Welcome, settle down class, as today we’re going to be learning about Two Point Campus. If you’re unsure about getting this game, then I’ve one very simple question to ask you. Did you play and enjoy Two Point Hospital? If yes, then you’ll like Two Point Campus, so you’re dismissed. As for the rest of you, we’ve got a lot to cover, so eyes front, throw out that gum, and I can hear you whispering in the back, Darrell.
While the modern indie market never lets any genre truly “die out”, it’s fair to say that management games haven’t been super popular in a long time. There have been good games like Project Highrise that are mechanically sound, but they still lack that inherent charm and unique vibe that made the classics what they are.
If you’re someone who had to feed their hunger by replaying Dungeon Keeper and Theme Hospital over and over for twenty years, then Two Point Hospital was the shining beacon of hope that put everything right in your world. It did a great job of modernising the genre while retaining the nostalgic experience it was selling itself as. However, four years down the road from that, it’s not enough for Two Point Campus to simply be a throwback – it needs to show that the genre can still innovate.
What better theme to pick for innovation than a college setting, where the minds that will expand the horizons of the future are moulded? Plus, it’s a setting no other management game has ever quite nailed. Much like how Prison Architect hit on a theme that’s never got much attention, Two Point Campus manages to feel like something new purely on the back of being a college game.
While there are many gameplay similarities to Two Point Hospital, this isn’t just a copy/paste job. Yes, you’ll still be building different rooms and hiring staff to work those rooms as you slowly grow, the game has gone to great lengths to reflect the differences in managing a school rather than a hospital.
In a hospital, the goal is getting everyone through the system quickly with the best care possible, but your students in college are going to be sticking around for a few years, so the majority of your focus has to be about sustaining their happiness and quality of life because that will eventually reflect in their final grades.
Splitting the game up into academic years was a great idea. It gives you a proper mental break from everything that’s going on and lets you schedule your plans for expansion around these times. It also encourages you to spend time building up your resources during the year to make your courses much better during the break, for which you will immediately see increased income when you start the next year. If you’ve done it right, of course.
The emphasis on student happiness is also a good choice. Since it’s one of the biggest factors in what grades they get, it heavily rewards you for making your campus a genuinely nice place and having empathy towards your students. What would be inconsequential aesthetics in so many other management games has tangible rewards under this system. In a way, it’s the idealistic sense of how colleges should be run, as improving the students’ lives improves their results, which earns the college more money. Which makes this a good point to start talking about the game’s humour.
Much like Two Point Hospital, there is plenty of cynical satire baked into the game about the corporate side of running schools. Some jokes are nuanced and subtle, most are not. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though. The satire of corporate greed in education isn’t the point of the game, so it doesn’t need to be super deep or cutting, It’s nice as a dusting that helps add that charm the classic management games all had.
What’s very important with these games is their longevity, and how it sustains interest into the later hours. While I enjoyed Two Point Hospital, I only ended up completing about half of the levels because as fun as the game was, it couldn’t hold my interest. On this point, I can say Two Point Campus has massively improved.
Each campus is themed heavily around a specific subject, which immediately injects a big dose of variety into things. One moment you’ll be training up the gourmet chefs of the future, the next you’re running discount Hogwarts with magic everywhere. However, I think the main thing that makes this game so much more engaging is all the little improvements that have been made across the board.
Your objectives are a lot better balanced between waiting for things to happen and having to actively do something. In Hospital, I found myself waiting around for numbers to go up so often, but that barely happened to me in Campus, which is brilliant. Plus, the game gives you so much more to do. You’ll be researching better equipment, upgrading your courses, running events, training your staff, and a whole lot more so you’re never incentivized to just sit back and watch things run.
That said, once the objectives run out, you don’t get any motivation to keep going. You can get three stars in most levels using less than half of the space available, and while some people love to keep growing just for the sake of it, the game gives you zero incentive to do so. It, unfortunately, means there’s very little replay value unless you want to do a challenge run of some description.
If you’re on the fence about Two Point Campus or haven’t quite meshed with management games in the past, then I say go for it. This is the best that the genre has to offer right now. It’s a fulfilling experience that drives you to keep seeing what’s next and complete every objective you can right until the end; plus, there’s room for some cool expansions or DLC down the line. However, there is more to be done in this space, and if there is ever another Two Point game I will be very excited to see how they push the boat out even further.
Thank you for attending this lecture, I’m pleased to say you have all passed Two Point Campus 101 with flying colours. You can print out your online diploma if you draw it up in MS Paint first. You probably shouldn’t put it on your CV though.
Written by Ryan Woodrow on behalf of GLHF.
