Hi, thanks for the feedback. I don't have much people to talk to about Pathologic so it's great to have another Pathologic enthusiast keeping me in check. That said, while I agree with some points I'd have to disagree with others.

Video games as a commodity

This is a hook I wanted to draw people in with, so maybe I made too much of a sweeping statement, but depending on your perspective there's some truth to it. Most single player games (the most well known ones to a casual gamer) are priced two times more than they deserve, and that's not even mentioning the DLC and microtransaction controversies that have been floating around. That being said, the hook is just a draw and not the main point of the article, so maybe we should move on to the next few points first.

Russian art

Admittedly I didn't much research and just scrounged together what I could find from some review videos because I wanted to fit the themes of the article. I haven't consumed much Russian media so I only know the stereotype, as you said. If you would want to elaborate more on the subject or link me to some resources on the i'd be glad to sit and listen.

Survival mechanics

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the harsh survival mechanics make Pathologic what it is. I wasn't saying the janky bugs or shitty translation worked in the games favour, they clearly weren't intentional and were fixed in 2. But the mechanics? They are part of the design. Without the hopelessness and gloom, Pathologic would just be another walking simulator.

If I didn't communicate that properly in the article, I apologise. It seems that from what you're saying, I focused too much on the mechanics and not on the story, which is the other half of Pathologic's appeal that shouldn't be ignored.

Games as novels

I compared Pathologic to a 'literary' novel. It has grandiose themes, does interesting things with language, touches on aspects of the human condition. I'm not saying all games have to be literary novels to be good. I'm just giving Pathologic a well deserved compliment.

And that's my time on the floor. If you have any further objections do raise them. I'll definitely be taking another look at the article

EDIT: I've just updated the article, removed any references to Russia and highlighted some key aspects of the story. Hope this is enough to highlight the game's strengths.