The two point studios have returned after the success of the comedy management simulator 2-point hospital and 2-point campus. I can’t guess what will be done with this new entry to this series.
Yes, that’s right, after you kill (or treat) hospital patients and ignore (or teach) students, two points studios are responsible for running a museum full of ancient crafts. What’s not going well?
A brilliantly designed management sim that is a two-point museum that is the joy of the game, immersed in wit and stupidity (literally).
Not without its flaws, but mainly due to the structure of its central campaign, this game has so much love and charm poured into it that I would like to forgive them.
Become a curator of the best (or at least the richest) museum
The beauty of the Two Points Museum is that it doesn’t just run one museum. You’re running five. Each has a different map, and different themes to suit it (paleontology, supernatural, underwater life, universe, or science).
Each comes with its own goal list when expanding the museum to find new exhibits. At certain points during the main campaign, we recommend switching to another museum, trying out a new museum, or returning to an old museum armed with new knowledge.
All of these are supported by the same mechanism. Of course, at the end of the day, everything is a museum. Regardless of the theme of where you are currently running, you need to sell tickets, find new exhibits, design museums, and keep both staff and guests happy.
There is a cafeteria, gift shops and security rooms needed to grow and run. Get new exhibits by sending staff on expeditions with unique risks, costs and rewards. There are different maps for each main theme, but they all work the same way.
In most cases, these mechanisms are not particularly familiar to anyone who has played Management Sims before. Many different elements need to be tracked and addressed using resources.
However, this familiarity is not negative. Two Point Studios know how to enable you to manage your organization. You always have a list of your goals. This will introduce you to the basics and introduce some mechanics at a later stage.
It’s a bit simple at times, but it’s satisfying to play, whether you’ve played 100 admin sims before or if this is your first.
What I said is that you might think that five different types of museums have not only their skin is insane, but they also have the same substance, but that’s not the case.
The mechanisms in which staff need to resign or stop thieves from stealing your exhibits are certainly the same in all museums, but to display and care for exhibits – perhaps the most prominent part of the game – it’s very different.
The supernatural museum must deal with the demands of captured ghosts (and the demand for acquisition again said ghosts when they escaped).
Don’t start me at the Space Museum. The Space Museum requires special batteries to be collected and placed around the exhibition to supply strange alien technology.
When you run the main campaign, you will be taught new mechanics by visiting each museum in turn and completing a list of goals there. It’s not entirely on the rails, but the map is always open to revisit the old museum.
If you are particularly interested, you can spend more time there. This pre- and post-design keeps you really involved.
There are also three bonus challenge museums. This is pre-designed and tests your skills in a particular field (such as raising crime rates to a ridiculous degree, asking to ask to not let the exhibits get stolen, or asking to get hooked on a marketing campaign).
It’s a fun little extra and a great way to test your skills. Plus, it allows you to see what’s well designed and what looks like – it’s a bit sad that there are only three of them. I feel like there was more they could do there. And if you like such custom-built assignments, you might be a little disappointed.
However, the campaign feels pacing is a little farther apart. Once you complete one list of goals, you will be given a new one, but some of these are easily and quickly engraved (at least, they are easy to understand and tackle), while others are much slower.
There are several sections that allow you to feel like you’re rotating the wheel. Although we haven’t made much progress towards our goal, we can finally get out of the wetlands. Plus, there’s the fact that the campaign assumes it’s been a while since you’ve played the admin sim. This is great for beginners and casual players, but it can be a bit frustrating for experienced players.
Swinging between the various museums may irritate those who want to be engrossed in one area, but honestly, it is telegraphed enough to not cause too many problems. What’s more, if you’re desperate to build one perfect museum without distractions, there’s always a sandbox mode.
Leave the rail (again)
Just as enjoying following a to-do list, there is no denying the joy of sandbox mode, allowing you to create a beautifully designed dream museum without worrying about the cost. Or play the game in hard mode.
The Sandbox mode at Two Point Museum is excellent in its thoroughness and simplicity. Select the map of the museum you want to start (from five campaigns). You choose a mode – creative, career or hardcore.
The three modes are about what you expect. Creatives are tolerant of funds, and careers offer a more standard museum building experience (though I feel it’s a little different from the campaign). In hardcore, you can really test your skills by reducing resources and giving you more challenges.
Those who want to get into the thickness of things and customize precisely to their preferences have more detailed options.
It’s not flashy, but it definitely does the job well and will satisfy anyone looking for a little more playtime with a little less handheld.
Who said that museums are boring?
Two Point Management Sim games are well made and it’s a good job to guide you by learning mechanics without getting bored, but what really makes these games iconic is the humor that underpins everything that’s the cold to the music to build, you can get PA announcements and radio cut-in.
Some of them are informative and reminders when staff are approaching resignation or when guests are stuck behind a wall (there are multiple of them, which you need to know that you need to know everything that two Point Studios expect to play this game), but we expect them all to fall into business strictly.
They are welcome in the game because they are interesting, unexpected, voiced well, and are diverse enough to not be repeated frequently. Some people are connected to each other and have a bit of a storyline!
Now not everyone likes the PA and the humor of the radio system in the game. That’s fine – I’m bored sometimes too. But again, the game is progressively progressively with carefully considered designs. Not only is it easy to find buttons to turn off these witty mistakes, but it also places all the game audio with a proud button that is completely loud and loud.
If you want to listen to podcasts and your own music when you play Management Sims, we’ll meet you.
If that’s not enough, then the PA system isn’t the only game humor. It’s soaking into the game right away. There are so many more ways the exhibits and the guests interact with them. I say that, so if they had some of these exhibits I would go to the museum more often.
There are cheese slugs, frozen monobrows, and plants that turn people into vampires (and the other plants that turn people into clowns, enjoy considering their meaning).
Guests can see them return to what is clearly a cannibal plant, as they are unable to interact with the exhibit even in the usual respectful way, and discover why they should probably not. Plus, of course, all the displays and decorations have a silly little text description for you to read. They don’t let you laugh out loud, but once again, it’s all a bit more fun to enhance the play experience.
The visuals are surprisingly not stopping the show, nor are they music, but again they are well polished, showing the performance experience and improving the sound. In fact, the whole game looks great. If you have the skills and want to do it, you can make the museum more proactive and gorgeous. And even if you don’t, it still looks pretty decent.
There is also the simple fact that besides humor (and on the side), and that it can actually convey that a lot of love and work is included in this game.
I have already mentioned some interesting little interactions that guests can have with the exhibition (and each other), but what I am not saying is that many exhibits have multiple custom animations.
Zoom in to almost every area of the museum, take your hands from the controls, sit and watch for a minute and there are plenty of fun little details that will give you this ridiculous world life. Two Point’s iconic sense of humor and their dedication to crafts really shine in this one.
Final Thoughts
There is plenty of fun with two points museums, whether you are making the cleanest museum possible, getting the most money, or trying to torture your guests. From a small venue with one or two exhibits to a vast center filled with crazy features, it’s fun and extremely satisfying as you do your job to make its evolution happen.
The Two Point Museum is really interesting, deep and fun, and worth sinking enough time.
4 and a half stars (out of 5)
Highlights: Amazing sense of humor, wide displays, long campaigns
Low light: slight pacing problem
Developer: Two Points Studios
Publisher: SEGA
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows, Linux, MacOS
Available: March 4, 2025
Reviews conducted on PC via Steam using release code provided by the publisher.
