Project Hospital

I was really looking forward to playing this, looks like the perfect game! And probably is for most people! It's just that I can't play a game like this without edge scrolling - having to constantly click click click (either arrow-keys, or click-&-drag middle mouse button). My hands easily get tired from too much clicking, and panning the camera is probably what you'll do most in games like this. Playing this will almost be like playing an FPS instead of a soft, relaxing, mostly one-handed experience. Also, edge-scrolling is something I'm 100% used to, it's in all similar games out there, so it's very annoying to play the odd one out that hasn't implemented it. I had no idea it was like this - I couldn't even imagine a isometric management game with no edge scrolling, so I'm just giving a heads up on this for others out there that might care! I know, people either love or hate edge-scrolling, but having it as an option makes everyone happy! I've watched loads of videos of the game and it looks totally awesome, so if you don't mind the limited camera-options, buy it! There's maybe a tiny bit of hope for edge-scrolling in the future, but seems it's hard to implement in this game :( I could also mention this game has small microstutter occuring like every 10 seconds. Very tiny, but if you're one that easily gets annoyed by stuff like that, well, you've been warned. Even if capped to 30 fps you'll get drops down to like 28, which will be seen as a very short stutter. Seems to be a technical issue with the engine/programming-language and hard to get rid of. I'll keep an eye on future updates, and see if these issues might be solved some day...or if we'll ever get a "Project Hospital 2", with a better engine.

Great game. The obvious comparison would be Theme Hospital but this game is more realistic and complex. You build and manage a hospital by hiring employees and managing their needs. Earning money doesn't seem too hard, which allows you to focus on making sure your employees are not overworked and that your patients get the treatments they need. The new doctor mode is a great addition for you to roleplay as a doctor you have created (you start as an Intern). If I could ask for more I would say there's not enough variety when it comes to character faces. Some QOL features would be great too. Like for example, I don't think you can delete walls by pressing Ctrl like you would in The Sims. Other than that it's a fantastic game. The DLC is also worth it, and I hope they make more.

... and worse they claim they are doing fairly good with the critical bugs, which is not accurate. Many of the critical bugs they claim to have fixed are not fixed and there are even new "daily wtf" worthy bugs (shift key now adds a _ to the file name when saving??? Can't apply a bandage from the ICU?). Many of the critical bugs are race conditions, which suggests that the code has some serious problems. Potential buyers should consider it a possibility that game breaking bugs (some part of the hospital stops working, often right after a related manual intervention) will never be fixed. As a big sim game fan, I hope they fix at least the critical bugs since it does have some potential, although it is a much more limited game than it might seem at first. You can't look from different directions like with most of the 2.5D sim games. Building options are fairly limited but more detailed than Theme Hospital. There is a vaguely "realistic"-ish set of conditions, symptoms, and treatments (but you won't see a single wheelchair, crutch, or cane). You need to find symptoms that match the condition; negative tests don't exclude a diagnosis, although I think you could use negative tests to choose the correct diagnosis yourself if you memorize the right tests for conditions (external medical knowledge often doesn't apply). You may need to x-ray every section of the body if you have only found "pain". The diagnosis and most symptoms have one treatment option and you can only provide treatments for discovered symptoms or a chosen diagnosis. There are no side effects except sometimes from surgery. Even the best doctors usually won't treat many of the symptoms on their own so there is a lot of busy work (click on patient, click on all treatments) to get a good reputation. If not already hospitalized, patients will leave after clinic hours if they are waiting for the results of a test. It is often difficult to figure out why things don't work (and more so due to all the bugs).

Unlike other reviewers I did not stumble upon bugs in recent time, the dlcs are also worth it. The game itself feels very real, you have to manage patients, finances and even complicated diagnoses. Somehow I like it way more than Hospital Tycoon - I like it more serious. If you want a less bloody or funny approach on hospitals this game is propably not for you.

The game is good, feels like a mixture of Theme Hospital and the Sims but is not as good as either of them. What is lacks is in short the fun factor. Where you had nice goals in Theme Hospital or good interaction in the Sims this hospital simulation is just that: A simulation. Technically it is ok, no showstoppers here and no amazing elements. It is quite accurate with respect of hospital procedures and has a steep learning curve at the beginning (the tutorials help a lot despite of some reviews here). The game feels unbalanced and apart from the quite accurate modelling of hospital business quite boring and unfinished. It gets a 3/5 honest evaluation, it does definitly not deserve 1 star ratings and definitly not a 5 star rating.