Two Point Museum doesn’t let its humour get in the way of being an excellent management sim
Two Point Studios are again after the success of their comedic management simulators Two Point Hospital and Two Point Campus – and also you’ll by no means guess what you do in this new entry to their sequence.
Yes, that’s proper, after letting you kill (or treatment) hospital sufferers and ignore (or train) college students, Two Point Studios are placing you in cost of working a museum crammed with historic artefacts. What may probably go improper?
An excellently designed management sim which simply oozes with wit and silliness (typically actually), Two Point Museum is a delight of a sport.
While it’s not with out its flaws – principally on account of the construction of its central marketing campaign – there’s been a lot love and attraction poured into this sport that I’m greater than prepared to forgive them.
Become the Best (or at the least, the richest) Museum Curator
The magnificence of Two Point Museum is that you just’re not simply working one museum. You’re working 5. Each one has a unique map, and a unique theme to go together with it (palaeontology, the supernatural, underwater life, house, or science).
Each additionally comes with its personal record of targets as you increase the museum and discover new reveals, and at sure factors throughout the primary marketing campaign you’re inspired to modify to a unique museum, attempting out new ones or returning to outdated ones armed with new information.
All of that is underpinned by the identical mechanics, of course – at the finish of the day they’re all museums. No matter the theme of the place you’re at present working, it’s essential to promote tickets, discover new reveals, design your museum, and maintain each your workers and your company completely satisfied.
There are cafeterias and present retailers and safety rooms it’s essential to sustain and working. You can get new reveals by sending workers away on expeditions, which have their very own dangers, prices, and rewards, and although there’s a unique map for every of the primary themes all of them largely work the identical.
For the most half, these mechanics aren’t something notably unfamiliar to those that have performed a management sim earlier than – it’s essential to maintain monitor of loads of completely different components and take care of them through the use of your assets, and as you go alongside, your museum turns into bigger with extra transferring elements to maintain well-oiled.
This familiarity is just not a detrimental, nevertheless – Two Point Studios know find out how to make managing an organisation really feel good to do, with controls which can be well-explained and straightforward to understand. There’s at all times an inventory of targets by your facet, which can take you thru the fundamentals and solely introduces some mechanics in later levels.
It’s a bit of simplistic at occasions however it feels satisfying to play, regardless of whether or not you’ve performed 100 management sims earlier than or that is your first one.
What I’ve stated may need you considering that the 5 differing kinds of museums are simply reskins of one another, flavourful however with the identical substance, however that could be very a lot not the case.
Mechanics like needing to maintain your workers from quitting or stopping thieves from stealing your reveals are the identical throughout all the museums, certain, however for displaying and taking care of your reveals – in all probability the most distinguished half of the sport – it’s very completely different.
Supernatural museums must take care of the calls for of captured ghosts (and the calls for of re-capturing stated ghosts after they escape), whereas the curators of science museums must cease their many machines from continually catching hearth.
Don’t even get me began on the house museums, the place it’s essential to acquire particular batteries and prepare them round your reveals to energy unusual alien know-how.
As you undergo the primary marketing campaign, you’ll be taught new mechanics by visiting every museum in flip and finishing an inventory of targets there. It’s not fully on rails, nevertheless – the map is open so that you can revisit outdated museums at any time, even when there’s not an entire lot of new issues to do there or it gained’t result in enormous progress in your overarching objectives, and allows you to select what order to do new museums in.
If there’s one you’re notably in, you may spend extra time there, and if there’s one you’re probably not into that’s effective as properly. This back-and-forth design actually retains you engaged.
As a bonus, there’s additionally three problem museums, that are pre-designed and take a look at your talent in a selected space (corresponding to upping the crime charges to a ridiculous diploma and asking you to cease the reveals from being stolen, or asking you to go loopy on advertising and marketing campaigns).
It’s a enjoyable little further, and a very good way to check your abilities – plus it helps you to see what a properly designed, not-messy museum can seem like – although it’s a little unhappy that there’s solely three of them. It undoubtedly seems like there was extra they might have finished there, and for those who like these sorts of bespoke challenges, you might really feel a bit of disillusioned.
At some factors the pacing does really feel a bit of off in the marketing campaign, nevertheless. Once you’ve accomplished one record of targets, you’re given a brand new one, and whereas some of these are straightforward and fast to be ticked off (or at the least, straightforward to know and work in the direction of) others are much more sluggish going.
There are some sections the place you may really feel such as you’re spinning your wheels, not making a lot progress in the direction of your objectives – however, finally, you may work your way out of the mire. Plus there’s the incontrovertible fact that the marketing campaign assumes it’s been some time because you’ve performed a management sim – which is nice for newbies and informal gamers, however could be a bit of irritating for knowledgeable gamers.
The switching backwards and forwards between completely different museums may additionally frustrate some who simply wish to go loopy on one space, however in all actually it’s telegraphed properly sufficient that it shouldn’t trigger too many points. Besides, for those who’re actually determined to construct one good museum with no distractions, there’s at all times sandbox mode.
