Surgeon Simulator
Surgeon Simulator (formerly Surgeon Simulator 2013) is a surgical simulation video game developed and published by Bossa Studios. The initial version was created by Tom Jackson, Jack Good, Luke Williams and James Broadley in a 48-hour period for the 2013 Global Game Jam; the developers continued and spent 48 days creating a commercial version. The full version was released via Steam in April 2013, and GOG.com on 10 October 2013 followed by an iPad release on 7 March 2014.
Also recorded as Surgeon Simulator CPR · Surgeon Simulator 2013
Surgeon Simulator
- Date
- 2013.
- Language
- English and French.
- Genre
- simulation video game and fumblecore.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Surgeon Simulator (formerly Surgeon Simulator 2013) is a surgical simulation video game developed and published by Bossa Studios. The initial version was created by Tom Jackson, Jack Good, Luke Williams and James Broadley in a 48-hour period for the 2013 Global Game Jam; the developers continued and spent 48 days creating a commercial version. The full version was released via Steam in April 2013, and GOG.com on 10 October 2013 followed by an iPad release on 7 March 2014.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
No house-authored Note is published until its assertions and sources pass the VALÉORINE evidence contract. The documentary article remains available in full while that enrichment is being consolidated.
Documentary enrichment in progress · no unsupported statement published
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Surgeon Simulator. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
Documentary evidence
Evidence Panel
original value insufficient · checked 25 September 2026
- Identity
- resolved
- Independent source families
- 0
- Admitted assertions
- 0
- Open conflicts
- 0
Authority files
wikidata · Q12496422 · wikipedia · Surgeon Simulator
In this article
Gameplay
Gameplay
On 26 August 2022, Bossa Studios sold the franchise to tinyBuild for $3 million. On 26 June 2024, Atari SA acquired the franchise from TinyBuild for an undisclosed amount and transitioned it to their Infogrames label. A sequel, Surgeon Simulator 2, was released in August 2020.
Surgeon Simulator is played in first-person perspective. Mouse movement is used to control the movement of the player's hand. By holding down the right mouse button and moving the mouse, the player can rotate the hand. The left mouse button is used to lower the hand. By default, the A, W, E, R, and Space keys are used to control individual corresponding digits for grasping items. Gameplay of the player attempting to perform various surgical procedures, for example a heart transplant. Multiple extra modes are available after completion of the early operations, such as performing an operation while inside an ambulance where surgical instruments bounce around at random, and operating in space where the zero-g environment causes all of the instruments to free-float. Three free downloadable content (DLC) features and one paid DLC were added after release. The first was released on 21 June 2013, and features an operation in which the player performs surgery on Team Fortress 2's character Heavy, based on the "Meet the Medic" Team Fortress 2 promotional video. The second was released on 9 September 2013, named "Code Name Trisha", and features an operation in which surgery is performed on an alien. The third was released on 2 June 2016, named "Inside Donald Trump", in which a heart transplant is performed on then presidential candidate Donald Trump. On 14 August 2014, an Anniversary A&E Edition was released on Steam. It added the eye and teeth transplants from the iOS version along with some other features, such as operating while running through the hospital corridors.
Plot
Plot
The game's protagonist is a surgeon named Nigel Burke, who has a placement at a fictional hospital somewhere in the fictitious United Kingdom town of Barnardshire in 1987. He carries out various operations, at first on a patient affectionately named 'Bob' by the game developers, and later operates on Bob inside a space station orbiting Earth. Afterwards, he is contacted by an alien race by VHS tape, and operates on one of the aliens, gaining the title of 'Best Surgeon in the Universe'. Free DLC "Inside Donald Trump" will takes place in present day during a presidential election in 2016 and begins to operates a heart transplant for Trump to maintain his health, Nigel will either choose the two type of heart organ, such as the gold or the stone heart.
Development
Development
An initial version of Surgeon Simulator 2013 was created for the Global Game Jam in which the team had 48 hours to make the game. The team took inspiration from the game Jurassic Park: Trespasser for the control scheme, which also came about because teams in the jam would gain bonus points if a game used ten buttons on the keyboard. The team initially wanted to assign a finger to each button but soon realized this was impractical and instead only limited this style of control to one hand with the other being controlled by the mouse. The developers were initially unsure of whether or not the game was "genuinely" funny, although they found themselves laughing they were not sure if it was the game or their sleep deprivation causing it. It was only when they finally presented the prototype to the audience that they realized the comic potential.
