If you already have a copy of Pathologic Tabletop, you’ll find the soundtrack and an additional page for The Plague’s Notebook there; an extensive FAQ may help you resolve questions regarding the game if you have any.
If you don’t have the game, you can now download its rulebook, see if it appeals to you and (if it does) buy the game directly from the site. No more jumping through the perilous hoops of the Backer Portal!
By the way, if you’re planning to acquire a copy of Pathologic Tabletop at all, not may be a good moment to do so since we only have a hundred of English copies left—and we don’t know yet when the second edition will be printed.
What will you not hear in Pathologic? There definitely won’t be any pop hits. No signals of planes, ships, or trams. No highway roars planned for it either. A merry carnival is unlikely to add its noises to the game, and so are ambulance or emergency buzzers. Do not expect to hear the sound of jumping either.
A lot of people say that 2016 was a terrible year. Some do so with irony. Some mean it.
Others argue that it was rather unexceptional, offering statistics that suggest as much. Others still are always eager to remind anyone who would listen that life generally sucks. (Or that it’s generally lovely, although this idea is for some reason less popular.)
To us, this conundrum is very simple. Everyone is different—and so was everyone’s 2016. What’s tragic for one person is merely a shrug of the shoulders for another; the events in the world surrounding us are the same, yet we all have different takes on them.
This will not change in 2017.
And yet, however different, we still manage to find common ground, understand each other, and share interests. It was very apparent to us when we were reading your feedback on The Marble Nest: sometimes your critique was unexpected, while at other times you pointed out undeniable drawbacks. Sometimes your compliments were surprising, while at other times you justified our hopes.
Sometimes your tastes seemed a bit eccentric (especially the tastes of that guy who asked us to make the movement in Pathologic even slower), while sometimes you remained surprisingly unanimous.
There’s only one thing we know for certain: 2016 was the year when we constructed The Marble Nest. The new Pathologic appeared in the real playable flesh for the first time ever. We checked many a hypothesis; detected a number of less-than-impressive bits, too. But most importantly, we refined the course that had been charted previously. Now we’re sure which way to go.
And this is what we wish to all of you in the new year. 2017 will be different for everyone, but we sincerely hope that each of you will muster up enough wisdom and strength to shape it your own way, turning it into exactly the thing you need.
Even if what you need is to drag a huge bull into a small room.
The Void makes a glorious return to Steam. Now with trading cards, badges and stuff, because nothing screams “gamify me” like an artistic game about exploring your soul and creativity.
If you already own The Void on Steam or GOG, the Russian, German, and Polish versions will unlock for you automatically, and your Steam copy will be updated to make the cards and other shiny stuff available.
Please keep in mind that apart from us giving in to the colorful appeal of collectible Steam items, it’s still very much the same game—no fixes, no updates, nothing remastered. It was still released in 2009. The Sisters are still alluring and the Brothers, still grotesque. You know, the usual.
For those of you who might be curious, The Void was taken off Steam due to legal issues, that have now been resolved (which, as a bonus, allowed us to finally include the original Russian texts).
The Color of the Void is once again in your hands and hearts now.
The one and only patch for The Marble Nest is out. We’re calling it “one and only” because we aren’t planning to release any more fixes to The Marble Nest.
We are aware of the fact that a number of issues with the game remain unresolved. However, since The Marble Nest was just a pre-alpha sort-of-demo created to gauge your kind feedback, it would be ill-advised of us to keep pouring resources into trying to polish it. Instead, we are processing said feedback to improve the main game and will now fully focus on developing Pathologic itself.
Thank you very much for all your kind and critical words! We have studied each piece of feedback very closely. If you have anything else to say about The Marble Nest, please keep in mind that it’s never too late to share your opinion on the forums, social networks, or via e-mail: mail@ice-pick.com.
The First Pathologic Playable Thing reached the backers who are eligible for alpha access today. You can download and play it right now.
The First Playable Things even has a separate name now, Pathologic: The Marble Nest. Which may be a bit odd, but this is the best way to highlight the fact that the thing that became available to you today is neither a demo (because it features a very limited number of mechanics), nor an alpha version of the real Pathologic (because it’s a separate story with its own self-contained plot). It’s almost like a small autonomous game that uses the assets, characters, and premise of Pathologic, but works on its own.
And so it is here. Not Pathologic itself, mind you, but the next best thing: its tabletop counterpart. The production is complete; the tabletop game is ready to be shipped.
It has an awful lot of small thingies, see? That explains the production time
We have some good news and some news that are less exciting. Would you like to sit down and grab a cup of coffee first?
(This is what PR people tell to the attendees if they can’t show them the game straight away, e.g. if the rig is already occupied. We’ve been told that coffee works wonders.)
The release of Pathologic will be postponed until Autumn, 2017.
Some part of the Ice-Pick Lodge team is in Cologne right now! You can find us at GDC, Innovate Kiosk, until August, 18. And after August 18 meet us at Gamescom business-zone, Booth C34, Hall 2.1.
If you visit any of these events, you could see a demo-version of our new Pathologic and ask any questions to our developers. Follow us at our newsfeeds! More news about our progress: coming soon!
The tabletop Pathologic is based on the video game by the same name, but, unlike its inspiration, offers the role of the Sand Pest to one of the players. Treacherous and elusive, the Plague aims to kill a number of predetermined victims. This role will likely fit the players who prefer to be sneaky, stealthy, upset others’ plans, and be a one-person team.
Others become the healers. Each of them has their own strong suits, but none can overcome the Plague on their own—so they’ll have to cooperate, forging temporary alliances and executing common strategies. But the game only has one winner, who gets everything—while the rest will have wasted their efforts in vain. Thus the healers’ roles are most likely to be of interest to the players who like to negotiate, cooperate, break their promises, negotiate again, keep an eye on a lot of events unfolding in every corner of the map, and break their promises once more.
Features
2–4 players.
An average session takes 60–80 min.
Each player takes on the role of one of the three Healers or the Plague.
Each Healer has their own playstyle and abilities, with the Plague’s gameplay being drastically different.
The Healers resolve missions while doing all they can to preserve their Wards; the Plague aims to kill the latter.
The Healers act on their own or delegate tasks to the Wards. The Plague has no assistance and is usually stealthed, only revealing its location when it goes for the kill.
Players will have to strategize, trying to evaluate each other’s secret plans while executing their own. Talking, bluffing, and manipulations will become second nature to everyone in the Town.
Every action has consequences. Great risks yield great rewards… and with those comes great responsibility.
English
Русский
