Two Point Museum review: The silly side of archaeological administration

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Two Point Studios is known for creating humorous business management games, and they’re poised to maintain that tradition with Two Point Museum. In this game, players are tasked with transforming drab, vacant museums into lively tourist destinations. The game offers a diverse range of themes, an engaging campaign structure, and unique mechanics for each theme, all while retaining Two Point Studios’ signature humor, making it another excellent addition to their portfolio of occupational games.

Dusty relics to line your walls

In the Two Point Museum‘s game, you assume control of neglected or underutilized museums in various counties, helping to revive their popularity. The initial museum offers a prehistoric, fossil-focused theme and provides guidance on attracting visitors. This serves as an introduction to managing more dilapidated museums with different aesthetics and associated mechanics. There are numerous such museums available, and once you’ve mastered them, you can play them directly in the Sandbox Mode without progressing through the campaign first.

Among all the guides I’ve encountered in Two Point games, the one for the Prehistory Museum stands out as my favorite. This museum serves as an excellent starting point to grasp concepts like staff management, exhibit placement and decoration, ticket sales, merchandise transactions, and overall museum enhancement and growth. Soon enough, I felt ready to tackle more museums and their unique challenges. However, acquiring access to another museum doesn’t mean you can neglect the previous one. Instead, the aim is to gradually elevate each museum to a five-star standard, earning one star at a time. Each star requires increasingly complex conditions to fulfill, such as displaying specific types and quantities of exhibits, maintaining positive cash flow monthly, and much more. You’re also free to deviate from the tutorial and objectives to pursue your own ambitions if you choose.

As a passionate gamer, diving into the world of Two Point Museum is like embarking on an exciting adventure. Every museum I visit has its own treasure map filled with hidden gems just waiting to be discovered. As I complete tasks and reach milestones in the game, new areas of the map unfold, revealing unique exhibits that add a fresh layer of excitement. Some discoveries are even multi-step events, like finding the head of a dinosaur skeleton and then returning for more expeditions to uncover the rest of it. These finds not only satisfy my curiosity but also reward me with cool Buzz bonuses for my museum. What’s more, each museum I manage has different types of exhibits, some requiring custom-built rooms with unique features. It’s a thrilling journey of exploration and creation!

In my opinion, the Supernatural museum, Wailon Lodge, stood out as my favorite. At one point, you accumulate ghosts and must construct “Poltergeist Rooms” for them to inhabit. These rooms serve as attractions but require careful customization according to each ghost’s preferences, such as some fearing fire while others enjoy beds or musical decor. Some may also prefer solitude or sharing space with other spirits. If your management fails to meet their demands, they might become enraged and cause chaos throughout the museum. A team of janitors and experts would then be needed to rectify the damage. Occasionally, you could sell exhibits for immediate profit, including ghosts, though I pondered about the ethical aspects of such a sale. Still, I had a business to manage. The Two Point Museum offers numerous distinct gameplay mechanics like this, making it engaging and entertaining as you curate your unique collection of peculiar artifacts.

In essence, the key takeaway from Two Point Museum is that the expeditions are crucial as they dictate the pace of the game. Once a new region is unlocked, it’s unclear what exhibits will be obtained, making it challenging to plan your museum layout until you see the available items. This means many museums require waiting for expeditions to return before progress can be made, which can slow down development significantly. While there are other tasks to engage with in the game, I often found myself eagerly anticipating the arrival of each new exhibit to guide my next steps. It’s not overly frustrating, but it becomes more apparent as the game progresses and the number of tasks decreases.

A guide will be with you shortly

In Two Point games, design has consistently played a significant role, and this is especially true in Two Point Museum. Unlike hospitals or universities, museums require a unique blend of amusing decoration, seamless navigation, and an array of engaging attractions throughout the space rather than being divided into separate rooms. With a plethora of tools to make your museum shine as a top attraction, it’s important to remember that these tools may not always cooperate perfectly.

In Two Point games, an essential feature is designing rooms such as staff lounges and restrooms with necessary facilities. Yet, you’ll frequently place exhibits outside these designated areas across the overall museum floor (except for specific items like aquariums for fish or ghost-themed spaces for poltergeists). Additionally, you can construct various elements such as walls, partitions, doors, and more to establish a smooth visitor flow. This flexibility encourages creativity but may lead to occasional quirks that could sometimes be frustrating.

Building walls in Two Point Museum can often present challenges due to their strict collision and angle rules. These walls need to be straight and adhere to specific angles, which can make designing non-rectangular rooms or fitting items inside them tricky. Sometimes, a wall partition may not fit correctly, either being too long, too short, or the wrong angle. I’ve found myself struggling to create unique spaces because of these issues. For instance, when I placed an assigned room next to a free-build wall filled with exhibits, the game detected a collision issue between the two and required me to remove the free-build wall. This necessitated rearranging the rooms around it.

When arranging objects within the game, you can rotate and position them as desired, but remember to take care with their interactive zones to avoid collision issues that the game might flag. Additionally, I wished to incorporate curved walls in this Two Point game, however, I was limited by mostly rigid grid constraints. Therefore, when designing non-square items, I had to ensure they aligned with the grid to prevent any issues.

Instead of grumbling over minor inconveniences, I’ll gladly acknowledge the joy that comes with having tailored options. You can switch up the flooring and wallpaper in each room, adjust whether your lighting is ground or hanging, add or remove windows at will, and make numerous creative adjustments to maximize your museum experience. While I may yearn for more advanced customization possibilities, I firmly believe that this game would be significantly less engaging if we were confined to pre-assigned rooms with fixed decorations as in previous versions. The freedom to customize the overall space is truly a standout feature here.

I’d like to acknowledge Two Point Radio and the overhead announcer as well, as they significantly enhance my gaming experience. The soothing music that plays during gameplay creates a relaxing atmosphere, while intermittently broadcasting radio programs that keep you updated on events within your museum or other areas of Two Point County. Their humor is entertaining and lighthearted, and they adapt to the progression of your attractions. Meanwhile, the overhead voice provides essential reminders about any pressing matters in your museum, such as exhibits to manage, organizational concerns, and staff issues. It’s helpful to have that continuous update in the background, especially when juggling multiple responsibilities. When there are no pressing issues, you’ll just enjoy occasional humorous commentary, which adds an enjoyable touch to the gameplay.

Donations are not mandatory, but are encouraged… please

For me, Two Point Museum is an outstanding blend of Two Point Studios’ business management and mechanics so far. The path to achieving five-star museums is filled with enjoyable challenges and customization opportunities that might make even empty spaces look like your own idealized dream attraction in no time. Despite starting off at just a one-star rating at Wailon Lodge, I felt an immense sense of pride over the spooky, supernatural maze haunted house I had created, which made me pause and admire my work before moving on to the next project. While there may be some aggravation due to waiting times and free design aspects, it’s also filled with heartwarming moments that make you proud of your creation as visitors appreciate your work, exactly what I look for in a Two Point game.

This assessment stems from a digital version of the game given by the publisher. The Two Point Museum will be released for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and personal computers on the 4th of March, 2025.

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2025-02-25 17:28