Where Two Point Studios seems to have first been founded as a way to bring back a classic franchise, it’s clear this team has outgrown their inspirations.

With Campus, they went beyond the formula with an all-new setting, trialing out new things and opening up a world of possibilities. And now with Two Point Museum, it’s safe to say that the formula has been perfected.

From a UI perspective, to a gameplay flow, to the easy to learn, hard to master controls, and the possibilities open to you and the game’s long-term future, Two Point Museum is so much fun and a massive time sink all at once.

You start out fairly humbly, filling out a small building with prehistoric exhibits, a core group of staff, and decorating everything to make everything feel polished and welcoming.

In that regard, it follows the traditional Two Point fomula of each building giving you different key features, whether that’s a recreational room for staff or a workshop to research new exhibits. This helps you build up the cred and reputation of your museum and eventually get up a star rating so that it can stand apart as a must-visit.

One of the most important ways of doing this is going on expeditions through Two Point County via helicopter. This enables you to find unique, rare and attractive artefacts in a range of locations which you can then display, or even deconstruct to gain valuable perks and benefits.

Each exploration has different requirements, whether it’s assigning one person to a role or multiple, fulfilling certain requirements and uncovering all the discoveries of a previous locations. You can even access multiple different map types so you can find different kinds of exhibits. More on that in a moment.

With assigning these experts, you can also equip them with materials that make the expedition easier, or improve what you get from them, whether that’s a first aid kit to help you in drastic moments or a larger XP bonus. Of course, there’s always risks attached to these expeditions, and always the chance that not all of your team may make it back.

But here’s the catch, often you’re taking staff away from your museum to go on these expeditions and that means you’re leaving gaps in employment. Maybe someone isn’t manning the gift shop, or cleaning up the litter or tending to the exhibits which get natural wear and tear. You either employ more and risk going into debt – or dealing with a staff crisis – or you’re not making your museum interesting enough to stand out from the crowd.

Two Point Museum is a fascinating game, as it just keeps adding layers to the mechanics in order to keep you invested. Eventually you’ll have to entertain children and families, finding creative exhibits to keep them entertained – they’re not all too interested in large info panels – and then there’s thieves who are on the look out for a healthy pay day. Hopefully you’ve got enough security.

Eventually, you’ll also get Health Inspectors coming around to make sure everything is up to code and VIPs wanting to drop in to see if you’re worth endorsing and leaving a review for.

Two Point Museum goes even deeper still, though, actually letting you manage and tend to a variety of museums, like marine aquariums and museums for the supernatural. Here you have different requirements to fulfil such as finding unique and rare fish and being able to provide unique conditions for your plants and fauna with heat and ventilation.

It all soon becomes a balance of keeping your guests happy, your staff content, your exhibits well tended to, and eventually building out additional plots of land to keep expanding. You’ll be able to crossover your museums to go on unique expeditions to find the rarest of artifacts and then even being able to tailor and custom your museum how you see fit with wallpapering and flooring, as well as all of the decals and designs.

Placing these around exhibits creates more of a buzz in your museum which increases guest happiness, it improves the overall quality of the building and adds to your star ratings which unlocks more patterns, decals, buildings and more.

Two Point Museum maps wonderfully to a controller just as it plays effortlessly via mouse and keyboard and it’s this magic that just makes the game so easy to dive into and pick up and play. As strategy games go, it’s one of the most accessible and approachable I can remember in a good long while, but it also has enough layers to it to keep you invested and coming back.

The campaign flows together really nicely and is opened up in a way that you can explore it as you see fit. There’s even a sandbox mode which you can enter and adapt how you see fit and a good overall flow and pace to the game that just doesn’t really tire or get repetitive.

If I did have to lobby one complaint here, it’s not always clear how to fulfil some of the objectives – the buzz bonuses, for instance, did take me a minute to understand what was required from them, and these usually boil down to having a certain exhibit near a particular decal or perhaps a certain fish needs to be accompanied by another. But it’s all a great way of keeping the loop fresh.

And there’s always something different to think about or try. I just absolutely loved playing Two Point Museum, perhaps more than any strategy game I’ve played in a long time. This is true mastery of the craft, finding a way to make the game both enjoyable for everyone and replayable for those who want to stick with it. And using the SEGA mascots to prolong the long term potential is a masterstroke….More Sonic Claw Machines and Green Hill Zone wallpaper in games, please!

I also just want to make a note on the game’s sense of humour as well, really maintaining the fun voice over via radio with fun British coloquisms, but also the way certain characters act, like having children climb on the exhibits and people dressed up at different times of year. When people come back injured from expeditions, they’ll bring tar into the museum or hobble around, almost paying homage to Two Point Hospital and the series roots. It all just brings a quirk or a smile to the face and adds to the charm.

Two Point Museum is easily the best Two Point Game to date, but it’s also one of the best modern strategy games out there on the market. Hours fly by in a blink of an eye and sometimes it feels like you still haven’t scratched the surface. This one comes very highly recommended.

Verdict

Two Point Museum is without question the best Two Point game to date, but is also one of the finest strategy games in recent memory. With approachable design that plays effortlessly on controller, mouse or keyboard, easy to learn mechanics with a suitable amount of depth and gameplay with many intriguing layers to delve into, minutes will become hours and you’ll find the game charms your soul and feel a smile creeping onto your lips again and again. Just a wonderfully designed video game from top to bottom and one I cannot recommend heartily enough. 

Pros

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Two Point Museum is out now on PC, PS,  and Xbox

Played on PC and Steam Deck

Code Kindly Provided by SEGA for review purposes