The first notable wave of PC releases for the year is here, and it’s a lineup that leans hard into the strange, the strategic, and the story-driven. Headlining the week is Pathologic 3, alongside a fresh monster-collecting contender aiming to tempt players who’ve been waiting for a new Pokémon-style obsession on PC.
### Pathologic 3 Returns to Misery
Pathologic 3 continues the cult series known for its punishing survival mechanics, unsettling tone, and narrative that forces players to make impossible choices. The franchise has long been associated with auteur-like design—less about power fantasies and more about enduring a hostile world that doesn’t care if you understand it. For fans of bleak, high-concept storytelling, this is one of the most significant PC releases on the calendar.
### A Fresh Pokémon-Style Challenger
Monster collecting remains one of the most fought-over subgenres in modern gaming, and this week adds another new rival to the pile—positioning itself as a clean alternative for players who want that familiar capture-battle-loop with a modern PC-first sensibility. With Pokémon still largely tied to Nintendo hardware, these PC-native contenders keep finding an audience hungry for deeper systems, sharper performance, and broader platform options.
### A Mind-Bending FPS and Crablike Base Building
Rounding out the week are two concept-forward projects: a reality-warping first-person shooter built around perception tricks and experimentation, and a base-building title that swaps traditional medieval or sci-fi framing for something a bit more sideways—crablike construction and unconventional management. It’s a reminder that PC remains the home of genre hybrids and weird premises that big-budget releases rarely touch.
### Why This Week Matters
This set of releases underscores two ongoing PC trends: the continued strength of niche, auteur-driven games like Pathologic, and the steady rise of Pokémon-adjacent experiences that fill a platform gap Nintendo has little incentive to close. If even a few of these games land with players, expect more publishers to chase “familiar, but bolder” designs—especially in monster collecting and experimental shooters.
Source: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/this-week-in-pc-games-pathologic-3-a-fresh-pokemon-rival-a-mind-bending-fps-and-some-crablike-base-building |