Galacticare

I really wanted to love this game, it started good, sadly, the number of bugs and clearly untested systems makes it impossible to enjoy past certain point.

When scumbags at EA bought Bullfrog an entire sub-genre of management sims died out, and it has taken over 20 years for succesors to decide to continue that style... sadly, the original Bullfrog team also returned, so anyone trying to emulate or supass them it´s gonna have a hard time after Two Point Hospital was launch. Galacticare gets close, it does some things really good, like a more strong and interesting story, better humor and a good use of the galactic theme and settings. But everything else...

Galacticare it´s extremelly easy if you only care for completing maps, a lot of them you could finish them on a 2 hour session without even trying. But achieving 5 star rating on some hospitals become impossible as the math simply won´t favor you, you won´t have enough patients on the hospital to achieve the performance numbers asked, or the economical output you are requiere to get, in some maps I had to cheat the system like putting 5 teleporters that bring more patients completely breaking the map but for one second because you have so many and if you threatment fast you will achieve those numbers, or firing every single doctor just as you are about to finish one cycle so you don´t pay salaries and you can earn the money asked... and the maps where the math is correct, still, you are just gonna leave the game play itself for a few hours while your doctors level up and the numbers go up.

And all this, you NEED to do it on your first go, why? Because the game doesn´t seem to have coding preventing from future ilness to appear on older maps. So say you play map 1, complete it on 4 stars, then play until map 4 and decide to comeback to map 1 for that 5th star... you can´t. The game will star launching you every new ilness you discovered on maps 2, 3 and 4, and ask you to build the rooms requiere for those threatments while not deleting the older threatment rooms, which can´t be done because all maps have the exact limited space for the requiered rooms for the quests of each map.

But this isn´t even the biggest problem, the biggest problem is PC performance. The game lags and freezes all the time, GPU usage goes over the roof. At least once per day the game just freezes on me and I have to alt-tab out and force closing the app.

If you are the type of players that buys games, plays 2 maps and then leaves a 2 sentence positive review, this game may be perfect for you. But if you have passion for this genre, were intrigued by the theme and presentation, either wait for updates or just go for another title, this one needs ironing and I´m unsure those issues are gonna be adress, seeing as devs are already focusing on the challenge mode (basically replay the older levels on a higher difficulty, since how easy the game is was a big complain when it launched, but if you check the achievement ratios you can see how little anyone actually cared for that) or talking about adding new content, when it´s clear first fixxing the content already here should be priority one. On map 6 you will only deal with one alien race but still you are requiere to work the preferences of all other species. On map 8 the voice acting just repeats, an audio will star and a few seconds later it will star again, for every single conversation on that map... the more you play, the more bugs appear map by map.

A real shame overall because like I said, the story is really good, the writting of the game in general and specially for this genre really stands out for it´s quality. And the theme it´s so well taking advance of. But again, untested systems, bad mathematical calculation for the 5th star on some maps, and a collection of performance issues and bugs turn an initially interesting and promising experience, into dreadfull grind for completionist or, judging by achievements ratios, just forgoet about the game and move on onto greener pastures.

It has funny writing, HEAL is spot on. It's a good game, unfortunate that the bugs not getting fixed.

Addicting hospital sim.

Im a big fan of two point hospital, and this game hits the same beats for me. Its easier to manage, and I like the characters they present. The layouts given are basic, but it's offset by the incredibly creative maps surrounding it, my personal favourite being the train station. I've seen reviews mention that teleporters/extra entrances make the game easier, but for me it's worked wonders in terms of getting more creative and fun with layouts, rather than having to copy-paste the exact same layout designs like in two point.

Here are a few things I noticeably found annoying:
- Your lenses arent very precise. Whether an area is sufficiently decorated or lightly decorated is very hard to determine. The default when decorating is overall decorations, rather than specific categories, which is a little annoying to switch to every time you need something more specific for a species (which is most of the time)
- A negative point to your rating cant point to the cause. If you don't have a psychotic doctor and one of your patients had a psychotic interaction anyway for example, you cant click on it and point who/what caused it.
- Patients sometimes get stuck complaining about congested spaces, even if there aren't any in their vicinity. This is only something I ran into one or two times though.

