Hogwarts Legacy: A childhood dream come true
Many of us have always dreamed of being able to go to Hogwarts. I sure have. Hogwarts Legacy is the first open world Harry Potter RPG game that gives us the chance to realise our childhood dreams. Does the game live up to the hype? Read our review to find out!
Released: 7th February 2023
Developer: Portkey Games
System: PC / PS5 / XBox Series X/S / PS4 & XBox One (May 2023) / Nintendo Switch (July 2023)
Price: $59.99 USD / £49.99 GBP
The time has finally come to go to Hogwarts - we’ve all been waiting for this since we turned 11 years old! I have been a huge Harry Potter fan for over 25 years so when the first reveal showcased Hogwarts Legacy I was extremely excited. I have played previous versions of Harry Potter video games, notably the original PC ports of Philosopher’s Stone & Chamber of Secrets (They went a bit downhill after those two) as well as the Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 and 5-7 games - which I thoroughly enjoyed. However, none of these predecessors really scratched that itch of being able to fully explore Hogwarts and the surrounding areas, discovering all of Hogwarts’ many secrets. Hogwarts Legacy changed all of that.
Even with the surrounding criticisms - Hogwarts Legacy was one of the most awaited games of 2023. Despite the backlash and attempts to ‘cancel’ the game, it still went on to sell 15 million copies and earned 1 billion dollars globally.
So let’s start with the graphics. There is no denying this game is beautiful. I was lucky to be able to play the game on PC and I have a fairly decent set up (RTX 3080) and went with the recommended High settings that the game suggested. I did have some strange lighting issues while inside caves or inside Hogwarts castle whenever I had ray-tracing switched on, so I played the majority of the game with this switched off.
Luckily I was also able to play the Steam Deck version which I used for a huge portion of my playthrough. It ran pretty well on Steam Deck if I set the graphics to low. However, I ultimately did switch back to playing on PC in the end. I was infuriated to find that, during a 5 hour flight I was unable to load my save file as there was no internet connection. At the time of writing this review a patch has been released which greatly increases the performance on the Steam Deck.
We begin the game as a young student who is starting Hogwarts in their fifth year due to the fact that we are able to see glimpses of ancient magic. The Harry Potter fan in me originally thought this was a bit strange - starting Hogwarts in fifth year? With no prior magical education? Ridiculous. However the game washes this away by making it clear the main character has been training with a Hogwarts professor for a good couple of weeks before term starts. The game has a good opening with decent tutorials and plays very well. However, if you’re like me and cannot wait to get to Hogwarts to be sorted into your house - it can feel like a bit of a drag.
Eventually you do get to Hogwarts, albeit late to the sorting ceremony. I believe there was an option to link your Pottermore account to the game and it would sort you into the House you were sorted into on the website, or you can just take the sorting hat quiz in the game and it will sort you. If you do not like which house you are placed in, you can choose which house you go into. Naturally, I was sorted into Gryffindor. Do note that there are slightly different ways parts of the game play out depending on which house you are sorted into. There is also one sidequest that is exclusive to Hufflepuff which I think many people would like to play - however I don’t wish to spoil what the quest is during this review.
Hogwarts in this game is an actual dream. It’s everything I wanted and more. There are a lot of mysterious things lying around and doors surrounded by runes which you are unable to open at first. Figuring out the secrets of Hogwarts was one of my favourite things about this game. I spent hours upon hours just running around the castle and exploring. The game does a very good job of opening different parts of the castle up to you as you progress through your lessons and the storyline. The fact that I was still exploring parts of the castle at 25 hours into my playthrough was just wild to me.
The atmosphere around Hogwarts is just as magical as I hoped it would be. Often while just running around the castle I was highly entertained by suits of armor humming and singing, or even beating each other up! Portraits would talk to you, some students were being harassed by howlers - it was just brilliant. I was also very happy to see that Peeves the poltergeist was in the game. He was omitted from the movies and to have him back was amazing.
There are a lot of side-quests in the game, in addition to the main storyline - some of these are really well written stories, such as Sebastian Sallow’s arc. Others are not as deep. I did find that after about 20 hours into the game, I got bored of side quests - they just became a bit too repetitive for me, and ultimately I just ended up doing the three main relationship quests for Natsai, Poppy and Sebastian, which was my favourite quest.
