Review: Two Point Museum Shows Even History Has a Price Tag

In the 90s, a notable number of management games emerged, with one of them being Theme Hospital. Its satirical and humorous approach of including fake illnesses rather than real ones created a unique tone that was hard not to find amusing. Who can forget the iconic image of patients having swollen heads or people running around thinking they’re Elvis Presley? This led to it forging a dedicated fanbase and becoming a cornerstone of the simulation genre.

The spiritual successor, Two Point Hospital, captured this same charm and delivered healthcare in the same chaotic and comedic fashion that made the original so memorable. Two Point Campus launched a few years after its success, further solidifying the franchise’s reputation. Now, the developers, Two Point Studios, continue its tradition of wacky business management games with Two Point Museum and deliver an experience that’s on par with its predecessors.

While previous instalments of the series addressed topics like healthcare and education, Two Point Museum centers on the pursuit of knowledge and entertainment. Although this theme may not be as impactful on surface value, the game still successfully captures what has made the series enjoyable while occasionally poking fun at the absurdist pitfalls of capitalism. There are two modes you can select from: sandbox and campaign. Sandbox mode allows you to jump straight into the action and create tailored goals or play without constraints as you design the museum in your own image. On the other hand, campaign mode is more structured and is likely where you will spend most of your time, as the levels will have specific objectives to achieve.

The campaign starts with you stepping into a once-grand museum that has been abandoned and fallen into disarray due to neglect. Your mission is to revitalize this cultural gem while ensuring the Department of Culture is satisfied with your progress. This involves various responsibilities, such as hiring and managing staff, attracting visitors and generating profits. All these mechanics are explained in a nice, welcoming manner, making Two Point Museum very newcomer-friendly. The first few hours of the gameplay also reflect this gentle tone, although obtaining some later ratings will require quick action and out-of-the-box thinking.

For returning players, many of the basic features remain the same, like pausing and fast-forwarding time, creating rooms with specific specs, and ensuring the area is maintained well with trash or temperature. Even the controls and mechanics are consistent with previous instalments, keeping the familiar theme, style, and aesthetics we’ve all grown to love. Even the radio commentators are back with their satire and wiseacre anecdotes like “childish behavior will be met with childish retribution”.

The main attraction of any museum will be its exhibits, which all come from different historical disciplines. There are six primary exhibit types, many of which are silly and delightful in the best way possible. Some are from the prehistory period, like a bee being preserved in a huge goo of honey, while others have supernatural origins, including dead spirits beyond the grave. This gives each museum location a distinctive vibe and makes you feel like you’re creating something special. The manner in which the guests interact with these exhibits can also be quite funny, like kids climbing on gigantic dinosaur bones or guests using carnivorous, man-eating plants as deck chairs.

However, you cannot obtain these exhibits by looking at a glossy catalogue and choosing what you want. Instead, you’ll have to get them the old-fashioned way by grabbing them yourself. To do this, you’ll have to send out staff members to find the exhibits in expeditions. To begin this operation, you’ll need to access the museum’s business helicopter (let’s put aside concerns about carbon footprints, as there are incredible wonders to discover). You can then assemble your dream Indiana Jones team to explore the wilderness. Think of it like an effective team scouting system.

Just like the exhibits, some of the locations your employees travel to are pretty out there, like an ice cave or an outer space planet filled with cheese. If you send out unprepared staff members to an expedition, there’s a high chance that they’ll get injured or develop an illness. This is why ensuring your staff members are trained in particular skills to combat these potential scenarios is essential, which adds another strategic layer to the gameplay. Expeditions are by far my new favorite feature. It’s a constant juggling act managing the museum’s day-to-day operations whilst simultaneously sending out staff in the background to go out on expeditions. It’s also quite exciting when the expedition ends and staff return with a new relic for the museum. Putting a new tropical fish in an aquarium or building up a full-length dinosaur was oddly satisfying.

How engaging these exhibits will be to visitors is determined by how much buzz and knowledge they have. You can increase these attributes in various ways, such as placing info stands, donation pots and same-themed decorations near the exhibit. This is why room structure is key, as where you place things really matters. You can also add partition walls and doors to modify the museum’s interior design to benefit the exhibits. One-way doors can help direct foot traffic with visitors and gently push them to enter certain rooms, while staff-only doors can allow employees to travel within the building quickly. The museum starts coming together when you begin imploring all these tactics, and it’s pretty rewarding to see the museum become a hustling business with an immense, elaborate structure.

Like any wealthy business, becoming too large can attract unwanted attention. Unfortunately, this often comes in the form of robbers trying to break into the museum to steal your valuable exhibits. This situation can lead you to engage in a game of cops and robbers, as you’ll need to stay vigilant for these criminals. The security staff can apprehend the thieves by using security control rooms and installing cameras around the premises to monitor the area. That said, this is not the only danger to the museum because if exhibits are not maintained, they can also pose a risk like supernatural poltergeists getting loose and haunting the museum. It can get pretty chaotic and even start hurting income in the long term if it’s not addressed. But at the same time, it’s so ludicrous that it’s hard not to let out a laugh. How can I keep a straight face when a caveman starts attacking the donations pots or a swarm of bees head towards the public?

To move on to the next part of the campaign, you must achieve various objectives that will earn you a star rating. Unlike prior entries in the series, you will be forced to move on to other stages in the campaign once you’ve earned a star and will have to return later to get the next rating. Therefore, getting three stars at a museum is impossible until you reach a certain point in the campaign. This hopscotch approach is a bit distracting, as every time you go back to a stage, you are always familiarizing yourself with the museum again.

Interestingly, as the exhibits are your main commodity rather than the guests themselves, you spend more time on the layout and how the business runs than in prior titles. You would think that this would substantially change the experience, but it has very little impact. In fact, it made me reflect on the real-life museum business structure as a whole, as it heavily relies on donations from the public to keep operating. Museums often allow us to peek into other historical periods and learn from their accomplishments and mistakes, which we should want to preserve. Two Point Studios has cleverly brought up these thought-provoking questions about another business industry and has reminded me that I should visit a few museums in the near future.

If you find the gameplay loop of the Two Point franchise repetitive, then this title won’t suddenly make you start seeing it from a different lens. However, fans of the genre will feel right at home with Two Point Museum, as it changes just enough of the core features to make it enjoyable and refreshing. Truthfully, Two Point Hospital is still my favourite entry, as you can fully grit your teeth into one stage before moving on to the next. But this is still a delightful experience, and if you’re on the hunt for your next business management title, then be sure to put Two Point Museum on your radar. 

Two Point Museum will be available on PS5, PC and Xbox Series X/S on February 27, 2025.