Ever since the offbeat management sim Two Point Hospital launched in 2018, it has been fun to speculate where the franchise will head next. An amusement park or a shopping mall were our guesses, or perhaps a full-on sequel. But no – UK developer Two Point Studios took the academic route with the in-depth and varied Two Point Campus, which ended up being one of our highest rated games of 2022. Three instalments in, and we’re sticking with the subject of education – only through the means of museums intended to educate, inform and entertain.
If you’ve never played a Two Point console game before, then chances are the controls will take time to master, with this being a construction sim based on creating rooms and adding items/decorations, before hiring staff and assigning them roles. There’s small text to contend with, and parts of the UI also suffer from tiny icons for such things as the inventory. Sometimes, making a minor alteration to a wall or similar can be tricky, but it’s never to the point of frustration, and it won’t be long until you’re making layout changes instantaneously.
Helping to keep things accessible to newcomers, most of the in-depth features are tucked away in the UI, and many are merely supplementary or aimed at those wanting to micro-manage. The first museum sees cash flow freely too, thanks to a steady footfall, and so there’s plenty of time to acquaint with the controls, dabble with construction, and learn how progression is handled. Assisting further, the first few locations are partly constructed from the outset, with most of the basics already up and running. It isn’t until three locations in that you’re prompted to start from scratch, and even then, the first set of quests covers the basics.
The aim of Two Point Museum is to manage a chain of successful themed museums, bringing up each to a multi-starred standard – a task in itself that can take hours – by completing quests pinned to the HUD. As new items and themes are being unlocked all the time, it’s essential to revisit past museums and make improvements, boosting their reputation so that another location eventually unlocks on the map. A prehistoric museum with fossils and dinosaur skeletons is the first port of call, paving the way for a seaside aquarium, a haunted hotel filled with supernatural paraphernalia, a botanical garden with carnivorous plants, and a sci-fi park. Each has its challenges and hurdles to overcome, like ghost outbreaks in the haunted hotel, and some quests can be time consuming. The beauty of Two Point Museum is that if progress hits a brick wall in one location, you can always divert your attention to another.
Every museum (and aquarium) needs to be filled with exhibits which then need to be decorated to generate a buzz. Place a donation box nearby, and your coffers will fill with cash. The ‘meat’ of the experience is that exhibits cannot be simply purchased or unlocked – you’ll need to hire and train experts and then send them across the globe on an expedition. Upon return, they’ll bring back a new exhibit, with each expedition having potential risks. That’s to say, experts can die. An expedition lasts around 3-5 minutes, and is mostly automated, save for the occasional dilemma to resolve – such as the crew forgetting their travel games. Every location has a handful of exhibits to randomly discover, and unlocking the next location on the map requires criteria to be met. Aquariums, meanwhile, are populated one sea creature at a time, each having a comical slant. There’s no prize for guessing what a clownfish looks like.
Later, duplicate exhibits can be analysed, unlocking perk slots and the chance to return to the outback to find ‘pristine’ examples.
Suffice to say, there’s always something to be getting on with. Planning a new museum from scratch is a pleasurable pursuit, applying newfound knowledge and tricks learned along the way, and there are always several quests to chip away at. Decorating the museum to maximise buzz, altering prices accordingly, managing staff, and setting up expeditions are all vital components that when combined make for a wholly engaging experience. You’ll also need to ensure that both adults and children are satisfied; with children favouring entertainment over educational values.
A touch more interactivity to expeditions wouldn’t have gone amiss, as aforementioned dilemmas only appear occasionally, but this may have taken some of the attention away from museum management. The whole shebang has a light-hearted and comical tone that seals the deal, complete with faux radio personas, and a few exhibits that may raise a grin – such as a fossilised floppy disk.
While it’s true that Two Point Museum’s foundations can be tracked back to 2018, those foundations are remarkably sturdy – with each iteration strengthening them in some way. There’s no sign of anything crumbling just yet, apart from the UI starting to become a bit tricky to navigate with a controller. It’s also a better-looking experience than before, leaving the last generation behind. The most noticeable improvement to the visuals is reflective surfaces, with objects such as vending machines casting light on polished hallways. Visitors appear far more expressive too, using camera phones to take selfies with exhibits, etc. It’s very well observed.
Two Point Museum isn’t something that’ll be done and dusted quickly – you’ll need to put in a good 20 hours to uncover all six themes, and then dozens more to unlock everything and complete every challenge. The achievements/trophies are very time consuming, intended for the long haul. With the £24.99 asking price in mind, it offers very good value for money, which isn’t something we always see in these days of ballooning development costs and greedy publishers. For something rife with dusty relics, Two Point Museum feels remarkably fresh.
Two Point Studio’s Two Point Museum is out now on PS5, Xbox Series and PC. Published by SEGA.