Stretcher Men is a comedy game about carrying a dying man across the hills without dropping him

rockpapershotgun.com:

A glance at comedy medieval medic sim Stretcher Men might have you believe it is a co-op game about co-ordination and teamwork. Not so! It's a singleplayer game in which you control not one but both carriers of a stretcher. You have to ferry a sick man over the hilly countryside, past muddy lake banks and over snowy mountains, all without dropping him on the ground. I can only imagine it controls a bit like Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons, but with added ragdoll jollity. We'll know next week, when it releases on Steam.

I enjoy the shots of the two peasant lads navigating snow-covered peaks and marching against the light of the full moon. It's like some deleted scene from Lord of the Rings in which Merry and Pippin have to carry a hungover Gimli to the nearest elven refuge for a rest.

"Players control two characters," say developers Chraph, "one at the front and one at the back of the stretcher, and must navigate through various obstacles while maintaining balance. With simple yet deep gameplay, your attention and coordination skills will be put to the test."

Does this constitute a Foddylike? Perhaps. It's got the clumsiness, the basic challenge, the absurdist set-up. There's nothing from the Steam blurb to suggest you'll have to restart from the beginning every time you drop the ill dude. But maybe? We'll know more when it comes out next week on July 28th.

Games about clumsiness and co-ordination often appeal to me. I'm looking forward to Baby Steps, for instance, and this looks like a more bare bones version of that, set in a vague, uncomplicated landscape. I suspect we can file it next to "games that will be played by Twitch streamers for a whole day and then probably forgotten about". But that's okay. Some games are there as snacks to gobble up, get your laughs, and move on. I fully digested the humour of Chained Together after just an hour of wonderful torture with Nic and Edwin, and I don't regret it.