Pathologic is a very unique game. I wouldn't call it "fun", but i still really enjoyed playing it.
The main element that defines the gameplay for me would be its time management mechanics; every quest in the game has a time limit, you need to complete it until midnight, or it's lost forever. If it's a side quest, you lose its rewards and potential knowledge gained from the dialogue. If it's the main quest, it will sting more, with an additional penalty for failing it.
The time limit itself is pretty generous, with you having way more time than necessary to finish your tasks for the day, but you also have to balance it with your own survival.

To acquire enough food you need to engage with the game's economy, searching for trash cans to loot and children to trade with, and to combat exhaustion you need to use some of your precious time to sleep, all of that making the generous time limit less generous, and putting significant pressure on you, contributing to the general feeling of hopelessness. You'll often feel like the entire game works against you, with its very clunky combat, slow movement speed with no run button, and a map that's sometimes inaccurate, made worse by the confusing town layout.

The second thing that defines the game for me is it's story, and the way that it's told. You spend a lot of time reading dialogue, and the game expects you to pay attention. I can describe the writing as being very dense, you often have to read between the lines to get the full picture. I love that each character has their own goals, so you often have situations where someone lies, or omits an important fact to manipulate you, and catching that feels very satisfying. Ultimately, to understand the plot you have to connect all the dots yourself, find your own path of logic.

For me, Pathologic is largely a game about perspectives. Each of the 3 playable characters perceives the town in a different way, and gets treated differently by the residents. As the player, your perspective is also going to change through new playthroughs, through gaining a more complete view of the narrative, and also by getting more experience with the game's systems, learning to use them to your advantage.
You're likely to start the game as the Bachelor, who is a complete stranger to the town, and as such the natural starting point for a new player (unlike the Haruspex, who is expected to be already familiar with the town's strange customs and social structures).
You're probably going to struggle quite a bit on your first playthrough, especially so if you don't read any guides, since a lot of the game's mechanics are left unexplained, and it takes some time to get accustomed to them.
Danil's day 1 serves as a tutorial, being a relatively gentle introduction to the game, as long as you do the main quest in time you're free to explore the town and stock up for the next days, without much danger. Actual misery only starts the next day.
The town isn't static, it changes every day, usually getting more dangerous; different areas become infected, the store prices change, less people are on the streets, making it harder to find someone to trade with. The quests also get harder, throwing you into even more dangerous situations like a visit to an infected house, or a fight with multiple bandits.

By the time you finish the Bachelor's route, you will have likely gotten a lot better at the game. Dodging plague clouds is less of an issue, maybe you've even learned how to easily defeat enemies, or memorized the locations of some trash cans. That's when it's time for the Haruspex's route. Day 1 is no longer a gentle tutorial; from the beginning you have to fight for your life because of the low reputation you start with. Other than that, while it introduces new mechanics like organ harvesting or gathering herbs and brewing medicines, it feels overall harder than the Bachelor's route due to the quests being noticeably more difficult.

The Changeling's route is unfinished, which is easy to notice once the side quests start repeating themselves each day.
I still do recommend playing it, since it helps to tie up some loose ends in the story that weren't explained in the other routes.
Gameplay-wise, while you do have a lot of restrictions, like not being able to use most weapons, and your reputation constantly decreasing, i found the Changeling route to be the easiest of the three. Once you get the hang of the game's economy, it's not that difficult to obtain enough food or other supplies on day 1, to last you through most of the game. It felt like a kind of "victory lap" for me, not just surviving, but thriving.

While i do love the game, there are a few things that detract from the game.
Most notably, the jank. While it often leads to admittedly funny situations, it also necessitates the inclusion of a generous save system to prevent frustration. This leads to constantly making quick-saves and quick-loading the moment something goes wrong the optimal way to play the game.
Did you get hit by a knife right in the face? Quick-load.
Did you choose the wrong dialogue option? Quick-load.
Got hit by a plague cloud? You get the idea.
I'm glad that the ability to do so is there, since you're punished for making minor mistakes like that harshly, and quick-saving makes the game more accessible
but i also recognize that it takes something away from the game, ie. if the player reloads every time they catch the plague, they no longer have to confront the hard choice of either curing themselves or an important npc.

overall
yeah, patho is a game i will never forget
and i really can't recommend it enough if you want a fresh experience from a game

also danil is transfem and you can't change my mind

A game where you spend 95% of your time walking around a small town, with the other 5% being either talking to a bunch of pretentious dingbats to progress quests, dodging plague clouds, or knifing looters, murderers and rats.

The atmosphere is top-notch, and the story is intriguing, but virtually everything else about the experience is a miserable slog. Suffice it to say, Pathologic is a very unique game, sometimes even a compelling one, definitely one I will always remember... but not one I would ever recommend you actually play.

5/10

it's ok ig