The creators of Two Point Hospital are back to offer a new management sim game, with a twist! Two Point Campus isn’t quite like other sim games that focus solely on profits and minimize interactions with the denizens of your digital environment. Two Point Campus does follow largely in its predecessor’s shoes, with a near-identical building layout system, UI, and who could forget the constant background humor for those who are interested?
Two Point Campus sends you to (or back to) school, not as a student, but as the administrator of a variety of universities, each with their own unique layouts and challenges. As mentioned, it borrows much from its predecessor, Two Point Hospital, but forges enough of its own path to justify its existence. One of the most interesting aspects is how the game puts an emphasis on forging relationships with your students, as compared to most management sim games that only look to wring as much money from each customer as possible.
In Two Point Campus you will watch your students grow throughout their university days as they (hopefully) thrive and graduate with excellent GPAs and good memories. You facilitate these by offering a number of different classes, dorms, student lounges, and study areas, all while managing a budget, of course! As with Hospital, Campus employs the premium currency ‘Kudos’ which you earn over time and can use to unlock furniture that offers higher boosts to your room prestige levels, an important concept to keep up both student and staff happiness.
As can be expected, Two Point Campus offers a great deal of whimsical amusement! Whether, as pictured above, your classroom is dedicated to baking a gigantic pizza or practicing scientography, there is no shortage of puns and quick quips offered by room types, teacher names, PA announcements and product ads. This is easy enough to block out if it is of no interest to you, but I personally revel in the goofiness. In fact, getting impromptu chuckles out of these games may be why there are still one of my go-to sim franchises. So, well done, TPS, well done!
The UI and graphics maintain the signature cartoony-but-polished aesthetic, which is in no doubt thanks to the game being built on the bones of Two Point Hospital. Either way, it gets the job done and doesn’t leave you wanting any more than is offered. Just don’t expect any breakthrough in visual effects and you’ll be content with the look and feel of TPH.
At the end of the day, Two Point Campus offers a little something special for any management sim gamer. It has a lot of the core features you would expect with space, time and happiness level balancing, with the addition of aspects such as student grades and relationships that it is your responsibility to help foster. A variety of locations and thematic side missions will keep you on your toes unless, of course, you prefer the open landscape of the Sandbox mode! Either way, Two Point Campus is a lateral step from TPH, with enough unique features to be a justified, individual game, without pushing any real boundaries.
Trailer