Two Point Museumis one of those games that will suck up your entire day and you have no idea where it went. The loop of getting new displays to show guests, raking in the money and customizing how your museum looks is exciting, especially for simulation fans. Unfortunately, there are roadblocks on your path to museum dominance. Repetition does set in after a while, some of the money management can be confusing and a few goals that are asked of you may be difficult to overcome. Do these stumbling blocks spoil the overall enjoyment ofTwo Point Museum,though?
Review: Two Point Campus
Two Point Campus is another winner from Two Point Studios and we can’t wait to see what profession they bring their unique simulator style to next.
Mostly a Streamlined Experience
InTwo Point Museum,you’re managing the building, the staff, and most important of all, the artifacts you acquire on your journeys across the world. As you put your museum together and decorate each display, it’s compelling and keeps you wanting to play the game for many hours to come as your museum begins to fill up and you expand into new areas. It’s dangerous, and if you decide to pick upTwo Point Museum,we foresee many 3 am gaming sessions in your future.
Part of what makes some simulation games hard to get into is an abundance of tutorials popping up on your screen left, right and center. They make the game feel slow, and overall, you get less invested in the product you just bought. Thankfully, for the most part,Two Point Museumdoes a great job of tutorializing the player how to run each museum while giving them flexibility to learn the game themselves. There’s a fine balance and the game gets that just right.
There’s a speaker system that plays while you’re experiencingTwo Point Museumthat gives you subtle hints as to what to do next. It can get annoying every once in a while as it says the same messages every thirty or so minutes, but they can be helpful pointers as well. One annoyance is how it keeps saying you’re missing employees at a stand when they’re on break, while another public announcement can tell you if you have enough donation stations around the museum. It can give you good and bad feedback, helping the player along without holding their hand too much.
Clunky UI for the Console Experience
Throughout the main campaign,Two Point Museumgives you objectives to complete, and at first, these are easy to understand. As you get around the six-to-seven hour mark, however, some of the goals can be frustrating. For example, the game can ask you to reach a certain happiness level with your staff, and for the majority of my time with the game, I had no idea how to raise their wage. The clunky UI on the console version has you select a certain section of the worker’s profile and then press the square button (X on Xbox). Next you have to hover to their wage, which starts right at the bottom, and then you have to raise it. The game doesn’t teach this. To cover my bases, if there was a tutorial, it wasn’t effective enough and didn’t stick in my mind. There’s also no way to view past tutorials in-game from what I’ve played.
As you put your museum together and decorate each display, it’s incredibly compelling and keeps you wanting to play the game for many hours to come as your museum begins to fill up and you expand into new areas. It’s very dangerous, and if you decide to pick upTwo Point Museum,we foresee many 3am gaming sessions in your future.
It can be tedious until you realize that you’re able to actually raise everyone’s pay by 1% in a hard-to-reach menu under Financials. Once again, this wasn’t taught and seems essential. The financials also help you raise ticket prices; we’ll get to that later. On the PS5, the navigation system can feel clunky. When you’re trying to select the shop or the artefacts, you can choose the wrong option for the UI to cling on to. There are also many people walking around, getting in your way at points. Additionally, rather than hovering a mouse over each option in the bottom and right tabs, you have to use a button and then the D-Pad to scroll across each option. It can be a chore to deal with. If you can help it, get the PC version.
There are too Many Curveballs
More often than not, the museum is broke with too many workers with higher wages. It becomes frustrating that you can’t get new exhibits or decorations because the game constantly badgers you to hire new janitors or retail workers. Then, when the workers gain more XP and level up, they require more money from you or they’ll leave. Is the game trying to tell you to fire experienced workers for new employees who can get paid less?
And that’s not all you need to worry about. Some thieves can steal your displays away, lessening the value of your museum. While in a money crunch, I struggled to hire enough security to keep them under surveillance. You can also place security cameras around the museum, but they don’t seem to be helpful as their range is weak. There are so many curveballs thatTwo Point Museumadds into the mix that detracts from the experience. Rather than deal with all these annoyances, I wanted to go back to a relaxing story-based game likeLost Records: Bloom & Rage.
