Pathologic is a wonderful, miserable game. This guide will help ensure that there's marginally less misery in your experience.

In all seriousness, there's a significant amount the game does not explain to the player that would generally be helpful to know. This is somewhat lessened thanks to the retranslation, but the characters are still rather opaque. Even with this information, the game is a very harsh survival experience, but once you get a handle on it, you can focus somewhat less on survival and much moreso on the story and characters.

I apologize if I misuse character names, as I'm more familar with the original edition of the game, but am so glad this properly translated version is being shared with the world.

But enough rambling, onto the meat of the game.

Mastering the trade system, playfully known as "hobonomics", is vital to easing your Pathologic experience. And like all good trade systems, this one begins with trash cans.




Say hello to your new friends.

Inside trash cans, you can find empty bottles and numerous miscellaneous goods, such as nuts, needles, chesnuts, razors, and the occasional bit of jewelry. I will refer to these goods as trinkets, for convenience's sake. Make it a point to search every trash can you encounter on your journeys, as these seemingly useless baubles can prove quite valuable to the right people.

Water

Empty bottles can be filled at numerous locations, although these will become fewer as the sand plague reaches the water supply. For much of the game, they can be filled at
pumps, fonts, and barrels.




Eventually, only the water in the barrels will be available as the water basin becomes infected, so don't be surprised if one day you find the pumps and fonts no longer working.

These water bottles can be drunk for a miniscule hunger fix, but I would advise against this at it also tires your character. The real value in these bottles is for trade with these charming gentlemen.



You have far too many teeth for my liking sir.

These guys usually have bandages and torniquets available for trade, which you will want, as they are the few healing methods available without trade offs. If not in need of healing, then they can still be sold at conventional shops for a much higher price than the water bottles would have gotten you.

Trinkets

Now, the various trinkets you find in the world can be given to small children in exchange for much higher value goods, which in turn can be leveraged for even more goods. Trinkets can also be bought at stores, and I would recommend doing so as they are usually cheap and can be traded for items of much higher value.

Fishhooks and needles can be bought at a tailor, and jewelry can be purchased at the bar for some reason.

All children enjoy needles and fishhooks, and will usually have ammunition and medicines available for trade.



A vital part of the economy is giving razors to small children in exchange for bullets. It's that kind of game.

In addition, girls enjoy flowers and jewelry.

Boys also enjoy razors, syringes, and knives, although I'd advise you save knives for combat or trade with shopkeepers.

Little girls and boys enjoy nuts. Little girls enjoy flowers as well. Occasionally, little girls have powders available for trade, I'd advise you do anything possible to get these powders, they are one of the few means to cure the plague, and you will need as many cures as possible for the endgame.

Later in the game, patrolmen will become available to trade with. They tend to have food and ammunition available in exchange for proof that you've slain a miscreant, such as an arsonist's molotov or a looter's crowbar. They also accept razors, and twyrin.



Because you need as many razors as you can get to maintain a mustache this fantastic. And as much booze as possible to stay sane.

Conclusion
Got everything? It's a bit tricky to keep track of, but you'll get into the flow of things. Even if you're not in need of any of the objects sold by these NPCs, you should still barter trinkets and other goods you have no use for for them, as they can be sold to shopkeepers for a much higher price than the trinkets.

So, you've gotten a bunch of shiny new lockpicks by giving razors to children, what now? Well, robbery of course! We gotta fill out that atrocity bingo card by the time the game is up, and the quests will only have you doing so much, so survival will have to pick up the slack!

Any of the houses in Pathologic can be broken into through judicious use of lockpicks. Picking the right targets can mean the difference between dying of starvation and going to bed with a full stomach.

Plague Houses



Positively charming.

These houses can be found readily in any district that has succumbed to plague.

Pros

-No enemies.
-Decent loot, as others have yet to loot it.
-Can be accessed without a lockpick.

Cons

-PLAGUE.

