Heart's Medicine: Doctor's Oath
- June 25, 2020
- GameHouse
Get on SteamIn Heart's Medicine: Doctor's Oath, players assume the role of doctor Allison Heart, joining her in a challenging medical residency. Work to diagnose and treat patients with various illnesses and conditions, making crucial decisions that affect patient outcomes. Balance personal life and career demands as you navigate a suspenseful storyline filled with drama, romance, and heartbreak.
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Reviews
- The game has a very engaging story that continues the narrative of the Heart's Medicine series, with new characters and unexpected twists.
- There are many levels and bonus challenges, providing a longer playtime value and opportunities for completionists.
- The mini-games are fun and easy to learn, making the gameplay enjoyable despite the grind.
- The game requires excessive grinding, with players needing to replay levels multiple times to earn enough stars to progress, which can become tedious and frustrating.
- The removal of achievements and the introduction of a 5-star system for progression detracts from the overall experience, making it feel less rewarding compared to previous installments.
- Many players have reported bugs and crashes that result in lost progress, further diminishing the enjoyment of the game.
- story180 mentions
- 17 % positive mentions
- 79 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The story in "Doctor's Oath" is generally praised for its engaging narrative and character development, particularly for fans of the Heart's Medicine franchise. However, many players express frustration with the game's structure, which forces them to grind through repetitive levels to unlock story chapters, detracting from the overall experience. While the storyline itself is compelling, the grind-heavy gameplay has led some to recommend watching the story online instead of playing.
“Just the story makes it worth its money.”
“The story remains the strong point because there are new characters that add to the pivotal development to the intern Allison's path of doctor graduation.”
“The story is beyond amazing but please note you will need to play the previous games to understand all the references.”
“I wouldn't recommend this game if you were playing for the story.”
“You have to constantly play repetitive levels over and over to get the stars to continue the story.”
“I'm disappointed in the minimum of story levels; there's tons of challenge levels that's just a pain to complete for a simple puzzle piece.”
- grinding48 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The grinding aspect of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it excessively tedious and time-consuming, often requiring multiple repetitions of levels to achieve desired ratings and unlock content. While some enjoy the grinding and the extras it offers, others feel it detracts from the overall experience, making the game feel more like a chore than a casual time management experience. Despite the grind, the engaging story and fun mechanics have led some to still recommend the game, albeit with caution regarding its grind-heavy nature.
“This is supposed to be a casual time management game - the grinding that is required to progress is ridiculous.”
“The downside is that it takes a lot of grinding and replaying to unlock everything and earn five stars on each level.”
“This game is tedious, grindy, and not inviting.”
- gameplay32 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 53 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
Gameplay in this title has received mixed reviews, with many players finding the mechanics tedious and overly grindy compared to previous installments. While the game offers a wealth of extra levels and challenges, the excessive focus on grinding detracts from the enjoyment and immersion that fans expect. Despite these criticisms, some players still appreciate the story and find the core gameplay enjoyable for casual play.
“This game provides a lot of extra gameplay with several extra levels with different challenges.”
“It has a lot of extra gameplay with various challenges for each level.”
“+ the general gameplay is fun and something you can do in-between chores.”
“But the game mechanics for this one are really, really annoying.”
“Downside though is you can have extra soft pillows (as an example) and then so many hearts fly across the screen as bonuses that it actually blocks gameplay for a few seconds.”
“I like that there are so many more levels compared to prior games, but the way the overall gameplay and progression was handled is outright terrible.”
- stability4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Overall, users report mixed experiences regarding stability; while some have not encountered glitches and find the game runs smoothly, others struggle with short time limits that lead to challenges feeling impossible, potentially due to glitches.
“The time for each level is ridiculously short; most challenges are impossible to pass because of lack of time or glitches, I suppose.”
- emotional4 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players appreciate the game's ability to evoke a strong emotional response, describing it as an "emotional roller coaster." However, there are concerns regarding the psychology clinic level, particularly the memory minigame, which features quick flashing colors that may trigger discomfort for photosensitive individuals, potentially detracting from the overall experience.
“I love the emotional roller coaster ride of this game.”
- graphics4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The graphics have been criticized as potentially worse than expected, but many reviewers emphasize that the primary appeal of the game lies beyond its visual presentation, suggesting that gameplay and storytelling take precedence over graphical fidelity.
“Are the graphics worse?!”
“Even so, you don’t play these games for the graphics. Let’s be honest, that’s what Red Dead Redemption 2 is for.”
