Curating a review such as this is always a tricky task. As we already have an excellent review – a 10/10 review, no less – of Two Point Museum on the site, my curiousity peaked with its Switch 2 release. From a technical standpoint, can the handheld stand up to the big guns in its performance? I felt like this game, out of many others, was going to be a genuine test of the system’s capabilities. Not just in visual flair but in memory consumption and processing. Museum is a memory sinker as you get into the latter stages of the game, and if the Switch 2 could handle it, there’s a chance it could handle pretty much anything.
So that’s where my review will jump into. I can’t add anything that Kat hasn’t already said about this wonderful, addictive, endlessly entertaining and joyously bountiful game, so I wouldn’t dare try to.
If you’re new to Two Point Museum, everything you need to know is right here.
You’re probably wondering why I chose Two Point Museum over everything else to see what the Switch 2 could really do. I’ve had a good amount of time playing Cyberpunk, Star Wars Outlaws, Donkey Kong Bananza and being enormously impressed with the handhelds ability to handle games from, technically, the generation above what the Switch 2 should realistically be able to handle. It’s powering through these visual feasts with aplomb.
Two Point games aren’t perhaps known for their visuals if you compare them to any of the games mentioned above, but it still needs a relatively beefy system to move smoothly and it’s purely because of the museums themselves. These dastardly buildings have a habit of getting very very busy and very very stuffed full of, well, stuff. I’ve played through the game on my PS5 with little issue, and on my PC, again, no issue (though a recent RAM upgrade probably helped). I could hear my PC starting to take off when you’re in the endgame of each museum/level. The more successful you become in Two Point games, chances are the more busy all the things inside your systems are becoming.
A handheld pulling this off seemed somewhat unlikely, and it’s a shame to report that the Switch 2 can handle a good amount of what is thrown at it, but unfortunately in those hectic moments it really begins to show some issues.
It’s primarily stability issues that are the loudest here, and whilst it was somewhat expected, it’s still disappointing to see. Just as I was beginning to fly with my first museum, with the shiny floors and all, the framerate began to slip. The game is running at a solid 30fps, which is perfect for a game like this, but you could feel the game struggling to keep up as the museum got busier and busier. This was noticeable in handheld and docked mode, with the latter not adding an awful lot of extra juice on the processing side, but certainly making everything look just that bit shinier than on the handheld screen.
It’s frustrating because in terms of a solid port, everything else is grand. The visuals are very good, the music, narration and sound effects remain spot on and the controls are, for my money, the industry standard when it comes to porting mouse and keyboard controls to console controllers, this remains so on the Switch 2. Slick and quick menus help this along, though the lack of Joy-Con mouse controls is a bizarre omission. Y’kno, considering this seems like the most likely way to control the game. Strange.
Still, as Kat’s review attests to and I’ll second, Two Point Museum is a brilliant game, and the highlight of the Two Point series so far. The sheer amount of detail and gameplay on offer is staggering, and it never fails to make you chuckle. There’s a strange comfort to Two Point games and it’s no different with Museum.
The Switch 2 version though could still do with a little bit more optimisation. Here’s hoping it’s coming down the line.
Once/if those issues are fixed, Two Point Museum should bring the masses in through the door in no time.
Two Point Museum is out now on PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2 (reviewed), Xbox Series X|S and PC.
Developer: Two Point Studios
Publisher: SEGA
Disclaimer: In order to complete this review, we were provided with a promotional copy of the game. For our full review policy, please go here.
If you enjoyed this article or any more of our content, please consider our Patreon.
Make sure to follow Finger Guns on our social channels –Twitter, Facebook, Twitch, Spotify or Apple Podcasts – to keep up to date on our news, reviews and features.