The primary affected person I killed was a mistake. A burly fellow named Victor Harlow walked into my surgical procedure complaining about fatigue, however I used to be distracted by the little pig popping out and in of my cuckoo clock. This is not a euphemism for something—there actually was a small pink pig the place the cuckoo ought to have been.
Anyway, I downed a whole bottle of laudanum and the pig went away. I gave Victor a shot of blood medication (that is medication for treating blood-related sicknesses, not medication manufactured from blood, though it’s the similar color) and he simply keeled over, his spirit leaving his physique like steam from a kettle.
I nonetheless do not know what occurred. Perhaps I acquired the dosage flawed, or misinterpreted his signs. In any case, the purpose is it was an accident. As for all of the others, nicely, we’ll get to them.
Associated articles
I used to be drawn to Do No Hurt by its good three-word premise: Lovecraftian physician simulator. These phrases do little for me individually. I by no means needed to be a health care provider, and even fake to be a health care provider, whereas videogames have completely exhausted Lovecraftian horror for me. However for some purpose, the mix resonated with me, and I opened up a brand new apply beneath the identify “Physician Eadful”. I used to be quite happy with this identify, till I realised the sport fills within the ‘Dr’ half for you. Consequently, my character’s identify is definitely “Dr. Physician Eadful”, which is arguably funnier than what I used to be going for.
Do No Hurt performs a bit of just like the spooky botany journey Unusual Horticulture. It is a mix of narrative journey and lightweight deductive puzzling set across the every day routine of serving prospects. As an alternative of individuals coming to you asking to purchase bizarre crops, nevertheless, they arrive searching for remedy for sicknesses.
Healthscare
This all begins merely and benignly sufficient. A affected person will stroll by your door complaining a couple of symptom like itching or a abdomen ache, and also you look it up in your large ebook of Victorian medication for dummies. The symptom can be listed beneath one of many 4 humours, and all you should do is inject your affected person with the matching medication.
But Do No Hurt rapidly complicates proceedings. The addition of a brand new syringe requires you to infer the suitable dosage of drugs to manage, in addition to the kind of treatment, when you additionally start to obtain sufferers who do not know precisely what’s flawed with them. At its most intricate, you may have to establish a number of signs utilizing instruments like a stethoscope and magnifying glass, then synthesise cures from a number of kinds of medication.
Should you deal with sufferers incorrectly, they will get sicker, turning inexperienced, sweating profusely, and within the excessive, outright expiring. And naturally, this being a Lovecraftian affair, there are different challenges to cope with. Your good physician begins experiencing hallucinations, just like the clock working backwards, listening to voices by his stethoscope, or big, furious eyes peering into your store home windows. A dose of laudanum taken instantly will dissipate these phantasms, however for those who miss one, it will chew a gap in your sanity, and the bug-eyed totem in your desk will chastise you to your negligence.
As Do No Hurt progresses, the balancing act turns into more and more tough, with you striving to diagnose sufferers whereas your eyes flit across the background for indicators of insanity. It was such distractions that led me to inadvertently kill poor Victor. Lifeless sufferers injury your repute with the village and arouse the suspicion of the native police constable. However extra importantly, lifeless sufferers do not pay for his or her remedy, and also you want that cash to replenish your medical provides.
Victor’s loss of life was the purpose the place issues started to spiral. After the slipup, I began investigating instances extra completely. However this meant I used to be treating fewer sufferers per day, subsequently incomes much less cash total. A number of of the villagers tried to help, just like the native reverend who shared extremely particular particulars of a number of affected person sicknesses with me. I am fairly positive he should not have completed that, nevertheless it was helpful.
But even with such assist, I quickly ran brief on cash. Which is when the native gravedigger rocked up, handed me an inventory of individuals, and provided me a giant sack of money if I slipped up once more after they got here for remedy.
Deathbed
Naturally, I used to be aghast, however on the similar time, if I did not get my fingers on some cash quickly, my sufferers had been going to begin dying anyway. So when Balthazar Wifflepuff got here in complaining of diarrhoea, I might need blended the flawed medicines collectively to deal with it, and when Charles Murray arrived with a nasty case of vomiting, I presumably gave him a dosage of drugs that set off his egg allergy. Clearly, I really feel horrible for these poor souls. However their sacrifice meant the remainder of my sufferers did not have to fret about medication shortages any longer.
That is what Do No Hurt does greatest. The assorted pressures in your physician, the visions, your funds, the manipulative gives and threats by numerous members of the neighborhood, slowly push you towards making choices that you’d reject outright in a extra standard choice-based RPG.
I did not wish to give my sufferers the potion that crazy-looking cultist gave me, however he strongly implied he’d kill them if I did not. I suspected the reverend might need ulterior motives for giving me that checklist of sufferers, however I used to be overwhelmed and the cures had been proper there. I might need killed the sufferers on the gravedigger’s checklist. However I swear I am not a assassin. Cannot you see? I did it for the higher good.
Naturally, the police did not see it that approach, and opened an investigation into my apply. Not that it finally mattered. Whereas I did one of the best I may for my sufferers (nicely, most of them) I could not cease my very own psychological well being from slipping. There are quite a few endings to Do No Hurt, and with out desirous to spoil something, I acquired the one that happens when your sanity hits all-time low.
Do No Hurt’s methods could be a little obscure, and it generally punishes you unfairly, like dinging you for not noticing hallucinations that solely seem for those who use a sure device. In any other case, it is essentially the most fascinating Lovecraftian recreation I’ve performed for some time. Its narrative tightrope is elegantly weaved, however extra importantly, falling off that tightrope is arguably more true to considered one of Lovecraft’s bizarre tales than safely navigating your approach alongside it. I used to be an totally horrible physician who killed a number of individuals and went mad, and as they drag me away howling in my straightjacket, know that I do not remorse any of it.