All in all, I love this game! I hope it keeps getting worked on!

The mechanics aren't as technically complex as Two Point Hospital but the writing's good for a chuckle, the mission gimmicks are fair and not frustrating and it's only £25. Plus the devs clearly have the same autism as me so I want them to keep making spiritual successors.

Game is OK. Nice looks, easy controls, edgy toilet humor. Very low difficulty. In fact, it's basically arcade game, less of a management sim - the items you can craft (teleports and healing pots primo) trivialize this game a lot. Some bugs are a bit nasty, but not nuclear. 6/10

Its beautiful, but, it feels unpolished. Too much micromanagement. Too many options with no impact at all.

Not for me. 4/10.

Very good game honestly, reminiscent of two point games and such. A lot of fun.

There's a lot of charm in this game, unfortunately, it's held back by a tide of bugs. Patients get stuck and can't be moved, leaving you with a permanently angry patient. Sometimes when you delete a window, the wall glitches out and can't decide if it wants to be visible or a blank square. Pathing is often frustrating, with a queue forming outside of a room instead of dispersing equally to open rooms of the same type. Sometimes dialogue skips ahead before the NPC can finish speaking.

Those are just a few of the bugs I ran into. I really wanted to love this game but ended up being frustrated with it.

Fun game that flew largely under the radar (I had no idea it was even out until I saw it for sale). Gameplay is like Two Point Hospital, but solely in space as you build medical stations in orbit. Lots of different species, good animations for everything - pretty solid all around.

It is amazing!
This is an alien hospital management game, and the developers have not skimp. The mechanic is very much like the Two Point hospital, but much more gameplay elements added, such as teleports, room upgrades, etc. Game is slightly more dynamic, fast, you are on your toes a lot if you don't press pause. Be sure: if you are looking for a Two Point hospital experience: this game is even better!

Pros:
- Great design of rooms, characters, effects, music;
- Big and interesting race lore to read if you want to;
- The difficulty level nicely progresses through story mode;
- Every level is unique in a story mode;
- The writing and humor is one of the best in these kind of games;
- Gameplay is great!

Cons:
- No idea, 8+ hours and I am still obessesd.

if you feel like playing a theme hospital, this is a game for you !

I was in charge of different hospital and took care of cute alien while an AI where trash talking little robots.. it was fun

the fun dialogues are good, the aesthetic is amazing

mix of "2nd best hospital of the galaxy" (cartoon) & "Scrubs" (tv-show)

The gameplay is good but it's the writing which truly stands out. If Douglas Adams had created Theme Hospital, this is what would have come out.

If you aren't a fan of the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy and you don't want a relatively chill sim game this won't be for you, otherwise, buy it now and you won't be disappointed.

I want to thumbs up really cool game, but seems buggy
Why do they release games that are bugged, I just don't get it
Patients are getting stuck on vending machines needing food, but not getting it, stand there and eventually die...

Other than that it seems to be playable, honestly its a nice game but in its current state, can not recommend.

Good fun, and with the dry humour and wit for which we know Brightrock can be relied upon!

This game is awesome; this is the spiritual successor to Theme Hospital I craved. I did not connect with Two Point Hospital for some reason. But the style, pace and gameplay clicked for me with this.

The writing in this is so sharp and funny, the voice actors are great. It has a real sense of personality and humor that is not really matched by anything else in this genre of game. The intros to each level brought a smile to my face like Dungeon Keeper did when I first played that in the 90s.

There has been a lot of care and attention put into the game, the way the rooms are designed with the little details, the reception desk is particularly well done. The way the machines operate are visually interesting and are unlocked at a satisfying pace.

There are a couple of annoying bugs with staff and patients occasionally getting stuck. I also do occasionally get a bug for the hospital being dirty when there is no apparent garbage or vomit etc. anywhere.

I played this on xbox gamepass and now decided to buy it on steam as well.

Great vibes, characters, music and graphics. The gameplay gets a bit repetitive after a while though.

