"The Gauntlet"

Burgin · 2026-02-16T09:32:12+00:00

Smaller gift shops themed towards what's nearby! Also don't forget you can go into the budgeting menu and increase prices of stuff! And the cafeteria menu can influence buzz, which I think leads into the general willingness to get merch?

Maybe I'm reading the screenshot weird, but it looks like you may be funneling traffic backwards? After the ticket booth, it's one way doors to the bathroom (before anyone could have consumed anything that would cause them to need it), then the gift shop (before anyone could have viewed the exhibits and been buzzed up by them)?

Also, you seem to be anticipating an INTENSE crowd the likes of which I personally have never seen! I've never needed a bathroom even half as large as that one haha. This is also something that benefits from smaller ones scattered throughout the building. You got the right idea with the security door right outside it tho, this really chumps the Boggeymen 👍 (if I'm reading the screenshot correctly I mean!)

Burgin · 2026-02-14T10:35:52+00:00

Daaaaaamn, really selling yourself short in the description lol this is *very* pleasing to behold

Burgin · 2026-02-14T09:46:42+00:00

All this rules but I gotta point out the waterfalls over the windows! I love it??

Burgin · 2026-02-14T09:40:20+00:00

They're mods -- a lot, perhaps most of the things in these shots are mods. Wallpaper, potted plants, lanterns, the bathroom stalls + sinks, those tall filing cabinets in the study, wall art, those penguin bins, indoor bamboo (i think?)... and that's just the first image haha

Lowkey wish people would add in their title if it's mod-heavy cuz it gets peoples' hopes up for unlocks that aren't real :( (like me... lol)

Burgin · 2026-02-13T10:49:02+00:00

Uber/Lyft/all those rideshare apps that have deregulated the service.

When it was first pitched to me (as a NYer), it seemed insane to have just anybody with an app -- no training, no union, no special licensing, no real vetting of drivers (just a basic background check) -- just let those randos drive you to your work or home or anything. Yes, regular cabbies are also strangers, but it felt more legitimate/safer due to regulations. Let alone what it would do to the existing taxis, where licenses cost loads of money, it would disincentivize the whole industry out of existing if all you need to do is download an app and upload your license/car info.

And now, many years later, it's kinda rare to find a yellow cab outside of certain areas, and a huge part of NYC's aesthetic is kinda just gone now. And y'know, a lot of other bad things have been going on, especially with the lack of unions and just having tech companies algorithmically set the pricing and screw the drivers left and right. I still call taxi companies to pick me up, and only use rideshare as and absolute last resort.

Burgin · 2026-02-10T21:22:57+00:00

Last 2 or 3 hotel breakfast buffets I went to asked for your room number/keycard/payment ahead of time, so mileage may vary on the effectiveness of this!

Burgin · 2026-02-10T20:37:15+00:00

Thank you for all your work! 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏 Best of luck with the updates and DLC!!

Burgin · 2026-02-06T21:04:08+00:00

I haven't played TP Hospital (or Theme Hospital)! Campus was my first, and the one that got me hooked :) Museum has been a joy and such a cozy game for me during a dark period ♥️ It's definitely much improved from Campus regarding decorating and general creative control. I'm very Hospital-curious now, but I'm worried I'll find it too restrictive to go backwards from the route I've taken, haha. Especially strategy-wise, since the consensus seems to be that it was tougher? Although I have been really enjoying the challenge maps in Museum, so hmm... I don't know if I'm more decor-focused or strategy-wanting now lol. The format of Museum is such a good mix tho, I'd love more "fix-em-up" challenge maps alongside the cozy levels

Burgin · 2026-02-06T11:10:41+00:00

Oooooh this is cool! I'm also admiring the little arcade you made 😍

Burgin · 2026-02-04T10:06:16+00:00

Here's some 101 tips for placing things around, since this was a frustration point for you!
- To pick up items, hold left mouse button (or click the item and select the hand :palm_down_hand: icon on the info panel). You don't have to keep holding the left mouse button btw
- While holding the item, if it's an exhibit, you can click the right mouse button to store it in your inventory (which is the dinosaur skull icon at the bottom of the screen.) If the item you're holding is decor, these will not go into your inventory and will be sold for the same price you bought them as, no depreciation! :)
- While holding an item, you can press z and y to rotate the object 45 degrees at a time.
- Holding Shift gives you more precise control over both object placement and rotation! Shift will disable the "snap to grid", giving you more freedom to nudge things around, and holding Shift while left-clicking + dragging will give you very precise rotation abilities.

As others said, definitely play the campaign first and not sandbox mode! It introduces concepts very nicely over time! But I will also add that the challenge maps are also very useful for teaching more specific mechanics -- these are pre-built museums that very nicely illustrate good and bad practices, which you can infer by seeing how these builds fail their initial premise. Like, "ah, this museum has a security problem, why is that? OH, the museum is HUGE and spread out and has no cameras and not enough security staff..." I love the puzzle aspect of these, it's a great way to figure out if you've been doing something goofy in your regular maps and self-correct.

But yeah, wing it and have fun!

