Psychological horror Horror Mystery and detective horror

Pathologic 3

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Twelve days, a plague and the power to go back and fix your mistakes.

Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox
Stores: Steam, GOG
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (80% of 2,839 reviews); Metacritic 79 on PC; 3.8 of 5 on the PlayStation Store (269 ratings)
Length: About 25 hours
Players: 1
Controls: Mouse and keyboard or a controller on PC (full controller support on Steam).
Made by: Ice-Pick Lodge
Released: 2026

On GOG: one of the GOG horror games.

No. 13 of the quarantine horror games · No. 19 of the plague horror games · No. 11 of the time travel horror games · No. 13 of the mirror horror games

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What frightens A physician seeking an immortal man arrives in a remote steppe town as a deadly contagion sweeps through it. Masked figures haunt the fog, corpses pile up in sheds, the sick lie about their symptoms, and his own mind slides toward apathy or mania as he tries to undo his failure.
Content: disease, death, corpses, blood, violence, drug use, alcohol and tobacco, suicide.

Pathologic 3 is a psychological horror game from Ice-Pick Lodge for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. As Daniil Dankovsky, a doctor researching death, you have twelve days to save a steppe town from a plague: diagnose patients face to face, impose quarantines and curfews, and rewind time to fix your mistakes, while your own mind swings between apathy and mania. A first playthrough takes about 25 hours.

About Pathologic 3

Pathologic 3 is the third game in Ice-Pick Lodge's series, published by HypeTrain Digital. It came out on PC and PS5 on 9 January 2026 and on Xbox Series X|S on 23 January 2026. Where Pathologic 2 followed the town's healer, this one follows Daniil Dankovsky, a physician from the capital who studies the nature of death and has come to the remote steppe town looking for a man said to be immortal.

He arrives too late. The immortal man is dead and a deadly contagion is sweeping through the town. The game begins with that failure, and its central idea is time: you can go back to earlier days and try again, using what you learned, to save the town and discover the secrets of immortality. The store page puts it simply: travel into the future to see the worst outcomes, then correct mistakes in the past. Rewinds use a scarce substance called amalgam, so you cannot undo everything.

As a doctor you work with patients face to face: examine the sick, separate real symptoms from lies, and diagnose them in a medical casebook, step by step getting closer to a vaccine. As the town's authority you issue decrees: quarantines, confiscating medicine, vaccination, patrols, curfews and the suppression of riots, and the people may hate you for it. Dankovsky's mental state matters too. A meter swings between apathy, which slows him down, and mania, which speeds time up and strains his heart; both can lead to insight or death.

Most of the game is talk. Conversations come in long blocks of text, and a Mind Map collects your leads and hints. The Gamesurf review puts a first playthrough at about 25 hours, with several endings.

Its horror is the series' own mix of plague, dread, grotesque theatre and impossible choices. It suits players of Pathologic 2 and anyone drawn to slow, strange, thoughtful horror who does not mind a lot of reading.

How to play Pathologic 3

Explore the town and talk to its people to learn who is sick and what is happening. Check the Mind Map for leads.
Examine patients face to face and diagnose them from their real symptoms in your casebook.
Issue decrees such as quarantines and curfews to keep the town alive, and live with the consequences.
Rewind to earlier days with amalgam when things go wrong, and try a different path. Amalgam is scarce, so choose your rewinds with care.
Watch Dankovsky's state of mind on the apathy and mania meter. Too much apathy slows him down, too much mania strains his heart, and either can kill him.

Screenshots

Pathologic 3 screenshot: a hooded figure wrapped in rags holds out its hands in a foggy street as a man behind it aims a rifle

Pathologic 3 screenshot: a casebook chart for Filat, a 47-year-old cemetery guard, beside a list of suspected symptoms and possible diagnoses

Pathologic 3 screenshot: corpses on the floor of a wooden shed, with the apathy and mania meter at the top of the screen

Pathologic 3 screenshot: a black figure in a white half-mask clutches a grandfather clock in a dark room of floating mirrors

Pathologic 3 screenshot: Eva, a young blonde woman, talks about a ticking clock at 20:20 on Day V

Pathologic 3 screenshot: a hand-drawn town map with a planned route and an infected district shaded red on Day IV

Pathologic 3 screenshot: the inventory with a revolver and a derringer, and tobacco that adds 30 to mania

Tips

Patients lie; check symptoms against what you see before you diagnose.
Use rewinds to learn, not just to undo; knowledge carries over.
Unpopular decrees may be necessary, but riots have their own costs.
Try to keep the mind meter near the centre. Items such as tobacco push it toward mania, and drugs can help steady it.
Conversations you have already heard are not recorded, so after a rewind you may sit through them again. Note what matters as you go.

Questions

Do I need to play Pathologic 2 first?

No. Pathologic 3 tells the story from Daniil Dankovsky's side and stands on its own, though it shares the town and its people.

Is Pathologic 3 a horror game?

Yes, its makers call it psychological horror: a plague, a town falling apart and a doctor whose own mind is part of the threat.

How long is Pathologic 3?

The Gamesurf review puts a first playthrough at about 25 hours, perhaps a little more. The game has several endings, and rewinding to earlier days can add time.

What platforms is Pathologic 3 on?

It is on PC through Steam and GOG, on PS5, and on Xbox Series X|S. The PC and PS5 versions came out on 9 January 2026 and the Xbox version on 23 January 2026.

Is there a lot of combat?

Not much. You carry guns such as a revolver, but the Gamesurf review says it is mostly talking, choices and dialogue rather than a survival game of fighting and scavenging.

What languages does it support?

Steam lists English and Russian, both with full audio.

Is it suitable for younger players?

It is rated ESRB Mature 17+ for blood, language, partial nudity, use of drugs and violence, and USK 16 in Germany, which also lists suicide and alcohol and tobacco.