A strange disease ravages a small town while a group of protagonists set out to uncover its cause. That's the premise of a cult story that you can now experience by playing the terrifying demo of Pathologic: The Marble Nest.
Originally released in 2005 for Windows and later remastered in a high-definition edition, Pathologic introduces three characters known by their nicknames: Bachelor, Haruspex, and a girl called Devotress. Each tries to discover the source of a strange lethal disease known as "the sand plague" that has fallen on a small town. The game was critically well received, winning five Russian awards and being praised for its extraordinary atmosphere and concept. Taking advantage of the Kickstarter phenomenon, the Russian studio Ice-Pick Lodge ran a campaign to raise funds among fans for a remake of Pathologic.
The Remake and Its Features
The generosity of the fans successfully paid off, raising $333,127 that Ice-Pick Lodge will use to create a remake for PC and consoles. Pathologic will feature new missions and content, visual improvements thanks to the Unity engine, more balanced gameplay, smarter NPC AI, realistic behavior patterns for the sand plague disease, and a better English translation. But the best part is that The Marble Nest, a demo for PC, is already available for free via Steam.
The Marble Nest Demo
The Marble Nest lasts approximately two hours and is meant to let players familiarize themselves with the world of Pathologic. It is a brief standalone story that uses the same premise as the main game but works as a spin-off. In terms of gameplay, this demo doesn't include all the mechanics you'll find in the full game and is generally in a pre-alpha state. It isn't optimized, so expect long load times, bugs, and other issues. Pathologic is being developed by Ice-Pick Lodge and will be available on Windows, Mac, Linux, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The game doesn't have a concrete release date, but it is expected to arrive late 2017.
Official site: Pathologic