The combat flows very well in this game. I was interested to see how they would make combat work as it is not your traditional kind of combat. You learn many different defensive spells throughout your playthrough and you use these to hit enemies, following up with basic casts which will grant you higher damage points. One thing I did find frustrating about the combat is when casting spells, for some reason your character steps forward after each cast - meaning that if you’re fighting on a clifftop or close to a ledge, you have to be very careful to ensure that you don’t fall off!
A couple of hours into the main story you will gain access to brooms and flying. The controls for flying were a bit difficult to get used to, especially on mouse and keyboard. In general I think this game definitely lends itself better to gamepad controls rather than mouse and keyboard. The flying controls I found to be so clunky that I struggled with the main flying side-quests which are needed for you to be able to upgrade your broom. Luckily, as I am a filthy casual I was playing the game on story mode I was given the opportunity to skip these flying sections after 2 failed attempts, so all was good there.
Flying is a lovely way to explore the vast overworld the game offers up. I admit that it took me a long time to realise that you can actually cast the ‘Revelio’ spell while flying which highlights all nearby points of interest - this was really helpful for identifying caves, magical beast areas and much more.
Although I thoroughly enjoyed the game, there were some issues and things I didn’t like about it.
When flying around on your mount or broom, quite often you would hit areas you wouldn’t be able to fly through - namely around the Hogsmeade area and the Coastal Cavern. This was annoying to me and really broke the immersion.
In the early days of the game, you would activate ‘floo’ flames which act as fast travel points. It was a clever idea as the map is so huge it would take a long time to get anywhere, so floo travel was a way to get around the map quicker. Unfortunately, all of the floo flames were accompanied by busts of Ignatia Wildsmith, who continually reminded us of how inconvenient travel was before she invented floo powder. Every time you walked past a floo flame, the bust would basically shout lines at you, catching you off guard and scaring the hell out of you.
‘You can’t IMAGINE how inconvenient travel was before I invented floo powder’
‘Off on another adventure, are we?’
‘How nice to see you, my young friend!’
‘What are you up to now?’
If I had a dollar for everytime that this floo powder lady jumpscared the hell out of me, I’d certainly be rich by now. I am happy to say that after a week or two, the dev’s put out a patch which nuked how often she talked and I think it also decreased the volume of her speech!
One of the biggest complaints about the game I have noticed, which also greatly affected me as well, was the fact that you were unable to pause cutscenes. This was really inconvenient and I cannot understand why the devs did not implement a pause option? Some cutscenes, especially near the beginning of the game were quite long and it was annoying to not be able to pause them.
In conclusion - this game was everything I hoped it would be and more - it was the Harry Potter game I didn’t know I needed, and didn’t realise I had been waiting for my whole life. If you’re a fan of open world games, I recommend that you definitely give this a try!
Pros:
Beautiful Overworld & Graphics
Gigantic Hogwarts to explore
Dev team actively working to address any issues
Some great storylines
Cons:
No function available to pause cutscenes
Limitations on flying break immersion
Flying controls quite clunky
Can get a little repetitive after 30-40 hours
Is Simon There? 40 Minutes of Genuine Terror (Review)
“Hi, Is Simon There?” - This spine-chilling walking simulator/psychological horror indie game was released on May 6th, 2022. It’s best played with the lights out and alone - it’s short and sweet but jam packed with scares, we have only one question… Is Simon There? Read the review to find out.
Release Date: May 6th 2022
Developer: Stanislaw Truchowski
Platforms: PC (Steam)
Price: $4.99
“Hi, is Simon there?”
These four words will be ingrained into your memory after playing this short indie game developed by Stanislaw Truchowski. After having been released on Steam on May 6th 2022, Is Simon There? Has been given great reviews and an all-time score of Very Positive on Steam.
I was mainly interested in this game as I am really into walking simulators at the moment, the last few games I’ve been playing have been along the lines of What Became of Edith Finch, Gone Home and Firewatch. When I discovered Is Simon There? on Stream, it was a no-brainer for me to purchase - walking simulator AND horror? Sign me up! Stanislaw Truchowski does an amazing job at keeping the atmosphere simply terrifying throughout the entire game. Players are informed before starting the game that it will take approximately 40 minutes to complete. For me, it was much, much longer. Players are also informed that the game is best experienced using headphones, with the lights out and alone. I will hold my hands up and openly admit that I did none of these things, and even so - the game was still terrifying.
