Two Point Museum Preview: Bringing the past to life

The last game from British developer Two Point Studios, Two Point Campus, was all about the future, as you were tasked with moulding the raw youth of today to the model citizens of tomorrow - something that, perhaps unsurprisingly, proved quite difficult. With their upcoming game the developer does a complete reversal and instead looks to the past. The ancient past, mind you.

Two Point Museum, which is expected to release later this year, puts you in the shoes of an inexperienced curator after the last person to fill that position ran away with whatever spare change was left in the donation jar. With only an empty building and small amounts of funds at our disposal, our first job is naturally to hire staff and add exhibits. It's all on par for the course for any sort of attraction-based simulator, but there is a catch: ancient fossils are not that easy to come by.

This aspect of each major item being unique and something you have to work to acquire, was initially what attracted Two Points Studios to the museum theme, the developer told us during our interview at Gamescom. "We really loved this idea of players building up collections of these amazing exhibits to put on display. That immediately got us quite excited. Like how do you get these things? You can't just go and buy them like you could buy the treatment machines in Two Point Hospital," says design director Ben Huskins.

So, how do you get your ancient bones and fossils? You will quickly find the answer, as the game wastes no time in sending you on your first expedition. To go on an expedition, you click on the large helicopter conveniently parked right outside the museum. You then select a staff member, preferably a specialist of some kind, and choose a destination. This lets you see the odds of you succeeding, possible rewards and so on. You can also choose to bring along equipment, such as first aid kits and survey tools, or more expedition members which all raise your chance of getting rare items or fossils. But beware: your staff might also pick up injuries or even go missing if an expedition goes south.

While in many other games, such as the older Assassin's Creed titles, similar systems are half-baked and tacked on, in Two Point Museum the expeditions seem like an integrated part of the experience. For example, training your staff members will both improve their usefulness at the museum and when traversing ancient jungles and dig sites. According to Jo Kohler, executive producer on Two Point Museum, your expeditions, and ultimately the loot you bring home, will also vary depending on what areas you choose to explore: "We've quite keen for people to have unique experiences, and the exploration of the map really lends to that. You might choose to go off to the South, and I might go to the East or West. Ultimately, you'll find different exhibits which will give you different gameplay interactions and different challenges to solve within your museum."

On of the exciting things about the expeditions is that you never know what your
staff might bring. It might be old junk or it might be a valuable artifact. The game enhances this aspect by letting you open a giant crate as if it was a loot box at the end of each expedition. Right at the end of my session, I managed to haul in a dinosaur bone that was part of a larger set, and I can't wait to discover what else lies hidden in the jungle.

Of course, hauling in all those crates is only the beginning, as you also have to lay out your exhibits in an appealing way. Being a bit short on time, I chose the easy option and surrounded my ancient fossils with all sorts of plastic tat, so that they looked like something out of cheap theme party. Surprisingly this worked, raising my exhibits' scores which in turn might lead to donations - an important supplement to the regular entry fee. But rest assured; it's not all about cheap spectacle, Huskins reveals:

"Learning is quite important in the museum. We thought people would resonate with that just as much as the entertainment side of things. So, we've got a knowledge system in the game where you have to put up information boards next to your exhibits. There is also an analysis room, and by doing research on your fossils you will get even more information to put on your boards. This analysis can also unlock perks for your staff."

While research plays an important part in the game, it was also crucial during the development. As far as I know, Two Point Studios didn't go on any archaeological digs themselves (that part of the game seems more inspired by Indiana Jones anyway), but they did visit a lot of museums and talked to some of the people involved in the business. "We went backstage at one of the museums, which was extremely interesting," recalls Kohler. "There's whole exhibits which are not even on display to the public, and we even looked into the security systems, though we haven't replicated them quite exactly, because we wanted to make it fun. The artists also went along a few times to look at things like the lighting and how the floors are spaced."

Real life inspirations or not, this is still a Two Point game, and the developers assure me that things can still catch on fire or break down. Your frozen caveman might even escape and wreak havoc, if you fail to keep the temperature down. During my playthrough, I also noticed plenty of humour coming from the museum loudspeaker such as this gem: "In the case of an emergency, exhibits will be evacuated first. They are irreplaceable, you are not." I could certainly relate to this, for while the goofy visitors come and go, your exhibits are permanent. And while there is once again a campaign mode where you move through different locations, Two Point Studios wants you to stay a bit longer this time.

"We've kind of evolved a bit beyond what we did in the previous games," says Huskins. "You had your star ratings and once you got three starts in Hospital or Campus, most players felt like they were done with that location. With Museum we wanted to make sure that people felt attached to their creations. You're attached to your collection, not only because you're finding unique stuff, but also because you spend so long noodling around, you know, experimenting with layouts, decorating and customising. We found that people got quite attached to their museums, so we wanted to give people reasons to keep coming back to them."

The developers told me that it's possible to apply multiple themes in the same location meaning you can really build the museum of your dreams - or nightmares if you're so inclined. And once new stuff has been unlocked in the campaign, you can revisit an earlier location and keep building. Needless to say, I didn't get that far during my brief hands on with the game, but I still had plenty of fun, as Two Point Museum is very easy to approach, and I have little doubt that it won't be worth the entrance fee once it releases in the near future.