Developer Ice-Pick Lodge's masterful plague survival horror Pathologic 2 will be making its way to Xbox One - as well as Xbox and PC Game Pass - on 12th December.

Pathologic 2 is a bit of a strange beast, part sequel to and part much-improved remake of Ice-Pick Lodge's cult-classic - and notoriously wonky - 2005 original. Following the same trajectory as its predecessor, Pathologic 2 charts the sudden decline of a strange, small town on the edge of the Russian Steppe, as it succumbs to a mysterious plague.

The result is, and I say this as someone with only minimal familiarity with the original Pathologic, easily one of the most audacious, atmospheric, and thoroughly mesmerising games I've played in a very long time - but, and I cannot state this enough, it's one of the most intentionally dispiriting, emotionally draining, and cruelly testing ones too.

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Developer Ice-Pick Lodge is enriching the world of its bleak, punishing plague horror Pathologic 2 next week, with the arrival of The Marble Nest - a not-entirely-new dollop of story DLC.

Pathologic 2, for the uninitiated, is a re-imagining of Ice-Pick's idiosyncratic, rough-around-the-edges 2005 cult-favourite Pathologic, and charts the deterioration of a plague-ridden town through the eyes of a physician known as Haruspex.

The Marble Nest - which is actually a spruced-up version of Pathologic 2's pre-release demo - is a self-contained story, running parallel to the events of the full game. It plays out over the course of a single day (in contrast to the main story's 12-day duration), viewed from the perspective of another character, scientist Dr. Daniil Dankovsky.

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Developer Ice-Pick Lodge will, following criticism, soon be adding a difficulty slider to its recently released, wilfully inscrutable plague horror follow-up, Pathologic 2 - but it would rather you didn't use it, thank you very much.

Pathologic 2, which charts the bleak deterioration of a plague-ridden town through the eyes of three characters, is something of a re-imagining of Ice-Pick's idiosyncratic, rough-around-the-edges 2005 cult-favourite horror original. But while Pathologic 2 is slicker and prettier than its predecessor, it's still punishingly difficult - and, following its launch last week, players have aimed particular criticism at its hunger mechanics, requiring so much upkeep that it's tough to find time to explore the game's fascinating narrative.

Now, Ice-Pick has addressed that feedback, while also offering extended thoughts on its own design philosophy. "We've always believed that games are a medium capable of delivering all kinds of compelling experiences - and that said experiences don't need to be conventionally pleasant to be interesting and fulfilling," the developer wrote on Steam. "Pathologic 2 was always intended to be gruelling, stressful, and bleak; we believe in ludonarrative cohesion and aren't too fond of stories that are only dark and hurtful on the cover."

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