If you decide to loot these houses, you will be constantly chased by plague clouds that will hound you until you leave. If you catch the plague, you will be at a severe disadvantage for the rest of the game, having to use medications that will take a toll on your health and could have been sold for a high profit margin. If you already have the plague, exposure will exacerbate the symptoms.


Looted House



Gah not the face!

They can be found in any district the plague has left behind.

Pros

-Will gain additional items from the looters you will inevitably have to kill.

Cons

-Guaranteed tough enemies.
-Less loot.

These houses are somewhat easier to loot than the plague houses. There will always be two looters already present, which are a pain to fight melee, but go down in about one to two bullets. They will usually yield at least a razor, 400 rubles, a crowbar to be traded with patrolmen, and sometimes a knife. But bullets are expensive, so it's up to you to weigh the costs.

Normal House



There's a family in there, just going about their business.

Pros

-Best loot.
-Can be robbed without anyone noticing.

Cons

-If spotted, whole house will start attacking.
-Reputation loss if you kill a member of the household.

These houses are easily the best in regards to loot. They will be filled with NPCs who can be interacted with with no issue provided your reputation is good enough, unless you access a container. If you begin stealing while within eyeshot of a member of the household, the whole place will start attacking you. The good thing is you can usually outrun them, looting much of the house even as they chase you. Almost every container will have at least a trinket, so do try and be thorough as you rob them of their livelihood.

Get used to it, you'll be looking at this map a lot.

So, now that we know how to steal from the living and dead, we should know how to successfully get to the places to rob! And get to quests and shops and stuff.

The map is pretty thorough, grey buildings are irrelevant, beige buildings are shops, and red buildings contain important NPCs. You can scroll over red buildings to see who they contain if you're looking for anybody in particular.

Time is always of the essence, the only time the clock stops ticking is when the map is open and when you're in a dialogue, so plan your route ahead of time, and save at the start of each day in case things go too horribly wrong. Many days will force you to be as efficient as possible to complete all the quests in the alloted time.

As the days go on, the districts will change. Some will succumb to the plague, and the plague will leave some.

You can get these locations marked on your map by Young Vlad each day for a nominal fee, but only when playing as The Bachelor. You can find him by hovering over the red buildings on the map screen and looking for the building whose "windows are bricked in", towards the south end of the map.

When playing as The Haruspex, you can get the map updated by Notkin for a fee of 4-5 lockpicks, depending on the day. You can find him in one of the buildings marked on the map in the warehouse district at the southernmost point of the city.

Here we'll outline what threats you can expect to face in each district, and how to deal with them.

Normal Districts



Just your normal everyday steppe town of an undetermined time period with mystical elements.

Given a low enough reputation, every single citizen on the streets will be out for your blood, making travelling even more difficult at times than plague ravaged districts. We'll discuss managing your reputation later, but do try and keep it high. If you find yourself navigating with a low reputation, keep to sidestreets, and book it as quickly as possible to your destination.

At nightfall, even the most upstanding player will find themselves pursued by thugs.



This guy, a thug? But he's so upstanding!

These guys are wonderful for farming loot, as their attack patterns are rather predictable and avoidable, making melee combat viable. Just make sure to dodge their initial knife throw. Upon death, they tend to drop around 700 rubles, a razor, and occasionally a knife! You also get a small reputation boost, so killing these guys is one of a number of ways to raise your reputation if needed.

Ah, the armed forces, known for their restraint and understanding in complex situations.



One would think the military would be more of an ally, and they are helpful provided one has a high reputation and is uninfected. Unfortunately, by the time they show up, it is likely the player is infected. If the player is severely infected, they will shoot you on sight, so be cautious. You can generally make due by keeping your distance, you have to get pretty close for them to realize you're infected. Do not try and fight them, this is a game where one shot can kill you. If you must, as some quests require it, try to line up a headshot before they can spot you. Later in the game, they will have regular checkpoints set up at the borders of all the districts.

Plague Districts



This bodes well.

You can tell you're in a plague district when the screen gets tinted green, you start seeing meat moss on the roads and buildings, patrolmen beg you not to go in, and you start seeing shrines to profane gods of pestilence scattered about the place. It's hard to wander into them accidentally is what I'm saying.

