Like the rest of the Western world, our household is currently watching the medical drama The Pitt, reveling in its visceral depiction of life in a modern emergency department. So far, the series has yet to inspire a video game tie-in (although there has been a fun parody), but fans wanting to try their hand at some tense medical (bad) practice shouldn’t despair. Here are eight of the best hospital games spanning over 40 years of gruesome interactive surgeries. Pour some hand sanitizer and come over here.
Microsurgeon (1982, Mattel Intellivision)
Created by sole developer Rick Levine, this early quirk shrunk players and put them into the bloodstream of a sick patient where they had to explode diseased cells and unclog arteries. Clearly inspired by the film Fantastic Voyage, the title features strange, colorful, almost psychedelic depictions of human anatomy. An Atari 2600 copycat, actually titled Fantastic Voyage, arrived a few months later, but with its relatively simple and boring visuals, it was dead on arrival.
Life and Death (1988, PC, Mac, Atari ST, Amiga, etc)
This point-and-click abdominal surgery simulation was revolutionary in its realism. Players had to diagnose various conditions (kidney stones! aortic aneurysm!), before ordering tests and scans and finally operating while an ECG screen showed your victim’s heart rate – sorry, patient. If you thought that wasn’t hard enough, the next part is brain surgery.
Sanitarium (1998, PC, smartphones from 2015)
The asylum has always been a popular trope for horror games, from the imaginatively titled 1981 adventure Asylum to the Silent Hill series. I gravitate towards this disturbing psychological thriller in which a patient wakes up in an apparently abandoned sanatorium, his memory gone, his face completely bandaged. As he searches the spooky corridors, snippets of his life return as playable hallucinations. Deeply disturbing, with many twists and turns.
Emergency Call Ambulance (1999, arcade)
You’ve probably heard of Crazy Taxi, Sega’s fast-paced arcade game about racing around a city picking up annoying passengers. But have you ever played its stablemate, Emergency Call Ambulance, which involves running around a city picking up desperately ill passengers? It’s almost the same thing, except you’re taking them to the hospital instead of Pizza Hut and every time you hit the curb or another car, their vital signs fade and eventually collapse, bringing new depth to the phrase “game over.”
Trauma Center: Under the Knife (2005, Nintendo DS)
If you thought the Nintendo DS was just for comfortable puzzle games, you were wrong. Developed by veteran publisher Atlus, this fascinating game was part surgery simulation, using the handheld’s touchscreen and stylus for realistic operations, and part visual novel in which the main character, Dr. Derek Stiles, navigated life in a futuristic hospital. The game spawned a series of decent sequels and a live-action TV pilot, which was unfortunately never ordered.
Surgeon Simulator (2013, PC, PlayStation, Switch, Xbox)
An unexpected hit when it released in 2013, this ridiculous surgery game has you attempting to operate on a series of patients, all while being thwarted by (intentionally) clunky controls and terrible physics. Break ribs with a hammer, drop vital organs on the floor, lose your watch in a body cavity – and no medical malpractice suit in sight!
Project Hospital (2018, PC)
There’s no shortage of decent hospital management games – including the more comical Theme Hospital and Two Point Hospital – but I opted for this incredibly deep and very authentic offering, which lets you manage all aspects of medical care, from building the hospital to managing staff and caring for individual patients. You’ll be able to create your own Pitt, then walk around looking worried while masking an impending emotional breakdown – just like Dr. Robby!
The Mortuary Assistant (2022, PC)
Ever wanted to live the life of a young worker in a demon-possessed morgue? Of course yes; we’ve all done it. DarkStone Digital’s 2022 indie title gives you the chance, requiring players to complete daily tasks such as embalming, while also conducting occult rituals in order to purify the souls of the deceased. Dark, dull, and at times genuinely disturbing, it was made into a film earlier this year, which was okay, but not as good as The Autopsy of Jane Doe.
Did we miss your favorite medical marvel? Let us know in the comments.
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