The gameplay is in first-person view, and you are not given much context - you wake up to a blaring alarm clock (which is, for some reason sitting on a very high shelf) and as you progress through the game, the protagonist is plagued by phone calls all of which are from somebody asking whether Simon is there. The story takes place in the protagonist's home which is small and can feel claustrophobic, especially when the lights are out. As the narrative progresses the protagonist is convinced there is somebody in the house - the main objectives are to find the intruder. I found the game's atmosphere to be so terrifying that even the tall potted plants that were dotted around the house were giving me jump scares. The game does a very good job at messing with you - quite often as you make multiple trips throughout the house things appear that were not there earlier, and you start to feel as though you’re going crazy right along with the protagonist.
Although it is mainly marketed as a psychological horror walking simulator, there are some puzzles that need to be solved and this was the part of the game that I found to be most frustrating. There is very little guidance or even clues as to how to solve the puzzles. In particular there is a section of the game where you need to find a code to open a safe, and as far as I can tell, there is nowhere that shows any digits or gives any clue as to what the safe code is. It’s entirely possible that I could have missed it, the game did have me too scared to stay in any one place for too long.
Given that the game is set in a single household, in first person view with jump scares, a terrifying atmosphere and cryptic puzzles, I can’t help but compare this game to P.T by Hideo Kojima which famously released on PS4 back in 2014 and later removed due to the cancellation of Silent Hills. It feels, in some way that this game may be a tribute to P.T.
Considering the game didn’t really have much context as the beginning, the story is revealed throughout the game and everything begins to fall into place as you keep exploring. I will admit that I started to feel sympathy for the protagonist as things started to become clearer. Some people may say that 40 minutes is too short for a game, but as previously mentioned, it took me much longer than this to complete the game. There are also multiple endings and achievements up for grabs if you want to extend your playtime and get your money's worth.
In summary, this game was a real gem - I’m so happy that I stumbled across it one day while browsing the steam store. If you love horror games and also enjoy walking simulators and puzzle solving, this game is definitely worth a try.
Pros:
Genuinely scary.
The graphics were nice.
Excellent theme and atmosphere.
Multiple endings.
Well priced.
Cons:
Quite cryptic, some puzzles are difficult to solve.
Some may say it’s on the shorter side (playtime wise.)
Funalot/Joystown Steam Deck Dock Review
Many companies have thrown their hats into the ring were third party Steam Deck Docks are concerned. In this review we look into the new Funalot/Joystown Steam Deck Dock and how it compares to the official Steam Deck Dock released by Valve. Which one did we end up preferring? Read the review to find out!
When Valve revealed that the Steam Deck was ready for purchase, they also highlighted that people were welcome to use any third party USB-C Hub docks to output their Steam Deck gameplay to TV or other displays such as laptop monitors etc. Many different companies have released third party docks for use with the Steam Deck - one of which is Funalot (or Joystown in the UK). We were provided with a sample unit for review.
Firstly, the dock comes well packaged in a decent sturdy cardboard box, a user manual is included in the box which gives some handy tips if you want to achieve 4K output. The deck itself is very sturdy and has a beautiful build quality, it really feels like a premium product compared to the official Steam Deck Dock which is made from plastic. The hub had 4 rubber feet on the bottom, which stopped it from sliding around easily on the tabletop. The slot for placing the steam deck into is suitably large - much larger than the Steam Deck Dock, and this would allow for Steam Decks with protective cases to be docked with ease - which I believe is one of the complaints surrounding the official dock.
As you can see from the above diagram, the Funalot hub has HDMI out, a USB-C port for charging your Steam Deck, as well as three USB 3.0 ports which will come in handy if you wish to play your games on mouse and keyboard. Personally I prefer playing on a controller, however I do like having this option available to me if, for example, I wanted to run my Steam Deck in desktop mode. On the side of the hub there is a gigabit Ethernet port which will be extremely useful for those without stable internet. Fortunately for me, my dock is situated in the same room as my router, so I have not had the need to make use of this yet.
This item truly is plug & play - it was so easy to set up and the signal fed through to my TV instantly - nothing needed to be changed in settings. A welcome improvement over the official dock, as I am always having to alter the brightness of my TV as, for some reason, the official dock makes my TV settings seem overly bright. I am also very happy to reveal that I haven’t had any issues with connectivity with this dock. Many have complained that the official docks need to be power cycled each time in order for the video signal to submit to the TV.
Next, let’s talk about price - as £45.99 in the UK, this is much less than the £79.99 official Steam Deck dock from Valve. Sure, there is no in box charger included with this hub, however I do feel that the postage time compensates for this. It took approximately two weeks for my official Steam Deck Dock to arrive from Valve - and as we all know, Valve have been known to use less than reliable couriers. The Funalot/Joystown dock arrived after ONE day - thanks to them being available on Amazon (Please note - this would probably be two days in the USA - One day shipping is a UK thing).
