If you’ve ever wanted to manage a school for knights, wizards, spies, or record-breaking cheeseball players then Two Point Campus is the place for you. Just make sure to look out for some of the more interesting students. They include professional power nappers, bookworms, orb lovers - who are absolutely not in a cult at all - and gardening fans, who really love to get in touch with nature.
Like Two Point Hospital before it, Two Point Campus places us in a role that feels like it should be serious and important, in this case managing the education of Two Point’s youth. However, thanks to a huge dollop of very British humour and quite a lot of chaos, it’s anything but. You’ll be building schools to educate future music stars, magic users, treasure hunters, and more. You can customise both the interior and exterior of your campus, set the syllabus, and manage the staff. As well as education, you’ll also be in charge of facilities and clubs, including my personal favourite - Power Napping Club.
The large number of options can feel overwhelming but the game introduces each one gradually. Every campus has its own specialisation, so while you can run other courses, you can also succeed by just focusing on those initially running. This gives you space to work out what each course requires in terms of space, facilities, and staffing. You also have a choice of clubs you can use to vary the campus and keep students happy. Power Napping, Speed Walking, and Gardening are the earliest clubs and are enough to make sure diverse interests are catered to. After all, students need more than just classes and books for a well-rounded school experience. Just be aware that gardening students are not only happy but also very naked, and more than a little lax on hygiene.
As with many games in the simulator genre, Two Point Campus lets you go deep into the management side. Staff have specific traits that can help or hinder your progress, and training them in areas like private tuition can allow you to better manage failing students. There are also options to market your courses to increase student numbers, and research new items to improve your facilities. However, you don’t have to min-max everything in order to succeed. Certain levels will require you to undertake research or marketing, but you won’t need to go deep into it to progress.
The difficulty curve is a nice balance between a challenge and a walkover. Completing one-star objectives unlocks new campuses and these are mostly easy to hit. This means that you can experience all twelve campuses and their unique settings and quirks without having to spend hours and hours maxing out each level's goals. However, for those who want more challenges, the two-star goals are trickier and require more time and effort to complete. On some levels, you may even need to restart to hit the goal. Finally, three-star goals start off feeling quite easy in the earlier campuses but ramp up fast, creating a list of goals that often requires far more min-maxing and forward-thinking.
If you want to play casually and just build a campus then exploring the campuses one by one, just hitting the goals required to unlock the next area, is a great way to discover the game. As you progress you’re introduced to new courses, facilities, clubs, and ways of doing things. By the time you’ve unlocked all 12 areas, you’ll have a firm enough understanding of the game to go into sandbox mode and build the campus of your dreams, or maybe your nightmares.
As a building and management simulation game, Two Point Campus is perfectly pitched. It’s unique enough to stand out in a field of similar games, as well as in-depth enough to pull you in and keep you entertained for hours on end - especially with its humour. Managing a school may not sound like a recipe for laughs, but then neither did running a hospital. Still, the humour of Two Point Studios is absolutely spot on here and elevates the game to a new level.
No one really wants to organise a maths class, do they? Watching students sitting around trying to figure out algebra is hardly exciting - it’s far more entertaining to run a Knight School. Students will practice sword fighting, jousting, and behaving appropriately in front of maidens. You can also watch them scale towers, and fight dragons. Even when they have to attend lectures it’s entertaining as they sit on the seats in full suits of armour, shuffling around.
Educating knights, wizards, and clowns is clearly a unique task. You’ll need to make sure you have facilities such as jousting fields, huge cauldrons, clown makeup supplies, and of course first aid for all those injuries. Knight schools even require security to keep out wannabe knights trying to sneak onto campus. However, even boring-sounding courses including scientography, gastronomy, and robotics have unique twists. If you’ve ever wanted to watch students cook the world's largest burger, pizza, or dessert then you’re in luck. Regardless of if you specialise or mix and match courses, you’ll be able to build an interesting campus, with the ability to build outside being a huge bonus. The outdoor options allow you to build cheeseball pitches, where students dress as mice and hit balls of cheese with giant cheesegraters, as well as food stands and club facilities. You can also add benches and greenery, as well as editing the buildings themselves. The customisation is a true ramp-up from Two Point Hospital and lets you make your campus feel like your own.
Overall, Two Point Campus is a school experience unlike any other. From weird and wonderful courses to quirky clubs, and student stereotypes you’ll find everything you want on a campus and so much more. As you flex your management muscles just make sure to keep your eyes open, these students all have their own style and personalities. Look after them well, and you’ll be rewarded with a lot of hidden puns, animations, and laughs along the way. Education has never been so much fun.
Score: 5/5. A review code for PC was provided by the publisher.
Two Point Campus
Two Point Campus continues from its predecessor, Two Point Campus, and spiritually the Theme series of simulation games. You must run a university to success, choosing the right layouts and courses to do so.