Ah Theme Hospital, the hospital management simulator from Bullfrog Games which along with Dungeon Keeper and Theme Park made the holy trilogy of '90s gaming from that company. With the acquisition and subsequent closure of Bullfrog and its eventual successor company, Lionhead, Theme Hospital only ever received the one game and that was that. Here we are though, more than two decades later, and some of the original developers have gotten back together to make a spiritual sequel called Two Point Hospital.
The big appeal of Theme Hospital was that it was part management simulator, part comedy. You had to build rooms and manage finances, hiring doctors and putting in items like radiators and vending machines, but you also had comical illnesses to deal with like bloaty head, slack tongue and invisible men. Then there were the announcements, and the fact that if rats infested your hospital you could shoot them with a mouse-pointer shotgun. There were even specific levels crafted to help train you to get better at it.
What makes Two Point Hospital a true successor to Theme Hospital is that it once again combines those elements in equal measure and the fact that a bunch of the original Theme Hospital developers are working on it has us very intrigued for its future.
Although it will be predominantly a single-player experience, Two Point is also said to have some multiplayer elements in the end game, where you can compete with other hospitals. There are even said to be some cooperative elements with collaborative research projects.
Published by Sega, Two Point Hospital is slated for an end of 2018 release.
