This started off as a subjective speculation piece about Project Hospital’s trailer, and turned into an analysis of Theme Hospital’s game mechanics!

1. Does it really have anything to do with Theme Hospital?

I want to start with this because I do feel like it’s an important question. Jumping on the nostalgic popularity of the classic 1997 game Theme Hospital*, this game seeks to be the next Theme Hospital- at least that’s what every published article seems to describe it as.

Yet, this game feels and looks very tonally different to TH, in fact, I’d go as far to say this is the next Prison Architect. Forget TH; nothing to do with it beyond the hospital setting.

It frustrates me to see so many articles refer to it as a TH2- but I guess that’s marketing. Just compare everything to classic games whether or not they are in any way related mechanically or tonally. My next points will explain the differences between TH and Project Hospital.

*When I say nostalgic popularity, it’s very well deserved. TH is a tremendous game.

2. Do the differences matter?

No, but don’t leave the page yet. It matters if you want TH2, and are expecting TH2, but you end up with something much different instead. I am not here to break the developer’s steam, but rather, to reduce the risk of the game getting too much of the wrong hype from the wrong audience.

This game could, and should appeal to deep simulation fans. If you like Software Inc, Prison Architect, and possibly even Dwarf Fortress, this should be your game.

There’s a popular theory that every game is Pac Man. Pac Man is such a simple base game that it could be argued that every game derived from Pac Man (or other simple games in that era). It’s like how all films and stories follow the base 3 act structure in some form, and are arguably the same. Using this logic, I can say:

Project Hospital is the spiritual successor to Pac Man!

3. What even is Theme Hospital?

Theme Hospital isn’t a sandbox build-your-own hospital game. It’s a puzzle construction game that takes away player’s freedom in order to restrict what the player can do. It’s why there’s only square or rectangular rooms, the objects have strict puzzle meaning and are not there for decoration (only one plant or radiator type with no customization), there’s no sandbox mode, and the player cannot adjust the map area that they can build in.

It’s not about building and designing your own “dream hospitals” where you can do whatever you want, it’s about fitting these different shaped rooms within the limited space, in levels carefully crafted by a level designer. This is where the challenge comes in – when the player is running out of space and through poor decisions may even have crowd problems later in the game.

New rooms and objects are unlocked linearly in a well crafted campaign. Anyone who describes TH as anything other than a (much more complicated) Tetris doesn’t quite get the point. The developers didn’t want you to build your own “dream hospital”, because no one has ever wanted to do that! The game is a restrictive puzzle game, whereas, even games like Prison Architect give you lots of freedom and even scenery options for building your own “dream prison!”

You can’t even choose your own staff- you are limited to up to eight applicants of each type per month, and it’s rare you will find a perfect one. Missing a surgeon or a researcher? Tough luck!

I don’t know if Project Hospital will have a campaign, and go for the puzzle-game angle like TH, or, go for the more sandbox freestyle gameplay of PA. It looks as though it’s going to go the route of most tycoon/simulation games, where the player is given freedom over the design of everything. In other words, not a traditional, linear puzzle game.

Important bit, if you are confused:

Just to clarify, obviously most building games have puzzle-like mechanics. Or even, they can be described as puzzle-lite. But the fact that in PA the player can simply expand their foundations, or buy a huge new piece of land, or research things in a (mostly) free order, and the fact that the main game is the custom scenario mode rather than the campaign, it’s not in my opinion a puzzle game in the traditional sense. TH, on the other hand, restricts all of those things to force the player into particular scenarios.

In official game design language, this is referred to as constrained vs open style gameplay! Although, it could still be argued that TH is an open game, at least when compared to Tetris, but that’s a whole debate.

4. How deep is your management?

It’s very simple. Most staff have a single skill level that increases along with their wage demand. Doctors are the most complicated with their different levels of status and specialization roles.

There’s nothing new to manage about them, however. The specialization roles are there to reinforce the puzzle aspect of the game. You can only build as many operating theatres or psychiatry offices based on the number of staff available. These staff also exist to make looking after them more tense, because if a surgeon quits, chaos will ensue!

Staff are essentially placeable objects, you can tell them to stay in their current room, and you can literally pick them up and place them. It’s not about simulating real employees or giving them quirky personalities, they are part of the object-puzzle mechanic. Nothing more.

The reason why I specify this is because I’ve seen games in the past that have had far too much detail given to the staff. They’re not supposed to be humans, they are objects that happen to move and look like humans. I don’t care if a developer has written a 4 paragraph fake CV or given each employee their own personality traits and conflicts with other staff with different personalities. I don’t care if staff have really complicated needs.

“But Michael, the CVs in Theme Hospital are the best!” Here’s the genius part: each one is both a joke and an informative description of the employee in less than ten words.

“Plays Theme Park.” A joke and description in just three words. Because this is an old game, I will provide context. Theme Park is the previous game in the Theme series. Therefore, it is funny because the developers are giving a cheeky nod to their own game, and, it’s a positive description of the worker. That’s supposed to be a good thing that they play that game, which is also quite a funny qualification to need.

Solving staff needs is about the placement of staff rooms, with the correct number of objects inside, as well as the correct placement of the right number of handymen to keep the place clean, and the correct placement of radiators at the right temperatures. Yet again, all puzzle-based object placement. The “management” is moving a slider for how often they visit a staff room, and occasionally (maybe too often) having to click “grant pay rise”. That’s your two bits of management. Done.

No allocating work shifts, matching staff with compatible personality types, patrol routes (although, it would have been nice to have had patrol routes for handymen), or even prioritizing jobs! The game does come with the ability to set priorities for handymen, but it doesn’t even work. Yet, this is considered a great management game.

4. What is Project Hospital?

As I explained earlier, it looks like the next Prison Architect. And it looks like it could be great.

No fake diseases, no slapstick humour, no silly voice announcements, simple and modern graphics, and, music that doesn’t sound like it’s from a carnival.

Obviously I’d love a true silly sequel to Theme Hospital, but I hope that if Project Hospital’s developers choose to take the serious route, that they stick to it. Please don’t listen to fans who want to make your game more like TH, unless of course that was your original intent (if it was, you’ve really messed this game up).

Overview

Keep an eye out for Project Hospital, as it could be the next Prison Architect. A serious, realistic, in depth management construction game.

FOR GOD SAKES IT’S NOT THEME HOSPITAL! WHY IS EVERY NEW CONSTRUCTION GAME CALLED IT?!?!?!?!