Becoming a doctor in real life takes years of medical training and practical experience. And with new treatments being discovered all the time, it's fair to say that you never truly stop learning either. But in Nordcurrent's Happy Clinic, you can skip all of the difficult science and maths and focus on helping people - fast.
Instead of getting into the nitty-gritty of treatment, Happy Clinic instead has you focusing on managing a small, slowly growing clinic. You'll need to keep an eye on which beds are free, tidy up the ones that were previously occupied, and ensure your patients are being seen by doctors as soon as possible to keep them happy.
Things can get pretty stressful, especially when you've only got two free beds, the case difficulty is rising, and patients are starting to queue out the door for treatment. But as your clinic grows and you get quicker at making the right decision at the right time, you'll be fixing bodies and clearing beds like a true hospital manager.
Happy Clinic is actually a game of two halves. On the one side you have the research lab, where you can spend stars you earn at the clinic to unlock new facilities, and decorate the lab as you see fit. You'll also unlock small story sections in the lab, introducing you to some of the characters you'll meet as you progress through the game.
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Then there's the clinic itself. Here you'll have to contend with patients arriving with a variety of ailments, and ensure you have a clean bed ready for them, a doctor who can treat them, and all the right medicine and equipment to help with treatment. You also have your trusty nurse to run between stations, carrying medication, cleaning beds, and generally being extremely helpful in the running of the place.
The flow is simple enough - a patient wanders into the clinic, and you have a certain amount of time to get them into a bed before they get mad and storm off. Once they're in the bed, their patience bar stops ticking down, but they're also stuck there until you call in a doctor to treat them. The doctor can sometimes deal with the problem themself, but often you'll need to take them for procedures or ask your nurse to pick up items to help the treatment process and free up a bed.
But Happy Clinic doesn't keep things as simple as this for long. Before you know it, you'll be juggling multiple patients, adding new procedures and items to gather, and new doctors to treat new issues. Don't worry - it's overwhelming at first, but you can queue actions for your nurse, so even if you lose track for a bit, she won't. And the coins you earn from treating patients can upgrade your doctor's speed, the number of items available at the pharmacy, and much more, so keeping your clinic in tip-top shape is key to success.
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Don't think you'll be in one clinic forever, though. You'll start in San Francisco, but as you level up your staff and equipment, you'll eventually unlock new hospitals around the world, in Oslo, London, Dubai, and beyond. Each hospital brings its own unique challenges, and no two shifts are ever the same. And with more hospitals being added over time, there is plenty for you to look forward to, even if you somehow power through the initial locations.
It's exciting stuff, and nothing feels more rewarding than clearing a particularly tricky set of cases and nabbing the top reward for the level in the nick of time. You'll easily lose an entire hour of your day without even noticing, and have a blast while doing it. Happy Clinic is free to play right now on the App Store and Google Play - take a look at the competition below to see how you can get a head start in the game by winning 3,100 in-game gems, worth a whopping €50.