Well, I didn’t call Zooseum. Back when I reviewed Two Point Museum, I made a bunch of silly suggestions for future titles. A zoo wasn’t among them. Not sure why. Perhaps when I imagine museums and animals together, all I can think of is that awfully taxidermied lion in that Swedish castle display. Doesn’t exactly encourage people to break open their wallets. This isn’t that, thankfully. At no point are we stuffing Capybaras with cotton wool.
Instead, it’s another slice of Two Point Museum, with a few twists to the basic formula. If you’ve exhausted the already extensive base game, then it will give you more of what you crave. Which is exactly what a DLC should do. I won’t dwell on the core gameplay, as it’s the same enjoyable, layered simulation as ever. I felt the same level of enjoyment I did before, and encountered the same level of polish. Still, a Zoo was an odd fit for a DLC. Something like that I would’ve expected to carry a full title. As it is, it’s not a perfect match.
Panda-ring To The Guests
Zooseum introduces three major components: a new exhibit type, a new employee type and a new map. The new exhibits are, of course, the animals. To acquire them, we explore the isles of Farflung, which is chock-full of dangerous jungles. Animals you capture are housed in Terrariums if small, and habitats if large. Farflung also has a unique strain of flu that you need to cure, and you get special points for rearing animals and releasing them back into the wild. In that respect, I’m glad it highlights a key conservation aspect of zoos. You even get better surveying results by working to increase biodiversity, rather than just throwing people at it.
Once housed, animals need to be cared for by Wildlife Experts. These folk keep them fed, and clean their enclosures. Animals can even have a favourite expert, which is quite cute. If you’ve got two animals of different sexes, then they can mate. Different animals require different types of habitat biome (such as jungle or desert), so the museum becomes a patchwork of different habitat types. My layout began to naturally feel like a zoo, as guests walked down set paths to the pandas or the giraffes with big spring-like necks.
On Safari
Zooseum also has a new story to go along with it. Our zoo is built on the grounds of Wiggy Silverbottom’s estate, who is on a quest to locate the Painted Panda. He encourages us to breed and release animals to help heal Farflung, and to finally display his beloved Panda. It’s not bad, but feels a bit routine compared to the wackier stories in the base game. The good humour is still intact though, with some animal types and descriptions getting chuckles. I enjoyed the Paper Cranes and the weird looking frogs.
I do think the ‘Zoo’ aspect isn’t pushed as hard as it could have been. That’s down to the DLC element, though, as it’s still shackled to the basic gameplay of Two Point Museum. As such, once you house your animals, they become almost identical to the fish in your aquariums. Don’t house carnivores with herbivores, and you’re pretty much set. I was hoping we could put on shows, have the guests interact with the animals, or even have the animals try and escape. Something that really twisted the gameplay. A lion running rampant through the museum would surely do wonders for guest entertainment. Just not the state of the toilets.
Two Point Museum: Zooseum – A Decent Addition
There’s some strangeness in Zooseum too. You increase animal knowledge by treating animals in Spas, with a staff member trained in analysis. It only seemed to work half the time, though. Some issues are transplanted over from the base game, too. The goals for the higher stars feel like a bit of a slog. The final five star goals were done almost entirely in fast-forward. Guests behave a bit odd too. They were determined that there weren’t enough info boards around, even as they walked past five of them.
Still, I enjoyed my time with Zooseum. It’s not so much an evolution as the title suggests, being rather similar to the fish-themed museum, but I loved the changes it did bring in. The variety of different animals is great and, for once, I didn’t feel like my museum was seconds for collapsing. The animals are adorable, the Dad humour is as funny as ever, and the deep simulation gameplay remains absorbing. Zooseum may just be a second helping of the same thing, but if that thing is good then what’s there to complain about?
