Surgeon Simulator

It’s time to enter the operating room. You enter, disregarding gloves and mask, and begin hacking away at a patient’s rib cage. His lungs plop onto the floor like forgotten relics. You tear out their old heart, and awkwardly flop in a new one. Congratulations, according to Surgeon Simulator, your surgery was a success.

Surgeon Simulator is certainly not a realistic simulation, nor will it make you feel like you could grab a scalpel and do the job in real life. Instead, this game leans more toward comedy than reality. Once you accept this and don’t feel too bad for the patient, you’re in for a lot of hilarious fun.

If you’ve played the latest Surgeon Simulator 2 and want to see the original, Surgeon Simulator has all the same laughs—but no multiplayer mode.

Awkward handling

The game doesn’t make operating on people easy. The movements are awkward, and there’s definitely no skill involved in your hands. It feels like you have strings tied around the surgeon’s wrists and are trying to control them that way. As awkward as it is, the poor control of the surgeon’s hands are part of the fun. Chop, hack and slice your way to a ‘successful’ surgery, and never mind if those organs go flying. This awkwardness is part of what has made the game extremely popular with YouTubers, who find the silly chaos of the game good for views and just for fun too.

Two gameplay options

The game only offers 3 operations, a very limited amount for a game. You can replace a heart, kidneys, and a brain. Once you’ve done these however, the game lets you play again—only this time you have to repeat surgery in a moving ambulance! As you are traveling, the operating table rocks and bumps, making it even harder to get your cuts just right.

Very little guidance

There’s no tutorial for the game, but subtle hints are there to help you. The green serum for example, helps stabilize bleeding if you accidentally cut the person’s face with a bone saw or send his liver flying off into the nether. There are also subtle hints showing where to make cuts in order to get the desired results. The reality is, the game encourages exploration and making mistakes. It’s not supposed to be realistic, and your free form exploration helps build on your knowledge and understanding of the game.

It’s worth taking the time to explore the menu options and experiment with everything.

Whether you enjoy this game or not depends purely on your expectations. This game plays like the classic ‘Operation’ board game. It’s meant to be fun, lighthearted, and completely unrealistic. If you were hoping for a realistic, heart pounding simulator reconstructing someone’s tendons, you’ll be disappointed in this game.

Pros:

• Hilarious to play
• Great for YouTubers

Cons:

• Awkward handling can be frustrating