Release
Release
In January 2014, Bossa released footage of an iPad release of the game to be released sometime that year. On 7 March, Surgeon Simulator (at the time called Surgeon Simulator 2013) was released and featured the classic heart and kidney transplants and two new transplants: eye and teeth. The app includes the new corridor feature in which the player has to save Bob while carts with at least seven items pass by and have to not kill him. There is a new feature taking advantage of heart rate, which makes it more challenging for players. When it reaches 0, the player has to charge the defibrillators to save Bob. A PlayStation 4 version of the game was announced on 10 June 2014 and released on 12 August 2014, featuring all of the games surgeries in every location. The PS4 version was released and named Surgeon Simulator: A&E Anniversary Edition. A Nintendo Switch version was announced in July 2018 and released on 13 September 2018, with it being branded as Surgeon Simulator CPR standing for "Cooperative Play Ready". The game included a special local cooperative mode, allowing two players using separate Joy-Con to control Nigel's arms.
Sequel
Sequel
The game's sequel, Surgeon Simulator 2, was released on August 27, 2020, and received similarly mixed reception. Compared to the first game, it adds a controllable player character for a full first-person viewpoint, as well as 4-player co-op and a "creation mode" that allows for player-designed levels.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
United Kingdom.
Country
Surgeon Simulator is associated with United Kingdom.
Country
Reception
Reception for the game has been mixed, with critics stating that although the game was hard to control, this difficulty was "part of the appeal." Ars Technica commented upon the narrator's voice-over, saying that it "belies the ridiculousness that unfolds as he flops and flails his way through surgery". Rock, Paper, Shotgun praised the game's humour and fun, and said "Surgeon Simulator 2013 is not a brilliant game. But it is a brilliant joke. In the form of a game. It's an idea that is a clean magnitude of awesome above 90% of what will be released this year because it is so absurd." Eurogamer rated the game 7/10 and also praised its humour. Surgeon Simulator 2013 has sold 2 million copies as of 4 February 2015.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Savage, Phil. Surgeon Simulator 2013 is QWOP meets Operation. PC Gamer. 28 January 2013.
- 2.Calvin, Alex. TinyBuild buys Bossa's IPs for $3m. 26 August 2022.
- 3.Calvin, Alex. Atari buys Surgeon Simulator from TinyBuild. 26 June 2024.
- 4.Matulef, Jeffrey. Surgeon Simulator 2013 reveals secret alien surgery. Eurogamer.net. 30 September 2013.
- 5.Robertson, Adi. Surgeon Simulator: Inside Donald Trump, explained to my future children. The Verge. 3 June 2016.
- 6.Davies, Sean. Surgeon Simulator: A&E Anniversary Edition Review: Delightfully dreadful doctors. TechnologyTell. 25 August 2014.
- 7.Rose, Mike. The blissfully awkward controls of Surgeon Simulator 2013. Gamasutra. 25 April 2013.
- 8.Makuch, Eddie. E3 2014: Surgeon Simulator Coming to PS4. GameSpot. 10 June 2014.
- 9.Phillips, Tom. Surgeon Simulator transfers to Nintendo Switch with co-op play. Eurogamer. 25 July 2018.
- 10.Scrub up! Surgeon Simulator CPR launches on Nintendo Switch today!. Gamasutra. 13 September 2018.
- 11.CBS Interactive. Surgeon Simulator 2013 for PC Reviews. Metacritic.
- 12.CBS Interactive. Surgeon Simulator for iPhone/iPad Reviews. Metacritic.
- 13.CBS Interactive. Surgeon Simulator: Anniversary Edition for PlayStation 4 Reviews. Metacritic.
- 14.CBS Interactive. Surgeon Simulator CPR for Switch Reviews. Metacritic.
- 15.Ingram, Lucy. 'Surgeon Simulator' for iPad Review – A Virtual Game of Operation. TouchArcade. 27 March 2014.
- 16.Tassi, Paul. A Game Ascends Into Memehood: Surgeon Simulator 2013. Forbes. 29 January 2013.
- 17.Hutchinson, Lee. "Bob is having a cardiac arrest!": Surgeon Simulator 2013 may be the best game ever. Ars Technica. 29 January 2013.
- 18.Rossignol, Jim. Wot I Think: Surgeon Simulator 2013. Rock Paper Shotgun. 19 April 2013.
- 19.Donlan, Christian. Surgeon Simulator 2013 review. Eurogamer. 25 April 2013.
- 20.Eddie Makuch. Wacky Operation Game Surgeon Simulator Sells 2 Million. GameSpot. 3 February 2015.
- 21.Surgeon Simulator 2: Access All Areas Reviews. Metacritic.
- 22.Reeves, Ben. Surgeon Simulator 2 Preview - Surgeon Simulator 2 Let's You Commit Braindead Surgery. Game Informer. 2020-08-27.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Collectables
20,755 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- surbaharTerminology
- surdoTerminology
- Surf's UpWork
- Surfing H3OWork
- Surgical StrikeWork
- surmaTerminology
- surozTerminology
- Surprise AttackWork
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a copy of Surgeon Simulator?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.