I like simulation games, and some of my favorites include Cities: Skylines, Football Manager and, of course, the Civilization series. When I was asked to try Two Point Campus, I was generally curious about what to expect from this simulation title. What I mean is, there is normally a disconnect between what the player does in real life versus in the game. Like, I am not a soccer coach or an engineer in my day-to-day life. However, I have spent my fair share of time in college.
Two Point Campus puts you in charge of various campuses in a crazy fictional world. The complexity of said campus grows with each new location unlocked. I was sad that you could not name your campus or build the school up from scratch. This was slightly disappointing because I was hoping to simulate a campus in Appalachia, but I understand why Two Point Studios did not go this route with their game design.
Another slight disappointment, for me anyway although I understand that some will feel differently, was that I had hoped for a serious simulation game about running a college. However, Two Point Campus instead choose to embrace silliness. Again, this is probably a personal issue with me, so I did not remove any points or anything like that. Players who want a lot of silly stuff or who like crazy humor will really enjoy this insane campus.
For example, some of the classes that your lucky students can enroll in include Funny Business, Knight School and Virtual Normalcy. And the developer seems to be doubling down on the silly factor too. Every month or so they seem to release a new school that you can add to your campus. One of the most recent is the Space Academy update, where students get to do really space worthy activities like being flipped by a catapult into a giant fishbowl…because, why not?
The main tutorial for Two Point Campus felt a little slow paced, but it did a good job of explaining the nuances of it, and how it differs from a typical simulation. And it’s good that it has a tutorial, because not all games do these days, and Two Point Campus is one that really benefited from that.
Like most titles of this genre, Two Point Campus started out easy enough and then becomes more complicated as additional modules are brought online. In my playing, my school tended to go from an easy-to-manage campus to one where I was screaming about why everything was on fire. Despite the chaos, it was always fun to play and never felt tedious, probably because of the huge variety of things that you can build on your campus. If you want a distraction, it’s fun just to watch your hapless students for a while.
I will note that everything did feel a little bit awkward in terms of room building, and it was difficult to size each room to fit exactly where it was needed. The overall learning curve was mild, and I would equate it to something like Roller Coaster Tycoon in terms of complexity.
Two Point Campus overflows with personality. The bright colors and upbeat music help pull it together and greatly improves the overall playing experience. It kind of makes me think of the funny ads on Cities: Skylines that helped bring levity during the slower parts of the gameplay. The graphics are also much better than I anticipated and helped to make the campuses feel alive. And the customization options were also beyond my expectations.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my time as the dean of Two Point Campus much more than I expected that I would. And while this title started on PC, the console versions are also very fun to play, like the version I played on the Nintendo Switch. Sometimes porting PC games over to console removes some functionality, but it really works for Two Point Campus because the interface is quite nice even without access to a mouse and keyboard.
Anyone who likes simulation games should enroll at Two Point Campus. Even if you are a more serious simulation player, you will likely still enjoy what this unique and lighthearted title offers.
Developers: Two Point Studios
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, Steam, Xbox One