''Surgeon Simulator'' (formerly ''Surgeon Simulator 2013'') is a
surgical
Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pat ...
simulation video game
Simulation video games are a diverse super-category of video games, generally designed to closely simulate real world activities. A simulation game attempts to copy various activities from real life in the form of a game for various purposes such ...
by Tom Jackson, Jack Good, Luke Williams and James Broadley of
Bossa Studios
Bossa Studios Limited is a British video game developer based in London. It is known for its comedic, physics-based games '' Surgeon Simulator'' and '' I Am Bread''.
History
Bossa was founded in October 2010 by Henrique Olifiers (gamer-in-c ...
. The initial version was created in a 48-hour period for the 2013
Global Game Jam
The Global Game Jam™️ (GGJ) is an annual distributed game jam. Inspired by the Nordic Game Jam, and created by Susan Gold, Ian Schreiber, Gorm Lai and Foaad Khosmood, originally developed under the International Game Developers Associatio ...
; the developers continued and spent 48 days creating a commercial version. The full version was released via
Steam
Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
in April 2013, and
GOG.com
GOG.com (formerly Good Old Games) is a digital distribution platform for video games and films. It is operated by GOG sp. z o.o., a wholly owned subsidiary of CD Projekt based in Warsaw, Poland. GOG.com delivers DRM-free video games through it ...
on 10 October 2013 followed by an iPad release on 7 March 2014.
A sequel, ''Surgeon Simulator 2'', was released in August 2020.
Gameplay
''Surgeon Simulator'' is played in first-person perspective. Mouse movement is used to control the movement of the player's hand. By holding down the right mouse button and moving the mouse, the player can rotate the hand. The left mouse button is used to lower the hand. By default, the A, W, E, R, and spacebar keys are used to control individual corresponding digits for grasping items. Gameplay consists of the player attempting to perform various surgical procedures, for example a
heart transplant
A heart transplant, or a cardiac transplant, is a surgical transplant procedure performed on patients with end-stage heart failure or severe coronary artery disease when other medical or surgical treatments have failed. , the most common proce ...
. Multiple extra modes are available after completion of the early operations, such as performing an operation while inside an ambulance where surgical instruments bounce around at random, and operating in space where the
zero-g
Weightlessness is the complete or near-complete absence of the sensation of weight. It is also termed zero gravity, zero G-force, or zero-G.
Weight is a measurement of the force on an object at rest in a relatively strong gravitational fie ...
environment causes all of the instruments to free-float.
Three free downloadable content (DLC) features and one paid DLC were added after release. The first was released on 21 June 2013, and features an operation in which the player performs surgery on ''
Team Fortress 2
''Team Fortress 2'' is a 2007 multiplayer first-person shooter, first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It is the sequel to the 1996 ''Team Fortress'' Mod (video gaming), mod for ''Quake (video game), Quake'' and ...
''s character Heavy, based on the "Meet the Medic" ''Team Fortress 2'' promotional video. The second was released on 9 September 2013, named "Code Name Trisha", and features an operation in which surgery is performed on an
alien
Alien primarily refers to:
* Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country
** Enemy alien, the above in times of war
* Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth
** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...
. The third was released on 2 June 2016, named "Inside Donald Trump", in which a heart transplant is performed on then presidential candidate
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
. On 14 August 2014, an Anniversary A&E Edition was released on Steam. It added the eye and teeth transplants from the iOS version along with some other features, such as operating while running through the hospital corridors.
Plot
The game's protagonist is a surgeon named Nigel Burke, who has a placement at a fictional hospital somewhere in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
in 1987. He carries out various operations, at first on a patient affectionately named 'Bob' by the game developers, and later operates on Bob inside a
space station
A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a human crew in orbit for an extended period of time, and is therefore a type of space habitat. It lacks major propulsion or landing systems. An orbital station or an orbital space station i ...
orbiting Earth. Afterwards, he is contacted by an alien race by
VHS tape, and operates on one of the aliens, gaining the title of 'Best Surgeon in the Universe'.
Development
An initial version of ''Surgeon Simulator 2013'' was created for the Global Game Jam in which the team had 48 hours to make the game. The team took inspiration from the game ''
Jurassic Park: Trespasser''
for the control scheme, which also came about because teams in the jam would gain bonus points if a game used ten buttons on the keyboard. The team initially wanted to assign a finger to each button but soon realized this was impractical and instead only limited this style of control to one hand with the other being controlled by the mouse.
[
The developers were initially unsure of whether or not the game was "genuinely" funny, although they found themselves laughing they were not sure if it was the game or their ]sleep deprivation
Sleep deprivation, also known as sleep insufficiency or sleeplessness, is the condition of not having adequate duration and/or quality of sleep to support decent alertness, performance, and health. It can be either chronic or acute and may vary ...
causing it. It was only when they finally presented the prototype to the audience that they realized the comic potential.[
]
Release
In January 2014, Bossa released footage of an iPad release of the game to be released sometime that year. On 7 March, ''Surgeon Simulator'' (at the time called ''Surgeon Simulator 2013'') was released and featured the classic heart and kidney transplants and two new transplants: eye and teeth. The app includes the new corridor feature in which the player has to save Bob while carts with at least seven items pass by and have to not kill him.
There is a new feature taking advantage of heart rate
Heart rate (or pulse rate) is the frequency of the heartbeat measured by the number of contractions (beats) of the heart per minute (bpm). The heart rate can vary according to the body's physical needs, including the need to absorb oxygen and excr ...
, which makes it more challenging for players. When it reaches 0, the player has to charge the defibrillators to save Bob.
A PlayStation 4
The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...
version of the game was announced on 10 June 2014 and released on 12 August 2014, featuring all of the games surgeries in every location. The PS4 version was released and named Surgeon Simulator: A&E Anniversary Edition.
A Nintendo Switch
The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...
version was announced in July 2018 and released on 13 September 2018, with it being branded as ''Surgeon Simulator CPR'' standing for "Cooperative Play Ready". The game included a special local cooperative mode, allowing two players using separate Joy-Con to control Nigel's arms.
Reception
Reception for the game has been mixed, with critics stating that although the game was hard to control, this difficulty was "part of the appeal." ''Ars Technica
''Ars Technica'' is a website covering news and opinions in technology, science, politics, and society, created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews, and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, sci ...
'' commented upon the narrator's voice-over, saying that it "belies the ridiculousness that unfolds as he flops and flails his way through surgery". ''Rock, Paper, Shotgun
''Rock Paper Shotgun'' (also rendered ''Rock, Paper, Shotgun''; short ''RPS'') is a UK-based website for reporting on video games, primarily for PC. Originally launched on 13 July 2007 as an independent site, ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' was acquir ...
'' praised the game's humour and fun, and said "''Surgeon Simulator 2013'' is not a brilliant game. But it is a brilliant joke. In the form of a game. It’s an idea that is a clean magnitude of awesome above 90% of what will be released this year because it is so absurd." ''Eurogamer
''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson.
Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EGX ...
'' rated the game 7/10 and also praised its humour.
''Surgeon Simulator 2013'' has sold 2 million copies as of 4 February 2015.
References
External links
*{{Official website, http://www.surgeonsimulator2013.com
2013 video games
Android (operating system) games
Black comedy video games
Bossa Studios games
Game jam video games
IOS games
Indie video games
Linux games
MacOS games
Medical video games
Nintendo Switch games
Parody video games
PlayStation 4 games
PlayStation Network games
Simulation video games
Single-player video games
Steam Greenlight games
Video games developed in the United Kingdom
Windows games
Video games set in the United Kingdom
Video games set in 1987