Management simulators is an easy way to spend hours upon hours in a game. With some pretty great hospital and university management sims out there, why not turn your eyes to the sky and manage a hospital in space? Galacticare is developed by Brightrock Games and published by CULT Games. A relaxing sandbox strategy hospital sim, Galacticare takes you on a colorful and bizarre journey as you manage a private hospital in space. From the company’s humble beginnings orbiting 23rd-century Earth to the internal world of an extra-dimensional deity and everything in between, you build it and save the galaxy in turn.
Galacticare has players step into the role of new director of Galacticare to help manage various hospitals across the galaxy. Players will have a campaign mode that allows them to travel across the galaxy, meeting different species along the way. The campaign will also have a meaningful narrative that will unfold as players complete each hospital’s “mission.” After completing the campaign, players are then allowed to take all of the things they have unlocked in the campaign to sandbox mode. Each new hospital comes with its own set of challenges and interesting tidbits, along with parts of the overarching narrative.
Galacticare is supposed to be fun so players can really get a kick out of the wacky events they are supposed to set up hospitals for. In the preview event, our job was to make and manage a hospital for an exploding moon concert. Wild, I know. Our job was to manage all the injuries that occurred during this concert and make it until the grand finale, which was advertised to light this moon on fire and watch it explode.
As you move across the galaxy, building the best place of healing, you can amongst the stars in each area. Each time, you design everything, from where the equipment goes, to how big the treatment rooms are, right down to who you hire. The more patients you treat, the more you learn about different alien species and unlock new medical technologies. From the peaceful bureaucrat species Kouber Baly to the artistic Dyonai, you’ll meet and treat seven different alien species, all with their own unique attributes that require special attention. As much as you build your hospitals the way you want to, the player must also learn from the patients that they treat.
One of the unique features of Galacticare is players will get “Intergalactic Divas,” special characters that have unique abilities to help out the player while making their hospitals. The one that was utilized in the preview had an area circle that make everyone in that area work more efficiently. These characters add different perspectives to the building as players will want to change their building layouts or where items are placed to better utilize these superstars. They can come in handy when it comes to completing the various challenges. Another additional thing about these consultants is when you are moving to the next campaign area. They can travel with you.
During the hands-off preview, one of the biggest things that was pointed out was that developers really wanted players to just enjoy the sci-fi and wackiness of Galacticare. This was really emphasized when it came to the campaign, where they wanted to keep everything neutral to positive. There are things that make completing the challenges well challenging, but they didn’t want to punish players. One example of this was the pricing on items. If players are struggling to stay in the green then they didn’t want certain items that would help players be very costly and would rather leave those costs to more aesthetically pleasing items.
They understand that management simulator games can be overwhelming for people as they are very complex, and this is not to say that Galacticare isn’t complex as there are plenty of intriguing layers you can dive into, but they did make it where even the worst of management players can have fun, enjoy the story, and save lives. Of course, they did leave some fun things to do for players that did want to min/max out their hospitals. Sandbox mode after finishing the campaign is another way for players to play that would really like to go for that five-star hospital and complete some of the more challenging things.
Galacticare looks to add more science fiction to the management genre. It will be an interesting hospital simulation that is more geared toward fun and saving the galaxy from impatient aliens than overwhelming players with the layered difficulties of healthcare.
Galacticare will be releasing on PC later in 2023.
