Two Point Museum + DLCs: Review

It is an understatement to say that 2025 has been one of the biggest years in video games. Ever. With AAA behemoths and Indie darlings releasing every week, most game reviewers are spending December catching up on titles that they didn’t have the hours for on release. That title for me was Two Point Museum, the third entry into the Two Point franchise. Museum always stood out as the most compatible with my tastes, remembering the days of navigating halls of the local museum amongst fossils, interactive displays and a life-sized Phar Lap that was apparently the real race-winning Phar Lap stuffed and shined. With the Zooseum DLC releasing on December 2 and the Fantasy DLC released mid-year, the sheer amount of content on offer now is almost intimidating when planning a museum. Still, animals are the way to my brain and my journey with this management sim has seen countless smiles at exhibits and moments of panic as thieves raid my hard-earned. Whether engaging in a 50+ hour campaign or building the museum of your dreams in sandbox mode, Museum is one of the best management/attraction sims I have ever played through its humour, depth of options and contrasting themes. There is so much to learn, do and see in the game’s current package, with the freedom to really get in the weeds and simply create. This may just be your perfect summer vacation.

If you are new to the Two Point games, they basically play like room-building simulators with a core theme to service customers/patients/attendees. Hospital and Campus were very people-focused in their management of location. Museum I find is still about people’s satisfaction and needs, but the themes of prehistoric, fantasy, zoo, spooky, aquatic etc. provide a layer of depth and customisation that can really ramp up the entertainment. Anyone familiar with Rollercoaster Tycoon would understand the general gameplay loop: add facilities and attractions, add staff, continually improve through upgrades to generate buzz/excitement/money. Museum is deeper than other sims through its many expeditions and variety of functions working together to encourage continual play. This is never stronger than within the lengthy campaign, which serves as both a tutorial and the game’s main attraction.

The beginning of the campaign gives you the keys to an empty museum with multiple large rooms. Your initial tasks are to add a few small exhibits, hire staff to cover roles (ticket sales, cleaning, security) and to start sending experts on expeditions to find new exhibitions. This involves selecting a location on a map for discoveries, with each map housing different content. The UI can seem daunting at first considering there are countless options available to the player, but the tutorial drip-feeds these through the early hours to ensure the main elements of the game and its progress needs are clear. I hired my expert (each staff member has unique stats and can learn new perks/traits) and sent him to a dinosaur-themed location. He returned with the first third of a fossil display. Once I sent him out a few more times, the dinosaur display was complete and became my lead attraction. Sound easy? Sure, but expeditions need to be managed. Your staff can run into a range of problems and barriers during their expeditions, which happen in the background while you manage your museum, and decisions need to be made to avoid their injury/loss. One of my staff wanted to sunbake, another didn’t want to cross a rickety bridge, another ended with a plaque outside the ticket office (and I never saw him again – I presume death). The power is in your hands – hurry them up or let them do their own thing. This has consequences, but staff happiness also needs to be forefront as they will leave if you push them too hard. All this before a customer even steps through the grand archway!

The game succeeds in pacing out the many functions of a museum. By hour 2-3 you’re trying out a new museum set to a different theme. By hour 5-6 you’re installing security cameras and focusing on surveillance, with thieves introduced. Soon enough you’re managing a handful of themed museums across a map, each with their own goals to achieve higher star ratings. The Zooseum addition on December 2 adds a new park, 40+ animals and a heap of other exhibitions to basically turn Two Point Museum into Two Point Zoo. I spent the most time at Silverbottom Park, starting off with small terrariums and soon expanding into big enclosures full of giraffes, zebras, lions and pandas. This is my clear favourite location, just nudging out the visually outstanding aquarium-themed museum (sea life, sensing a connection here?). Watching creatures move around their areas – all designed by the player – adds another layer to the game. Animals can die, they can have problems, they can breed, they have preferences in who they will share their habitat with. They even arrive with a flu that needs curing before display. This just feels higher risk and higher reward than one such as the prehistoric theme (my least favourite, but an excellent opening park as everything remains still and was dead long ago). More space is also needed to ensure these critters can live their best life. Expansion costs money, but add gift shops and a cafeteria and the money will slowly tick in. I spent way too many hours zooming in on colourful lions, giraffes with springy necks and drowsy lizards to make sure happiness was high.

The Fantasy DLC, released earlier this year, was not quite as noticeable when launching the game with both DLC packages pre-loaded. But when I intentionally focused on the content it was clear that fantasy adds a magical expedition map, fantasy themed exhibits for any Dungeons & Dragons lovers, and experts such as wizards that really play well into the roleplaying vibe. My fantasy hall ended up looking like a cartoony Baldur’s Gate 3 tunnel, with purple dice and fire-breathing dragons. While not tied in as deeply as Zooseum, I look forward to spending more time building my fantasy rooms as the aesthetic is as visually pleasing as any other theme. The DLCs are well implemented and anyone enjoying the game shouldn’t hesitate to include them in their experience. They cost between $12 and $15 (Australian dollars) and enhanced the experience by some margin, especially all the animals living in their new homes.

Once you’ve broken through the first 10 hours, the cosy feeling of the game can start to transform into more of a balancing act. Switching between the various parks to raise stars and deal with challenges changed my playstyle. I was more strategic with my surveillance as crime was seeing my best exhibits stolen. Staff were becoming unhappy more frequently, wanting more pay and complaining about other aspects of museums (calling my displays uninspiring, the nerve!). I also reflected on the messy state of my museums, largely due to completing missions to a high score rather than focusing on how the museum looks from above (you can zoom right into the detail if preferred). About 15-20 hours in, I clicked L3 (pause) and spent a good 2 hours improving the layout and style of my museums. I used the building editor to create more barriers, reducing the areas that would swell with countless people. I built up the buzz at all exhibitions. I added entries/exits, demolished full areas and rebuilt them to improve tour routes. You don’t need to pause to do this, but doing so reduced the absolute mayhem of hundreds of people stomping through museums as a distraction. The game is never lost; you don’t die and see a game over screen. There is an encouragement to learn, tweak, then learn again. For it is all preparing for the sandbox mode where the world really is yours.

The bulk of my experience has been in the campaign. I have started my own museum in sandbox mode and have found that without the continual story and expansion, I spend more time on theming each section and plotting routes. This is much more of that cosy-style gameplay. I recommend new players complete the campaign (or at least get through 20+ hours) before delving into the sandbox, as you will come away with all the skills to succeed and thrive across menus that can be hard to navigate without knowledge.

Two Point Museum is a vastly underrated game that should have had greater coverage on launch. Its depth, best in class design and management simulation, and exciting roadmap means it should really sit on your console home screen as both a cosy and challenging option. The main attraction is being able to create with very minimal boundaries. I can see myself spending many hours across summer just tinkering with my museums, for it really is the perfect title to become lost within. To cover all the themes, options and events in this game would require a printed novella. I simply can’t wait to see what corner of life Two Point focus on next. But before that, if the DLCs continue on the trajectory of Zooseum and Fantasy, I’ll definitely be coming back for another tour every time. The themes that could be added to this package will keep on polishing a management sim that should not be missed.

Pros