Like the rest of the western world, our household is currently binging medical drama The Pitt, revelling in its visceral depiction of life in a modern emergency department. So far the series has yet to inspire a video game tie-in (though there has been an amusing parody), but fans wishing to try their hand at tense medical (mal)practice, should not despair. Here are eight of the best hospital games spanning more than 40 years of gruesome interactive surgery. Squirt some hand sanitiser and come this way.
Microsurgeon (1982, Mattel Intellivision)
Created by lone developer Rick Levine, this early oddity shrank players down and put them into the bloodstream of a sick patient where they had to blast diseased cells and unclog arteries. Clearly inspired by the movie Fantastic Voyage, the title features strange, colourful, almost psychedelic depictions of human anatomy. An Atari 2600 copycat, actually entitled Fantastic Voyage, turned up a few months later, but with its comparatively dull, simple visuals, it was dead on arrival.
Life & Death (1988, PC, Mac, Atari ST, Amiga etc)
This point-and-click abdominal surgery simulation was groundbreaking in its realism. Players had to diagnose a variety of conditions (kidney stones! aortic aneurysm!), before ordering tests and scans and finally operating while an ECG display showed your victim’s – sorry, patient’s – heart rate. If you felt it wasn’t challenging enough, the sequel moved on to 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’m going for this disturbing psychological thriller in which a patient wakes up in a seemingly abandoned sanatorium, his memory gone, his face completely bandaged. While searching the creepy corridors, snippets of his life return in playable hallucinations. Deeply unsettling, with twists a-plenty.
Emergency Call Ambulance (1999, arcade)
You’ve no doubt heard of Crazy Taxi, Sega’s hectic arcade game about careering around a city picking up annoying passengers. But did you ever play its stablemate, Emergency Call Ambulance, about driving around a city picking up desperately ill passengers? It’s almost the same, except you’re taking them to hospital rather than Pizza Hut and every time you hit the pavement, 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 all about cosy puzzle games, you were wrong. Developed by veteran publisher Atlus, this fascinating game was part surgery sim, using the handheld’s touchscreen and stylus for realistic operations, and part visual novel as lead 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 tragically was never commissioned.
Surgeon Simulator (2013, PC, PlayStation, Switch, Xbox)
An unexpected smash hit on its release in 2013, this ridiculous surgery game has you attempting to operate on a series of patients, while being thwarted by (intentionally) awkward controls and terrible physics. Crack open ribs with a hammer, drop vital organs on the floor, lose your watch in a body cavity – and not a medical malpractice suit in sight!
Project Hospital (2018, PC)
There’s no shortage of decent hospital management games – including the more comedic Theme Hospital and Two Point Hospital – but I went for this incredibly deep, highly authentic offering, which gets you to run every aspect of medical care from actually building the hospital to managing staff and caring for individual patients. You’ll be able to create your own Pitt, then wander about looking concerned while masking an imminent emotional breakdown – just like Dr Robby!
The Mortuary Assistant (2022, PC)
Ever wanted to experience life as a young worker in a demonically possessed morgue? Of course you have; we all have. DarkStone Digital’s 2022 indie title gives you the chance, requiring players to carry out everyday tasks such as embalming, while also conducting occult rituals in order to cleanse the souls of the departed. Dark, dingy and genuinely unsettling at times, it was adapted into a film earlier this year, which was OK, but not as good as The Autopsy of Jane Doe.
Have we missed your favourite medical marvel? Let us know in the comments.