But, it’s a Fun Experience
Within the madness of the controls and the game not teaching you enough about finances, underneath it all is an engaging game. You’re taking employees out on expeditions, finding new artefacts, animals and other items to display in your museum. During these trips, you’ll need to make decisions, affecting the crew (and even their lives at some points) and the time it takes for the trips. It’s entertaining to see some of the displays get completed as you find new dinosaur bones. Unfortunately, the tasks you’re given when it comes to going out on expeditions can be annoying to deal with.
To unlock a new area on the map, you’re required to get pristine items for your museum, and it’s all down to luck. You’re more likely to get pristine items with more visits to each location, but you’ll be spending hours trying to get one pristine item to proceed in the game. This is not fun and wastes your time. Thankfully, you can increase the knowledge level of the artifacts you’ve acquired by putting copies into an analyzer.
Charming British Humor
The game also adds fun museum concepts as you play throughTwo Point Museum.For example, you can make ahaunted hotel-like locationwith living ghosts and creepy objects around the horror-themed area. You can also build an aquarium and name each fish that you catch in expeditions if you want to.
Closing Comments:
While the overall game loop ofTwo Point Museumis a thrilling experience and will keep you hooked for many hours, the execution falls flat throughout the campaign. The tasks asked of you can be frustrating as they sometimes rely upon luck, and while most of the tutorials are great towards the beginning, the lack of explanation about the financial side ofTwo Point Museumis disappointing.
Two Point Museum
Version Reviewed: PlayStation 5
As fledgling curators, you have the task of designing and refining your very own museums to create the ultimate guest experience. Coordinate Experts on far-flung expeditions to discover new Exhibits, generating Buzz to entice droves of knowledge-hungry guests who will expect top info-tainment if they’re to leave impressed. This is all while you keep your Exhibits safe, rooms clean, staff happy… and children off the dinosaur bones.EXPLORING FOR EXHIBITSAs Curator, the design and management of your expanding museum is in your hands! Send your team of partially trained Experts on Expeditions in search of rare and mostly well-preserved artefacts. When (and hopefully not if) your Experts return from their adventure, proudly display their fantastic finds in your museum.You’ll unlock new locations as you decide where the next adventure takes you, and complete a sticker book to document your journey as a souvenir of your discoveries.Your work doesn’t end there; Exhibit maintenance is crucial. While some Experts are gallivanting across Two Point County and beyond, you’re in charge of managing staff back home to ensure Exhibits and the museum stay in tip-top condition. If taking care of the carnivorous Chomper isn’t enough, there are also meddling thieves to watch out for. Thieves, and more frequently, children, are known for touching and grubbing up the displays, so make sure enough security is guarding your prized collection!DESIGN-OSAURSGet creative to design your museum layout your way! You have decorative freedom, so design thematic areas to guide your guests’ visit. Splash paint and lay carpet as you lovingly arrange each prehistoric fern, potentially melting iceman, and skeletal Unihornus dinosaur wherever seems fit.Once you’ve created the perfect atmosphere, arrange guided tours with custom routes led by a charismatic Expert. Tours are a fantastic way to enrich your guests' experience. To keep guests enthused, showcase Exhibits with the highest Buzz - those that are top quality, provide ample info and beautiful decorations are likely to attract the most donations!GUEST-ERTAINMENTGuests know best! The different types of guests who will frequent your museum may have different interests, but they do have some things in common… they expect the place to be kept clean, have plenty of refreshments, ample toilets, and a gift shop filled with goodies. And, of course, they need to be dazzled with knowledge of your Exhibits, which are kept well-maintained… or else you could make them sick.Two Point County will bring a variety of guests to your museum, and they all hope to discover their new favourite Exhibit… From dino fanatics and botany buffs to haunted horror seekers, you’ll need to cater to their personal preferences to meet their needs. By exceeding their expectations, you’re able to keep them engaged, leading to longer visits, increased donations, and glowing reviews!