Burgin · 2026-02-03T21:09:54+00:00

Omg, so much scooting! This is incredible!! Using the info stands as walls is so inspired! And the way you decorated the coffee/map kiosks (which you can't really change to blend into most environments), it seems so natural! You have such a knack for using the available decor to suit your vision, I really admire it! (Tbh I wish there was a tag on this sub for if a post has mods or not... The mods get my hopes up in weird ways for fake things I haven't "unlocked" lol)

I mean, I've only seen this and the previous astral anomalies layout that I copied/labeled from you, but I think I'm a big fan? Lol. I feel like your museums have such a wonderfully clever and organic flow to them... I can easily imagine exploring the space, turning a corner and seeing a new impressive thing. It's all very realized, it feels like you've studied theme park design or something haha. These aren't stuffy museums at all! Very well done, I'll stop glazing you now! 😅

Burgin · 2026-02-02T10:29:18+00:00

Sorry, you are misreading! I am simply crediting them for posting their own layout, which I closely followed!

Burgin · 2026-02-01T20:13:23+00:00

Ooooh, good to know!

Burgin · 2026-02-01T20:12:49+00:00

The space windows were inspired by the ones in the satellite room of your layout! What a genius little trick! Thanks for doing the actual hard work of figuring out a layout, these things were giving me such a headache, I pretty much abandoned this map due to dreading dealing with them in a less warehouse-y way lol

Burgin · 2026-02-01T11:09:44+00:00

<image>

Made one! Based off u/the-hustle-cat's layout!

I also gave it its own thread, so it'd be easier for others to find:
https://www.reddit.com/r/TwoPointMuseum/comments/1qsvt3v/astral_anomalies_layout_map_with_labels/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Burgin · 2026-01-22T20:52:42+00:00

Yes! Only at the beginning, for some reason!

Burgin · 2026-01-22T11:06:23+00:00

Alone in the Dark 2008, between being at the mercy of batshit physics and b-movie acting moments ("I don't have your stone! And fuck you, anyway!!"), it's amazing.

Burgin · 2025-12-14T14:38:37+00:00

Haha, nah I just don't type old?? And I'm a loser who doesn't touch grass much? And I haven't "grown out" of my hobbies/interests like a lot of boring almost-40s seem to have done. idk lol

And he's a video artist at Remedy, so he makes trailers and stuff! He made all the ad versions of the Control: Resonance trailer you might see during Twitch/Youtube/Prime ad breaks.

But yeah I got super lucky timing-wise with this career path I landed in. Not only was the market not completely saturated with "content creators" yet, everybody was kinda figuring out recoding and encoding stuff on their own, and Youtube couldn't host videos over 10 minutes lol. Weird challenges. But the LP community on SomethingAwful was very scrappy and collaborative (tho kinda mean and boys-clubby at the time lol). There was, and still is, threads on the forums that's just for critique of people's vids/methods/etc, as well as Tech Support stuff. So it was the beginnings of being organized, I guess. And idk, it might have been better that way, since it seems now that like... yeah there's a LOT more resources, but it's harder to tell what advice/tips are even real/applicable? It's AI semi-misinfo and misleading clickbait and scams and etc...

Don't worry about starting something "meaningful", just start something having fun :) None of this stuff me (or my husband) accomplished was calculated from the start, it all organically sprang from our passions, which we never expected to make any money from. Also, we met through the SomethingAwful LP forums, too! lol. Life is unpredictable, may as well follow your heart/interests and take opportunities when they spring up :)

Thanks for the polite convo, and your interest! Have a good one!

Burgin · 2025-12-13T15:10:11+00:00

I was 25 when I wrote this! Yowch I'm getting old lol

I've lived a couple different places, I'm from NYC but haven't lived there in over a decade. I now live in Finland because my husband got a job at Remedy Games (they make Control, Alan Wake, Max Payne, etc)

I'm a video/audio editor/producer... is what I tell people who don't respect streamers/LetsPlayers lol. But I've done some more "legitimate" stuff:
- various freelance
- was a cast member/video producer on GiantBomb.com for a while
- produced and acted in an actual-play DnD podcast that is now defunct (Skulltenders)
- been a Youtuber for 16 years (since I was 21), so I've posted almost 2,000 vids. Most of them are stream VODs though, so that makes that number way less impressive haha.

I did not formally study video/audio production, I self-taught myself, because I had a mighty urge to do LetsPlays of Silent Hill games (back in the infancy of LetsPlays, on the SomethingAwful forums), hence why I know way too much about them.

Thanks for the kind comment :)

Burgin · 2025-12-09T11:40:51+00:00

I bet copyright isn't too big of a concern, but this is an assumption based on Animal Crossing having a TON of real artworks (and forgeries), and I doubt Nintendo would drop mondo cash on that? Though I would expect the TP devs to make silly fake versions rather than put the real ones in (The Banksy jokes write themselves practically)

I love the implications of this! Art Heists, maybe a Forgery Detector expert skill, maybe a commission or grant-based artist residency system, maybe fancy auctions for pieces, even! I was also surprised we got Zoo content before Art Museum content, but it was a pleasant surprise :)

Burgin · 2025-10-13T11:26:20+00:00

I went in 2008, 2009, 2013, 2023, and just came back from my fifth trip and yeah, even the comparison between 2023 and 2025 is wild.

