Despite the Horrors, Do No Harm Is a Surprisingly Zen Game

Medical workers are faced with a myriad of difficult choices every day. From deciding which medicine to give a patient, to choosing the right equipment for the job, to wondering about the twitching fish-like human standing right outside your window... Well, that last one only applies to the doctor you control in Do No Harm, a Lovecraftian doctor simulator that places you smack dab on a 19th century island full of fishy residents. Like a medical and more cartoon-y Papers, Please, Do No Harm is a puzzle and strategy game with a lore-rich setting that fans of eldritch horror would enjoy exploring. In Do No Harm, you play as a doctor who just started working at a clinic on an island full of unsettling locals. Your goal is to treat your patients’ various complaints by injecting them with the right humor for their symptoms, while also making enough money to buy more supplies for the next day. However, it doesn’t take long for the more supernatural elements of the island to surface. Hallucinations may occur while you're tending to a patient. If you don’t drink laudanum before sending them off, it’ll have a negative impact on your sanity. As you continue to progress through the month, your patients come to you with increasingly bizarre and unnatural ailments as the eldritch influence over the island deepens. Screenshot by Siliconera As a doctor simulator in a game called Do No Harm, it should come as little surprise that your goal is to do as little harm to your patients as possible. Administering them the right humor is of utmost importance, as giving them the wrong medicine can potentially kill them. That being said, the game doesn’t always let you uphold your Hippocratic oath in peace. Some of the island’s residents may drop by with lists of patients they either want you to kill or give specific medicine to. One recurring patient can even lead to a bad ending if you don’t do something about him. These little moral dilemmas help break the monotony of routine, and completing (or ignoring) these quests are the key to unlocking the various endings of the story. The strategy in the game comes not only from diagnosing your patients, but also on balancing how much medicine you give them. I often ran out of a specific humor halfway through the day because I accidentally used too much or misdiagnosed someone. This means that if any patient comes wanting that particular medicine, I literally can’t cure them and have to turn them away. From what I can tell, the game doesn’t have randomized patients, though, and so if you know in advance what you need for the day, you can probably aim for a perfect run. Screenshot by Siliconera But for the most part, you don’t need to. The game has a handy book to reference and you're not as pressured to make as much money as possible like in Papers, Please. So you can take your time with each diagnosis (within reason) and still end up with enough money to fully stock up for the next day. It doesn’t take long to get in the habit of checking every part of the patient to make sure there aren’t any hallucinations happening, and even if you mess up, the game will give you a blatant hint about what you missed so you can look out for it next time. In that sense, and I know how bizarre it is to say this about a game based on Lovecraftian horror, it's a pretty relaxing game. With multiple endings, simple yet engaging puzzles, and a fun eldritch horror twist to the doctor simulator genre, Do No Harm is a fun experience for those who prefer some horror spicing up their strategy game. Though it’s not difficult enough to provide a challenge for those who’d prefer that, it still provides an enjoyable experience between its intriguing lore, high replay value, and surprisingly zen gameplay. Do No Harm is available on Windows PC via Steam. The post Despite the Horrors, Do No Harm Is a Surprisingly Zen Game appeared first on Siliconera.

Apr 28, 2025 - 14:51

Despite the Horrors, Do No Harm Is a Surprisingly Zen Game

Medical workers are faced with a myriad of difficult choices every day. From deciding which medicine to give a patient, to choosing the right equipment for the job, to wondering about the twitching fish-like human standing right outside your window... Well, that last one only applies to the doctor you control in Do No Harm, a Lovecraftian doctor simulator that places you smack dab on a 19th century island full of fishy residents. Like a medical and more cartoon-y Papers, Please, Do No Harm is a puzzle and strategy game with a lore-rich setting that fans of eldritch horror would enjoy exploring.

In Do No Harm, you play as a doctor who just started working at a clinic on an island full of unsettling locals. Your goal is to treat your patients’ various complaints by injecting them with the right humor for their symptoms, while also making enough money to buy more supplies for the next day. However, it doesn’t take long for the more supernatural elements of the island to surface. Hallucinations may occur while you're tending to a patient. If you don’t drink laudanum before sending them off, it’ll have a negative impact on your sanity. As you continue to progress through the month, your patients come to you with increasingly bizarre and unnatural ailments as the eldritch influence over the island deepens.

do no harm low sanity — Screenshot by Siliconera

As a doctor simulator in a game called Do No Harm, it should come as little surprise that your goal is to do as little harm to your patients as possible. Administering them the right humor is of utmost importance, as giving them the wrong medicine can potentially kill them. That being said, the game doesn’t always let you uphold your Hippocratic oath in peace. Some of the island’s residents may drop by with lists of patients they either want you to kill or give specific medicine to. One recurring patient can even lead to a bad ending if you don’t do something about him. These little moral dilemmas help break the monotony of routine, and completing (or ignoring) these quests are the key to unlocking the various endings of the story.

The strategy in the game comes not only from diagnosing your patients, but also on balancing how much medicine you give them. I often ran out of a specific humor halfway through the day because I accidentally used too much or misdiagnosed someone. This means that if any patient comes wanting that particular medicine, I literally can’t cure them and have to turn them away. From what I can tell, the game doesn’t have randomized patients, though, and so if you know in advance what you need for the day, you can probably aim for a perfect run.

do no harm cannibal — Screenshot by Siliconera

But for the most part, you don’t need to. The game has a handy book to reference and you're not as pressured to make as much money as possible like in Papers, Please. So you can take your time with each diagnosis (within reason) and still end up with enough money to fully stock up for the next day. It doesn’t take long to get in the habit of checking every part of the patient to make sure there aren’t any hallucinations happening, and even if you mess up, the game will give you a blatant hint about what you missed so you can look out for it next time. In that sense, and I know how bizarre it is to say this about a game based on Lovecraftian horror, it's a pretty relaxing game.

With multiple endings, simple yet engaging puzzles, and a fun eldritch horror twist to the doctor simulator genre, Do No Harm is a fun experience for those who prefer some horror spicing up their strategy game. Though it’s not difficult enough to provide a challenge for those who’d prefer that, it still provides an enjoyable experience between its intriguing lore, high replay value, and surprisingly zen gameplay.

Do No Harm is available on Windows PC via Steam.

The post Despite the Horrors, Do No Harm Is a Surprisingly Zen Game appeared first on Siliconera.