In Summary - This dock is a beautifully crafted piece of kit - it simply just works. In principle, while playing my deck on the TV I cannot tell the difference between this dock and the official one! In hindsight - given the choice between this dock or the official one now - I would choose this dock.
Pros:
Great price
Easy to set up
It just WORKS
Durable and great build quality
Allows for a protected Steam Deck (in a case) to be docked
Cons:
No charger included
Splatoon 3: A Super Fresh Spin on a Splat-Tastic Series! (Review)
The squid sisters once told us to STAY FRESH! Three games later on and now Splatoon 3 is the newest entry in this splat-tastic series. How does the game hold up compared to its predecessors? Have Nintendo taken past criticisms and comments on board? Read the review to find out what we thought of the latest instalment.
Released: 9th September 2022
Developer: Nintendo
System: Nintendo Switch
Price: $59.99 USD / £49.99 GBP
Splatoon 3 splatted its way onto Nintendo Switch on September 9th 2022. Many gamers wondered if there was a need for another mainline Splatoon game on Nintendo Switch, after Splatoon 2 had released in July 2017 and was still very much a popular game. Luckily, Nintendo offered its fan base a chance to test out the new features of Splatoon 3 during the Splatfest World Premiere which took place on Saturday 27th August, featuring the all new Tri-Color Turf War. This was a big deviation from the norm, whereby three teams would battle it out to ink the most turf.
I took part in the August Splatfest World Premiere with some friends and I have to say, the new features of Splatoon 3 convinced me to pre-order the full game. Before having tested out the games’ features via the Splatfest, I was against buying the game for many reasons. The number one reason being that there were still only two maps being featured at any one time for Turf War. I will run through the features which impressed me later in this review.
Naturally, Splatoon 3 came priced at the full $59.99 or £49.99 for those based in the UK. For those in the UK who have a Nintendo Switch Online Membership, there is still the option to purchase the game vouchers, priced at 2 Vouchers for £84 - so this is how I bought the game and saved myself some money. If you wanted to grab the game at the cheapest possible price then I would recommend buying the physical edition as some retailers have been known to sell copies for less than RRP.
Let’s jump right into the main event - Turf Wars! Undoubtedly, this will be the feature of the game that most people head straight for. I can happily say that the lobby and matchmaking system have been fine-tuned and streamlined in Splatoon 3. Unlike its predecessors, where you are stuck on a waiting screen to enter a match, you can now freely run around the lobby, inking the area and practicing your moves on the moving blow up squids while you wait to be slotted into a match. It’s no Squid Jump (think back to Splatoon 1) but it’s a major improvement on the boring lobbies of Splatoon 2. Joining friends is much easier now, as you can simply ‘drop-in’ on your friends while they are in a match and wait to join the following match. I’ve found so far that more often than not, I am grouped onto the same team as my friends, which is a very welcome change.
Splatoon 3 uses a mixture of older maps from previous games as well as some new maps - as far as I know, there will be free content updates in the future which will add more content with regard to weapons and maps. In the new Turf War, you start the match/respawn from up in the air while standing on what seems to be a coffee machine… very random but an interesting change! Nintendo has also changed the way disconnects occur. If someone drops out of the match, it instantly ends and the match does not count towards players scores. Although this does fix the issue from previous games where a team may be down to two players due to disconnects and being slaughtered by the opposing team, it does create the issue that matches instantly ending could become tiresome and be an overall detriment to gameplay.
As mentioned previously, only two maps are available at any one time and the maps rotate every two hours like in the previous games. One thing I was absolutely delighted to discover in Splatoon 3 is that when the maps change, or when you start the game, you are forwarded to the newscast of the new stages. In previous games this newscast was unskippable, long and extremely frustrating as it disrupted gameplay. Nintendo must have taken this criticism to heart because in Splatoon 3, you can click the left joystick to switch to ‘Listen Mode’ for the newscast, effectively moving it to the top left corner of the screen. I can’t even describe how wonderful this change is - it has changed the game immeasurably, being able to effectively skip having to watch the newscast every time you open the game, or every time the maps change.
There are other game modes available to play such as Anarchy battle which unlocks at level 10, unless you have Splatoon 2 save data, and then it unlocks early. Personally, I do not play league battles or any other modes other than Turf Wars. I’ve found that they make me quite ragey, and therefore I will not be including them in this review.
