There should be more strategy games like War Hospital

GamesStrategyThere should be more strategy games like War HospitalWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Nacon)

War Hospital interior

When I play Hearts of Iron, field hospitals are an icon I add to my divisions that gives me a bit of my lost manpower back after each battle. That’s it. War Hospital, however, takes us down into the sickbeds and surgical clinics of the First World War’s Western Front in a way that emphasizes the heroism and the difficult choices doctors, nurses, and medics had to make just behind the frontlines. The way it all fits together can be a bit clunky, but the way it tells too often untold stories of modern conflict is honestly refreshing.

(Image credit: Nacon)

War Hospital exterior

Quite a bit of effort has been made to humanize the wounded soldiers you’re treating.

Beyond this, there’s always the issue of who actually can be saved, given your limited time and resources. Patients can arrive with mild to severe wounds, in anything from good to critical condition, and with varying complexities and success chances associated with the operations they need. Someone needing a complex and lengthy operation with a low chance of success might just need to be put on painkillers to help them pass peacefully, because in the same amount of time, your doctors could have patched up three others with lesser injuries who have a high chance of making a full recovery. This becomes gut-wrenching at times, because you really can’t save everyone. The basic gameplay loop is about holding the lives of many in your hands and deciding who will live.

(Image credit: Nacon)

War Hospital desk view

Medical supplies are another consideration, which you can also choose to produce yourself or buy from command. Some operations take more supplies than others, which is yet another consideration that plays into who you’re able to treat. Eventually, you’ll end up building wings that specialize in healing gas attacks and psychological trauma, which require their own specialized doctors and supplies. Shell shock doesn’t fit very cleanly into this loop, though, because psych patients are treated identically to gunshot victims—their health will gradually deteriorate until they die if not treated, which isn’t a hand-wave I’m especially thrilled about when it comes to mental illness.

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(Image credit: Nacon)

War Hospital trenches

Combat is definitely not an emphasis here, but it is still important, because not having enough soldiers in the trenches when a raid occurs is an immediate game over. There’s a certain grim inevitability to the idea that you need to save the lives of so many of these fighters before sending them directly back into hell. They may even be wounded again in the next raid and wind up right back on the operating table. This time, you might not be able to do anything to help them.

I’m really glad War Hospital exists, and I think the decision to focus on saving lives instead of ending them is something we could stand to see more of in games about historical conflicts. The core loop is inherently compelling and can even be emotionally affecting. But it’s a bit clunky and inelegant as a management game, mainly in how it tackles staff and resource management and doles out hospital upgrades. It may be that I haven’t cracked the “right” way to play yet in my first 20 hours or so, but if so, it’s certainly not intuitive. It’s not the type of game I love to play. But it is the kind I would encourage you to give a try.

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More about strategy

Alan Emrich, the game designer and writer who coined the term ‘4X,’ has diedCivilization 7 senior historian prays it’ll be a ‘gateway drug’ into textbooks: ‘I teach undergraduates in my other life, and my God, man, they don’t read’

Alan Emrich holding a Nemo’s War tabletop game box at a 2018 gaming convention

Alan Emrich, the game designer and writer who coined the term ‘4X,’ has died

Cropped Civilization 7 concept art featuring Amina, Queen of Zazzau, pointing a sword menacingly.

Civilization 7 senior historian prays it’ll be a ‘gateway drug’ into textbooks: ‘I teach undergraduates in my other life, and my God, man, they don’t read’

LatestThe Sims begins its 25th anniversary celebration next week with a Behind The Sims episode of news and announcementsSee more latest►

Latest

The Sims begins its 25th anniversary celebration next week with a Behind The Sims episode of news and announcements

The Sims 4 - a woman with red hair and a purple top exclaims with excitement

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