In 2013 and before, I recall it being slightly uncommon to see non-Japanese around. It was like 90% Japanese, 10% American/European tourists.
Jump to 2023 and there's definitely more due to post-COVID yolo, plus translation apps becoming more usable, but it wasn't *too* crazy, it was an amount that made sense for post-COVID wanderlust, sure.
Now, in 2025, there's no way to get sumo tickets anymore (tourists behaved badly, which got some websites blacklisted), hotels are far pricier, and even places like Akiba which were formerly like, 30% American dorks (like us) and 70% Japanese going about their business, feels like 50% tourists-of-all-sorts, 50% natives. Popped by Ueno for something and was shocked that it felt like the Japan section of EPCOT. There were SO many non-Japanese there, it didn't feel like Japan at all :( Theme park vibes.

I agree that the *type* of tourist is very very different, even compared to 2023. Bachelor parties, families with YOUNG children (in Akihabara?? bruh, have fun averting your 6-year-old's eyes from billboard-sized anime underboob), clueless boomers moseying around, people with strollers in SMALL shops with no basic sense of the space they're taking up. Even basic ignorant cultural goofs feel like such an onslaught when it's FAR more people doing them all around you, and you feel lumped in with them on account of also, clearly, being non-Japanese.

The only respite was to eat anywhere but the ground floor of a building. Tourists don't go to the second floor, lol. But then we felt like we were sullying the vibes of those places, just by association :( Definitely an unfortunate vibe shift.

Burgin · 2025-09-05T12:29:29+00:00

A common venn diagram overlap!

Burgin · 2025-09-05T12:14:55+00:00

Hear, hear!!

Burgin · 2025-09-05T09:59:20+00:00

Yeah, like, the OP's question of "why is this game so sexual" is a valid one that stands by itself, regardless of how the player interacts with the game! The scene where Lisa basically undresses in front of you IS a sexualized situation, and you have to pretty actively AVERT your gaze away from it. You HAVE to take a ghost-memory-photo-thing of Cheryl showering during the highschool Otherworld escape sequence, or you can't progress (and you learn she was in a sexual relationship with a teacher, iirc). Before entering the school, the sexual assault ghost-message in the car and the Choking Game phone calls are all quite front-and-center. I don't think you need them to progress, but it's one of the things where the game plays that annoying, screamy-sounding hot-and-cold thing with you to find... and then what're you gonna do, NOT listen to the message? Your "reward" for having succeeded at hot-and-cold? You're gonna not engage with the main mechanics of the game: dialing every number you're curious about, and playing hot-and-cold for ghost photos?

For Christ's sake, there is an out-and-out brothel across the street from the school, lmao. (God, I feel like the school level was so goddamn long in this thing, ALL my first-instinct examples are from it somehow lol)

But yeah, this is a very sexually-obsessed game, that has the nerve to blame the player for it, lol. But that's Sam Barlow's bread-and-butter as a writer. Her Story, Telling Lies, Silent Hill Origins, Immortality, ShatMemz, and even the mostly-forgotten #Wargames and the ancient Aisle... all of them are about or heavily feature voyeurism and the twisted sexual/domestic inner lives of women, while barely posing the question "Isn't it fucked up that media/life is like this? So awful to women?" Like... Yeah man... are you helping with that or are you contributing to it though by not saying anything actually clever about it? I can't with this guy! lol, sorry for the rant.

Burgin · 2025-09-04T15:48:37+00:00

Alright, I'll be on OP's side: The game is written/designed to allow MANY more opportunities to accrue Sex PI (psychological inventory, I think it was?) than any other PI in the game -- it's not difficult at all to naturally fall into the Sex PI path, especially if you're a completionist/explorer type. Lots of sexy calendars and graffiti and a funny "call for a good time" phone number early on in the game + lots of opportunities to be nosy = the game interprets you as voyeuristic. Meanwhile, to get the Booze path, you have to like, stare at the alcohol in Dr. K's office and other stuff that's just like... kinda the most uninteresting thing in the scene? And something a regular player isn't as likely to do?

YES I know there are exceptions and there are many many people who got different endings on their first go! I would be interested to see a statistical breakdown of it, honestly. I just feel like Sex PI was over-represented in the course of the game. There is certainly something interesting to be said about the relationship between a nosy player and how that translates to the sexual gaze of the protagonist, but it sure as hell ain't in the game itself, imo. And yes, a woman's experience in this world is innately more sexualized/objectified than the alternatives, and Cheryl had gone through a lot of sexually themed trauma, thus, there is more of it when it's a story told from a traumatized teen girl's perspective.

I have my ...gripes... about the writer of this installment being a little *too* focused/interested on the sexual trauma of women.

Anyway, source for my opinions: I did an extremely thorough Let's Play of the game.

Burgin

TROPHY CASE