As someone who grew up playing Theme Hospital, I've been enjoying Galacticare a lot. It's funny, has great voice acting and a lot of charm. It is on the easy side (presumably the upcoming Challenge Mode will change that) but that doesn't bother me anyway because it's fun. It plays fine on Steam Deck with some occasional lag, although the controls with a keyboard and mouse are much better than using the gamepad.

Like two point hospital but ten times better beacuse there is no boring tasks, everything is achievable without being too easy.

I played about 16 hours of the game on the Playstation 5 and really enjoyed my time there. But I wanted to see how the game behaves when using a mouse instead of a controller (it's much faster to navigate things).

Finishing the levels is not hard, but finishing the level making sure not a single space of useable space goes to waste can be a lot more challenging. I spent a bit too much time designing/moving/re-designing my layout to have something that would satisfy the level and my own OCD.
I personally enjoyed the fact the game is not too hard, so I can get on it and just relax at the end of a long day. I no longer have the time in my life to fine tune and tweak every single small aspect of a game, it's too time consuming.

On the Playstation 5 version I did spend a significant amount of time re-doing the first level to get the trophies (no one dying and 5 star hospital rank) which gave me the good habits to follow for the rest of the levels.
Speaking of trophies, I enjoy a game with achievements which are not impossible to reach and make for a nice little list of things to do, push me to play a level a bit longer to get that 5 stars rating.

Overall I enjoyed my time with the game. I would recommend it for people who are fan of a casual simulation / management game.

This is a really fun game! A lot of nice visuals and funny animations, a solid campaign and the solid foundations of hospital management (which isn't as easy as you're think!) - For those of us who have memories of the old legends of the genre, this is an absolute must-have.

Bonus: the devs are listening to feedback and the game is constantly being improved!

English + Deutsch

Due to big disappointment, this will be a negative review. The game itself is fun and I like the graphic style but for those who love taking screenshots (like me), it's a disaster.

Already some time ago, I lost interest or fun playing the game, not being able to zoom in closer neither to tilt the camera further back for more details of characters and machines. Both options are possible in most games, so why not here ??? As mentioned above, I like taking screenshots in my games but in Galacticare, it's just no fun when you can't see much or anything at all of faces or details of machines etc.

Here are 2 screenshots to show you what I mean. It's the closest you can zoom in and the furthest you can tilt back, both of which look top-down and I don't like that at all. You can't see any details, not from the characters and not from the machines, and that's just so dreadful.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3316984092
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3316983129

For comparison: this is how it looks in other games =
Zum Vergleich: so sieht es in anderen Spielen aus =
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3244515864
Pan'orama
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2977448837


Aufgrund von großer Enttäuschung wird dies eine negative Bewertung. Das Spiel selbst macht Spaß und ich mag den Grafikstil, aber für diejenigen, die gerne Screenshots machen (so wie ich), ist es eine Katastrophe.

Schon vor einiger Zeit habe ich das Interesse oder den Spaß am Spiel verloren, da man weder näher heranzoomen noch die Kamera weiter nach hinten kippen kann, um mehr Details von den Charakteren und Maschinen zu sehen. Beide Optionen sind in den meisten anderen Spielen möglich, warum also nicht auch hier ??? Wie bereits oben erwähnt, mache ich gerne Screenshots in meinen Spielen, aber in Galacticare macht es einfach keinen Spaß, wenn man nicht viel oder gar nichts von Gesichtern oder Details von Maschinen usw. sehen kann.

Hier sind 2 Screenshots, um zu zeigen, was ich meine. Das ist die das nächste, was man heranzoomen kann und das weiteste, wie es nach hinten zu kippen geht, aber so sieht es fast wie Vogelperspektive aus und das gefällt mir überhaupt nicht. Man sieht keinerlei Details, weder von den von den Charakteren noch von den Maschinen und das ist echt ätzend.

If you love Two Point Hospital this is a great game to scratch that itch! The new species of doctors and patients add a new level of challenge when designing the hospitals and rooms.

I seriously adore the style of this game, it really locks it down. The humor is real real mild, but it was fun from the beginning, took about 20 hours to 100% but I enjoyed playing it.

I do kind of wish difficulty or punishment was a bit higher but beyond that, I absolutely adore the stylized gameplay.