TWO POINT CAMPUS PREVIEW – AN ACCESSIBLE UNIVILITY CHALLENGE
Two Point has successfully entered the sim space together with the spiritual successor Two Point Hospital. The developer’s next game Two Point Campus already looks like a huge leap forward.
It’s the same tongue-in-cheek silliness that made sims more challenging, but Two Point Campus’ version seems to have more fun, flexibility, and variety.
Two Point Campus is a game where the player assumes the role of campus administrator. They must transform a number of schools into world-class institutions that students want to attend. Or a hilarious disaster that makes Animal House’s frats seem more civilized than they really are.
It is quite amazing how well Two Point Hospital’s formula can be applied in an academic setting. It was so familiar that I felt at home in the first hour of my preview build. You are placed in a very gentle opening campus. The game explains all the basics as you go. You will need to place lecture halls and study rooms, dorms, and toilets. Then, furnish the campus with whatever you feel is necessary to make it look good and improve the facilities for learning and happiness.
After you have met a set number of requirements, you can proceed to the next campus. Rinse and Repeat. The structure is familiar, but the flavor is quite unique. Every campus is unique and has its own dynamic, which makes the transition from one campus to the next easier than in Two Point Hospital.
There were four campuses available for preview, each one focusing on a specific craft. Freshleigh Meadows Tutorial School has a technology focus, which includes virtual reality learning and other similar. Piazza Lanatra School is designed for aspiring chefs. It features cooking competitions against other schools and funny-sized cooking equipment. Noblestead gives us the chance to experience a Two Point game, but it is not as real as it seems. You will be running a school for Knights where students are trained to become medieval-style warriors and are continually invaded by knights from other institutions. Spiffenmore’s wizarding academy adds a unique twist to the proceedings.
Two Point Campus seems to be able to drink deeper from the wells of absurdity Two Point Hospital has casually consumed. Reality-adjacent academia, increasing fantasy, freaky occurrences like frog rain, as well as the new-formed drama of students’ love lives all contribute to a game with more to it than its predecessor but flows more smoothly.
Two Point Campus is a sim that focuses on student care. The student’s happiness, and their ability to learn, are more important than the patients. This is an odd statement, but it is true in these games. Two Point Campus is a campus-wide program that provides the tools necessary to help students learn the trades they are interested in, and also helps them to grow socially as well as psychologically.
Two Point Campus provides a way for students to have fun and form friendships. The possibilities are endless and students can even get pastoral care to assist them with campus life. Although it’s not as interactive as The Sims, I was able to identify students and get temporarily distracted from my other tasks while trying to make them happy.
Academically, an administrator can unlock new courses and add them to a curriculum whenever they want. This is in contrast to having to plan your campus carefully. It’s different to run a campus than a hospital in Two Point. Tuition fees are the main source of revenue, so there is a captive audience that can be sweetened for longer than a short visit. The player can focus more on students because there is no rush to get new students. Mini objectives, just like Two Point Hospital will appear to keep you busy and on the right track.
Two Point Campus offers summer planning time when school is out. You can add the aforementioned courses, set up rooms for them, and prepare for the chaos of the opening day. This adds to the relaxed pace of play.
Two Point Campus is a game that builds on previous titles’ knowledge. Two Point Hospital’s minor issues that I found annoying have been fixed and made better. It has a charming sense of humor that keeps me playing and makes it fun. If the trajectory continues, Two Point Campus will be a Grade-A student of sims when it launches later in the Summer.
