Two Point Museum review — Time to get dusty

When you’re as deep into the Two Point universe as we are, you’ll know that we were hollering when they first announced their latest installment, Two Point Museum. I can imagine a lot of other people raised their eyebrows and thought “What kind of Facebook game is this, with its goofy demeanour and management gameplay?”, but do NOT underestimate what this game has to offer. Its fanbase is dedicated and is treated to a feast whenever the next game rolls around. You have the option of running a Hospital, University and now, a Museum. In my opinion, the formula has gotten so much better each time, its potential expanding and resulting in their best entry yet. Two Point Museum is a layered management sim with so much to offer in every aspect and is a game I will sink hours and hours into, effortlessly. So let us unpack what she has to offer!

Two Point Museum is packed with so many features I’m surprised that the game didn’t explode. We highly recommend playing the story mode to ease yourself into each museum before jumping into sandbox mode. Each museum feels completely different in what they have to offer. Of course, you have universal features, but I found myself gorging on going from building aquariums to hosting spirits in their specially fitted hotel rooms. You’re given 5 museums in the base game, Memento Mile, Passwater Cover, Wailon Lodge, Bungal Wasteland and Pebberley Heights. All extremely different sandboxes with their own themed exhibits and decorations.

Speaking of exhibits, instead of simply purchasing them, Two Point Museum incorporates its addicting expedition system where you send members of your staff to hunt down fossils and dive for fish. The map is separated into locations that each have their own collection of exhibits. Hilariously, it acts as a gatcha system where some exhibits are rarer than others and they can come in different qualities, from average to pristine. This means you are much more obliged to revisit them, with dinosaur bones exhibits even having 4 different parts to discover to complete the exhibit. Each location is locked behind small goals and have conditions your staff will have to meet in order to be successful… or survive. Like in previous entries, staff have skill slots and these skills can help in expeditions. A janitor may have the skill to fly the helicopter, which can stop the crew from damaging it, or one of your experts can have survival skills to find their way through a forest. Expeditions were extremely fun to sink your teeth into with how layered they were, with maps expanding as you open more museums. Maps are not segregated either, as I progressed through the pre-historic map, I found I could discover botany exhibits, mixing up the required staff needed in one Museum.

Of course, staff are still incredibly important in Two Point Museum. If you’re a veteran I can spare you the details, but for newcomers you can employ experts, who restore exhibits, assistants who man the ticket booths and gift shops, janitors who clean up rubbish and fix things and the new addition to the family, Security. They patrol your Museum in case any criminals show up to vandalize exhibits or even steal them. We agreed that this was the most frustrating aspect of the game as when your Museums get bigger, you need to ensure more cameras and guards are in action. As you play the game, you unlock other ways to catch criminals with the trade-off of having different criminal gangs to chase after. Yes, you read the right, Two Point County has a whole criminal underworld going on.

Customization has definitely reached its peak in Two Point Museum with the freedom you’re given and the strong theming around each Museum. An absolute game-changer is the wall tool, which helps you create unique spaces for your exhibits with all nooks and crannies to decorate. You can also change the floor to a musty carpet or the walls to a cold stone which elevates any certain mood you’re trying to create. They can be limited at first, but you can buy more through the returning Kudosh system and unlock them through knowledge points.

In this game, you’re encouraged to get duplicates of your exhibits so you can deconstruct them to gain knowledge. This knowledge then buffs your existing exhibits that are on display and in turn generates more buzz in your guests. It becomes more important as you go on to late-game Museums, especially Pebberley Heights which has the player flying to outer space to discover Astral Anomalies. They come with no previous knowledge, so to get their full potential, you’re encouraged to deconstruct all the new ones you find. These exhibits also now need to be activated to work. These activated exhibits change the way you’re able to design a room because things have to be near each other to function, adding extra levels to strategy in this particular museum.

Once your Museums are all set up you need to find a way to sustain them. Hello Capitalism. In contrast to Hospital and Campus, which are extremely money-orientated industries, you would be making millions in those games. But in Two Point Museum, you rely on donations and other means of income. Two cool options are the tours and sponsorships. Tours are definitely your money-makers, so long as you set them up properly. Their quality depends on their route, which exhibits you visit, how far visitors have to trail. You get bonus points if they stick to a coherent theme. We liked to have one for each type of exhibit so people know what they’re getting into. The other money-making option is sponsorships which is a bit more limited in its capabilities and I wish there was more potential in it. Essentially you are paid for promoting other companies’ products, like cheese puff plushies or a music festival mural. They’re a bit disconnected to the themed museums you’re trying to go for, but a pretty cool addition that makes sense for the setting.