Sega and Two Point Studios made Two Point Museum‘s newest DLC, Rides and Relics, free to start last week for anyone who owns the base game ahead of the expansion’s full launch on Oct. 8. Normally, a campaign’s first stage eases you into that museum’s peculiarities and keeps the big stuff for later. The Arty Facts DLC’s first stage, for example, teaches you the basics of creating and displaying paintings without even getting into live performance, emotions, auctions, and training models. I imagine Rides and Relics’ later stages will grow more complex as well, but I’m impressed by just how much there is in this initial campaign and how well it utilizes nostalgia.

Most of it so far is built on the old Theme Park‘s ideas, but rather than reproducing something familiar and calling it a day, Two Point’s using nostalgia as a starting point for making something new. You get a new ride, plunk it in the park, and make a queue for it, but queue size and placement matter. Make it too short, and not enough people end up on the ride. That’s a problem, since every ride has a fee. “That’s extortion!” you might say, and it probably is. Though in the absence of receiving donations like you do for normal exhibits, it’s essential extortion. Besides, no one’s forcing them to pay. Anyway, guests will get bored and leave if you make the queue too long, which means no money, and they are less likely to stay in the museum-park, which means even less money.

Rides confer the “thrilled” status on guests, which works with happiness to increase how long they stay, but a body can only take so many thrills. One thing I vividly remember from Theme Park is vomit. A cacophony of puking always filled the toilet blocks, and the sound was quite distinct. Two Point remembers vomit, too. When guests are over-thrilled, they’re more likely to hurl, and that ruins their day. The idea is to balance thrills with tamer activities, like traditional exhibits mixed in with your rides, though you can also install perks that make rides less likely to harm your guests in various ways.

Part of me was ready to die inside when I saw perks and upgraded ride blueprints as the main draw from Rides and Relics’ expeditions. Building multiple, slightly improved science contraptions and scrounging for perks in the science museum is easily the base game’s weakest point. But as is its custom, Two Point has learned from past missteps and found ways to make this process better. You get improved blueprints by increasing survey levels at expedition sites, and you can improve existing rides at no extra cost. Which perk you get is still chosen at random from the available selection, but at least they all come with tangible improvements. No one wants vomit everywhere.

Speaking of improvements, mascots play an important role in managing visitor emotions. In the original Theme Park, they’d just kinda stalk people and bounce around; everyone hated the cheap ones, though the expensive ones usually got a warmer response. There wasn’t much strategy involved. Rides and Relics divides mascots into theme types, and while they’re good for buzz generally — helpful if you need to squeeze some extra fun juice out of your exhibits — they also keep guests occupied and happy while waiting in line. My favorite so far is the Cheese Goblin, a mascot that helps people stay thrilled for longer. What a mood. I’d be thrilled if I saw a goblin made of cheese, too, at least until I was arrested for trying to consume it.

Anyway, you set up mascot routes the same way you manage tour routes, and you’ll unlock new mascot expedition locations for use in other museums and for other exhibit types, like a wildlife mascot or an art mascot. It’s a good incentive to mix exhibit types and get strategic about how they’re placed, something else Two Point has been improving with every new expansion, like giving special bonuses for blending fantasy and art exhibits in Arty Facts.

All this, and that’s not even getting into roller coaster building, the thing you’re working up to in the campaign’s first phase. Coaster building is an involved process that gives you a lot of control over heights and angles, even with just the starter coaster. I feel a little bad for the people riding my caterpillar-looking contraption. It’s supposed to be a low-thrill ride, but I gave it some pretty sharp twists and turns that look a bit like they could throw you off the right off the rail. Maybe that’s why hardly anyone’s riding it yet. Well, I enjoyed building it anyway.

The Rides and Relics teaser certainly did its job. I hardly needed an excuse to keep playing Two Point Museum, but this little taster guaranteed I’ll be seated when the full expansion launches on Oct. 8 for PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. The Switch 2 version will be released at a later date.