It took me a while to learn that this latest PC release in the Heart's Medicine franchise was originally the first that came out to the mobile platform in 2010. 10 years later, it came out on PC as a follow-up to the chronological finale Doctor's Oath, coming full circle in the Heart's Medicine saga.

I have mentioned in other reviews how the other Heart's Medicine captivated me with its intriguing story, memorable characters and its growing diversity of challenges and puzzle mini-games. Well, since it was the first product of the series, I figured the devs were testing out in their fields before they knew how to optimize their output that would grace the later games because here, it's a lackluster product.

Story-wise, I got to familiarize with the beginning of Allison Heart's eventful journey as a hospital practicioner. In comparison, the story was largely not as eventful or as interesting as it would turn out, as the majority of scenes between the levels would deliver nothing but a couple of lines that are barely significant to the plot elements.

Even the levels I played through did not largely help freshen up where the plot lacked. The gameplay formula follows the series standards accordingly, although Season One had yet to find an optimal level of challenge. Being a seasoned player of the other Heart's Medicine titles, I felt underwhelmed by the dragging pace and the bar for pushing me to maintain a high score has been set low in largely every level. Not to mention that I come upon bugs that reappears, such as event music looping on and the patient's queue misaligned, but nothing game-breaking nevertheless.

Season One is not a wreck as it comes off like, because both the graphics and character design have been updated to match with the sequels coming before this PC version. Even the puzzle mini-games deliver consistently some new problems and solutions for players to learn, what with the new hospital facilities being introduced.

I admit that it sounds harsh comparing this game's two aforementioned areas with its relatively perfected sequels but I had to reflect upon whether it would serve as an introductory game for me enough to follow the series. Time To Heal was already gripping enough for me to follow through and look up the series, which is a worthy introduction itself. I have my doubts about Season One. I only wished the devs had considered rewriting and adding optimizations from the sequel (except for Doctor's Oath's grind factors) that they had take-aways from before they released this newer version of Season One with its draggy gameplay and nearly hollow plot.

To be fair, though, for a discount price, Season One may still appeal to a casual group of time management players who look for a hospital variation to kill time with, along with bits of initial story development. The leap onward to Time To Heal will be noticeable and feel like the journey with a rough start has been worth all along.