There are a lot of things to discover once you’ve stepped off the train and into the plagued Steppe. There are cases to open, mania to suppress, and apathy to acknowledge.
Among the many people and places you’ll come across will be peculiarly placed mirrors that can be broken. In fact, you come across one pretty soon after starting the game.
Ice Pick Lounge’s games are notorious for not holding your hand through the narrative, and, namely, what specific things do and what they’re for. So, what are the mirrors for in Pathologic 3?
What is Amalgam for in Pathologic 3?
The mirrors give you Amalgam, which is essential for time travel later on in the game, as well as what saves you when you die. If you either lose life from your mania or become so apathetic that you kill yourself, then, so long as you have Amalgam, you’ll be given another chance.
Otherwise, you’ll quite literally permadie and have to restart the game from the beginning. So, you might want to make an effort to smash every mirror you see as you come across them.
Each mirror gives you a different amount of Amalgam, but you can typically get anywhere between 20 and 30 for each mirror you break.
Amalgam is signified by the broken mirror icon to the left of your mania/apathy bar and in the Things area within the menu. Whenever you earn Amalgam, the white part will slowly fill in, and alternatively, when you use it, the necessary amount is erased.
Where to Find More Mirrors in Pathologic 3
Mirrors can be found all over the Steppe. You’ll need to concentrate by pressing the Q key to outline the mirrors. They’ll glow white instead of the typical white and red that appear when changing your mentality. However, the mirrors only come up once a day, so try to be frugal with their use so you don’t accidentally run out at a critical point in your run.
The first time you die, you’ll be visited by the Shadow, who will have an array of mirrors for you to break and earn Amalgam. He’ll even come to you a second time if you manage to die again.
After that, it will be up to you to break mirrors and hold on to as much Amalgam as possible until it’s absolutely necessary to use it. For a little bit of context, time traveling between days takes up an entire mirror shard from the Amalgam emblem.
What Happens if You Run Out of Amalgam?
If you run out of Amalgam, then you might as well kiss your save goodbye. Yes, you’ll be visited by the Shadow two times before you actually permadie.
But if you run out of Amalgam and die a third time, then that’s that. Fortunately, you are able to go back to the last day you experienced by following these quick instructions:
- Go to the game’s main menu.
- Hit the Play option.
- Select which save you’d like to open up.
- A list of autosaves from the last day you lived will be available to choose from.
- Select when you want to start again, and good luck.
This little trick only gives you a chance to go back to that specific day, so if you happened to mess up way before that, then you really will have to start all over.
It’s a good thing that if you ever actually get to this point, it’s likely you know the quickest way through Pathologic 3 to return to the point you previously were at.
