Posted August 18, 2019
I reviewed the game November 11 last year and after seeing the 1.1 version and some fixes after that I thought I would try again to see how it is doing. Last time I mostly used the Linux version but this time I just used the Windows version (and on a different computer). They have fixed a few issues with some significant improvement, unfortunately I still hit a game braking bug on day 12 and enough other issues that I suspect it isn't the only one (I'm not in a mood to try multiple times or challenges like I did last time). So I am still unable to finish the first "campaign" game. I hope they are able to make the game into a state that is at least free of game breaking bugs, but I don't see enough improvement to revise my opinion that they won't be able to do it. The game breaking bug is one that was there previously where a radiology room becomes unusable.
It is unfortunate that GOG sells a game in this condition without any warning beyond the bad reviews (it isn't the only one like that, this is a general complaint).
The good:
- it is now possible to look from four directions and this seems to work well (I found no bugs due to this, although e.g. door handles can be on the other side in different views; I don't mind too much personally even if it isn't ideal)
- the loading screen hints are great and showed me useful info, including the long list of possible diagnoses that I had missed last time and is helpful for determining what tests to do
- it is now possible to keep the clinic open 24/7, which is a good way to work around the issue (that still exists) of patients leaving suddenly at the end of the day due to tests taking too long no matter how well run your hospital is
- I really like that the exit to desktop button actually exits to desktop instantly (this was true before but text was too limited to mention it in my review and I'm glad they haven't changed it along the way). All games should do that, it is just a gratuitous FU to be obnoxious about quitting the game
- the new lab department and equipment is nice; there is only a small issue that you need one lab janitor or the lab area will be completely disgusting while the rest looks spotless. They should make the cleaning closets common rooms
- the basic concept of the game seems good, particularly the building aspect and the color scheme. I could give a long list of things I'd want to change, but that is going to be true in any sim game. Without the game breaking bugs and a few other bugs I would find it a fairly good game (and one of not that many sim games that are available DRM free)
The game breaking issue is that the CT scan stopped working (stayed green in construction mode even though no one was using it or scheduled to use it; this also means it isn't possible to clear the room and rebuild it and it even stays green after shutting down the department). It could still be selected as a test, but no one was able to use it (staff showed idle). Redrawing the room in management mode didn't help (that fixed an earlier issue where the CAG room didn't work at all when first built and couldn't be selected) and breaking the room by moving out mandatory equipment and staff didn't help either (moving staff caused a brief issue where the person currently staffing that position wasn't unset from that position automatically and after reassigning that person to the CT the new position of the previously CT staff would become unassigned in the management screen and this persisted after changing positions back but seems to have cleared up after assigning the same person back to the same job a few times; also, trying to unselect CT from waiting patients cased them to get up then sit back down and continue to wait in radiology). Also, restoring a save game from after it broke didn't help. I am guessing that this is a race condition related to removing the CT test from a patient who was previously supposed to get one and that it would not necessarily happen again if I loaded from an earlier save, although I did seem to notice an increasing number of non-breaking bugs (patients doing strange things) shortly before so there might be some memory corruption or something. I recall some radiology room similarly stopped working at one point back in November so this is not a new bug.
Major issues:
- the above described game breaking bug and CAG room unavailable when built issues
- in tutorial #2 you are instructed to use the in game tutorial to find out how to hire someone, however the in game tutorial appears behind the scenario tutorial box and is unreadable and unusable; you can still finish the tutorial if you figure it out and there are some blue arrows to help, but not a good first impression
- it still often isn't obvious why an operating room isn't working when it seems like all staff are available (adding an extra nurse fixed it, although I think the needed nurses with needed skills were idle when it didn't work)
- there is a strong preference for doing tests first before any treatment and even the highest skilled doctors will send patients all over the hospital before rehydrating them or applying a bandage, leading to patients collapsing
- doing test after the main condition has been cured can cause trouble under player control, where the game insists that the patient should be sent home when sampled tests are still pending and at least in some cases those tests will never complete even if you wait longer (I got the two hour "Hello? Anyone there?" achievement trying to wait, that should be "Hello? QA? Anyone there?")
- there is no way to get doctors to treat all the symptoms even if spending a bunch of money to hire the most qualified doctors, which leads to needing to do a bunch of trivial manual intervention every day to keep reputation up which is needed to keep income up
- deleting right after placing or deleting and then placing the same item should both be net zero cost, ideally even if a short time passed but the room was not used but at least if it is done without leaving editor mode; the way it is now makes it much harder to experiment with different designs, which is IMO the most fun part of the game (not refunding half value once an item has been in use for a while would be ok)
- for some list windows (e.g. staff listing) there is no indication at all that the window can be scrolled, making it easy to not notice some staff or diagnosis options, etc.
- there are a number of issues that makes reputation confusing and difficult to understand or change; 1) it appears that early in the day when some departments have not had patients that is equivalent to the worst possible reputation and lowers the overall reputation 2) staff can be unhappy for no obvious reason (even if not depressed, which isn't obvious but I think lowers satisfaction) 3) even if all departments are five star, the overall score might be less 4) patients can have critical needs and be able to do something about it but just don't
- treatments and tests will sometimes be skipped after waiting a while, including rehydration after a fairly short time (making it more likely patients will collapse even if you manually select rehydration)
Ok, I had a longer list of less severe bugs but it looks like this is as much as I can post at a time and it doesn't look like I can reply to myself. If someone wants the rest please reply and let me know.
