Two of the original creators behind hospital management sim Theme Hospital, Gary Carr and Mark Webley, are working on a modern spiritual successor to that game. Named Two Point Hospital (after their new company, Two Point Studios). The hospital sim aims to bring back the “humor, charm and replayability” of its inspiration.
Sega is publishing Two Point Hospital, which is bound for Windows PC via Steam later this year.
“Gary and I have been talking about this project for a number of years and are really excited to be announcing Two Point Studios’ first game,” said Mark Webley, co-founder of the studio, in a release. Co-founder Gary Carr added: “The amazing team we have managed to bring together, and our partnership with Sega, has really allowed this first part of our vision to finally come to fruition.”
Carr and Webley worked together at British studio Bullfrog on titles like Theme Park and Theme Hospital. The pair later worked at Lionhead Studios, which Webley helped co-found, on Black and White and Fable.
“We don’t like to think of it as a spiritual successor to Theme Hospital as such, we like to think of it as a thing in its own right—something new and different. Thematically, of course, there are similarities, but we’re making a completely new game. This isn’t a reskinning of something we’ve already done.”
“The values are the same, the humour is important. Theme Hospital had its own quirky off-centre, offbeat take on the sim genre. It didn’t take itself too seriously, but under the hood, there was actually quite a deep sim.”
Two Point says mod support is planned for Two Point Hospital shortly after launch, and that online features will include competitive challenges. Two Point Hospital is expected to be released on Steam in the fall of 2018.