Two Point Hospital - Playing On A Classic Theme

It's no secret I am a huge fan of Theme Hospital.




An offshoot of 1994's Theme Park, Bullfrog's classic came out in 1997, where most games were either perfecting their gameplay as far as the previous technology allowed, jumping on the -then- flashy new 3D technology with the aim to impress with their visuals or using that new technology to bring to light ideas that weren't able to be done as well before.

Bullfrog went for option A. At the same time, they went for cartoon graphics that have aged relatively well. The result is a game with very solid gameplay that is surprisingly holding up very well visually 22 years later.

But hey, don't take my word for it. You can grab it on either GoG or Origin for around 5 dollars and give that absolute classic a go yourself.

For posterity, note that the Theme series got two Theme Park sequels in 1999 and in 2001 and a convoluted quasi-Theme game in 1998's Theme Aquarium (it's a long story, wikipedia it if you must). But for many fans Hospital was never surpassed or even matched, and, most disappointingly, was never expanded on or continued.


That is, until last year's Two Point Hospital.

Two Point Hospital (henceforth referred to as TPH) is a spiritual successor rather than a sequel, made by largely the same team (I'm told). What it also isn't, is an HD remaster of Theme Hospital. If it was, it probably would not be worth the almost 30 dollar pricetag (like I said, the original still holds up well enough).

Remember those three options at the start of this post? TPH goes for Option A as well.

It's not technically impressive. Sure, it adds about a bazillion things to Theme Hospital's formula, from new diseases and emergencies to some improved and/or expanded mechanics to cosmetic customisation for your hospital, but the game is largely (and oh-so-charmingly) the same in terms of what counts the most: gameplay. Sure, on paper it's a business management game, and those went out of style a long time ago. But I can't help but wonder if this would have been the case if games like this kept coming out more often.


It has its own cartoony style. It has the same PA announcements. It has the same type of wacky diseases (No more Inflated Head, but Lightheadedness instead), the same 4 types of employee, VIP visits, annual appraisal, different areas with different unique conditions and challenges, the same balance between cost and profit, meeting employee demands and keeping your hospital running as smooth as butter. If you ever wanted to be a cross between Lisa Cuddy from House, Michael Scott from the Office and Jack Donaghy from 30 Rock, this is the game you should be playing.

And that is such big praise for it. It's actually very rare for a modern game to bank so hard on nostalgia and resist changing things for the sake of change.

TPH does exactly that. All the changes feel natural and organic, and none alienate fans.

This is Theme Hospital 2018, there's no two ways about it. This means it's the perfect game to load up to relax for a few minutes and watch those minutes stretch into hours.

Is it a perfect game? No. But 29 out of 30 doctors concur: it's more than good enough.