Two Point Campus Space Academy DLC DLC - (PC) Steam EUROPE Digital Key
Two Point Campus for PC is a business simulation game, a follow-on from the
patient care and hospital building game, Two Point Hospital. In this game, as
you might guess from the name, you must build and run a university.
ABOUT THE GAME
You start the game with an empty plot of land, so you can lay out, plan and
build the university according to your own tastes. The generous sandbox style
open world allows you a lot of freedom: There is an as-you-need tutorial which
guides you when you are stuck or starting something new, without influencing too
many of your decisions as you go.
For example, you will need to ensure there is enough dorm space for all your
students, as well as a good sufficiency of toilets, among other things. Once the
game is sure you know what you are doing, the tutorial dials back and lets you
take the driving seat.
There are hundreds of customisation options, to keep you busy for literal hours
– especially during the endless summer vacation, more about which to come.
At all times, you should bear in mind that a clean and welcoming campus will
attract more students, which means more income: financial management to fund
both new building construction and student happiness is one of the main pillars
of the game.
‘City’ building has more of an emphasis in this game, so fans of building games
will be more engaged – this is mainly because with Two Point Hospital, patients
flitted through the wards at speed: on campus the students will stay for a game
year (about 20 minutes of real time play). One of your jobs is overseeing the
graduation of those students who have reached their third or fourth year and
welcoming the new cohort.
Do note, if students have too much of a good time at night, they might claim
they can’t attend classes the next day which could make satisfaction and
achievement stats fall, so don’t supply too much tempting mid-week
entertainment!
As with the previous game in the series, this one does not take itself too
seriously, offering classes such as Knight School, where you can learn to be a
medieval knight (other quirky classes include Gastronomy and Robotics). The
characters have a cute and enjoyable cartoon style, which makes the game even
more fun to play through.
THE NITTY GRITTY
With each building, there are some basic requirements that you must fulfil –
books must appear in any building called a library, for example – but otherwise
you can add whatever features you like. And you can keep coming back to redo and
continue fitting out rooms as more items are unlocked as you progress through
the game.
You have to ensure that you provide all the buildings that a university would
need, from lecture theatres, to classrooms, and libraries, as well as hosting
events and extra-curricular activities. Staffing is also up to you: you must
hire everyone from lecturers to janitors and everything in between. Student
happiness is key, so you must take care not to allow your attention to focus on
one area of the game alone.
The game gives you a list of objectives to achieve, but then lets you work
through them at your own pace, exploring elsewhere or simply having fun – as
long as you keep balancing the finances, building and student happiness of
course!
The exception to this is during the endless summer holiday (you can make it last
as long as you need) when you can devote all your time and attention to complete
your sandbox modelling of the campus, using cash reserves and getting everything
ready for the new school year. Like its predecessor the game is set in Two point
county.
The whole student body falls into groups of archetypes – rather like high
school, but much cuter so you can follow their progress and recognise the
‘types’ as they go about their college experience. The graphics are fun and
quirky and add to the overall enjoyment of the game – listen out for the student
radio station as a hidden treat.
Gameplay is easy and intuitive, but there are enough diverse tasks to keep you
coming back for more and not getting bored – and then, of course, you can use
the summer vacation to make dramatic any changes to the campus that you deem
necessary.
WHAT THEY NEED
Things the students need:
Housing: you must make sure that you have enough dorm space for the size campus
you have built. Being cramped or isolated will make your students deeply
unhappy, and they might take their money elsewhere
Feeding: students are always hungry, so make sure that you place cafeterias
anywhere they might be needed!
Educating: not only must you put on a good array of classes, but you must supply
high-quality lecturers and comfortable and attractive lecture halls too
Entertaining: pizza slices, nightclubs, bars, events that you stage for them –
there is a wide range of things with which you can tempt your students to keep
them happy, not lonely, and spending money. Just be careful not to make things
so much fun that they start skipping classes…