I always love when games never noticed before by me suddenly show up to spark my interest. It’s how I come to be enjoying Galacticare, the sci-fi themed hospital management game from Brightrock Games. Before reading about Game Pass additions for the second half of May, I’d never heard of it before. Upon seeing it, I wanted to play it. So downloading it from Game Pass, I dug right in.

In starting the first chapter, I could tell I was in for a comical ride. Though the AI assistant to the director (me) has a refined voice, HEAL is just one of many characters who provides some great humour to proceedings. As HEAL and Ms Orion talk about getting the hospital underway, I found myself smiling at the interactions that were taking place. Especially when Medi – one of the Medibots who serve as janitors – chimes in. HEAL does not look favourably on that Medibot at all.

As for setting the hospital up, it’s a pretty easy process of selecting the room, setting the size and placement of it by dragging along the floor, then placing what’s needed inside it. Including things not specific to that room. Staff need to be hired to work those rooms, so when it came to hiring my first two, I ignored the traits of them and accidentally hired a psychopath. Who will hurt patients they are seeing to. And they also don’t mind if patients die.

Each member of staff have a positive and negative trait to keep an eye out for, which I looked for every other time I wanted to hire staff. This is a business, after all. I don’t want to lose money in any way, so I’d rather not hire an embezzler. But someone who has more energy that normal is very welcome to my staff. Of course, I do still hire the embezzlers and psychopaths at times. Since when already successful, what can they do to hurt this business?

Staff will gain experience as they work, which will level them up so that they work harder. And gain a specialisation in one of the jobs, such as laser surgery or the boning chamber. But a higher level comes with a greater wage, which shouldn’t be a problem for a successful director. And it is safe to say I’ve never had a financial problem in running these hospitals.

Each chapter has a theme. One which brings new problems to solve and new characters to encounter. The second chapter sees a hospital set up near a festival site, where the very stressed manager for it will send those patients and even the stars of the show up to get treatments for things such as metalhead. Which is as literal as it sounds. Speaking of the ailments patients can arrive with…

There are some great puns among them. Star Warts is an easy one to make, but still gets me cracking a smile. Then there’s the likes of Space Invasion and Aroma Borealis which can do the same. All these ailments also have some great visuals behind them. Space Invasion makes a patient become a chameleon, not to what’s around them, but the starscape of space.

Consultants will also start being hired from chapter two. These consultants are permanent members of staff who will be available for use no matter the chapter selected. They’re a bit different to regular members of staff in that they don’t have a specialisation. Instead their experience will go towards a skill tree which will boost their specific abilities. It makes them worth a lot more than standard staff members, but levelling them up takes longer as a result.

The sci-fi theming is fully on display with this one. Not only are the hospitals in space, but there’s more than just humans in the galaxy. And as such, they all have needs to cater to. One species feels at home with flowers around. Another is larger in size so will take up two seats rather than one. That also fits with the facilities placed. Toilets aren’t just one type fits all. A person selects their species at the booth which makes that specific cubicle appear.

There’s plenty that has gone into Galacticare to make it a fun management experience. And just a fun experience in general. Each chapter introduces new things to be aware of, with outbreaks or groups that need to be dealt with quickly lest plenty a patient die. And just because all the story objectives of a chapter have been completed, the fun doesn’t have to stop. Getting a hospital rated at five stars is a big ask for those who want to take on the challenge.

Galacticare offers a sci-fi world that feels well built. The history behind it feels developed. It’s one of the reasons I’m loving it. With easy to use systems to create a bustling business of galacticare, I can easily give it a recommendation. Such a delightful world, and such delightful pun work.

Images Taken From:
Galacticare | Xbox Series S