In space, no one can hear you scream, which is lucky, because the healthcare at my intergalactic hospital is less than stellar. But if you feel you know better when it comes to medical matters in outer space, then you should check out Galacticare.
In the field of tycoon games, hospital management isn’t a new subgenre. There’s been several games with similar themes, including Theme Hospital, Project Hospital, and most recently, Two Point Hospital. But far from being a mere retread of those previous games, Galacticare has an interesting wrinkle.
As you probably can guess from the title, Galacticare is set in space, and feels like a mash up of Two Point Hospital and Startopia. If you’ve ever played a hospital tycoon style game before, then you’ll be right at home here. Build rooms, hire doctors, and cure patients —the gameplay loop is generally fairly satisfying and it must be said it still rings true for Galaticare.
The setting allows for a lot of playful design when it comes to the setting. Being set in space, you can expect your patients to come in all shapes and sizes, with fellow humans mixing it up with otherworldly folk. Alien folk bring alien diseases, and they are as weird and wonderful as you imagine. Be it Star Warts, Space Invasion or good old fashioned broken limbs, it’s up to your medical team to diagnose and treat all conditions.
There’s plenty of equipment to aid the medical staff with their job. Each room comes complete with various machines that will aid in both the diagnosis and treatment of patients. While these machines often look a little wacky in the less serious hospital tycoon games, Galaticare takes it up a notch. This being a new spin on the genre, means that all the equipment has a wonderful sci-fi aesthetic, and not only that, the game still has a wacky style to it as well, giving every room cartoony, spacey feel to it.
Galacticare also has some great production to it, boasting bright and colourful, chunky graphics and beautiful backdrops, teamed with some lovely chill out soundtrack. The game also has a very charming – and very British – sense of humour, with a fun A.I as your guide, and I cannot get through this preview without mentioning the voice work of either Matt Berry himself, or a man doing a very good impression of Matt Berry as an in-game character.
Galaticare is a familiar story told in a new way. All the elements from the hospital tycoon genre are here, present and correct, but are presented in a fresh way. Fans of the genre will feel right at home with Galaticare, and I will have much fun with the game, though I can imagine it will get difficult. Remember, you’re a doctor, not a doorstop, so don’t procrastinaut and ensure you get your stethoscope ready, as you’ll need it when Galacticare releases later this year.
A Steam key was provided for the purposes of this preview. Galacticare will have a demo available as part of Steam’s Next Fest 2023.
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