Plague districts are the trickiest to navigate. Try to avoid them if possible. If you must go through them, be prepared and save beforehand. Raise your immunity with as many medications as possible, wear protective clothing, and avoid everyone.

There are many dangers you will face here, one of which is rats, who will chase you, damage you, and possibly give you the plague. They can be scared off or killed with a gunshot, but that's a waste of a bullet, better to run into a nearby building then run out. Their hitboxes are so small that hitting them with a melee weapon risks doing more harm to yourself than them, so best avoid them.



Avoid these guys. . . like the plague.

Then there's the plague itself.



If you look closely, you can see the faces of the damned.

Thankfully, the Sand Plague is visible to the naked eye for the player character, but only from a relatively short distance.

If playing as the Bachelor, you will be able to see them from further away by pressing "V", the in game justification for this being some sort of plague scope. But the scope can only be used for a limited amount of time before its batteries run out, and they can only be recharged with time. The range of the scope can be upgraded with lenses found rarely throughout the world.

My best advice for the plague clouds is to just keep moving, they move quickly, but as long as you don't give them the opportunity you can usually out run them. On Day 6 the plague clouds will evolve into blood red angels, which move even more quickly, so be cautious.



If only all diseases were considerate enough to be highly visible.

Yet another danger of these zones are the plague carriers, infected humans desperately reaching out for some semblance of human comfort.



They just want a hug.

These guys aren't too much of a threat, they're slow and rather obvious, but they can still sneak up behind you and infect you if you're not paying attention. Killing them will not incur a reputation penalty, but they absolutely do not have anything on them to make this worthwhile. Plus it would involve either using bullets, which are expensive, or getting close, which leaves you at risk of infection.

Abandoned Districts


He's here to give you a warm welcome.

The abandoned districts are those that have been ravaged by the plague already, then left by the plague, as she is a capricious mistress. You can tell you've entered an abandoned district by the screen becoming tinted amber and again with the presence of effigies to forgotten gods of disease. In addition to rats, thugs, and the military, you will also encounter. . .

Arsonists. The gentlemen pictured above want to ensure the plague stays out by burning everything. Especially you! Keep your distance from these guys, their molotovs are easy to dodge from a distance, but not from up close, and they pack a punch. Upon death, they drop around 400 rubles and a molotov, which can be traded with patrolmen. If you are unable to kill one from a distance, you can run away to any nearby patrolmen or military, who will promptly dispose of him.


Conclusion

As you navigate the town more often, you'll start to get a better handle on how to go through it, but the game will still keep you on your toes. Hopefully this will help!

Reputation is a vital stat in this game, determining whether you'll be able to get the resources you need to survive and find a place to sleep for the night, or whether you'll be chased to the swamplands with pitchforks.

Each of the playable characters starts out with different levels of reputation, which fluctuate depending on the character and the players' actions.

The Bachelor: Daniil Dankovsky, Daniel Dankovsky in the original. Being a high profile medical researcher from the unnamed capital, the Bachelor starts out with a good reputation and has little issue keeping it up provided the player isn't murdering too wantonly. Because of this, simplified mechanics, and an overall better translated story (at least in the old edition, the other stories are likely translated equally well in this remastering), I'd recommend The Bachelor for first time players.

The Haruspex: Artemy Burakh. Having been accused of his father's murder, Artemy starts out with a low reputation, which makes the early game hell. Once the player gets him on his feet and is able to raise his reputation, these rumors will hold less sway, and you won't have too hard a time keeping it up. For the most part.

The Changeling, The Devotress in the original: Clara. Clara is an odd case, I haven't gotten too deep in her route, as in the original its translation was by far the worst of the three, and I have yet to unlock it in the remaster. Clara has healing powers, making gaining reputation a cinch. Unfortunately, she also has an evil twin working against her meaning her reputation can change on a dime.

So now that we have the characters, how do we raise their reputation? Well, there are a number of ways.

