Pathogenic review: Damn, it feels good to be a virus

《Pathogenic》评测：当病毒的感觉真好

Over the past couple of weeks, my immune system has been struggling to fight off a cold. It’s been unpleasant, as all colds are. But throughout this time—in defiance of my plight—I’ve been waging my own war against immune systems, thanks to Pathogenic, a new roguelite twin-stick shooter from developer Aberrant Labs. As I’ve downed endless shots of ineffective cough syrup, I’ve done little else with my free time than repeatedly take on the role of a bodily invader. And let me tell you: Being on the enemy’s side is much more fun. Really fun, as it turns out.

在过去的几周里，我的免疫系统一直在努力对抗感冒。这很不舒服，就像所有感冒一样。但在这段时间里，我却在与自己的困境作对——多亏了开发商 Aberrant Labs 推出的全新 Roguelite 双摇杆射击游戏《Pathogenic》，我一直在向免疫系统发起自己的战争。当我喝下一杯杯无效的止咳糖浆时，我把空闲时间几乎都花在了扮演一个身体入侵者上。我得告诉你：站在敌人的立场上要有趣得多。事实证明，这真的很有趣。

Action roguelites are a dime a dozen these days, and it takes something special to stand out. So as quiet Internet whispers turned into widespread cacophonous praise—the little indie game quickly racked up 100,000 sales and an “overwhelmingly positive” review score on Steam—I set aside my default skepticism and gave it a shot. I’m glad I did.

如今动作 Roguelite 游戏多如牛毛，想要脱颖而出需要一些特别的东西。因此，当互联网上细微的低语变成广泛而嘈杂的赞誉时——这款小型独立游戏迅速在 Steam 上获得了 10 万份销量和“好评如潮”的评价——我放下了惯有的怀疑，尝试了一下。我很高兴我这么做了。

Under the skin

皮肤之下

A brief introductory video sets the scene: A hapless lab assistant drops a vial, and wouldn’t you know it, the poor guy has a cut on his ankle. That’s where you come in. As a lone pathogen, you work your way through his body, starting in the skin and then moving on to the intestines, liver, stomach, lungs, and finally heart. Each zone culminates in a boss fight, and you’re continually upgrading your build along the way to keep pace with the stages’ increasing difficulty. Defeat the dreaded heart to kill your host and claim victory (or forge on to the secret brain boss for extra bragging rights).

一段简短的开场视频交代了背景：一名倒霉的实验室助理打碎了一个药瓶，很不凑巧，这家伙的脚踝上正好有个伤口。这就是你登场的地方。作为一个孤独的病原体，你将穿过他的身体，从皮肤开始，然后进入肠道、肝脏、胃、肺，最后到达心脏。每个区域的终点都是一场 Boss 战，你需要不断升级你的构筑，以跟上关卡日益增加的难度。击败可怕的心脏来杀死宿主并获得胜利（或者继续挑战隐藏的脑部 Boss 以获得额外的吹嘘资本）。

What this means in gameplay terms is twin-stick shooting through a series of rooms filled with pesky macrophages and T cells, or even rival pathogens (don’t steal my kill!). Combat is fast and frequently demanding; you strafe and dodge around bullet-hell projectiles and hazards with the left stick while trying to keep your weapons trained on enemies with the right. The setup is very Binding of Isaac—for this author’s money, one of the best video games of all time.

在游戏玩法上，这意味着你需要通过双摇杆射击，穿过一系列充满讨厌的巨噬细胞和 T 细胞，甚至是竞争对手病原体（别抢我的怪！）的房间。战斗节奏很快，且经常要求很高；你需要用左摇杆进行侧移和躲避弹幕及危险，同时用右摇杆将武器瞄准敌人。这种设定非常有《以撒的结合》的味道——在我看来，那是史上最棒的电子游戏之一。

In addition to combat rooms, each procedurally generated zone contains a few safe spaces that offer various powerups, either free or purchasable with in-game currency, and you’ll want to scour the level for these and other goodies before taking on the zone’s boss. If this game is to be believed, the human body simply offers up upgrades to invading pathogens. No wonder I’m sick.

除了战斗房间外，每个程序生成的区域都包含一些安全空间，提供各种免费或可用游戏内货币购买的强化道具。在挑战区域 Boss 之前，你会想要搜刮关卡以寻找这些好东西。如果这款游戏可信的话，人体简直就是为入侵的病原体提供升级。难怪我会生病。

Ah nuts, it’s mutating

糟糕，它在变异

Here’s where the game gets interesting. Your little parasite houses various slots to plug in your powerups, and each upgrade affects any weapons (or other upgrades) to which it’s attached. You can freely swap upgrades in and out as you get new ones. Add effects like fire or electric damage to your attacks, slot in new projectile or melee weapons, or even pick up active abilities to fill out your kit. Some upgrades allow you to “overcharge” and give bonuses to other nodes in your system when certain requirements are met. The game definitely has more than a little cell-stage Spore in it.

