Two Point, by now, is no doubt a master at what it does; turning everyday environments into charming simulation games that are packed to the brim with chaotic events and zany, British humour. We’ve witnessed a hospital, a college campus, and now, players are soon being invited to step inside Two Point Museum.
But how did the team settle on tasking players with museum curation? When executive producer Jo Koehler, design director Ben Huskins, and design lead Luke Finlay-Maxwell were asked about what led the team to Two Point Museum, and what other settings were suggested, it turns out that the likes of “Two Point Gas Station” and “Two Point Hotel” were initially floated around.
“The thing about the Two Point games is we can take something everyday and twist it, and put our odd sense of humour into it,” Huskins tells VG247. “With Museum, as soon as we stumbled across it in our planning, everyone got really excited,” Koehler adds, “especially from a design perspective, and being able to drill into adventure and discovery.” And thus, Two Point Museum became a reality.
There’s one thing for certain with Two Point, and it’s that each instalment in the series builds upon its past, providing players with an experience that is wholly improved. I felt the same way when I first played Two Point Campus; now Two Point Museum is evoking those same feelings of discovery that Koehler speaks of — and pride to be a fan, even — all over again.
If you’re not familiar with Two Point, you’re presented with a setting — in this instance, a museum — that has a theme, where you’re tasked with sending your staff out on expeditions and getting the museum in pristine condition for your guests. Then, you can rub your hands together and wait as your excitable guests hand over their cash. This is provided you’ve kitted your museum out with enough decor and information boards that your guests are feeling a ‘Buzz’ and acquiring ‘Knowledge’; these are the two values that are ever-important to your guests’ experience of your museum, and thus, how much cash you make. If it’s reminiscent of the old “Theme” games from Bulldog, that’s no surprise: a lot of Two Point Studios’ staff have experience with the old British studio.
This means that the Two Point games don’t offer a new gameplay loop by any means, but the series executes it with such style and charm that all of its games — Two Point Museum included — are increasingly hard to put down. It’s one of those games where “10 more minutes” quickly becomes an hour, if not longer. It’s not Balatro levels of dangerous, but it’s still a threat to any and all of your spare time.
Our first museum during my eight-hour preview was Memento Mile, which specialised in Prehistory — you know, dinosaurs and fossils and all that good stuff — before later taking myself off to Wailon Lodge (a museum specialising in the supernatural) and Passwater Cove (a marine-life museum).
The latter, Passwater Cove, allowed for an interesting combination of staff members and exhibits, blending the marine animals your Marine Life experts collect with ancient, underwater discoveries that only Prehistory experts can unearth. How exactly do you acquire these new exhibits and artifacts, though?
This is where Two Point Museum invites a new gameplay mechanic into the mixer; expeditions. These are key to any successful museum and will be the driving force behind discovering — and displaying — new exhibits and levelling up your staff’s experience. Expeditions allow you to whisk away some of your experts to various areas on the Two Point world map, where after a period of time, they’ll hopefully return with a new exhibit — or new addition to an existing exhibit — for you to show off to your guests.
I say hopefully, because there’s every chance these expeditions can go wrong. Just like in real life. Your experts can become lost at sea, or become victim to sandstorms, to name a couple of less than desirable outcomes. “All of the decisions you make when you’re planning an expedition are dependent on your staff and how you’ve trained them, or cargo items that you have, and then there’s the implications of an expedition right, if they come back injured, or cursed, or whatever it happens to be,” Huskins shares.
That said, the safest and most diligent of experts might find themselves in luck. A ghost guide encountered while curating Wailon Lodge might shave a few days off their trip, or an encounter with a wishing well might grant them even more experience to brag about. This adds another layer to Two Point’s already riveting gameplay, with you needing to decide how your experts may deal with certain scenarios; your answer can be the difference between an expert’s broken nose or their safe return!
That, and the unveiling of new exhibits every time your experts return from an expedition gives me the same kick as pulling an S-tier character in a good gacha game. Fortunately, Two Point Museum has the added benefit of not being a gacha game, so I can unveil new exhibits time and time again without worrying about my real-life bank account.
That said, you will want to keep an eye on your in-game bank account. Players can still take out loans where needed, but if you find yourself bankrupt, you’ll need to prepare to bid farewell to your staff and your exhibits. Alternatively, you can now take on sponsorships that your guests won’t necessarily be pleased about, but they’ll help mop up your debts.
Expeditions and sponsorships aren’t the only new features that players can look forward to. Those with a keen eye for decorating will be overjoyed to hear that even more customisation options have been added to Two Point Museum. Every item you place — excluding exhibits — now has a colour picker, something that Koehler was incredibly excited to have added, so there’s no need for those ticket kiosks to remain hospital blue, or for your benches to be a shade of mahogany you don’t care for. There’s also the ability to build partition walls and fences, so you can section off your museum without having to build new rooms, and you can even customize every single tile of flooring or wallpaper to your heart’s content. Let’s not forget an abundance of decor to adorn your museums with, as well as an all-new lighting system to really set the mood and tone of your prized exhibits.
There’s more in store for Two Point Museum as we approach launch, too, with Huskins sharing that, “what you’ve seen, those are your main museums that you get really attached to, but we also have pop-up exhibition spaces that are a palette cleanser, a change of pace.” These act as fun little side objectives where players can experiment with different strategies, giving players a hard-earned break and something entirely new to look forward to while they work on curating their main museums.
All in all, it’s already safe to say that Two Point Museum is easily going to be the best in series for Two Point. The developer continues to go from strength to strength and build on its past endeavours, feedback from fans, and more, and it’s all shaped up to be a great time so far. One that is incredibly hard to put down.
Two Point Museum was previewed on PC with a build provided by the publisher.
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