Go Off the Rails (once more)
As a lot as I take pleasure in following a to-do record, there’s no denying the pleasure of a sandbox mode the place you may create the beautifully-designed museum of your desires with out worrying about the price. Or, you realize, play the sport on laborious mode.
Two Point Museum’s sandbox mode is excellent in its thoroughness and ease. You select what museum map you wish to begin at (from the 5 in the marketing campaign). You select a mode – artistic, profession, or hardcore.
The three modes are about what you’d anticipate – artistic is lenient with the funds, profession offers you a extra normal museum-building expertise (whereas nonetheless feeling a bit of completely different from the marketing campaign), and hardcore helps you to actually take a look at your abilities by supplying you with much less assets and extra challenges.
Those who wish to get into the thick of issues and customise precisely to their liking have a lot of extra granular choices which let you select elements corresponding to your beginning funds, beginning plot measurement, degree of risk from thieves, and goal development (amongst others).
It’s nothing flashy, however it does the job properly, and is certain to fulfill these in search of just a bit extra playtime with rather less handholding.
Who stated Museums have been Boring?
Two Point’s management sim video games are well-made and do a very good job of main you thru studying the mechanics with out letting you get too bored, certain, however what actually makes these video games iconic is the humour that underpins all of it. Above the chill music-to-build-a-museum to soundtrack, you’ll get rare PA bulletins and radio cut-ins.
Some of them are informative, reminding you when workers are near resigning or when there’s a visitor caught behind a wall (there’s a number of of these ones, which tells you all it’s essential to find out about how Two Point Studios anticipate some individuals to play this sport), however not all of them strictly right down to enterprise, and even these which can be informative additionally simply add a well-enjoyed bit of levity to the entire shebang.
They’re humorous, sudden, well-voiced, and diverse sufficient that they don’t repeat too typically – making them a welcome addition to the sport. Some even join to one another and have a bit of a storyline to them!
Now, not everybody will like the humour of the sport’s PA and radio system. That’s effective – I’m boring typically too. But right here as soon as once more, the sport’s carefully-considered design steps in. Not solely is it straightforward to seek out the button to show off these witty interjections, however they’ve put the button to show off all sport audio completely loud and proud on the pause display screen.
Those who wish to take heed to podcasts or their very own music as they play management sims, I see you – and so, apparently, does Two Point Museum.
If that wasn’t sufficient, the sport’s humour isn’t simply in the PA system both – it’s soaked proper via the sport. There’s a lot extra to be discovered in the reveals and the way the company work together with them. Because I’ll say this a lot – I’d go to museums extra typically if they’d some of these reveals.
There are cheese slugs, and frozen monobrows, and vegetation that flip individuals into vampires (and one other one which turns individuals into clowns – have enjoyable contemplating the implications of that one).
Guests can’t work together with the reveals in regular, respectful methods both, so that you’ll get to see them lounge again on what’s clearly a man-eating plant and uncover the the explanation why you in all probability shouldn’t try this. Plus, of course, all of the reveals and décor have foolish little textual content descriptions so that you can learn via. They gained’t have you ever laughing out loud or something, however as soon as once more, it’s all just a bit bit of enjoyable that additional enhances the enjoying expertise.
The visuals aren’t insanely amazingly show-stopping or something, neither is the music, however as soon as once more it’s well-polished and easily makes the expertise of enjoying it look and sound higher. The entire sport appears to be like nice, in truth, and when you have the talent and wish to achieve this you may make your museum look positively beautiful. And even for those who don’t, it nonetheless appears to be like fairly respectable.
There’s additionally simply the easy incontrovertible fact that in addition to (and beside) the humour you may actually simply inform that loads of love and work has been put into this sport – each in phrases of the huge flashy elements, and in phrases of all the little particulars.
I’ve already talked about the humorous little interactions company can have with the reveals (and one another) however what I haven’t stated is that for a lot of reveals there are a number of, bespoke animations.
If you zoom in to nearly any space in your museum and take your arms off the controls to only sit and look ahead to a minute, you’ll see an entire bunch of enjoyable little particulars that give this ridiculous world life. Two Point’s iconic sense of humour and dedication to their craft actually shines in this one, and it simply makes the sport such a delight to play.
Final Thoughts
There’s loads of enjoyable available in Two Point Museum, whether or not it’s making the prettiest museum potential, the one which earns the most, or simply attempting to torture your company. Watching it go from a tiny venue with one or two reveals to a sprawling centre crammed with loopy options is enjoyable and deeply satisfying, as is placing in the work to make that evolution occur.
Two Point Museum is genuinely humorous, deeply fulfilling and properly value sinking a lot of time into – which is what I do know I’ll be doing lengthy after this evaluate.
FOUR AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Highlights: Great sense of humour, big selection of reveals, lengthy marketing campaign
Lowlights: slight pacing points
Developer: Two Point Studios
Publisher: SEGA
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows, Linux, MacOS
Available: March 4, 2025
Review performed on PC through Steam with a launch code offered by the writer.
