izigame.me

I admit, I haven't put a lot of hours into the game. However, the first few hours of the game tend to be the most important because it's where people either drop it or continue playing.
And from what I experienced, the first few hours of Project Hospital is where there's a significant barrier that may cause a lot of people to drop the game.
First, Project Hospital is perhaps one of the best hospital simulation and management games out there. It's surprisingly in depth with some of the details, there's a more realistic factor to it compared to Two Point Hospital, and it will most likely appeal to those who enjoy micromanaging as opposed to a more "top down" managing style. For example, I found that Two Point Hospital seems to have more focus on the "flow" of the management system while Project Hospital includes a lot of small details to notice and adjust,
With that, I felt like Project Hospital tried to be ambitious with these details and options, but it felt like they have the foundation for it, but it just "almost" complete. The system, game play, and design seems to be set, but it's just "there." You know how some remote controls have all these buttons and functions that you might not really use? It sort of feels like that. It *could* be helpful and *could* add to the experience...but what's the point of having it if you don't make it functional, appealing, and user friendly?
When you start the game, you are given the option to choose from three tutorials. The first two was fine, but there was a huge jump in complexity from two to three. Three focuses in the management of the hospital, which is arguably the most important aspect of the game. For new players who are deciding whether to commit to the game, this jump can feel intimidating. They technically did mention what each function does, but instructions are sometimes given all at once, making it difficult to know what they are expecting from you. There's no option to go back to the previous text box, the highlighted information can be small and difficult to read, and I felt like they neglected a lot of information from the tutorial. Some of the icons aren't intuitive, but the game sort of expects you to "know." While I expect to "learn as you play," the sort of information they leave you with is very minimum compared to the overall gameplay. You're better off looking at an online guide (which helped a lot, but ngl, it's a bit frustrating to have to do so).
So that's one part of the barrier that can be frustrating for new players. Now, within this issue, I've felt like this game could use some rework with the user interface. Again, it felt like they give you a bunch of options to choose from, but it's kind of...not designed the best. Because of the amount of options in the game, it can fill up your screen quite a bit. To remedy this, the icons and text have to be smaller.
There's an option to adjust the "size" (don't remember the exact name), but they sort of just zoom in. This means some of the functions get cut off (and you can't scroll to get to it) and inaccessible. Some of the buttons are also incredibly tiny. For experienced players, this probably isn't an issue, but for new players, it's annoying to have to "test" the options to figure out what they mean. Again, the icons aren't always intuitive.
This is my experience with the first few hours into the base game. I imagine that the DLC and mod may enhance the experience, but if the foundation of the game is still needs work, I don't really see the point in adding MORE stuff.
If you compare it to Two Point Hospital's gameplay, you'll probably also notice the difference in how they appeal to new players. Two Point tend to have a more balanced and understandable leveling system. The interface is a lot more user friendly and less frustrating to have to work through. Despite it being less complex than Project Hospital, it's much more streamlined in terms of gameplay.
Despite this, I feel like Project Hospital has the foundation of the game all set up and ready to work with...because it really *is* good. I just feel like they kept adding more things on top of this incomplete, somewhat weak foundation when they should've focused more on strengthening it. I imagine that the developers are still improving on the game, so it's a work in progress. However, I hope they also consider the feedbacks regarding the tutorial and controls for future development. The initial introduction of the game can really loose new players who just want to "try it out."