Ice-Pick Lodge’s Pathologic Kickstarter – the remake of the developer’s first brilliant, but clunky, impenetrable survival mystery – has reached the mid-point of the campaign and the outlook is pretty good. With 14 days to go, it’s already raised almost $230,000 of its $250,000 goal.
There’s a proper trailer now, too, and it’s appropriately enigmatic and disquieting.
The remake’s existence is assured no matter what happens, thankfully. The Kickstarter exists so that Ice-Pick Lodge can build on that, polishing it. And it already benefits from the strong foundation created by the messy original.
Stretch goals have been added, too.
If the campaign raises more than the goal, then the cursed town will be expanded, with new quests, more reactive NPCs and more things to discover. A bit more money and the game will include more events outside of the town itself, while locations within the town itself will grow and be fleshed out.
The $400,000 stretch goal is the most intriguing, though.
“Thoughts and ideas are an important part of Pathologic, and it’s known that the Plague speaks to its victims, scrutinizing them. We would like that to become an even more prevalent motif, adding dreams in form of interactive experiences. Got infected? Go see the Plague in person. Found out new crucial information that completely changes everything? Same here. All those hints and omens dropped and mentioned everywhere will now appear in the flesh. Also more weird and creepy imagery. And these are not random events—they will depend on how you play and how the plot you create unfolds.”
The final stretch goal offers more insight into the curse, and the state of the town before the three healers – the player characters – arrive to find a cure. It’s a prequel, another day-long episode that puts the total up to 13, introducing new playable characters and events that the healers won’t be privy to.
Ice-Pick Lodge are also working away on a tabletop game based on Pathologic, which is pretty novel. Players will take on the roles of the healers, again, but with the added complication of dealing with other players. It’s included in the higher tier pledges for the game’s Kickstarter, too.