Two Point Campus review: Studio’s latest business sim retains all its charm and detail in sophomore outing

While 2018’s Two Point Hospital was seen as a spiritual successor to 1997’s Theme Hospital from Bullfrog Productions, it also acted as a blueprint for future spin-offs in a classic genre with limitless possibilities for new settings. Now, with Two Point Campus, Two Point Studios is hoping to expand on its initial offering with a university-themed sequel.

The results are a delightfully detailed expansion into a fun new setting that brings fresh ideas to existing systems without diluting the charm of the original.

Using the backdrop of campus life, the game retains the same humour as Two Point Studios’s previous title, while adding plenty of colour and humour that ribs on the highs and lows of student living.

But where Two Point Campus plays to the gallery for laughs, it still manages to bring enough quality and granular attention to detail that makes a previously dated genre feel fresh and exciting in 2022.

The studio has maintained its diligence with business management simulators, to craft a memorable, light-hearted experience with a level of depth that its claymation-style veneer would lead you to believe. Read our full review below.

Our experience with Two Point Campus was based on the Xbox series X/S version of the game, spending time on each of the various campuses to construct curriculums and coursework; as well as hiring staff, throwing parties at the student union, and obsessively installing hand sanitising stations outside every classroom.

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Review

As administrator, players are tasked with taking struggling campuses from the bottom of the university leaderboards, and developing them with student welfare, grades and experience in mind. These are significant factors in the quality of the school’s standing.

At first, schools start out with little more than an empty room to begin the construction of campus life’s basic necessities,such as dormitories, bathrooms, lecture theatres and classrooms.

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After gradually expanding over the school year, new facilities such as pastoral care and even marketing departments to promote the school to would-be applicants can be unlocked as the game progresses. The aim is that, by the end of Two Point Campus’s different scenarios, each school can begin to operate as a well-oiled machine.

Each school has a particular area of focus, from grounded STEM-based academia, all the way to a copyright-safe school of potions of wizardry. With each new campus presenting its own challenges, players need to adapt to the needs of the student body to build a successful curriculum.

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As each school needs to be built from the ground up, there are a number of different options for customisation, just as long as they meet the basic requirements. Dormitories for instance require little more than a bed, desk and wardrobe but benefit from personalised furnishings and luxuries such as a working radiator.

Thankfully, each room can be saved as a template and copy-pasted to meet the needs of a growing student body, with the additional fine-tuning of posters and other decorative objects to give each one a unique flair.

The same can be said for other facilities, with the option to deck out student unions and lounges with arcade cabinets, vending machines and other accessories to improve the school’s attractiveness and keep students entertained and fed.

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While some of these options are locked behind “Kedosh”, a form of currency earned by completing tasks, the sheer volume made locating some of these items occasionally difficult to find. Commonly used objects such as trash cans and hand sanitiser dispensers could be easily added to a list of favourites but less frequently used, yet often requested, upgrades required some more considerate perusing in the dense selection screen.

As a large portion of Two Point Campus is focused on the student experience, with larger campuses housing large numbers at a time, faculty management also plays an important role. Each member of staff can be divided into three categories: teachers, assistants and janitors.

Teachers can be employed to lead classes in specialist subjects such as “scientography” or “internet history” while assistants can be employed as librarians, on-site medics, union bar staff or kiosk vendors, and janitors act as custodians for other operations, such as cleaning and maintenance. They can even be employed for security as rowdy invaders from rival universities begin to invade the player’s unassuming school.

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Staff can also be trained to specialise in other roles as well, whether that be improving their existing level of expertise or deciding to give them a wider set of skills to use across the campus, such as motivational speaking or speed walking to get to classes quicker.

At one point, a pastoral counsellor was able to be trained in the art of “comedic timing”, which sounded like an absolutely horrible idea, but the results had a positive impact on student’s overall happiness after visiting them. Two Point Campus is filled with these moments that allow a sprinkle of ingenuity into its systems, just to see how those would play out to often unintended results. 

While it never takes itself too seriously, Two Point Campus is an exceedingly complex game that gradually reveals itself through later scenarios – and, by the time the player gets there, is intuitive enough to never feel overwhelming in the amount of options available. The game does well to play the class clown, but its deceptive enough to hide plenty of A-grade material under its desk.

But beyond its off-kilter humour and (admittedly understandable) fixation on cheese-based snacks, Two Point Games’s latest title is another successful case study in the exploration of classic simulators. It encapsulates everything that made Bullfrog Productions’ Theme series of the late nineties essential gaming, and continues to deliver that experience as a spiritual successor.