Gaming often focuses on the very bombastic and dare I say Hollywood vision of what war is across the countless bloody campaigns littering the history books of humanity. War Hospital by Polish developers Brave Lamb Studio’s looks to change this by throwing a spotlight on the true cost of conflict. War Hospital also attempts to give you a sliver of the brutality faced in war.
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The year is 1918 and you fill the well-polished boots of Major Henry Wells – a retired British combat medic, who finds he has been drafted back to the front and given charge of a field hospital during World War I. A field hospital that’s slap bang on the Western Front and is understaffed and undersupplied.
The hospital also serves as much more than just a medical facility, as it’s also seen as the last bastion of hope for countless soldiers on the front lines.
Testing Times
So, right off the bat you know is not going to be a sunshine, lollipops and rainbows sort of game. You are tasked with keeping up your medical team’s morale, supporting the war effort, patching up soldiers where you can. And, ultimately, picking who will live or die.
This is an real-time strategy with a real difference. Instead of leading the charge, you have to deal with the aftermath of it.
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Managing the floods of injured soldiers brought in after every battle. And, War Hospital plays this numbers game regardless of how cold and bleak that may come across.
Each wounded squaddie needs different levels of attention and care. Yet, each brings up the same grim questions. Do you have the number of staff needed? The supplies? Even the room in your graveyard?
Deathly Decisions
These are all very grim and very real things you must think about as you pick and choose, as you can only hire so many staff to help and with time, they themselves will need a break from the constant onslaught before understandably becoming burnt out.
Resource management also plays a large part in War Hospital, as the facility will grow in size over time, meaning more staff and facilities, but also more mouths to feed. You often have adapt to the situations that can arise from nowhere and escalate quickly.
And more often than not, these snap decisions often incredibly tough, sometimes heartbreaking, moments.
Trainer Required
Gameplay is very stat driven in ways, as you move patients around and upgrade your hospital. And, in a way this takes the human edge off things, as a card on a sheet is easier to bin than seeing a man scream for help in a blood-soaked bed.
Patched-up Tommies will be sent to rehab, where they will ultimately be sent home, or ,more likely, back to the front, set to return to the hospital sooner than later. While your goal is to heal, you also have to keep the front lines reinforced with able bodies, as if the front falls its game over.
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You also can send out scouts on missions to bag a few extra supplies, as well as intel on the enemy – which can give you an upper hand on what’s likely to come.
Art of War
Visually, War Hospital is split into two styles. The first being the overview of the hospital; where you see the most detail. You can see staff run around from building to building, as well as the endless flow of wounded arriving.
The second is the menu/stats side. This, for the most part, is clear and understandable after you learn the ropes. There are elements like the patient’s cards that you sort of have to read, but are just a little bit too hard to make out sometimes even on a 55-inch TV.
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The audio of War Hospital is thoroughly fitting. The soundtrack that has a real melancholy to it. There is an outstanding selection of ambient sounds; like distant air-raid sirens, to gun fire. All of which create a rich sound scape that captures and enhances the mood.
War Hospital also has some good voice acting on show. The accents feel period correct, and delivered with the tone and gravity required.
A Rare Treasure
War Hospital is a unique title, where your goal is to save as many lives as you can, and not take them. This RTS is far from easy-going, offering a level of moral challenge that will not sit well with some.
However, War Hospital is an uncomfortable change of perspective that spotlights an important and often overlooked element of conflict. And because War Hospital is unafraid to appropriately explore the depths of despair, this is a title that will stay with you long after the credits have rolled.