Available on: PC, PlayStation, Xbox
Played on: PC
Two Point Museum is the third game in Two Point Studios‘ management sim series, and by far the best. The Museum sim builds upon its predecessors with expanded customization, fun challenges and objectives, and a compelling campaign mode.
Read on for our review of Two Point Museum!
Making History
Two Point Museum’s campaign features five large museums, as well as three challenge museums. It all starts with the mostly empty Prehistory Museum at Memento Mile.
The campaign does a fantastic job introducing players to the management sim series, with hiring staff, gradually unlocking and building rooms, learning about expeditions, displaying exhibits, and maximizing exhibit “buzz” via decorations and theming.
For the first time in the series, I can make my own walls, staff-only doors, and partitions, creating pleasing, walkable lanes, and backroom zones for employees-only. Plus, dozens of flooring and wallpaper options further customize individual rooms and areas.
With the campaign, Two Point Museum favors quality over quantity. Five museum levels doesn’t sound like much compared to previous Two Point games, but these are big and varied locations. Each museum features its own lengthy set of objectives to reach the maximum star rating. Players are guided to swap between multiple museums, returning to earlier ones after unlocking new features and content, such as marketing, security cameras, interactive exhibits, and aquariums.
Although each museum is modeled to a certain theme, we’re under no obligation to stick with just one exhibit type for the whole museum. After all, most real-life museums feature several themes! Two Point Museum includes marine life, prehistoric, scientific contraptions, and even ghosts.
Each exhibit type has its own set of challenges and quirks. Aquariums must balance the right kinds of fish, as I found out the hard way why putting a predator with other fish can be disastrous.
My favorite exhibit type are the supernatural objects. Capturing actual ghosts and displaying them in mini-haunted hotel rooms is like a brilliantly kid-friendly version of 13 Ghosts. (Not to mention keeping them happy to avoid breakouts!) And I absolutely squealed when I realized the haunted doll’s face always turns to face the player camera!
Displaying exhibits isn’t a simple matter of plopping them down, however. In Two Point Museums’ most innovative feature, players must send experts out on expeditions in the hopes of acquiring new exhibits.
Two Point Museum – Wailon Lodge
It Belongs in a Museum
Museum experts are a critical part of each museum. They restore and maintain exhibits, run guided tours, and are the primary staff sent out on expeditions.
Expeditions are represented by cute map charts inspired by Indiana Jones. Each point of interest has certain requirements, events, and rewards. By selecting the staff with the right skills or items, players can mitigate bad events and increase their odds of finding higher quality exhibits.
Each exhibit has a rarity, with better rarity items having a higher buzz rating, and more slots for enhancing perks. Perks are primarily obtained by deconstructing exhibits in an Analysis Room, cleverly making expeditions worth the time and expense, even if we don’t get what we want every time.
Staff can suffer injuries and other maladies from expeditions, requiring time spent in the staff room or at a healing location, costing more time and money.
Two Point Museum – Bone Belt Expedition
I often find money meaningless after entering the midgame in most management sims, but thanks to the expedition system, that’s definitely not the case in Two Point Museum.
Later, more advanced expeditions cost a lot of money. And much of the museum’s income is directly tied to donations made by happy customers, rather than static ticket prices. This leads to a tightly balanced economy.
I was thankful for all the design options, as there were times I had to simply wait (or fast-forward) while my coffers filled back up. Or worse, layoff staff to cut costs because I over-expanded.
Getting a little too real, Two Point Studios!
The challenge museums offer fun examples of pre-built museums with a specific goal in a limited time. Thwarting constant criminals in one such museum is hilarious (and challenging!), and also a helpful learning experience for museum security.
Compared to the robust campaign, Sandbox mode is surprisingly disappointing. Players can choose between multiple options for limited or unlimited building, but only the five campaign museums are available as potential layouts. It’s more of a campaign remix than a true, free-form sandbox.
The Rating
Two Point Museum is rated E for Everyone, with Crude Humor and Mild Language. As with previous Two Point sims, the game is bulging with cheeky British humor, from the exaggerated animations and silly character designs, to the names of staff, illnesses, and exhibits. And yes, the funny radio DJ and announcer return to keep us company.
The Takeaway
While I’ve enjoyed previous Two Point sims, Two Point Museum is the first to truly grab me and not let go. Expeditions are fun and rewarding, staff management is streamlined, and the overall design options are the best the series has ever been. Players can easily sink dozens of hours into the campaign, but I’m also looking forward to future expansions with more museums and exhibits.
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