War Hospital Review (Renée Fredrike)
"War isn’t Hell. War is war, and Hell is Hell. And of the two, war is a lot worse." Dr. Hawkeye Pierce
I was excited about this game... for weeks and weeks. I watched MASH... and watched some old war movies... I talked to friends about it... I thought it would be fun!
The first 10 patients that died, hit me hard. I wanted so badly to try to make everyone survive... a stupid endeavour.
The first 30 patients that died, I felt numb. Tequila was my friend at that point... I had only managed to save 14.
The first 49 patients that died was where morale had hit the floor and it was game over.
I punished myself. I felt like I had failed them... and I did.
My second play-through I did a lot better, I learned a lot from the first. You have to be a machine. Cold. Emotionless. Heartless. You have to run your staff to the very edge, but know when to give them rest, When to shift staff around different jobs to compensate for exhaustion, or negative feelings. You have to stay on top of upgrades, and other events, while balancing creation of resources like medicine or food... or else, it'll all fall down around you.
The game is tough. It's a gut-punch every time you feel yourself losing patients... your patients are more than just lives... they're potential future security... they're potential resources... they're potential morale boosts. Losing one, costs. Losing ten... costs a lot.
It's a difficult game, but... I think it's given me a greater appreciation of that job. It's something I could never do for real... and I shudder to think of the poor people who had to do it for real, or else it was the bullet or the rope. Massive respect to the men and woman who suffered and died for real in this kind of scenario. Massive respect to the dev's for capturing that harshness in it's rawest format.