izigame.me

Had this in my catalogue of 'to play when finished' games and decided to give it a run. I played mostly without the DLC, but I liked the base game enough to also get all DLC.
Note: I work in healthcare, not clinical, but I have a fairly good understanding of the way hospitals and clinicks work.
What is it: Project Hospital is a simulator that doesn't shy away from approximating realism. It is a 'typical' build and manage sim, but the depth comes from the large amount of different conditions, treatments etc. that are included.
So... is it fun? Yes I think it is. I like this type of game in general, but with this game you get that extra juice that lifts it out of the stale competition that you also encounter in this genre. In sandbox mode (play the tutorials first, the interface takes some getting used to!) you build up from a basic emergency clinic to a full-blown hospital with all bells and whistles. The game follows a logical progression, emergency clinic, radiography department, clinical labs, A&E department, surgical departments... The process of starting to completing is engaging and can take days to get right, but when you get it right... It's bliss, there's constant emergencies, patients get misdiagnosed, using resources you could have done with differently and staff and patients have a wide and fairly realistic range of factors that influence them. Forgot to build that toilet block in your new ward? Waste staff time by having them track down the hallway to the next ward and clogging up the busy A&E toilets instead. Not enough catering available for your stuff? They get grumpy and irritable.
Can it be better? Yes of course, there is no such thing as a 'perfect' game and Oxymoron is obviously a fairly small, but experienced, studio. Some things that annoy me most are down to the interface. At times it is unclear where you are placing things like doors, windows etc. or how objects get blocked by things you find innocuous. Building an entire floor on the second level without realising you are doing so could be considered a quirk of the isometric view, but really should just not be possible (having an entire ward float in the sky? Not a problem! what are foundations for?) I also constantly feel limited by the maximum 96x96 tile sandbox. It's possible to build a very good looking hospital, but as you are jumping through hoops to unlock further funding it is difficult to pre-plan your entire build nicely.
What would you say is the strongest aspect? To me it is the linear progression that I just berated as complicating the build process. You get a sense that you are really accomplishing something as you progress. To reach the scale of a hospital that deals with hundreds of patients across all sorts of clinics and departments is very satisfying. It is also awesome to unlock that problem that was stopping you carrying out an operation or to realise that you can make some savings by balancing your staff better. The game has lots of layers of depth and complication.
So, should I give it a go? If you like this type of 'build and manage' game, think Transport Fever, Theme Park Tycoon etc. then yes, it is a great game for folks that can sink entire days into finetuning a fairground ride or optimising the delivery of materials to a factory to optimise return for your railway. The added advantage is that this game is now just very complete. It is finished. Sure, it has quirks and odd bugs at times, but in general it plays really well.
Give it a go, it's a good price and the base game gives you an excellent experience already, so you don't need the whole package to test your resolve.