Two Point Campus Review – Predictable Results

Two Point Campus takes us back to school. While there isn’t much to learn, the results are mostly great. Allow me to take you on a tour and explain.

Game Name: Two Point: Campus
Platform(s): Xbox Series X/S (reviewed), Xbox One, PS4/5, Nintendo Switch, PC
Publisher(s): Sega
Developer(s): Two Point Studios
Release Date: 9th August 2022

Two Point Campus is the latest business sim from Two Point Studios. The creators of Two Point Hospital have swapped operated theatres for lecture halls. This time round, you’re are tasked with building and managing Universities. I mean, who hasn’t always dreamed of running a college or university?

Not Much to Learn

Starting out, the game will guide you through a tutorial level or two. Early on in your time, you will realise there isn’t much to learn with Campus. The game is entirely built using the strong foundations of Two Point Hospital. Mostly you’ll be in menus where you choose classes and amenities to build, placing them accordingly.

Doing this allows you to complete objectives which will earn you Kudos, which is the in-game currency is used to unlock more items for your universities. While completing the right objectives will earn you Stars, required to process throughout the game. Progression comes in two forms the first is unlocking new courses and the second is new levels. These levels get harder as you go, while each one introduces new courses which require new items.

Not to mention different courses attract different types of students. Keeping these students happy is the thing I found hardest. It can be done by paying attention to student requests. Which can range from posters for their dorms to space for activities. Oh, and my favourite, throwing student parties.

Playing Campus feels extremely familiar on the controller. No surprises there, considering the identical controls to Two Hospital on a console. Of course, for many, the mouse and keyboard will likely remain the best way to play this style of game. I personally had no issues on a controller though things felt completely intuitive. Being able to speed up time with a click of the right stick was invaluable

If I could leave you with one tip, it would be, please save templates for rooms you create. This can be done by clicking a finished room with the A button on Xbox. In that menu, there will be an option to “Save/Update Room Templates.” I found this extremely useful, saving me literal hours of gameplay time.

Same but Different

It will be immediately apparent that Campus once again leans on its older sibling, Two Point Hospital, in both the visual and sound departments. From the menus being virtually identical, to the same announcement voice. I did have a good chuckle every time the tannoy said, “Doctor, can you please return to the Hospital.” I, for one, can’t blame him for wandering in through. You will notice see some visual variation when it comes to character designs representing different types of students. You can also zoom in for a better look at the assets. Some are even charming in their own cartoony way, but they aren’t going to amaze you.

There was one audio thing I personally found distracting and had to turn off… the music. It just wasn’t for me. In the end, I would play while listening to a podcast or my own playlists. Two Point Campus is perfect for this!

Accessibility

I am disappointed to report a lack of any real accessibility options here. Of course, there are Subtitles and a UI Scale, so it isn’t all bad. I just feel in 2022, so much more can be done on the accessibility front.

Technical Experience

I have good news and bad news. Firstly the game didn’t drop a single frame during my time on Series X. I did, however, experience several bugs. Things such as menus not allowing me to go down, which is fixed by closing the menu and opening again. Icons completely disappearing and more. None of these broke the game but happened often enough to be distracting. The good news is that the day one patch significantly improved these, but they can still occur.

Summary

Two Point Campus is built on the strong foundations of its predecessor. While being very familiar in every aspect, the change of setting provides unique challenges and opportunities. When it works, it’s a great game, which I will be sinking many more hours into. It’s a shame that the experience is currently impacted by distracting bugs that stop it from being on par with Two Point Hospital. That being said, if you’ve played Two Point Hospital, I have no doubt you will enjoy Two Point Campus.

Review Disclosure Statement: Two Point Campus was provided to us by Publisher for review purposes. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy for more info.