Two Point Museum (PC) review: A charming game that's buried in micromanagement

Note: This review was first published on 12 March 2025.

There’s an inherent charm to Sega’s Two Point Museum that pulls you in from the start. The allure of running your own museum, curating elaborate exhibits, and designing spaces that feel like an extension of your own eccentric creativity – it’s all very seductive. That is, until the creeping realisation sets in that you’ve stopped being a curator and have instead become a glorified number-cruncher desperately trying to balance the fine line between visitor satisfaction and economic survival. What starts as an exercise in whimsical interior design slowly morphs into an endless struggle with spreadsheets disguised as gameplay mechanics.

The game follows in the footsteps of Two Point Hospital and Two Point Campus, offering a management sim brimming with humour and irreverence. This time, the task is to build and operate a museum, which means not only placing exhibits and making things look aesthetically pleasing but also handling logistics, staff morale, and the ever-demanding whims of visitors. They want to be entertained, educated, well-fed, and never too far from a conveniently placed toilet. The sheer density of mechanics at play is impressive, but it’s also where the game starts to feel like it’s teetering under its own weight.

Exhibits are the lifeblood of the museum, and acquiring them involves sending staff on expeditions. These missions introduce an almost RPG-like element, where you have to consider factors like equipment, team composition, and potential hazards. A seemingly simple task of retrieving a fossil could turn into a logistical nightmare when a team returns empty-handed due to a lack of preparation. It’s an interesting layer of depth but one that demands constant micromanagement. The novelty of these missions wears thin when you realise how much time is spent just ensuring your expeditions don’t fail. And when failure means redoing the entire process from scratch, the fun starts to erode quickly.

The micromanagement doesn’t stop there. The museum itself requires constant upkeep, from ensuring janitors are keeping the floors spotless to making sure researchers are working efficiently. Staff members need training, breaks, and the occasional morale boost to keep them from quitting outright. At some point, you realise you’re spending more time babysitting employees than actually designing anything interesting. The museum, the very thing you were excited to build, becomes secondary to an endless loop of task management.

That’s not to say there’s no joy to be found. The level of customisation is genuinely impressive. You can create intricately designed wings, dictate visitor flow with one-way barriers, and even install staff-only doors to keep the riffraff out of restricted areas. There’s deep satisfaction in seeing a well-laid-out museum operate smoothly, with guests flowing seamlessly from one exhibit to the next, engaging in the displays, and inevitably exiting through the strategically placed gift shop. But for every moment of satisfaction, there’s an equally frustrating reminder that you’re constantly being pulled in too many directions.

Progression is where Two Point Museum stumbles the most. Unlocking new features and decorations often means grinding through objectives that feel more like chores than challenges. Want that beautiful new decorative piece for your atrium? Well, time to send another expedition to find the resources, train a specialist to handle it, wait for the research to be completed, and hope that no unforeseen disaster sets you back. The game introduces so many interconnected systems that it occasionally forgets to just let you have fun. The joy of designing and curating takes a backseat to the mechanics that should be supporting it.

The humour remains a highlight, though. Two Point games have always leaned heavily into their absurdity, and this one is no different. From bizarre staff demands to the peculiar ways visitors interact with exhibits, there’s always something to chuckle at. The game doesn’t take itself seriously, which makes it even more frustrating when its mechanics demand that you do. There’s a disconnect between the playful aesthetic and the often laborious task of keeping everything running smoothly.

Ultimately, Two Point Museum is a game that feels like it was designed with too many ideas fighting for space. The ambition is commendable, and the creativity on display is undeniable, but the execution often feels overwhelming. It’s a game that wants to be both a deep management sim and a playground for creative expression, but in trying to do both, it ends up diluting the enjoyment of each. The best moments come when you’re allowed to just build and decorate without worrying about the relentless demands of running the business. Unfortunately, those moments are fleeting.

There’s a great game buried under all the layers of complexity, but it requires a lot of patience to fully appreciate. For those who thrive on micromanagement and enjoy the challenge of optimising every little detail, Two Point Museum offers plenty to sink your teeth into. But for anyone hoping for a more laid-back, creative experience, it won’t take long before the charm wears thin and the spreadsheets take over. And when you find yourself prioritising profit margins over the joy of curating the perfect exhibit, you start to wonder whether you’re running a museum or just another soulless enterprise where the numbers matter more than the art.

Two Point Museum is now available on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.

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