Back in 2018 whenTwo Point Hospitalfirst came out, I don’t think anyone truly expected the developer to spin out a whole franchise. In 2025, though, we haveTwo Point CampusandTwo Point Museum, and the latter, in particular, is an absolute delight.
Make no mistake, I adored bothHospitalandCampusin their own ways.Two Point Hospitalcame about as an honest-to-goodness, albeit goofy, follow-up to the legendaryTheme Hospital, and it very well could’ve stood on its own as a standalone product.Two Point Campus, on the other hand, proved that there was merit in making a franchise out of thisWallace & Gromit-esque schtick. The game had its own set of issues, however, most of which stemmed from the fact that all the actual management was done between semesters, withCampusplaying itself when things truly kicked off.
Two Point Museum, however, solves all the problems I had with its predecessors. It doesn’t have the automation issues that came about inCampus, and it doesn’t suffer from being an essentially solvable game, likeHospital. No,Museumkeeps players on their toes for way longer than any otherTwo Pointtitle, and I’m thrilled to report thatZoey Handley’s preview for the game was spot-onin a few key ways.
There are two fundamental improvements Two Point Studios has delivered upon withTwo Point Museum:
The first novelty, in particular, cannot be overstated: whereas you used to be able to wrap up a facility and simply move on to greener pastures inHospitalandCampus,Museuminstead specifically tasks you with improving and upgrading old levels over and over again. You might head on over to an afterlife-themed facility later on in the campaign, which leads to a whole bevy of thematic (and goofy!) upgrades. All of them can subsequently be applied to your older museums, which in turn increases their ratings and nets you more currency and evenmoreunlockables.
Levels are no longer “solved” after just one playthrough, which makes them rewarding to replay over and again, each time iterating upon your optimal exhibition layout to a greater extent. This is the ultimate solution to the priorTwo Pointtitles’ biggest problem, and makesMuseumthe kind of game that’s hard to put down. There’s always something going on, and there’s alwayssomething you could be iterating on.
Management games aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, that’s a given. Yet, I can’t help but feel thatTwo Point Museumshows that you don’t have to sacrifice accessibility to make a truly compelling game of this kind.
The last couple of months have given us some of the best games we’ve seen over the past years. BetweenAvowed,Monster Hunter Wilds, andKingdom Come: Deliverance 2, there’s absolutely no shortage of awesome, dynamic, and immersive action games to play for hundreds of hours on end. Yet, I can’t help but playTwo Point Museuminstead. It’s so good of an experience that I can’t set it down.
Crucially, I hopeTwo Point Museumis a crucial turning point for the franchise. Two Point Studios has seemingly figured out how to elevate its management gameplay loop beyond issues present in its older titles. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy or straightforward to apply a similar approach to whatever the nextTwo Pointgame might, but it’s a delightful sign of things that are hopefully to come.
That’s a different can of worms, however. In the interim, the main takeaway is thatTwo Point Museumis an absolute joy to play. Between its humor, the lovely visuals, and an inviting gameplay loop, there’s really not much else a genre fan could ask for. So go and play it, already!
