Two Point Museum is equal parts exciting & educational

Two Point Museum is an upcoming business sim in the Two Point series, where your main challenge is to maintain and curate museum exhibits. While it may sound a chore on paper, the game is everything but.

As someone who enjoys simulation games, I’ve always loved the idea of opening and managing a business. Two Point games are known for that. The first was Two Point Hospital, released in 2018, followed by Two Point Campus and just around the corner is the recently announced Two Point Museum.

While I’ve pumped hours into many simulation games before, Two Point Museum is my first entry into this particular series. The game puts you into the shoes of a museum curator and manager, where your job is to design the layout of the exhibits, retrieve artifacts, hire experts, and so much more.

After a few hours with an early build of the game, trying out all sorts of features, it’s quickly struck a chord with me and I can already tell I’ll be hooked for the long run when the full game is available.

Crafting the perfect exhibit

I first started my run in a prehistoric museum, where everything was a blank canvas. Initially, I was a little worried that I’d get a bit overwhelmed, given that there are a bunch of things to keep in mind when slowly building out a museum, but the instructions were all straightforward and clear, so there was not much of an issue.

Of course, before everything else, I had to set up my prehistoric collections for display. That means sending staff on expeditions to collect them, and the most interesting part is that there are risks involved.

Sometimes, the site’s weather is too dangerous, or there are many illnesses around, and these staff members could return with injuries, making them unable to work immediately. 

Multiple locations can also be unlocked in the game, all with varying conditions. Knowing this, I had to strategize who was doing what, as I also needed some of them to be on standby and take care of the artifacts already in the museum. It’s a constant balance and one that’s deeply addicting.

Overall, the game does an excellent job of introducing you to the management aspect without making things too complicated as you learn one thing after another.

A realistic approach to museum managing

Two Point Museum is more than designing your museum layout and placing your precious rare collections of fossils. You also need to maintain these artifacts and even have a Gift Shop, among other things, to keep the money pouring in.

One thing that made the experience even more immersive was that the museum workers, like real humans, can get tired and burnt out. Yes, you read that right.

During my playthrough, I also had to allocate some of my budget to create a Staff Room. This is so my hard-working and always smiling employees can take lunch breaks, recover from injuries, or recharge their energy before returning to work with their needs met.

And that’s just scratching the surface, as they also need training and so much more to ensure the operations are smooth. It’s a rich simulation with plenty to keep you on your toes at every turn.

Details that make the game stand out

Another exciting feature is that once artifacts have been placed, they actually need to be decorated so attendees are more inclined to check them out. To me, this felt like a really nice addition that made curating the whole museum feel more worthwhile. You want to go that extra step to reap the reward when crowds pour in.

The game doesn’t feel grindy because, at the end of the day, it’s not just about adding more collections. There’s so much more to it to really personalize your experience. During the preview, I also spent a lot of time thinking about what would make the crowd enjoy my exhibit and stay longer.

I couldn’t help but chuckle seeing these little humans enjoying their time as I realized these things make the game all the more fun. And with three kinds of museums available, I can already imagine the business sim’s replayability once it’s fully out on March 4, 2025.