my responses as once my character shot themselves after talking to children for too long (mood honestly). But it is also interesting playing this version of the bachelor who is on the edge of their sanity. Lastly the doctor machanics & city governing stuff are really fun and interesting, though I don't think I would recommend the game for someone who is only interested in that stuff. I think people who enjoy the franchise for its absurdity, characters and story are gonna love this no matter what, which has always been the very core of the games anyway. There are some negatives, but nothing that has a major impact on my enjoyment of the game. There are some bugs, and I think its a bit weird that the children are the main source of medicine and somehow have more of it than the hospital itself. Idk if thats intentional or if there is a lore reason, but it frustrated me a bit having to run all over town and trade nuts and trinkets just so I could do my job. Although that has definitely always been a core mechanic of the franchise, so I guess thats something most of the negative reviews cant complain about. Overall I went in with an open mind and found an incredible and addictive experience, and its a game I'll be talking about and recommending to people at least until Pathologic 4 comes out with Clara's story.
• Not recommended Posted January 26, 2026 on Steam Firstly, let me start by saying that I came into this game WANTING to like it. Pathologic Classic and 2 are both all-timers for me, and I was excited to see where this new entry would bring the series. Unfortunately, although there were parts that I enjoyed, some glaring issues with mechanic design and tone ultimately undermined what this game was attempting to do experientially. To address the bull in the room, yes, this game is currently riddled with bugs at the time of this review. While this definitely soured my first playthrough somewhat, bugs can be fixed given time, and IPL has already pushed several patches doing just that since release. As such, I'll try to take them into account as little as possible in this review, since I'm most interested in what I perceive as the true, intended experience here. The main new mechanic introduced in this game is time travel. Without going into exhaustive detail, time travel essentially works by expending a resource called Amalgam to jump back and forth between the twelve days you spend in the town. The further a day you want to jump to, the greater the Amalgam cost, with repeating the day you're already on costing nothing. When you repeat a day, you'll be able to see a map of all of your major actions on that day and choose ones to undo, allowing for a different progression of events in the future. While on its own the time travel is an interesting premise (albeit a bit underutilized - the changes provoked by it rarely diverted from the primary storyline in a significant way), the real issue was that it is in complete conflict with the other two new mechanics that were introduced: the medical diagnostic mechanic and the management of the town through decrees. It's a shame because I thought both of these mechanics were extremely interesting and fun to engage with, they just had absolutely no weight to them since you could abuse time travel to ensure that you made the correct choices every time. They feel like mechanics that were originally designed for a more linear experience like Classic or 2 (where they could actually have consequences outside of the will of the player), and then were shoed in roughshod to fit with the time travel angle. A recurring mechanic from previous titles is resource management, albeit this time around the resources you are managing are quite different. Rather than the Hunger and Immunity/Infection meters of the previous games, the Bachelor has to manage his mental state (which slides on a scale of Apathy to Mania) as well as Amalgam, the time-travel currency mentioned above. With both of these resources, there is a general issue with predictability. In prior entries, it felt like you could plan/strategize around the resource drain - passing by a grocery? Take the chance to stock up on food; visiting an infected district? Refill your medical supplies beforehand. Even if there was a sudden, unexpected loss of resources, the general predictability of the system meant you could immediately perform damage control. This is not the case in Pathologic 3. The expenditure of resources is much harder to predict and at times feels entirely random. Apathy/Mania are the worst in this regard due to their connection with dialogue; many dialogue options will cause your mental state to spike in one direction or another, but there is no easy way to tell which options will cause it (if it's meant to be through tone/content of the options alone, than that did not read well in the English version). This essentially means that one bad conversation with a rude child can leave the Bachelor on the verge of literal suicide, which while kind of funny feels frustrating from a gameplay perspective. The developers seemed to have realized this flaw with the system and placed a lot of interactables in the overworld that you can use to push the scale one way or another, and while this helps to counteract being bullied to death by twelve-year-olds, it creates a new issue by making the mental health management system essentially pointless since you have a practically unlimited ability to influence it one way or another. The management of Amalgam also comes with its own set of issues. As with Apathy/Mania, its expenditure can be fairly unpredictable, but unlike the former it does become far more limited as you progress through the game. This can become incredibly frustrating if you, say, click on the wrong day, or travel back to a day without realizing that you haven't progressed a quest enough to unlock new content, and suddenly are struggling to refill your Amalgam to continue the story. The main way to refill Amalgam is smashing mirrors around the map and completing certain key quests/dialogue, but once you've expended these options, your only recourse is to essentially grind for it by euthanizing plague victims in infected districts. While I'm not opposed to the potential of an "intended" softlock (punishing the player for spending too much Amalgam by making their save incompletable), the whole system just feels entirely unbalanced and weirdly disincentivizes players from exploring the consequences of their changes to the timeline, since doing so can very well just eat up a valuable resource with no reward. The final resource the game asks you to manage is time itself. This is a shared aspect of the previous titles; navigating the world and performing certain tasks will pass time until the day ultimately ends. Here is where I think this game falls apart the most; in Classic and 2, the passage of time was a very real, very pressing threat. It forced you to make difficult choices, as oftentimes you would simply be unable to complete every event in a day due to the constant resource drain and navigating the town itself. While you could