Medical Video Games More Real Than The Pitt

The Pitt is maybe the best show on TV. At the very least, it is the most realistic medical drama of all time, and Stephen King loves it. Both seasons are set in the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center’s emergency room, taking place over a single day, while not giving the doctors (or audience) a single moment to rest. While information on season 3 has started to roll out, the series will not be returning until 2027; consequently, this is the perfect time to try out a few different types of medical sims.

While most projects set in hospitals lean into comedy or absurdity, a few medical games prioritize realism above everything else, and their impact is heightened by their interactive natures. If you ever wanted to see if you can do what Dr. Robby can, then check out these games.

Project Hospital

Experience Hectic Hospital Life From Every Level

Two Point Hospital is the most famous medical management game by quite a wide margin, but its goofy tone and presentation mean it rarely feels all that realistic (despite its fantastic mechanics). Project Hospital is the “real” version of Two Point Hospital, or at least as close to one as we are likely to get. In The Pitt, Dr. Robby and the rest of the characters have to constantly juggle a hundred things at once, and that level of stress is reflected by this 2018 game, albeit in a different way.

Rather than just being in the trenches or offices, Project Hospital has you design, administrate, and diagnose. Yeah, players start as the architect who must create the layout of the hospital, and they have to think of everything since “small” mistakes like placing the ER too far away from the Radiology department could result in a patient’s death. The administrator role covers the main “management” part of the game, as you will have to hire staff, set a budget, deal with insurance companies, and manage employee burnout (just like season 2 of The Pitt!).

Finally, you can just straight up become a doctor and micromanage from the ground floor, working directly with patients and making decisions that could have catastrophic results. Project Hospital uses real-world medical logic, too, and it isn’t particularly fond of hand-holding players. It even captures the tedium of medicine, something that cannot really be conveyed by an intense TV drama like The Pitt.

Full Code Medical Simulation

A “Game” That Is Used By Medical Students As A Learning Tool

• Developer: Full Code Medical Inc
• Available on iOS and Android devices
• Official Site

OK, here is something a bit different. Full Code Medical Simulation is only a “game” in the sense that it might be mistaken for one on the Google Play Store or the App Store; in reality, it is a learning tool that tries to make medical simulation more accessible. Created by a team that includes physicians, the sim focuses on 1-on-1 doctor and patient scenarios, where players have to conduct an examination. Full Code emphasizes how important it is to be as thorough as possible, as forgetting to ask the patient if they have allergies or recently traveled could result in a misdiagnosis or even a prescription that causes harm.

Now, Full Code Medical Simulation doesn’t try to replicate the exhausting reality of actually working in a hospital’s overwhelmed emergency department, which is something that The Pitt seemingly nails. However, the realism comes from how the game makes players feel the weight of their choices and mistakes, both of which are represented by a scorecard at the end of a case.

Bio Inc. Redemption

You Are Life, And You Are Death

After watching both seasons of The Pitt, the last thing you might want is to spend more time in a hospital; fortunately, Bio Inc. Redemption mostly removed that part of the equation, while still acting as a realistic medical sim. In a fascinating twist, the strategy game lets players decide whether to join the medical team, aka “Life,” or the disease they are trying to cure, aka “Death.” Both are grounded in real-world pathology, case studies, and biological progression.

Rather than recreating a hospital environment, Bio Inc. Redemption is a biomedical sim set inside the human body, turning the patient into a tricky puzzle rather than a character. Besides including hundreds of diseases, the Life path has you monitoring seven body systems at a time, and nothing exists in a vacuum. If the kidneys fail, that will eventually put stress on the heart, which can then lead to respiratory issues. No other game captures the terror of being stuck in a medical downward spiral quite like this one.

Emergency Room: Real Life Rescue

• Developer: Legacy Software
• Available on Nintendo DS

The Pitt is generally regarded as a spiritual successor to ER, but did you know that there also exists a long-running Emergency Room series that started all the way back in 1995? Furthermore, it produced 8 games over the span of 15 years, nearly all of which were released exclusively for the Macintosh and PC. The only exception is 2009’s Real Life Rescues, which is a Nintendo DS game.

Considering the limitations of the device, this game was way more impressive than it had any right to be, and the DS’s touch screen ended up being a pretty good tool for a medical sim. Real Life Rescues is presented from the perspective of a paramedic, and this specialization lets it dive surprisingly deep into the profession’s responsibilities, tools, and challenges. In general, Emergency Room is an edutainment game, and this entry is probably the most fun to play.