I’ve always found museums relaxing. They are usually quiet, compelling yet educational, and each one you visit is different. Museums about my interests will always be the best, but I’m quite happy in a wide range of art galleries, exhibitions, or even aquariums. They are an escape from the chaos of everyday life.
When the holidays come around though, life is often more chaotic than normal, yet these refuges of peace are all closed. I can’t stroll through a dinosaur exhibit to calm my nerves on Christmas Day, nor sit in a planetarium for some peace and quiet. At least not in real life. Thankfully, Two Point Museum provides an immersive alternative that scratches that same itch, and is just as calming.
Two Point Museum Finally Gives Sandbox Mode A Reason To Exist
Building a museum is better than building anything else.
A Strong Title By A Strong Team
Two Point is a studio that knows its strengths. A team with a background in classic simulation games like Theme Hospital, it has chosen to focus on what it knows, and that happens to be my favourite game genre. While I enjoyed both Two Point Hospital and Two Point Campus, Two Point Museum is easily my favourite of the three.
In the past, I’ve wandered around my fair share of in-game museums. Some are just big rooms filled with items on pedestals, while others are more in-depth. Animal Crossing: New Horizons previously held my award for best game museum for a very long time. I loved customising the entrance, and wandering around seeing not just shelves displaying items but also a butterfly garden becoming more populated, and an aquarium brimming with fish. I had a part in every single thing that called this place home. Now Two Point has taken this idea and turned it up to 11.
So Many Things I Love
Two Point Museum allows you to build your own titular facilities using several themes: general, prehistory, botany, supernatural, marine life, science, and space initially, with digital, fantasy and wildlife arriving as updates and DLC. There are up to seven locations to build in, each with its own set of themed goals, as well as some extra challenges, alongside sandbox mode.
You can build with these targets closely, or just go freeform with any location allowing you to gather and display exhibits of any type, as long as you meet the criteria. This means that your museum can hit whatever theme you prefer and mix and match as much as you desire.
While you don’t need to worry too much about details to get fairly far in the game, there’s a joy I found in learning how to optimise your guest’s experience. I love crafting the kind of museum I want to visit, then use the guest cameras to see if it fulfills my expectations.
You’ll need to send staff on expeditions to find artifacts to display, and it’s finding and assembling these that is one of the game’s greatest joys. Some exhibits, mostly dinosaur skeletons, comprise several parts that all need to be found, while others are fully intact. Some exhibits require specific temperatures or humidities, and others are simply blueprints for contraptions to build. There’s variety in every aspect of the game, and it’s enough to keep you immersed for hours as your family are busy bickering in the other room.
A Calming Experience
As the world gets louder, I can find peace in assembling and dusting artifacts, creating optimal paths for my visitors, and making sure they are well educated. I’ve spent hours assembling themed areas with a wide range of decorations, and even created a winter wonderland with the festive-themed event currently running.
Not only does my chain of museums have a wide variety of artifacts, thanks to the Zooseum DLC animals, it also has a hefty dose of British humour. Exhibits and animals alike have punny names, weird and wonderful designs, and are generally a lot of fun to explore. If you start messing around with the temperature in the frozen exhibit area, you can also discover a few secrets.
In the absence of a real-world museum to lose hours to, Two Point Museum is an excellent stand-in. Not only can I visit when the regular museums are closed, but I don’t even have to get dressed. My guests don’t mind if I build them an exciting new section of exhibits while wearing Christmas PJs and stuffing my face with chocolate. Especially in sandbox mode, this is truly an experience with no pressure and a space to just build something, which makes my calm-requiring, museum-loving soul very happy indeed.
Yakuza 5 Isn’t Your Average Christmas Game, But It’s Definitely One Of The Best
Nothing says Christmas like a Hatsune Miku ice sculpture in Yakuza 5.