It is unfortunate that GOG sells a game in this condition without any warning beyond the bad reviews (it isn't the only one like that, this is a general complaint).
The good:
- it is now possible to look from four directions and this seems to work well (I found no bugs due to this, although e.g. door handles can be on the other side in different views; I don't mind too much personally even if it isn't ideal)
- the loading screen hints are great and showed me useful info, including the long list of possible diagnoses that I had missed last time and is helpful for determining what tests to do
- it is now possible to keep the clinic open 24/7, which is a good way to work around the issue (that still exists) of patients leaving suddenly at the end of the day due to tests taking too long no matter how well run your hospital is
- I really like that the exit to desktop button actually exits to desktop instantly (this was true before but text was too limited to mention it in my review and I'm glad they haven't changed it along the way). All games should do that, it is just a gratuitous FU to be obnoxious about quitting the game
- the new lab department and equipment is nice; there is only a small issue that you need one lab janitor or the lab area will be completely disgusting while the rest looks spotless. They should make the cleaning closets common rooms
- the basic concept of the game seems good, particularly the building aspect and the color scheme. I could give a long list of things I'd want to change, but that is going to be true in any sim game. Without the game breaking bugs and a few other bugs I would find it a fairly good game (and one of not that many sim games that are available DRM free)
The game breaking issue is that the CT scan stopped working (stayed green in construction mode even though no one was using it or scheduled to use it; this also means it isn't possible to clear the room and rebuild it and it even stays green after shutting down the department). It could still be selected as a test, but no one was able to use it (staff showed idle). Redrawing the room in management mode didn't help (that fixed an earlier issue where the CAG room didn't work at all when first built and couldn't be selected) and breaking the room by moving out mandatory equipment and staff didn't help either (moving staff caused a brief issue where the person currently staffing that position wasn't unset from that position automatically and after reassigning that person to the CT the new position of the previously CT staff would become unassigned in the management screen and this persisted after changing positions back but seems to have cleared up after assigning the same person back to the same job a few times; also, trying to unselect CT from waiting patients cased them to get up then sit back down and continue to wait in radiology). Also, restoring a save game from after it broke didn't help. I am guessing that this is a race condition related to removing the CT test from a patient who was previously supposed to get one and that it would not necessarily happen again if I loaded from an earlier save, although I did seem to notice an increasing number of non-breaking bugs (patients doing strange things) shortly before so there might be some memory corruption or something. I recall some radiology room similarly stopped working at one point back in November so this is not a new bug.
Major issues:
- the above described game breaking bug and CAG room unavailable when built issues
- in tutorial #2 you are instructed to use the in game tutorial to find out how to hire someone, however the in game tutorial appears behind the scenario tutorial box and is unreadable and unusable; you can still finish the tutorial if you figure it out and there are some blue arrows to help, but not a good first impression
- it still often isn't obvious why an operating room isn't working when it seems like all staff are available (adding an extra nurse fixed it, although I think the needed nurses with needed skills were idle when it didn't work)
- there is a strong preference for doing tests first before any treatment and even the highest skilled doctors will send patients all over the hospital before rehydrating them or applying a bandage, leading to patients collapsing
- doing test after the main condition has been cured can cause trouble under player control, where the game insists that the patient should be sent home when sampled tests are still pending and at least in some cases those tests will never complete even if you wait longer (I got the two hour "Hello? Anyone there?" achievement trying to wait, that should be "Hello? QA? Anyone there?")
- there is no way to get doctors to treat all the symptoms even if spending a bunch of money to hire the most qualified doctors, which leads to needing to do a bunch of trivial manual intervention every day to keep reputation up which is needed to keep income up
- deleting right after placing or deleting and then placing the same item should both be net zero cost, ideally even if a short time passed but the room was not used but at least if it is done without leaving editor mode; the way it is now makes it much harder to experiment with different designs, which is IMO the most fun part of the game (not refunding half value once an item has been in use for a while would be ok)
- for some list windows (e.g. staff listing) there is no indication at all that the window can be scrolled, making it easy to not notice some staff or diagnosis options, etc.
- there are a number of issues that makes reputation confusing and difficult to understand or change; 1) it appears that early in the day when some departments have not had patients that is equivalent to the worst possible reputation and lowers the overall reputation 2) staff can be unhappy for no obvious reason (even if not depressed, which isn't obvious but I think lowers satisfaction) 3) even if all departments are five star, the overall score might be less 4) patients can have critical needs and be able to do something about it but just don't
- treatments and tests will sometimes be skipped after waiting a while, including rehydration after a fairly short time (making it more likely patients will collapse even if you manually select rehydration)
Ok, I had a longer list of less severe bugs but it looks like this is as much as I can post at a time and it doesn't look like I can reply to myself. If someone wants the rest please reply and let me know.
Post edited August 18, 2019 by joveian