It might just be me, but something about management games just feels better on a handheld. Yes, I know they’re probably more suited to the direct control of a mouse and keyboard, but there’s something satisfying about seeing a game that complex squished down to be played on a controller and an 8-inch screen while you lay on the sofa. I spent some time with Two Point Museum earlier this year on PC and was thoroughly impressed by it, and I’m pleased to say that barring some slightly ropey performance issues, it’s as great a game as ever on the Nintendo Switch 2.
If you’ve not played a Two Point game before, they’re spiritual successors to the Theme Park/Theme Hospital series of games by Bullfrog. They capture the same blend of in-depth management sim gameplay and slapstick British humour, but where Two Point Hospital and Campus felt a little too close to the original series for me, Two Point Museum evolves the formula in a few meaningful ways.
As with any management sim there’s a lot to learn and master, but I love that you can boil Two Point Museum down to a simple mission of trying to educate and entertain your patrons. As you design and fill out your museum, there are 2 main measures of success for this: Buzz and Knowledge. Buzz is a measure of how entertaining your museum exhibits are, and while its base level is dictated by the exhibit itself (rarer exhibits generate more buzz), you can boost this by decorating the area around the exhibit. It’s a smart way of blending the more creative side of the game with the logistics of maxing out the buzz, and ensures you’re not just sticking down exhibits and forgetting about them. Entertaining exhibits are great, but Knowledge is equally important. Surround your exhibits with information boards and you’ll start educating your patrons, and combined with Buzz will ensure they leave happy and dig deep when they reach the donation bins.
At the heart of all this is the expedition system: by sending members of your staff on trips into the great unknown, they’ll bring back new things to display in your museum. Soon you’ll build an inventory of rare and unusual specimens that’ll delight and educate your guests in equal measure, which means more money to spend on bigger and more treacherous expeditions. The system is great, and has more layers than you’d expect as you’ll need to meet multiple types of criteria to explore locations further afield and bring back higher value targets. You’ll quickly settle into a rhythm of rotating your team to ensure they all get a go on expeditions, and putting together the right team for each trip so that you’re sending the right kind of expert and a team with passive perks that’ll allow them to succeed.
When it comes to depth, we’re just scratching the tip of the iceberg here. There are multiple museum types, each with their own slightly different quirks. Prehistoric museums seem fairly straightforward but you’ll need to maintain strict climate controls to ensure your man-eating plants stay alive and your frozen cavemen stay… frozen. Aquariums involve finding the right combination of fish that can co-exist and even thrive together, while supernatural museums offer a spooky spin on that concept.
There’s a ton of variety, not just in locations but in how you manage your museums too. Do you want a huge staff of generalists that can cover every aspect of maintaining the museum? Or do you want to run with a specialised skeleton crew that each have specialised roles, so certain janitors focus on litter or maintenance, while a pair of security guards concentrate on emptying the donation bins? Both are valid options, and the game gives you enough granular control that you can manage in your preferred way. Likewise when it comes to making money, you can manually edit the pricing for every aspect of your museum, or even take on sponsorship opportunities to unlock additional income. Every day in Two Point Museum is a school day, and I was always learning more about the tools and mechanics available.
Unfortunately the game does have a few issues that weren’t encountered during our original Two Point Museum review earlier this year. While the Nintendo Switch 2 does feel like an excellent home for the game, and handheld is undoubtedly my favourite way to play, the performance can be a little wobbly at times. The game seems to run at around 30fps, and while sometimes it can actually feel quite smooth, other times it’ll be juddering to the point I found it uncomfortable to play. Weirdly though, I wasn’t able to work out what in-game situations were causing it.
Even with a dense, crowded museum the framerate can be fine, but then two minutes later in a quieter area it’ll start chugging. It did seem to get better as I played more of the game, so I hope that the game continues to see further improvement. Controls can be a bit overwhelming too, and despite me vastly preferring to play these types of games on a handheld, the button layout can get complex at times, especially when delving into sub-menus. There also didn’t seem to be Joy-Con mouse controls, which was a surprise. I’m not exactly the biggest fan of them, but it seemed like a no brainer for a management sim like this.
Despite this, there’s a lot to love about the Switch 2 version of Two Point Museum. The pick-up/put-down nature of handheld gaming is the perfect fit for management sims, especially something that feels a little more laidback like this. The cheeky British charm of the visuals have carried across well and the game looks pretty good on the Switch 2’s screen, with plenty of details as you zoom closer to floor level.
The game still sounds great too, with the standout being the announcer on the PA. Not only does she nail the “Patients are asked not to die in the corridors” style of humour from Theme Hospital, her announcements are actually hints at your museums’ shortcomings, and she’ll wryly point out if you’re low on donation bins or information boards. It’s a great way of reducing on-screen bloat and bringing those important messages into the game itself.
Two Point Museum is a great entry into the management sim genre, and, for my money, the best game in the Two Point series. Despite performance hiccups and confusing controls, I think the Nintendo Switch 2 is a great place to play it and after a few hours with the game you’ll be happier than a yeti in the Frozen Cave-Person exhibit.
