Platform(s): PC (version reviewed), Xbox Series, PlayStation 5
Genre: Simulation, British Humour, Museum, Real-Time, Cozy

Two Points Studios has achieved the impossible: make the act of running a museum fun. And from the 10+ hours I had with this simulation so far, it has met that gold standard and even brought in more depth than it should.

For those new to the Two Point Studios modus operandi, the company is made up of ex-Bullfrog staff who worked on Theme Park and Theme Hospital back in the mid-90s. The company made its mark with Two Point Hospital in 2018 to cash in on the nostalgia people had for the aforementioned 90s simulation games, and it found its fanbase. They then made Two Point Campus, which involves classes, lectures, and the education system, and that also had its fans.

Two Point Museum is the developer’s third foray in the sim game; you run and curate a museum with exhibitions for patrons to see and be in awe at, hoping for them to come out of the experience entertained, learned and donating to your cause. It also gives you many options to run your personal Smithsonian your way, either as a frenetic simulation or a cozy one where money isn’t an issue whatsoever. In any case, both casual and hardcore players will still find loads to love here, in spite of its familiar art style and UI.

Fossil Funk

Your objective in Two Point Museum is to make the best museum exhibition center around. That means bringing in the latest archaeological findings by sending your experts through Expeditions, laying out your exhibit so that people love it and are educated and fulfilled enough to donate to your cause, and also making sure it’s a top-notch education centre by curbing children and other ne’er do wells from spoiling your prized possessions. Expeditions are sidequests you send your staff to via helicoptor so that they bring in exhibits and other permanent benefits; some are easy and only require two museum experts, but many big ones require one of each type of staff to even complete.

And unless your staff are well-trained, they will get injured or catch an illness that will affect their curator work once they’re back from the trip. These missions are essential if you want to feature new exhibitions; some of them require you to visit the same site more than once so that the set of an exhibition (ie: the bones of a giant dinosaur) are fully complete. Having completed exhibition sets also means you get higher prestige, meaning more sponsors for your business. Of course, you need the right staff with the right skills (and certain exhibitions and building parameters fulfilled) to unlock better expeditions.

You also have to balance your books so that you have enough staff on hand but also are trained well to go on more dangerous Expeditions (with better findings and exhibitions), meaning you have to build facilities and training areas, while also making sure they’re loving their jobs without getting too tired and frustrated. Thankfully like its past Two Point sim games, the interface is still tried and true and gets the point across without bogging players down. You have your objectives, your money, your staff and management options, and your builder toolset to either decorate your museum or make new rooms and partitions. Everything is done easily with drag-and-drops and click-and-holds, and you’re given the option to slow down time or even pause everything so you can concentrate on building the most spacious lounge room for your staff. Or ghost room for that one sole ghost exhibition. Why fix what isn’t broken, especially when you can tweak it more to make it better and user-friendly for all?

As I alluded to earlier with the ghost room, you have different kinds of exhibitions you can put up per museum, or even mix and match. Not only do you have dinosaur fossils and animals encased in amber, you also can exhibit ghost items and spooky spectres in their own rooms, as well as aquatic life in a giant aquarium and undersea relics of dubious origin. What sets this game apart from Two Points’ other efforts is the use of space: since you have a museum, you aren’t required to make individual rooms for most of the exhibits. Usually you save those room-to-room tactics for your staff and their own section (which you can gate off using special employees-only exits). You also need to plan ahead with crowd control and crowd flow; you can place arrows and one-way doors to direct traffic to go from one exhibition to another.

The new structure here with exhibitions and expeditions means that you’ll be getting random treasure and findings to either display, sell off, or break down and research, which does add to your replayability. Of course, if you don’t get the bone set you want after multiple visits to the same expedition, that can be frustrating, but at least you can get experience and extra money out of it, so it won’t set you back much. Plus, it keeps things fresh; just when you think things feel repetitive, along comes a new theme you have to work with when going through the campaign.

Walk The Dinosaur

While the newest installment in the Two Point series is still sticking to its classic humour and simulation roots, there are enough new additions to the flow and structure to warrant jumping into this sequel. I had fun with Two Point Hospital and Two Point Campus, and having to deal with the woes of running a museum with multiple exhibits of different kinds while using tricks and tools to educate pundits to get them to donate to our cause is a worthy mission indeed.

I’m glad Two Points Studio isn’t done with the isometric simulation genre, as they’re the only ones carrying the torch to deliver quality goods under different guises and themes. They’ve learned a lot from making their past titles and now offer one of the more flexible and creative bits in sim history. One that balances its craft and wit to stand out from other sim titles.

Final Score: 80/100

Review code provided by publisher.