Two Point Campus Review

Two Point Studios, the minds behind Two Point Hospital, are back once again with their latest release. As the name suggests, the game takes on an academic setting, placing the user in charge of managing the school of their dreams. This makes it a bit more relatable to the everyday player, and the charm of a Two Point title remains intact despite the change in scenery.

After a sizeable preview a couple of months ago, it was clear to me that I would click with Two Point Campus, despite my limited exposure to previous Two Point offerings. Sim games are not really my cup of tea, but somehow, Two Point Campus reeled me in with its deceptively deep gameplay that kept me glued throughout the various courses offered in the game.

Class is in Session

Two Point Hospital will see the player take charge and create everything in between to bring their dream facility to life. From building a dormitory to adding libraries and all the way to classrooms, the game gives you full control of how you want to build your academic empire. You’ll even get to choose what courses you want your students to undertake, on top of figuring out how you’ll want the facility to look like.

Balancing educational excellence and student satisfaction is where the primary source of friction comes from, which can be solved in several ways.

Do you need more beds? More classrooms? More staff and janitors? Oftentimes, the answer to a lot of the things in Two Point Campus is just to add more of something, but that also comes with a set of considerations that usually involve money.

You are an institution after all, and you’ll need to figure out ways of improving your school while still making a profit, allowing you to purchase more objects and hire more staff. This loop is really where the fun lies in Two Point Campus, something that’s very easy to understand thanks to its wonderful tutorial experience.

Players are easily brought up to speed with the basics, which involve creating facilities that will require a number of little things to maintain. While the first level only concerns itself with a couple of academic concentrations, succeeding campuses will open up wackier courses to choose from, each with its own twists and surprises.

Just when you think you’ve got the hang of it, Two Point Campus introduces new wrinkles at a friendly pace as you head to the later levels. You’ll start organizing school activities, undergo research to upgrade facilities, and even fend off school invaders, keeping things fresh as you go along.

School is Cool

One of the biggest draws of Two Point Campus is how much there is to do in the game. Apart from simply building more facilities and items to add, there’s always something to keep an eye out for. Whether it be a request from a student or accepting a school inspection, small side objectives are always around to keep you on your toes.

And even when you think you’ve done all you can for the campus, there’s always the call to customize. Similar to Two Point Hospital, Two Point Campus will reward players with a currency called Kudosh that allows them to unlock various other objects to place, each more interesting than the previous one.

The beauty of these items is that each will serve a purpose. A trash bin and hand sanitizer will up the cleanliness of the campus, while plants and wall trimmings will increase attractiveness, which then results in more students throughout the year. More students will lead to more waste, hiring more janitors, and so on. It’s a cycle that’s so well built and really emphasizes that addictive “one more hour” feeling that makes it tough to let go.

In case you want a deeper experience, Two Point Campus is ready to serve your needs. One of the more common examples is that of placing enough beds in dormitories to serve a certain number of students. The more students share a bed directly affects how much they’ll like the dorm and how much rent they’re willing to pay. The finer details will be sure to keep sim-heads busy!

Holding this all together are the wonderfully drawn characters and objects in the game, which is the trademark Two Point look coming from Two Point Hospital. Everything in the game looks bright and cheery, something that greatly complements the humor the studio is known for. From a jousting facility to a wizardry course, Two Point Campus manages to keep things light enough to appreciate despite its deep systems.

Our time with Two Point Campus was mostly issue-free, except for a handful of times we weren’t able to properly place some items on the grid. It wasn’t a game-breaking experience and can be somewhat irritating at times especially since there seemed to be nothing wrong, but the developers are hard at work fixing these issues by the time the game is launched to the public.

Getting to play this build on a PC, the keyboard and mouse controls worked well but we found ourselves gravitating to a controller setup more thanks to its equally great implementation. We didn’t get to try out the console versions, but it’s not hard to imagine that the experience won’t differ too much.

What We Liked:

• Charming and polished gameplay
• Deceptively simple
• Large variety of courses and customization options
• Addictive gameplay loop

What We Didn’t Like:

• Few issues with item placement

Verdict: Buy It!

Two Point Campus is a joy to experience thanks to its easy-to-learn but hard-to-master gameplay. Newcomers to the Two Point series of games will find a lot to like, and it is commendable how the developers have made the onboarding process easy to understand despite its very deep gameplay.

Veterans will appreciate an engaging and immersive sim, with multiple systems layered on top of each other that promotes a highly-addictive gameplay loop. There’s a lot to uncover for those that want to dabble in the deep end of the game, which is sure to keep things interesting.

Overall, Two Point Campus is another fantastic and enjoyable outing that will scratch your management sim itch. These types of games are few and far in between all of the action-adventure titles out there, but you can be assured that Two Point Campus scores high marks and deserves a place among the best of them.

*Two Point Campus was reviewed on PC via a review code provided by the Publisher