After exhausting fieldwork that involved rummaging through mud, dirt, and sand and pushing through dense thickets, you return tired to the museum, expecting a calm and dull day of dusting off previously displayed artifacts. But lo and behold – you are greeted by the sight of yet another kid drooling over an artifact thousands of years old! Or perhaps the artifact is missing altogether because the guards have fallen asleep on duty again, and cunning thieves have taken advantage of the situation. I’m not talking about the plot of a new Indiana Jones movie, but rather the wacky management game from Two Point Studios, who have honed their craft through previous games where we managed hospitals and university campuses.
If you are looking for something completely different, check out our review of Funko Fusion!
What Is Two Point Museum About
Here, you find yourself as a curator of one, and later several, museums in a genuinely colourful world with a cartoonish presentation and silly humour. This humour isn’t shoved in your face but is cleverly sprinkled throughout. The best examples are undoubtedly the imaginative exhibition pieces. You’ll see exhibits like a triceratops skeleton with a hammer-shaped tail, a large owl from the Ice Age with four legs, and the most amusing collection of fossils, which includes an old PC with a classic chunky monitor or the ultimate fossil – a large floppy disk.
On a more serious note, your management skills will be tested, though not overwhelmingly so. In short, you have the freedom to design the interior of your museum as you see fit, keeping in mind the available budget. To ensure your funds don’t dry up, attracting as many visitors as possible is essential. The desire to visit the museum will grow as you add more exhibits, which you acquire by sending experts on missions.
The Quality of The Exhibits
The quality of the exhibits varies at the start, and you have no control over this. Sometimes, you’ll find a fossil of mediocre quality, while other times, it will be perfectly preserved. There are four levels of initial preservation, ranging from average (marked in grey) to perfection (marked in gold). The only visual difference is the small coloured markers; the models are identical. A minor oversight in detail, one might say, but I don’t mind too much.
Besides the quality of preservation, the attention an exhibit attracts depends on three other characteristics: interest, informativeness, and overall presentation. Place the object in a visible spot for maximum effect, ensure enough informational panels for visitors to learn something, and decorate the area with various ornaments. And yes, place a donation box to further profit from your archaeological spectacle.
Before you know it, you’ll have many visitors who are quite diverse – you won’t see the same character models too often. As the number of visitors grows, so do their needs. You’ll need to provide enough toilets, snack and drink machines, trash bins, etc. Children aren’t as interested in informational panels, so ensure you have additional entertainment. The need for more staff also grows – cashiers, janitors, and security guards.
Your employees will vary in their prior practical knowledge and personalities, which can have additional virtues and flaws. Someone might be modest and loyal, content with a lower salary, but described as a “terror for toilet bowls,” so you’ll have to decide if you need them.
Types of Museums in Two Point Museum
In addition to exhibition spaces for displaying your finds, you’ll also need other types of rooms, such as a gift shop. Your employees need a break room, a room to educate themselves further to improve at their jobs, a room for analysing found artifacts to gain more knowledge about them, or a workshop that allows you to create new items.
You might think there are different types of museums, not just those displaying bones and fossils. I think the game’s creators chose some odd types of museums for this initial version. Besides prehistory, you can select from botany, maritime, and supernatural-themed museums. I admit a plant museum wouldn’t be my first thought, and the others are somewhat disappointing. While the naval museum has an interesting idea with artifacts from the fictional kingdom of Wetlantis (a counterpart to Atlantis), it mostly boils down to filling aquariums with different fish… and the supernatural one isn’t nearly as spooky as you’d expect. So, it’s a shame the developers didn’t choose other types of museums, like technical museums, music museums, or museums of illusions. Maybe that will come later, but it will likely be paid DLC.
Classic Sandbox or Campaign?
You can experience Two Point Museum through a classic sandbox mode or a campaign that constantly showers you with new tasks to make your museum more prestigious. The campaign is well-directed, and I’d say it has a perfect pace. The game regularly introduces twists and unlocks new decorations for your prominent museum. However, you might occasionally get stuck on a task requiring you to find a specific artifact of a certain quality, which can take a while since seeing them is essentially random.
After spending a long time designing your museum, the campaign introduces a quite refreshing option. It’s a sort of “tower defence” level where your goal is to defend the museum from a significant invasion by various criminal organizations. The main focus is on the tactical placement of guards and cameras and the tense struggle with a lack of workforce to defend against an increasing number of kleptomaniacs within a limited time. I’d love to see more of such innovative twists.
Voice acting is present in various announcements and alerts over the museum’s loudspeakers and infused with a bit of humour. Visually, the game looks quite friendly, at least as much as its charming visual style allows. As you meticulously design your museum and listen to the humorous announcements over the loudspeakers, every detail comes to life with the immersive sound quality of a c6-100 gaming headset – making your management experience even more engaging and enjoyable! On a technical note, the PC version is flawless, which is a rarity nowadays.
In Conclusion
Two Point Museum is a ridiculous and relaxing game where time flies quickly. There’s plenty of content, though there’s a slight regret over the lack of additional themes, i.e., types of museums. I also think the game could have been a bit more challenging regarding management, as you’re not forced to pay attention to every detail as in some similar games. However, all potential flaws are minor, so this title deserves a nice rating, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys this type of game.
Rating: 8.5/10
The game is charming, humorous, and well-designed, but it could benefit from more challenging management mechanics and a greater variety of museum themes.
Recommended Age: 10+
The game’s humour and management mechanics are suitable for kids aged 10 and up. It requires some strategic thinking but remains accessible and fun.