Quests

Do a favor for someone, they will remember it and speak well of you. This is one of the reasons you may want to do unprofitable quests for someone, as the unprofitable quests in particular have a larger reputation reward.

Charity

As the days drag on, more and more beggars will populate the streets. You can give them a sum of money in exchange for a repuation increase. Be warned, once you give a beggar money, they cannot be given any more, so you can't give several payments of 500 rubles to the same beggar. Multiple beggars, however, are fair game. I don't have the exact numbers for the reputation increase in relation to money given, so adjust your alms in accordance with your budget.



That's an awfully nice sweater vest for one so destitute.

Vigilantism

Wanton murder of thugs, looters, and arsonists leads to small reputation bonuses. They respawn upon entering a building, when you find the districts where they spawn, you can farm them with any spare time you might have for reputation and other loot.

Euthanasia

Going into the plague districts, especially in the infected houses, you will sometimes find people curled up on the floor in agony. If you have any painkillers on you, you can interact with the patients to administer them. If you give them enough to reduce their "pain" bar to 0, they will die peacefully in their sleep, and your reputation will increase. On the other hand, if you knife them to death, your reputation will decrease, as knives hurt.

If you're playing as Clara, she will heal these victims at the cost of her own health, greatly boosting her reputation.

Artemy's not looking too hot. Status wise. Ahem.

Managing your health is another struggle you'll be facing in Steppe, as you will be getting hit, and you will need to manage that. Some aspects of it aren't explained particularly well by the game, so we'll go over them here.

If you need to heal in a pinch, torniquets and bandages are the best bet, as they have no drawbacks and heal instantly.

Painkillers are for healing over time, in the short term they will do little, but given a couple hours, they'll heal you pretty well. Unfortunately, they also tire your character immensely, so I advise you take them right before rest. Combined with a bandage before bedtime to increase the healing rate further, your character will be peachy by the morning. Unless, of course. . .

So You've Got The Plague.

Well, despite your best efforts, you've gotten the plague and have decided to roll with it rather than load a save. It's going to make things much more difficult, as many of your resources are going to have to go towards gaining medications that could have otherwise been sold, but it can be managed until you get your hands on a cure.

At first the symptoms will be infrequent, but the worse it gets, the more it'll interfere with your functioning. Symptoms of the Sand Plague include: Wobbly camera, slowed movement, screen dimming, and occasional blackouts.

The plague is going to constantly eat away at your health and immune system, feeding off of them to grow. When you're walking about, it might not be noticeable, but when you sleep you can see just how much health you lose per hour, and how much it grows.

To slow the decay of your health and the spread of the infection, keeping up your immune system is the priority. Immunity boosters of various qualities can be purchased at the pharmacies and bartered for with children. The lower quality boosters take a larger chunk out of your health, but if you have the means to manage the health drain, I find it to be a better bargain to use a lot of low quality boosters rather than fewer, higher quality ones. Lemons also boost your immune system, at the cost of making you a bit hungry. I'd recommend lemons if available, as they provide a decent boost, they're cheap, and hunger can be more easily managed than a health penalty.

Preventing the spread of the infection will help keep you alive. Your level of infection rises exponentially, so the higher it gets, the more quickly it'll rise, and the more quickly it'll eat your health and kill you. This is the most difficult of the bars to manage, as the means to do so are few and far between. Only antibiotics will reduce this bar, and even when trading with children they cost a pretty penny. They will not reduce it to zero, only a cure can do that.

Further exposure to the plague will increase your infection level and decrease your health, giving you motivation to avoid plague clouds and rats even if you're infected. To reduce the increase in infection level upon exposure, keep your immunity level up, wear protective clothing, and keep the protective clothing well repaired.

Curing The Plague

There are only two methods of curing the plague, one of which is only available towards the end of the game. Make sure to stockpile any means you have of curing the plague, as you will have others who need curing by the end of the game.

