Russian development studio Ice-Pick Lodge has announced the latest entry in the Pathologic series: a follow-up to 2019’s Pathologic 2 that is aptly titled Pathologic 3. The studio has also confirmed that fans of the franchise who backed Pathologic 2 via its initial 2014 KickStarter campaign will gain access to Pathologic 3 for free.
The announcement was released alongside a trailer and a link to the upcoming game’s Steam page, where players can add the game to their wishlist. Although Ice-Pick Lodge has yet to announce a specific release date, it has confirmed that the next chapter in Pathologic’s story will arrive on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC sometime in 2025. The trailer’s contents reveal that Pathologic 3 will see players experience the same events that took place in Pathologic 2, but this time they’ll be seeing things through the eyes of Danil Dankovsky, also known as “The Bachelor.”
Set in a small town located in Russia’s remote steppes in the early 1900’s, Pathologic follows the story of three main characters: Artemy Burakh (“The Haruspex”), a local healer returning to his hometown to address a recent tragedy; Danil Dankovsky (“The Bachelor”), a certified doctor visiting from the city in the hopes of uncovering a scientific breakthrough; and Clara (“The Changeling”), a mysterious young girl who has the ability to save (or end) lives with a single touch of her hands, but has no idea how or why she arrived in the town. There’s no word yet regarding when players might get their hands on Clara’s version of events, but after the announcement of Pathologic 3, it stands to reason that Clara’s playthrough is also in the works.
The original Pathologic launched to critical acclaim in Russia in 2005, and also earned a cult following of players from around the world. The original game was later followed up by a remastered version featuring better graphics and an improved English translation. Both versions of the game allow players to complete each protagonist’s story in its entirety, with each playthrough revealing more info about the strange disease that’s rapidly killing the town’s inhabitants. Each protagonist must find a cure for the disease using their unique skills, while also working to uncover the truth behind the source of the outbreak. But the game’s main characters face far bigger challenges than the plague itself, and must find a way to work around lying NPCs, the general breakdown of law and order as the town gets progressively sicker, and an impending military invasion which is sure to result in the town’s destruction if it isn’t stopped.
The series was rebooted in 2019 with the release of Pathologic 2, which only featured Artemy Burakh’s storyline–though Ice-Pick Lodge promised the other two playable protagonists were in development. Unfortunately, complications regarding Russia’s war in Ukraine (which the game’s developers have publicly denounced) caused complications leading to a delay in the release of Danil Dankovsky’s storyline. Fans of the franchise have been waiting years for an update regarding the next chapter in the Pathologic franchise, and now–nearly five years later–they finally have it.