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‘Nurse, the joypad!’: the eight greatest medical video games

For anyone needing a break from binging The Pitt, you can always put in your own shifts as a hospital manager, surgeon, paramedic and of course as a demonic morgue assistant

‘Nurse, the joypad!’: the eight greatest medical video games

TL;DR

  • Microsurgeon (1982) allowed players to navigate a patient's bloodstream to blast diseased cells.
  • Life & Death (1988) was a groundbreaking point-and-click simulation of abdominal and later brain surgery.
  • Sanitarium (1998) is a disturbing psychological thriller where a patient with amnesia explores a sanatorium.
  • Emergency Call Ambulance (1999) is an arcade game focused on driving patients to the hospital while avoiding accidents.
  • Trauma Center: Under the Knife (2005) combined surgery simulation using the Nintendo DS touchscreen with a visual novel storyline.
  • Surgeon Simulator (2013) offers a humorous take on surgery with intentionally awkward controls and physics.
  • Project Hospital (2018) is a deep and authentic hospital management game where players build and run every aspect of medical care.
  • The Mortuary Assistant (2022) is an indie horror game set in a demonically possessed morgue, involving embalming and occult rituals.