The first of which are the mystery powders, the result of children from years ago mixing a bunch of unknown medicines together. Naturally, it's not the best for your health. It'll cure the plague, but it will reduce your health to 5%, so have healing items ready for afterwards, and if possible, take it when you're already low on health. If you're at 5% or lower already, it won't effect you.

The second method of curing the plague are panaceas, only available towards the end of the game. They can be gained through quests.

There is also a temporary way to cure the plague, only available to adherents. If you need to access an adherent who has caught the plauge, you can speak with the Executor outside of their house and give them monomycium, the most powerful antibiotic. This will only allow you access to them for the day, allowing you to complete what business you have with them. This process can be repeated as needed, save for the final day.



This is a page from the manual of the original game listing the immune boosters and antibiotics. The ones that temporarily cure the plague are orange. Imagine playing a whole game written like this. Be thankful for the retranslation.

So, we've gotten through most of the stuff that'll help you survive in the world of Pathologic, but there's still a bit more that doesn't fit into its own spiffy section, so here are some more things to keep in mind.

-Buy on the first day.

Store prices in Pathologic will increase rapidly as the situation gets more desperate. Use this to your advantage and buy as much as you can on the first day, and hold off on selling.

-You can sleep in almost any adherent/"bound" person's house.

When I first played Pathologic, I though I had to sleep in the same spot every night. This was highly inconvenient. If you need to nap or a place to stay for the night, you can check your list of adherents and sleep in any of their houses. Their houses can also act as safe storage places if you so choose.

-Be wary of time

Time flies exceedingly quickly in Pathologic, and you often have a tight schedule to keep in order to complete all your quests. The only time the timer stops is when looking at the map, in a conversation, or at the pause menu, so take a long look at your map to plan a good route. Keep in mind that stores and named characters are available 24 hours a day, so no need to worry about them sleeping.

-Visit Nina Kain's crypt.

It's a spiked structure in a fenced in park with a large statue of a woman, North of the Kain estate. On the structure are food offerings to the town's late matriarch. She's obviously not using them, so help yourself! These foodstuffs can be vital to survival in the early game, depending on your character's situation, and hey, it's free food, so it's worth a look.

-Repair your things.

Items have durability, make sure to keep it up to keep them effective. Clothing items can be repaired by shawled women, weapons can be repaired by men in cozy hats. Large numbers of them will be wandering about the town in safe districts, so keep an eye out.


-Acquire a weapon quickly.

Most player characters will recieve a gun as a quest award within the first couple of days, but you'll need a melee weapon as well, as bullets are expensive and not always needed. Weapons and lockpicks can be purchased from Grief (Griff in the orginal) in the southern warehouse area for a high price and a small reputation hit.

I'd recommend purchasing a rifle as soon as you can, as it has the largest range, the cheapest bullets, and the most powerful shots. It's only one shot per clip, but if you play it right, one shot is all you'll need. Be careful when shooting though, rifle shots penetrate, which can be handy when facing many foes, detrimental when civilians are around. You can always sell any other guns you may get as quest rewards.

For melee I'd recommend a knife, as the scalpel's range is too small and finicky to be effective.

-SAVE OFTEN

Save before you plan on battling. Save at the start of each day. Save before robbing a house. Save before entering an infected district. It doesn't take long, and it will save you a lot of frustration when you die.

-Do all the quests.

Even the seemingly mundane side quests. Most reward you, and the ones that cost you can usually be offset by rewards gained from another quest on the same day. Failing to do any quest results in one of your adherents catching the plague, meaning you cannot access their home for rest or further quests unless you then cure them, temporarily or permanently. The number of adherents you can save determines how many choices you get for the ending, and the less adherents catching the plague from quest failure, the more cures you'll have available for the adherents who would catch the plague regardless.

Quests for the day become available at 7 AM, and you have until midnight to do them unless otherwise stated.

-Remember, the experience might not be fun at times, but every second of tense survival is worth having.

Now get out there, and futilely try to save the inhabitants of a dying town as you slowly turn to having to hurt those same inhabitants just to eck out an existence! WOOOOOO!