Theme Hospital
PC Gamer US Edition|June 2018

Checking back into Bullfrog’s management sim.

Chris Thursten
Theme Hospital

Theme Hospital has been through several stages of life. At launch in 1997 it was a big deal, the successor to Theme Park—the game that made Bullfrog’s fortune.

Theme Park was an irreverent, colorful management simulator that turned the Guildford studio from a domestic player to an international contender. Theme Hospital adopted Theme Park’s tone—and great swathes of its code—and turned it to a different purpose: The running of a profit-driven British hospital where patients suffer from a variety of comedic, and fictitious, diseases. It was softly irreverent in a way that drew flack from government and the press at the time, but would entirely pass under the radar now.

Then Theme Hospital found a second life as a bargain-bin perennial throughout the low years of the early ’00s. Visit any game shop (remember those?), and there it would be, in a number of different budget imprints. Millions have likely played it. It is kid-friendly but cheeky, lightly strategic but chiefly about having fun with your hospital, its beleaguered staff, and its comedy gadgets. It would run on your parents’ PC. It has been worth a fiver for about 15 years and is still worth a fiver today.

GAG ORDER

Indeed, it costs about that to pull Theme Hospital down from GOG complete with a DOSBox launcher that bypasses the Windows compatibility issues that plague a lot of games from this era. Brutal but necessary full screening of its 640x480 native resolution aside, the process of running Theme Hospital on a modern PC is relatively painless.

Esta historia es de la edición June 2018 de PC Gamer US Edition.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

Esta historia es de la edición June 2018 de PC Gamer US Edition.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

MÁS HISTORIAS DE PC GAMER US EDITIONVer todo
Special Report- Stacked Deck - Monster Train, a deckbuilding roguelike that firmly entrenched itself as the crown prince to the kingly Slay the Spire back in 2020, was the kind of smash success you might call Champagne Big.
PC Gamer US Edition

Special Report- Stacked Deck - Monster Train, a deckbuilding roguelike that firmly entrenched itself as the crown prince to the kingly Slay the Spire back in 2020, was the kind of smash success you might call Champagne Big.

Monster Train, a deckbuilding roguelike that firmly entrenched itself as the crown prince to the kingly Slay the Spire back in 2020, was the kind of smash success you might call Champagne Big. Four years later, its successor Inkbound’s launch from Early Access was looking more like Sandwich Big.I’m not just saying that because of the mountain of lamb and eggplants I ate while meeting with developer Shiny Shoe over lunch, to feel out what the aftermath of releasing a game looks like in 2024. I mean, have I thought about that sandwich every day since? Yes. But also, the indie team talked frankly about the struggle of luring Monster Train’s audience on board for its next game.

time-read
5 minutos  |
September 2024
SCREENBOUND
PC Gamer US Edition

SCREENBOUND

How a 5D platformer went viral two months into development

time-read
5 minutos  |
September 2024
OLED GAMING MONITORS
PC Gamer US Edition

OLED GAMING MONITORS

A fresh wave of OLED panels brings fresh options, greater resolutions and makes for even more impressive gaming monitors

time-read
6 minutos  |
September 2024
CRYSIS 2
PC Gamer US Edition

CRYSIS 2

A cinematic FPS with tour de force visuals.

time-read
5 minutos  |
September 2024
PLOD OF WAR
PC Gamer US Edition

PLOD OF WAR

SENUA’S SAGA: HELLBLADE 2 fails to find a new path for its hero

time-read
6 minutos  |
September 2024
GALAXY QUEST
PC Gamer US Edition

GALAXY QUEST

HOMEWORLD 3 is a flashy, ambitious RTS, but some of the original magic is missing

time-read
6 minutos  |
September 2024
FAR REACHING
PC Gamer US Edition

FAR REACHING

Twenty years ago, FAR CRY changed the landscape of PC gaming forever.

time-read
10+ minutos  |
September 2024
THY KINGDOM COME
PC Gamer US Edition

THY KINGDOM COME

SHADOW OF THE ERDTREE is the culmination of decades of FromSoftware RPGs, and a gargantuan finale for ELDEN RING

time-read
9 minutos  |
September 2024
KILLING FLOOR 3
PC Gamer US Edition

KILLING FLOOR 3

Tripwire Interactive's creature feature is back

time-read
6 minutos  |
September 2024
IMPERFECTLY BALANCED
PC Gamer US Edition

IMPERFECTLY BALANCED

Arrowhead says HELLDIVERS 2 balancing patches have 'gone too far'

time-read
2 minutos  |
September 2024