Following its incredibly well-received launch on March 4, 2025, we've all been eagerly anticipating the first, big Two Point Museum DLC. While July's Fantasy Finds is fantastic and introduces some brilliant DnD-inspired exhibits, experts, and mechanics for a very reasonable price, it's a smaller pack, and thus is missing one major thing - a new museum site for us to build on.
But, if you're as stuck for space as I was, you'll be glad to know that the newest expansion, the Two Point Museum Zooseum DLC, finally remedies that, while also adding a whole heap of other fun features to explore.
When I published my Two Point Museum Switch 2 review on October 27, I mentioned I had played over 50 hours of the Steam version. Well, I've now more than doubled that on Steam alone, not counting any additional hours I've put into the Switch 2 version. This obsession has only intensified after I received review access to the aforementioned Zooseum DLC at the end of last week and proceeded to spend my entire weekend playing it.
Zooseum is a larger, longer pack that introduces the new Silverbottom Park museum site. The wildlife of Farflung Isles is under threat and has been falling sick recently. As such, a passionate (and incredibly rich) wildlife expert called Wiggy Silverbottom has opened up the grounds of his stately home to you, hoping to help conserve these weird and wonderful creatures, all while pursuing his dream of finally seeing a painted panda up close.
As with other sites, Silverbottom Park starts off relatively small, but there are plenty of unlockable zones in the surrounding area that offer a nice, open space that allows for plenty of creativity. No awkward corners or tight sections to contend with - yes, I'm looking at you, Bungle Wastelands.
Naturally, with the new theme comes new experts with several unique qualifications you can train them in, including specializations in small or large animals. However, it's the animals that are the stars of the show here, along with the different enclosures you put them in.
The Zooseum DLC includes over 40 unique wildlife exhibits for you to discover, each with its own requirements and preferences. But these aren't your average animals - each one is some form of silly spin on a real-world animal, or some odd creation born from a pun. From the proud, poofy-maned dandy lions to the horned bull frog, each discovery is a true delight.
Smaller animals live in terrariums which you can craft in the workshop. Then, afterwards, you need to change the biome and add any perks that the animals require in order to keep them happy and healthy. This reminds me of Planet Zoo's exhibit animals, though much simpler and without the different temperatures to fiddle with.
The terrarium animals are absolutely adorable, and I love zooming in and watching these little guys hanging out in their tanks, but the larger habitat animals are where it's really at. The system here feels very similar to building tanks for fish or poltergeist rooms for ghosts - you create a base, you choose a 'theme' (in this case, the correct biome for the animal that you're housing), and then you decorate it. However, there are a few extra steps here.
In addition to biome types, animals need their habitats to align with a specific level of density - open, sparse, or dense. You achieve these different densities by adding more foliage and rocks, allowing for some pretty neat levels of customization and creativity. You can also craft enrichment items like wind chimes and sprinklers in the workshop to activate specific animals' buzz bonuses, and you can add a baby hutch to your habitats or terrariums to have a male and female procreate.
One thing I'm very grateful for (and I'm sure many of you will be, too) is that analysis works much differently when it comes to wildlife. Instead of shoving these poor critters into an analysis machine and destroying them to gain knowledge from their innards (sorry, fishies), your wildlife experts instead gain knowledge by treating and bathing your animals in the new animal welfare room, curing any illnesses in the re-animator or pampering them for a boost to their buzz.
All wildlife experts are capable of treating and bathing animals, but only experts trained in animal analysis will increase your knowledge of the species while doing so. This pushes you to ensure that you've got a decent amount of trained experts and that you're using the job assignment board to avoid wasting those precious knowledge points.
Zooseum, of course, also adds a new expedition map called the Farflung Isles. Here, instead of survey level, your goal is to increase the POI's biodiversity by completing expeditions, using specific cargo items, and releasing animals into the wild. Each time you release an animal, you also earn sanctuary points, which you can use to adopt new animals. You can even send an advert for a specific animal and gender, which makes it much easier to form breeding pairs without relying on expedition RNG.
The addition of so many new mechanics and things to think about could become overwhelming. But, like the base game, the Zooseum DLC once again manages to balance everything well, slowly introducing new features to you over time and putting restrictions in place to maintain the relaxing vibes.
For example, your animals won't inbreed or fight when babies reach maturity, and will only produce babies if there's enough space in their habitat, which reduces some of the concern about their welfare. After all, this isn't supposed to be a hyper-realistic zoo management sim - it's all about the fun.
However, this DLC isn't a complete walk in the park. Some of the tasks can be a little grindy and take some time to get through, and, despite the wide, flat land you get at Silverbottom Park, I found working out a layout for this museum quite challenging. Both terrariums and habitats can go either inside or outside, which offers quite a bit of freedom in terms of design, but also introduces new challenges as you work out how to keep your animals, staff, and guests happy and their needs met across a sprawling zoo.
Neither of these are actual negatives, though, and I genuinely enjoyed the challenge the map posed me throughout. Though I admit, I'd love it if we could get porta potties or outdoor toilets so we don't have to place building foundations everywhere to keep our visitors' bladders happy!
Overall, Zooseum is a brilliant expansion to an already brilliant game, introducing a whole heap of new mechanics, features, and content for a relatively small price. Of course, it doesn't reach the intense depths of other animal-focused simulation games like Planet Zoo, but it doesn't want nor need to.
It's a fun, silly, and lighthearted take on animal care, zoo cultivation, and conservation, balancing the series' iconic humor with what feels like a real sense of care for the theme. I only hope that a full Two Point Zoo game could be a possibility in the future.