Two Point Museum Review (sam)
I loved Two Point Hospital and Two Point Campus, so this was an instant buy for me and my partner. I can't believe it, but it's genuinely better than the previous two installments. They really nailed the whimsy and fantasy of building your museum, and they've made a TON of QOL improvements to how their general sim formula works.
They've overhauled how decor and environment affect your areas, meaning the game doesn't have the notorious "medicine cabinet GP room" spam where you just place one item down repeatedly in a space for the best results. Instead, exhibits value decor, yes, but they also get special bonuses for being near items that match their theming or specific decor pieces. And the decor pieces are diverse enough in theme and size that you feel inspired to make each exhibit feel fun and unique. My partner especially liked this, as she always hated when you hit the point in previous games where you felt like you had to abandon the fun theming for efficiency. We're over halfway through our campaigns, and she's mentioned that this one feels like the best because you're still so excited to get new exhibits and make new rooms/areas 20+ hours in. I'm totally in agreement, and I ended up even starting a second playthru and sandbox playthru just to experiment with different designs on the same maps.
The excavation system is fun and engaging, and I like how as you go down each tree, it feels like a puzzle with little micro-goals to unlock new mysterious exhibits. It's way more engaging than how Campus did courses, or how Hospital unlocked disease and treatment rooms.
The writing and general design is, as always, charming and witty. They've also made improvements to how campaign flow works in a very positive way: instead of feeling like you have to push through one map all the way to three stars--risking burning out on "same-yness," you actually travel back and forth between museums. This prevents the self-pressure to run through a map, and also incentivizes you to carry what you've learned on different maps back to older ones, both in the form of new mechanics and new areas of interest. Later maps have a lot of opportunities for synergies within disciplines--like supernatural and botany, or prehistoric and sea life, meaning as you progress you can add really cool hybrid areas to older maps. Plots also have unlock goals as you progress through the campaign, meaning you're ensured you always have a fun new area to build on in older maps. Map identity feels unique, and I loved the general theming for each location. Popping up onto each map for the first time always felt exciting, and it really made me excited to see the future locations and disciplines they could design in DLC.
Also of note: pathing is IMMENSELY improved. Both me and my partner noted you no longer need to fear tighter corridors or oddly placed objects. NPCs have much better AI when it comes to moving around the museum, and there's much less risk of them being dumb and needing a vending machine or a trash can every five feet just to prevent them from dying. The guests also smartly stay near designed areas, so you don't have to really block off parts of the building. There's a few small kinks I think they need to work out with the touring mechanic, as it feels really unforgiving (shorter tours of literally two or three exhibits are rated highest, and god forbid your guests have to schlep a whole five yards to take in the full experience) and occassionally buggy on the pathfinding. My poor partner had to redesign her space cheese room like four times before realizing that the reason the tour pathed into the exhibit, back out, and then back in again, was because she had a floating planet decoration that was technically "blocking" the route.
All in all, bugs are extremely minor and not game-breaking. The game feels remarkably polished, and I started playing on early launch. In today's age, a game coming out this clean is unheard of, and the team should be REALLY proud of what they've made. It's fun, charming, polished and overall a great example of how iteration and improvement can be great for a franchise. I find myself already eagerly anticipating the DLCs. It's also already got a few mods on Steam Workshop, which I think greatly increases longevity for a game like this. It's always fun to have new decor options, and mod makers in this community tend to be so talented. :)
The one dream mode I'd love to see is a sort of randomizer sandbox mode, where excavations and map locations have randomized unlock goals and rewards; I think it would add a lot of fun replay and challenge.
Keep up the great work Two Point team! And congrats on an incredible launch!!!!