How I Ended Up Playing 30+ Hours In Two Point Campus While Not Liking The Genre
10
Aug 22
I’m not into management sims, but there’s something about this game.
Two Point Campus
I've never been able to understand how people like being overwhelmed by tasks and dealing with finances... and by that, I mean I've never understood how anyone can like the management sim genre. I have tried to like it many times throughout the years because games sometimes have interesting concepts, like managing a zoo or building a life on Mars, but every time I've attempted to dabble in them, I end up overwhelmed, stressed, or bored. The genre is simply not for me... or at least that's what I tell myself every time, and Two Point Campus being announced drew me back in.
It didn't take a lot to convince me I wanted it after I saw there were jousting classes and a ton of decoration because I absolutely love medieval themes, and I have spent an unfathomable amount of time on the mobile version of Animal Crossing. That being said, when I booted up the game, I expected to play it for about an hour or so and then become incredibly and tediously bored and overworked... except it never got that bad.
I'm not going to lie to you and say that my relationship with Two Point Campus was perfect. Sometimes I'd get a bit frustrated when I didn't understand how a mechanic works, or I'd feel a bit overwhelmed at the number of requests from students and staff; the difference this time was that I just couldn't put the game down. Even when I'd turn it off at the end of the day, swearing that I definitely didn't like management sims and feeling sick of not understanding how to keep my funds up, I'd find myself still tinkering in the back of my mind about how to get back some extra thousands to put into staffs’ necessities, or working around how I wanted the layout of my campus to be. I'd go to sleep, being sure the next day it'd all be forgotten, just to find myself booting it up again once I was feeling less overwhelmed.
It's not just that the game pulls you back with its charm (because, boy, it really does), it's also the fact that I knew I was the one in the wrong. I knew that the game offered all the information necessary to overcome the challenge, do it right, and succeed onto the next campus; I just wasn't putting in enough brain or effort. Not because of a lack of wanting to succeed, but because I wanted to figure it out all on my own, causing me to get stumped on things that others with more knowledge of the genre knew how to handle. Eventually, I caved and asked my wife for a bit of help on why I was failing the quests and ending in bankruptcy. I do not joke when I say that she fixed the issue after watching me play for only about five minutes. And just like that, I was back on the horse, and engrossed into decorating my campus, adding classes, and attempting to succeed at the next goals set before me.
Two Point Campus
It's easy to chalk this up to me putting more effort into Two Point Campus, but that would be taking credit from the developer. I stuck around and tried because the game made it enticing to get to the next quest, because decorating my own medieval/magical-themed campus was so much fun, because I couldn't wait to see what else I'd unlock... I stuck around because, overall, Two Point Campus is the only game that has ever succeeded in making finances and chores worth it.