Do you need friends to progress/unlock areas?

[Baal]

I read some review and as far i understood from it, to get access to everything you need friends that also have the game?

Is that right?

[milkygirl]

Nope. The Superbug Initiative (which is the current trailer) is separate from the main storylines or DLC. It's something to do IF you would like to work with others in order to achieve group goals and eventually unlock extra goodies that are in no way absolutely necessary to play the game.

Two Point Hospital's main campaign (15 hospitals), DLC (each has 3 more hospitals), and sandbox mode are all single-player. I have over 900 hours on this account put into the game, and I have never needed friends to do so. In fact, I put in most of those hours long before I even had friends on Steam.

[Baal]

Thank you, the other guy should have been clear like you.

Much appreciated.

[Ashley]

Thank you Milkygirl! Beat me to it!

[OtakuD]

Are you locked out of these "extra goodies" if you do not have friends that play the game or want to add randos? What are they exactly?

[Jonathan J. O'Neill]

Originally posted by OtakuD:

Are you locked out of these "extra goodies" if you do not have friends that play the game or want to add randos? What are they exactly?

No. I didn't take part in the last Superbug Initiative and I was able to get the unlocked stuff.

[Mr Burnham]

What about achievements? There is at least one achievement which require friend with willing to complete with you superbug initiative, otherwise you won't get this particular achievement and won't max game. Also this is extremaly rare achievement propably due to that. If I don't have friend with this game I can't max game - pretty much unfair

[JVC]

Originally posted by Mr Burnham:

What about achievements? There is at least one achievement which require friend with willing to complete with you superbug initiative, otherwise you won't get this particular achievement and won't max game. Also this is extremaly rare achievement propably due to that. If I don't have friend with this game I can't max game - pretty much unfair

Three achievements have to do with the superbug.
Icebreaker: Complete Superbug Project "Hair Removal" (you do this project by yourself).

Strength in Numbers: Complete Superbug Project "Learning Machine Learning" (requires you to complete all five local superbug challenges, meaning that you need help from at least 3 steam friends). You can join a steam group to find others with the same problem as you.

https://steamcommunity.com/groups/TwoPointHospitalCollaboration

Serial Collaborator: Complete 50 Research Nodes (easiest way is to participate in the global superbug projects. Project no. 2 is wrapping up now, but both project 1 and 2 had more than 25 nodes). Completing the five local projects with steam friends will give you at least 20 of these points. You can also replay Hair Removal yourself a lot of times.

Small tip: it is safest to host local projects. If one of your team mates loses interest, you can kick him from the project and replace him with a new person. You don't have that option if you participate in someone else's project.