Nintendo have also added a new Table top Turf War mode that you can play in the Square. It’s very easy to learn, and it uses playing cards that you can find from playing the single player campaign. You are given a starter deck to begin with and instructed on how to play the game. Each card has a certain amount of colored squares on it in different shapes - this is your ink. The objective being to ink as many squares on the grid as you can. All of your ink must touch your own color ink, you cannot ink over your opponent's squares. There are 12 turns, and you also have the option to pass if you have no available cards that would fit into your inked area. It’s sort of hard to describe, but this game mode is actually a lot of fun, I can definitely see myself spending countless hours playing the table-top Turf War mode. You can play against the computer ‘Jellyfish’ or against opponents in the square.
The single player campaign so far has been impressive (judging by what I have played of it so far at the time of writing this review). To me, it feels like a mix of previous Splatoon single player campaigns with some elements of the Splatoon 2 Octo Expansion DLC tied in together with it. It’s a welcome change and I have been enjoying what I have played so far. A nice added bonus is you can find display items, as well as trading cards and stickers to display in your locker in the locker room in the lobby.
I won’t go into describing the weapons and clothing options in the game, as it would take forever - but the new abilities such as run speed up, ink saver and faster respawn are very useful, and I have enjoyed taking advantage of these abilities to make my Turf Wars a little easier to handle. I believe that all of the previous weapons are available from Sheldon, however, as a creature of habit I just tend to stick with my good ol’ Aerospray!
Nintendo very recently announced the next Splatfest due to take place between September 23rd - 25th with the following theme - What would you bring to a desert island? Gear, Grub or Fun? I look forward to taking part in the first post-release splatfest! Which team will you choose? Let me know in the comments!
Pros:
Pros:
Streamlined Matchmaking & Lobby
Easier to Join with Friends
Skippable Newscast/Splatcast
Tabletop Turf War is a welcome addition
Salmon Run now available 24/7
Cons:
Still only 2 maps available at any one time
Sheldon still takes forever to run through the weapons, with no skip button
I have experienced quite a few ‘communication errors’ so far
Justin Wack and the Big Time Hack Review
This wildly entertaining 2D point and click adventure game will take you on a journey across space and time! Released on 23rd August 2022 by Warm Kitten after being funded on Kickstarter we sink our teeth into this great game.
Release Date: August 23rd 2022
Developer: Warm Kitten
Platforms: PC (Steam)
Price: $19.99
Having been a huge fan of point and click adventure games, I was more than excited to try out Warm Kitten’s Justin Wack and the Big Time Hack. A whistle stop tour of the storyline would be Justin Wack has just broken up with his girlfriend Julia and, following an accident with some metal and a microwave, ends up stuck in the past. Determined to get back to his own time, Justin must figure out a series of puzzles and travel across different time periods to be reunited with his love.
The gameplay is split across three different time periods: the past, the present and the future. You would assume that this might be difficult to grasp, however, the gameplay does a great job of keeping things simple. Justin - the main protagonist, eventually gains the ability to travel between the past and the future, which is ruled by robots. In the present, we take control of a jolly caveman named Kloot, who has escaped from the past and into the present. Later on in the game, we also take control of different characters, so the gameplay never gets old.
The storytelling is very well done in the game, and all of the characters are nicely developed as the story progresses. When I first met Justin Wack I can’t say I particularly liked the guy - honestly, who gives their significant other an ultimatum of ‘It’s me or the cat’ and wouldn’t expect to be broken up with? However, as the story progresses I found myself liking Justin’s character more and more and by the end of the story I was rooting for Justin and Julia to get back together.
The humour in this game is top-notch. It had me laughing out loud on several occasions. One of my favourites was all of the dinosaurs living vegan lifestyles (at least, until nightfall.) All of the characters are so well written and the voice acting is on point. There are many easter eggs scattered throughout the game, paying homage to extremely popular 2D point and click adventures such as The Secret of Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle and this was really nice to see, you feel as though you are part of the inside joke.
The gameplay centres around using items which you find across the different time periods in certain combinations in order to make progress. This is not unlike other point and click games however, if I had to make one complaint about the game it would be that only six inventory items can be viewed at the top right of the screen and this can make it a bit tedious and difficult to combine items. Some of the item combinations and ideas were very clever, and some were rather cryptic. However, the game does offer a hint-system in the game menu should you get stuck. I didn’t make use of this system, however, but it is a welcome addition in my opinion. The game is split into three acts, and overall it took me 22 hours to complete, which is a very decent amount of playtime and worth the cost of the game. The game has a total of 44 trophies and even on my play through I only unlocked 41, so there are still things that I missed!