reload a save to see other outcomes, often you would ultimately just have to make a decision and then live with the repercussions in order to progress. This is not the case at all in 3. The day clock does progress, but since you can reset days as much as you want, it feels more like a minor inconvenience than an actual threat. Your choices for the most part feel entirely insignificant. You as the player aren't really asked to come to terms with the harsh consequences of your actions, since those actions (with only a few minor exceptions) are reversable. It feels like a story entirely without stakes, and previously pivotal and challenging elements, including the plague itself, are reduced to little more than set dressing. There's a lot more I could offer critique on - the removal of navigating the town in favor of a fast-travel system, the highly watered-down barter system, etc. - but I want to keep this mostly focused on what I see as the most detrimental mechanical issues with this game: the incompatibility of time travel with the other systems and overall lack of balance when it comes to resource management. Also I'm getting close to the character limit, so I'll leave it at that. All of this being said, I don't think this is a BAD game by any stretch of the imagination; I am just more inclined to judge it harshly because I enjoy the series so much. I respect Ice Pick Lodge for taking a risk and doing something different, even if I feel it wasn't entirely successful in this case. I know I marked this review as not recommended, but if you've read this far and enjoyed other games in the series, I do think it's worth checking out (maybe just wait for a few more patches though - I trust you'll have a better first experience when most of the bugs have been quashed). okay no one is reading this far so my true final complaint is that shirtless haruspex should have been fatter and hairier I mean he's nicknamed BEAR for gods sake put a little more meat on that man's bones *I am dragged from the stage by a surly executor*
• Recommended Posted January 11, 2026 on Steam I have perused the reviews a bit and have found myself confused by some of the negative reviews. Let me preface everything and say I understand that this game is easier than Pathologic 2 due to the main mechanic of the game allowing you to fix mistakes made, but that doesn't make it any less of a great game. Some people still find the game too hard, while those who loved the absolute hell of the previous games (myself included), are unhappy that this game does not completely continue that cycle (not myself included). Pathologic 3 is extremely well optimized, has an artsy and poetically confusing story that rips reality apart, and has medical investigation mechanics that I find wonderfully executed. The apathy and mania meter had me a bit questioning of it at first, but after kicking enough trash cans and sprinting at beyond the speed of light (faster than sonic ever wishes he could go), I have found one simple conclusion; this mechanic is FUN. Sure it's not completely brutal and may feel off for a Pathologic game, but COME ON the mechanic is extremely fun and gives for some insanely entertaining moments where you are sprinting past a mob of angry citizens or death itself. My main cons with the game consist of one low priority issue and one high priority issue. On the lower end, I myself am playing at the highest possible draw distance and it still feels really low considering the game is no longer open world like the previous one was. Things popping in and out without letting me see it from my total distance in these small areas does not feel good at all. On the higher priority end, I am having an issue despite my drivers all being up to date where the audio is popping in and out in infected areas. It is extremely annoying and has me want to actually mute the game entirely which is not great considering there is an entire sound mechanic in these areas (iykyk). Otherwise, this is an improvement over the previous game in nearly every level. It is by far worth more than the $28 USD that I paid for it. HIGHLY RECOMMEND BABBBYYY
• Recommended Posted January 11, 2026 on Steam If you have never played a Pathologic game before: Pathologic 3 is a survival horror game focused primarily on its story. The game has a heavy emphasis on the atmosphere of the town you will be exploring. The game evokes strong feelings, from the expertly written dialogue to the plague-demon chase sequences through infected districts. Unlike modern horror games, it does not rely on cheap jumpscares--instead focusing more on letting the player stew in their own, anxiety-ridden thoughts. If you like reading and have time to kill, I think you will generally enjoy Pathologic 3. If you have played either of the previous Pathologic games: This game is a massive change of pace. It is extremely different. Comparing difficulty between this and 2 is like comparing apples to oranges, the mechanics are so radically different that it would be disingenuous to force a comparison. Pathologic 2 was hard, and so is 3 (however, they are hard in different ways). If Pathologic 3 were an alcoholic beverage, it would be a craft beer. While I loved drinking the 100% grain alcohol of Pathologic 1 and the cabernet noir of Pathologic 2, it is really refreshing to give my taste buds a break from the burning and focus on expanding my flavor profile. It isn't just stress, trauma, and regret--there's humor, respite, and moments where you actually feel like you're making progress (there's still a 'lot' of stress, however). I can be genuinely kind and empathetic towards the companions in the hospital, fight yell and argue with the bureaucratic forces in control, and breakdown at the verge of tears opening up to Eva when I come home at night. Unlike the previous games, Pathologic 3 feels more well-rounded and polishes what was already dominant writing and design. Considerations: I also want to mention that this game, despite the appearance of early-launch bugs and glitches, is much better optimized than Pathologic 2 was (for me). I also genuinely like the changes to the dialogue, user interface, visual effects, music ... this game feels modernized in all of the right ways. Especially since it fits the character of The Bachelor. Final thoughts: I am a "long-time" fan of the franchise since 2018 and I must point out how absolutely blessed I am to get a refreshing entry in the pathologic series more than 20 years after the original game. Though I am 9 hours in as of writing this, I have been genuinely enjoying what I have played so far. There have been many moments where I screamed, happy sad and in genuine rage. Pathologic 3 is a worthy sequel. Not many franchises and not many studios have this level of attention. It is truly special. If you were thinking of getting the game, I would suggest waiting for it to go on sale (which it is currently until Jan 23rd). The team clearly put a lot of work and care into this game, and fans should show their support so Ice-Pick Lodge can keep thriving. Or, at least, until Pyrocynical eventually finds out.