Theme Hospital released over 20 years ago and was filled with goofy humor that inspired memes before they were even called memes. Who could forget Bloaty-Head Syndrome, where your patient’s swollen domes had to be cured by a doctor deflating them like a balloon.
Theme Hospital developer Bullfrog was unfortunately taken out to pasture by EA before a sequel to the game could be created. However, a spiritual successor has been announced by a new indie studio with two of the original Theme Hospital developers on staff.
Two Point Hospital, the first game from UK indie startup Two Point Studios, will be developed by Theme Hospital alumni Mark Webley and Gary Carr. Sega will be publishing Two Point Hospital, and as you can see from the trailer, the game looks very familiar. This time around instead of Bloaty-Head Syndrome, we’ll see ailments like Light-Headedness, the symptoms of which include your patients’ heads turning into lightbulbs.
Two Point Studios’ game isn’t the only hospital management sim on the horizon though. Project Hospital by Oxymoron Games promises to give players a wide variety of tools to develop and manage a hospital. The critical difference between Two Point Hospital and Project Hospital seems to be graphics and tone.
Two Point Hospital features 3D renditions of its hospital and inhabitants and looks to emulate the light-hearted tone of Theme Hospital. Project Hospital’s look is much more 2D and seems as though it’ll be more focused on giving an accurate simulation of a hospital than any humor elements.
Both Two Point Hospital and Project Hospital are slated to hit Steam sometime in 2018. After a 20 year drought of hospital sims, I’m glad to see the floodgates open. Theme Hospital is one of my favorite sims, and I’m ready to hop into both of these games ASAP.
