The interconnected Bullfroggy universe that is Two Point County continues to expand with the announcement of Two Point Museum, another unconventional management sim from developer Two Point Studios. This one is about museums, believe it or not, with exhibit themes spanning the world of prehistory. Find the trailer below this paragraph, propped up like a freshly brushed Tugowaurus skeleton.
The basics seem to be the same as the previous two games: you build an attractive, labyrinthine space to meet the needs and demands of passersby in order to make money. The theme is well-chosen for laughs, but underneath there’s a relentless machine grinding away to satisfy the metrics. The various relics you can display include dinosaurs that need to be assembled fossil by fossil, primordial stone computers, and giant ice cubes containing not-quite-dead cavemen. Each exhibit generates a buzz, depending on how well you’ve put the pieces together, which translates into more donations from visitors who range in age from nosy schoolchildren to secretive artifact thieves.
Here are some nuggets of precious amber extracted from previous Two Point management simulators that show the differences from the previous ones. Eurogamer Preview. First, the building is no longer confined to rooms: instead, you’ll operate partitions, arches, flooring materials, lighting types, and decorations to structure and define each part of your museum. Hmm, I wonder if I can build another Toilet Maze? That was my greatest achievement in the previous Two Point Campus, which Ed enjoyed. Too bad Two Point’s sense of humor in the game doesn’t extend to NPC bladder explosions.
You’ll acquire novel museum artifacts by sending out fossil hunters and tomb raiders to explore the gradually revealed world map. You’ll also need these experts to keep the exhibits in good order and condition once they’re installed. Exhibits can also be “upgraded” through research to escalate their earning potential.
At the risk of sounding dour again, it’s a rather capricious time for a museum simulation to be revealed, at least in the UK. It’s the ongoing unclear reckoning in our cultural sector with the fact that many prized British museum exhibits are stolen goods that should perhaps be returned to the descendants of the people we stole them from. With comedy Bigfoot ice creams and literal lavalamps, the Two Point Museum (which can be found at Couple) makes no attempt or preparation to join this conversation. I’m not sure how the authors could do it—the difficulty lies in the concept of museums and archives in general. If you want to explore such things, I recommend Aïsha Azoulay’s recent polemical volume Ariella Potential History: Weaning ourselves from Imperialism.