In summary, this is an absolute gem of a game and if 2D point and click adventures are your kind of thing, you definitely must play this game. The humour, characters, art style and storytelling are top-notch and worth every penny.
Pros:
Great Storytelling
Brilliant Voice-Acting
Decent playtime length
Easy to understand/control
Hilariously funny
Hints system
Cons
Only 6 inventory items can be viewed at any one time
Two Point Campus Review
It’s finally here, the much-awaited sequel to Two Point Hospital - developed by Two Point Studios. Ladies & Gentlemen… its Two Point Campus! College parties, film nights, witty humour, original classes and multiple uniquely designed campuses are just a few fun things that are waiting for you in this game. Does it hold its own when compared to its predecessor? Read our review to find out.
Release Date: August 9th 2022
Developer: Two Point Studios
Platforms: Microsoft Windows (Reviewed), Linux, Mac OS, XBox One/Series X & S, Playstation 4/5, Nintendo Switch
Price: $39.99
After the success of Two Point Hospital (2018) I was really excited to play its successor, Two Point Campus. The original Two Point Hospital was a love-letter to Bull Frog's Theme Hospital back in the 90s - however, it was never a game I played that much as a child. I was, however a huge fan of Theme Park. The idea of building my own University Campuses sounded like a lot of fun, so I decided to give this game a go.
The game retails at $39.99 on every system, which I find to be a little expensive. However, if you have an Xbox Game Pass subscription, you can play the game for free on PC or Xbox systems as it is included in the game pass catalogue. Luckily I was already a game pass subscriber, so this was a no-brainer for me, I was even allowed to pre-install the game, so I could play straight away on release day.
I don't normally play simulation games such as these due to the fact that they can sometimes overwhelm me with endless menus and options. However, Two Point Campus does a good job at guiding you through the different options and menus, teaching you at a nice pace how to build your campus, hire staff, and keep your students happy. I found the controls a bit confusing and difficult to get used to, as this was the first time I had played a simulation game on mouse and keyboard (I had previously played some Two Point Hospital on Nintendo Switch). At the time of writing this review, I still do get caught out on panning the camera around in certain directions!
Much like its predecessor, Two Point Campus works in much the same way. There are a certain number of campuses you can unlock across a vast overworld map - each campus slightly more grand and fancy than the previous. On each level you start off with a slightly higher income for building the campus, this comes in handy later on in the game when you have gotten the hang of how the campuses work - meaning you need to have a good amount of entertainment for the students, multiple lecture theaters, dormitories, a student's union, staff room, libraries etc. One addition I enjoyed in this game was being able to schedule events in the different rooms. For example, you can schedule movie nights in the campus lecture theaters. or organise parties at the students union which really help with increasing student happiness (not sure why it costs $4000 to put a movie night on, though!)
There are many items for sale in the inventory for making your campus bright and fun. You can unlock these items using an in-game currency called 'Kudosh' which is earned by completing objectives, completing career goals, and getting through the academic year. It's a fun system, and I can definitely see myself losing hours of my life to this game trying to unlock fun posters and rugs for my students' dorm rooms and beautiful water features for the campus grounds.
As you work your way through the levels you will begin to unlock more courses to teach your students, you also unlock the ability to build research and training labs so that you can improve your classrooms and train your staff. Each level has three stars which you can work towards gaining for your campus. It is quite simple to unlock the next level, but you can choose to continue playing your current campus and level it up to being a 3 star campus.
The sound design and music is very well implemented. I always find games like this to be quite relaxing once I've got the hang of how they work. As in Two Point Hospital, Campus also has tannoy announcements which can be quite entertaining to listen to whilst you are building classrooms and dorms, my personal favourite so far being 'Announcement: “Education will brighten your future but cloud you with debt”. There are also radio talk shows and interviews that are broadcast throughout the academic year which also make for an entertaining listen.
Although I have enjoyed what I have played of the game so far, I can't help but notice just how similar to Two Point Hospital the game is. There are some changes however sometimes it does feel like I am playing a re-skinned Two Point Hospital. The game can get a little repetitive as you progress, even with the additions of new courses that present themselves at each new levels.
PROS:
Pretty graphics, it looked and ran beautifully on my 3070ti graphics card
It is relaxing when you get a hang of what you're meant to be doing
The announcements and talk shows are funny
CONS:
It can get repetitive
Too similar to Two Point Hospital