Two Point Museum Preview
If you’re a fan of sim building games like Planet Coaster or Cities Skylines, there’s a good chance you’ve played Two Point Hospital or Two Point Campus. The latter two games combine legit building mechanics with a good deal of wit and humor. Now the developer is set to release Two Point Museum. I had an all-too-brief chance to get my hands on the upcoming game. Just like Hospital and Campus, Two Point Museum is a relaxing good time.
Curated Content
Like in the previous games, your task is to build a thriving business. You are the Curator of a museum that begins as essentially an empty building at the heart of Two Point County. The game has a seemingly simple but definitely satisfying loop. You send a team out to collect artifacts and then put them (the artifacts, not the team) on display as enticingly as you can. This brings in customers so you can repeat the process.
There are a couple of primary aspects to the game. First, there’s the building sim. This means creating attractive, educational displays. But it also includes adding amenities like snack machines and gift shops, hiring support staff, and expanding the building itself. Developer Two Point has dialed in making this process easy and entirely frustration-free, thanks to intuitive menus and controls. Like with every well-made building sim, it’s easy to get lost in the process.
The other aspects of Two Point Museum are the research and economic considerations. You need to train researchers and staff and unlock new and more challenging sites out in the field. The rarer artifacts come with a hefty price tag in expedition costs. Some sites have difficult weather or other dangers. You have to balance safety with speed. Do you want that exhibit up quickly, but at the cost of endangering your excavation team? Sure you do.
Dem Bones
At least in the bit that I played, exhibits consisted primarily of fossils and bones of prehistoric creatures. Of course, focusing on dinosaurs sidesteps the whole “plundering your culture for financial gain” issue which plagues some museums. It would be cool to have other themed museums, like an art museum. Maybe that’s coming?
Like all the Two Point games, the art style in Two Point Museum is colorful, stylized, cartoony, and fun. The little Sim-like visitors have a fairly broad range of animations and behaviors, though there are obviously a few repeated models once the crowds are really pouring in. The dinosaurs are invented and whimsical versions of their real-life counterparts. It’s exciting when a team returns from the field and you get to unbox whatever it is they dug up. Sometimes, like a pack of Pokémon cards, you get a repeat or two, which you can send to storage or sell.
Open Exhibits
Although at the beginning of the game, your choices are limited, eventually you open up a wider range of decorative items, shops, furniture,e and construction pieces. Like all builder sims, adding more of this stuff later via updates or DLC will help prevent Two Point Museum from going extinct. I really enjoyed my visit to Two Point Museum, and I’m excited to play the final release come March 4, 2025.
Thank you for keeping it locked on COGconnected.
