Just finished 5 out of 7? 8? endings. Ice-Pick Lodge has made some of my favorite games ever, including the previous games in the Pathologic series and The Void. The Bachelor's route was also my favorite storyline in Classic HD, so I was really looking forward to P3. I'm glad this game exists at all because the circumstances surrounding its development have been troubled, to say the least. I think it's overall a good game. The non-linear storytelling is ambitious; uncovering the Town's mysteries and changing the course of the story feels great (when it's not marred by a myriad of bugs, at least). It's a shame the gameplay didn't really resonate with me, though.
The good
- As mentioned above, the story(telling) is the strongest part of P3. I generally liked the new perspectives on the existing characters and worldbuilding, and P3's story gives some food for thought regarding the series' metanarrative as a whole. The writing, especially in the early days (Day 2-5), does a better job of introducing major plot points in a more digestible way compared to the previous games. I do have some gripes with the writing, but overall, the story is what kept me going during my playthrough.
- The diagnosis minigame is great. It really makes you feel like a detective/doctor. Yakov Little is the best assistant.
- The game runs much better than P2, performance-wise, thanks to the map being divided into smaller zones instead of an open world.
The Bad
- To be clear, I'm not upset because P3's gameplay is not the same as the previous games. I appreciate that IPL decided to take risks and came up with new gameplay mechanics instead of simply making a P2 DLC. I also get the lore justifications for the gameplay changes. My issue is that the new gameplay is simply not engaging enough.
- The resource management/survival gameplay from the previous games still exists, but in a half-baked manner. The Bachelor still has to manage health, the Apathy/Mania meter, and the Amalgam; he can still walk around the Town to pick up items, trade and craft medicine, etc. However, they aren't interesting at all. They feel like chores rather than meaningful challenges. The store page claims that the Apathy/Mania meter changes how the Bachelor sees the world--this is misleading, as the only instance where it matters beyond simple resource management is a single conversation with Clara in the early game.
- The resource management is poorly balanced overall.
- The Town is much less dynamic. I expected the Decree system to have a greater effect on the Town, but it only affects the number of the Infected/Rioting districts and adds some NPCs who comment on your decrees. Aesthetic decrees are cute, I guess? Similarly, major story events, such as the Inquisitor and the Army's arrival changes nothing in terms of gameplay. As a result, even though the characters claim the Town is ravaged by the Plague and riots, the player *feels* none of that.
- I think we can all agree that the Infected/Rioting districts are just bad lol.
- Finally, the bugs... as at the time of writing this review, Day 9 and beyond are a mess. I spent the last 10ish hours in this game brute-forcing my way through broken quests. You have characters who are dead and alive at the same time, wrong dialogues triggering (one of them spoiled a major plot point for me, yay...), quests not triggering properly, and more. However, the devs have been very responsive and rolling out fixes almost daily. Best of luck to them & hopefully they can manage to iron things out after a few updates.
