By Joseph Luster

It may not be set during World War II, but War Hospital fits the bill for the kind of unique experience we’re often looking for in comparable war games. This one was announced a while back, and last time we checked in on it it was penciled in for a Q4 2022 launch. Clearly it didn’t make the cut, but at the time of this writing it’s been moved to a concrete date of January 11, 2024. 

War Hospital puts players in the shoes of Henry Wells, a retired British combat medic who finds himself drafted back into the horrors of World War I, facing a grim situation on the French Front that will take everything he has to surmount. Though Henry is both understaffed and undersupplied, with the help of the player he’ll be able to provide the care necessary to tend to the hundreds of lives that depend on his crucial expertise. 

Right alongside the deafening explosions of artillery shells, you’ll need to build a field hospital facility with sufficient capabilities for treating some of the war’s most horrific injuries. Players have access to authentic period equipment, and choices made throughout each run will shape the way these tools evolve along with the situation itself. Your goal is to expand this humble facility into a community of survivors and healers, kindling a bit of hope along the way and promoting something most war games don’t get a chance to savor: Life. 

True to its central themes, developer Brave Lamb Studio S.A. is creating War Hospital with the angle of saving lives rather than taking them. The French Front has been faithfully recreated along with developing WWI medical technology and the inner workings of a British field hospital. The real meat of War Hospital comes along with its intriguing society survival elements, though. Both tactics and morals will be challenged as the campaign progresses, and the way choices impact the narrative should hopefully make for a fluid experience worth revisiting time and time again for different outcomes.

By the time this issue is in your hands we should finally have a good idea of how War Hospital turned out in its finished state. Perhaps we’ll see a similarly-themed followup that focuses on other campaigns, and maybe even other legendary conflicts like World War II and beyond. Time will tell, but for now we’re looking forward to trying our hand at healing.

Publisher: Daedalic Entertainment
System: PC
Available: Now (Early Access)

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