游戏有趣的地方就在这里。你的小寄生虫拥有各种插槽来插入强化道具，每个升级都会影响它所连接的任何武器（或其他升级）。当你获得新的升级时，可以自由地进行替换。为你的攻击添加火焰或电击伤害效果，插入新的远程或近战武器，甚至拾取主动技能来完善你的装备。一些升级允许你进行“过载”，并在满足特定要求时为系统中的其他节点提供加成。这款游戏绝对有着不少《孢子》细胞阶段的影子。

The magic is in how all these upgrades interact. The Binding of Isaac is known for its many and varied “synergies”—items that, when combined, produce surprising and delightful effects. That’s what Pathogenic is all about: creating game-breaking, frame-rate-hobbling builds that let you bully the game’s enemies into submission. Here, though, those synergies are modular and customizable. Each node gives bonuses and special effects to the nodes it’s connected to. Moving stuff around can make a huge difference in how your build plays.

魔法在于所有这些升级如何相互作用。《以撒的结合》以其多样化的“协同效应”而闻名——物品组合在一起会产生令人惊喜和愉悦的效果。这正是《Pathogenic》的核心所在：创造出破坏游戏平衡、甚至让帧率下降的构筑，让你能把游戏里的敌人欺负到屈服。不过在这里，这些协同效应是模块化且可定制的。每个节点都会为其连接的节点提供加成和特殊效果。移动位置会对你的构筑玩法产生巨大的影响。

Say you’re using a weapon that spits out mines. Cool, but basic. But then you attach an upgrade that makes those mines grow in size and power over time. And then you add an effect that causes electricity to chain between them. Not content, you buff the damage of the electricity or infuse some other effect into it. Then, just for good measure, you make the whole thing home in on enemies. There are an impressive number of interactions, and the game revels in piquing your curiosity. So many times, when connecting items, I’ve thought, “Surely this won’t work—OH MY GOD, IT DOES.”

假设你正在使用一种喷射地雷的武器。很酷，但很基础。然后你安装了一个升级，让这些地雷随着时间推移在体型和威力上增长。接着你添加了一个效果，使电流在它们之间产生连锁反应。还不满足，你又增强了电流的伤害或注入了其他效果。最后，为了保险起见，你让整个装置具备了追踪敌人的能力。这里有令人印象深刻的交互数量，游戏乐于激发你的好奇心。很多次，在连接物品时，我想：“这肯定行不通——天哪，竟然真的可以。”

The most satisfying part of roguelites isn’t becoming powerful because the numbers went up; it’s becoming powerful due to your own cleverness. Pathogenic is a toybox that rewards experimentation.

Roguelite 最令人满足的部分不是因为数值提升而变得强大，而是因为你自己的聪明才智而变得强大。《Pathogenic》是一个奖励实验的玩具箱。

Enemies drop DNA helixes on death; collect them to level up and mutate—i.e., choose between four random passive effects. Every few levels, you’ll be able to evolve into a newly configured pathogen with more slots for upgrades. Different pathogens offer different ways to build your character, including one that starts with very limited slots but lets you add them exactly where you want over time. Between runs, you’ll spend the game’s meta-currency (mostly obtained from bosses) to unlock permanent upgrades on a skill tree, making subsequent runs a bit smoother. Each pathogen has its own tree; I’ve been focusing mostly on one for now since progression is slow but steady. There’s a ton to unlock, and completionists should be kept busy for quite some time.

敌人死亡时会掉落 DNA 双螺旋；收集它们可以升级并变异——即在四个随机被动效果中进行选择。每隔几级，你就能进化成一个配置全新的病原体，拥有更多的升级插槽。不同的病原体提供了不同的角色构筑方式，包括一个初始插槽非常有限，但允许你随着时间推移在想要的位置添加插槽的病原体。在每一局游戏之间，你会花费游戏的元货币（主要从 Boss 处获得）来解锁技能树上的永久升级，使后续的挑战稍微顺畅一些。每个病原体都有自己的技能树；目前我主要专注于其中一个，因为进度缓慢但稳定。游戏有大量内容可供解锁，完美主义者应该会忙碌很长一段时间。

Infectious fun

传染性的乐趣

All the game’s content is rich in theme—the…

游戏的所有内容都充满了主题感——……