Over two years ago, Planet Zoo opened the gates to its zoo paradise. A lot has happened in all that time, and so the crown of the zoo king now shines even brighter than before
Two years ago, a little bear caused chaos in my zoo. People ran away in panic in all directions just because a cuddly red panda was doing somersaults on the pavement.
Now I am two years older. The people are two years older. The panda is two years older. And so is Planet Zoo. And everyone on this list has made good use of those two years. Because we all got a little bit smarter. For example, I now know that platypuses sweat out milk on their bellies. Cool, isn”t it?
But comparatively more happened with Planet Zoo, its visitors and its animals. Unlike the Red Panda, the developers at Frontier didn”t just do somersaults during this time. Instead, they”ve done a lot of hard work!
The park simulation has received 45 updates since its release, 10 of which were really big and were always accompanied by paid DLC. So it was high time for me to take another plunge into this strategy game. Firstly, to find out more fun facts about platypuses. But also to be able to say more about the current state of Planet Zoo.
In this review, you will find out what Planet Zoo will look like in 2022 and whether the updates have improved it enough to change our rating. If you”re looking for a basic overview of Planet Zoo, my original review will certainly help you a bit more:
Table of Contents
The animal world is even more natural
The amount of updates is so overwhelming that I don”t even know where to start. But since in a zoo, of course, the animals are the stars, this is certainly the best starting point. And here a lot has indeed happened. Even if it doesn”t seem like it at first glance.
If you do without DLCs completely, you will still see exactly the same snouts, beaks and whiskers after two years in Planet Zoo as you did when it was released.
That”s quite a lot, to be fair, because Planet Zoo already had over 70 species at that time, all of which had their own behavioural patterns, made their own demands and, above all, provided a lot of variety in the enclosures. But still – no new animals were added for free. So if you want to see a platypus dashing through the water and tracking down prey with its electroreceptors (I”m not making this up), you have to buy one of the DLC packs.
As I said, this doesn”t mean that you can”t have more fun with the existing animals than before. Because when I wrote that the Red Panda has become smarter, I meant all the animals in Planet Zoo. There are now a whole range of new behavioural patterns that species can display. And this applies to basic game animals as well as DLC exotics.
Some animals have learned to swim in deep water. If you want, you can even watch a grizzly bear dive four metres into the deep. These giant omnivores love the water, by the way, at least my fat bear named grizzly bear does, and it”s hard to get him out of the water.
And that”s just the beginning. With underwater feeders, I can now feed animals like the grizzly with fish found right in the enclosure pond, plus wolves like to gather together and let out a communal howl. Many a monkey also enjoys the new climbing poles, which complement existing climbing frames.
In general, there are some new interaction possibilities that make the animals feel much more natural. The aardvark is even allowed to retreat into an underground burrow, previously there was only a shelter. In the burrow, you can only see it via webcam, whose viewing angle I simply project onto a screen at the enclosure barrier. In general, it”s wonderful how many possibilities there are now so that guests can interact with the animals in even more ways.
Guests have even more to do
This brings me to my second point: guests get so many more action options that making the zoo a lot more fun right away. Simply to see how the mass of people react to the new objects and it”s almost like a mini-game to figure out which new interaction animation with which animal is actually possible.
My personal highlight here are the animal talks. These are new facilities where people gather and where a small presentation is given about the animal living in the enclosure. At the same time, this introduced a new category of staff, namely the role of trainers.
These experts know their way around perfectly, can address the people in the zoo directly and educate them about the peculiarities of the individual animals. For example, these instructors certainly know that male platypuses have a poisonous spine, making them one of the few poisonous mammals on earth.
During these animal talks, curious animals like to be attracted at times and then reel off a unique routine, the trainers can also throw food into the enclosures meanwhile. Very cool! After all, such targeted feeding actions belong in every zoo and were only possible indirectly in Planet Zoo at the time of release.
But that”s not the end of the story if you want to offer your zoo guests even more. With all the free updates, numerous additional objects were added, some with completely new functions (restaurants) others simply increasing the variance.
For example, instead of a completely rebuilt drinks stand, you can now simply offer an open bar. Here, as usual with Planet Zoo, there is of course the option to design this counter creatively and with numerous choices. You can also just let people sell brochures in the blazing sun.
We have more practical tools
When it comes to design, the question remains how much effort and creativity you are prepared to put into Planet Zoo. Because yes, hardly any other building game gives you as much creative freedom as Planet Zoo. But you also have to enjoy spending more than a few minutes with it. When it comes to designing enclosures, this hurdle is at least a little lower, as the design has a direct effect on the animal”s well-being.
Moreover, like a real zoo, Planet Zoo lives from its show values, so uncreatively designed habitats are a bit of a nuisance. However, it is still stupid that Planet Zoo does not do a good job of really introducing you to its building system. If you really want to tinker professionally, you still have to consult external help such as YouTube. The tutorial is only suitable to a limited extent.
But at least the updates since the release have improved the operation of Planet Zoo in some places. The new terrace function, for example, makes it much easier to add edges or steps to the surrounding area. It remains fiddly, but with a little practice you will eventually get the hang of it and at least be able to adjust the enclosures sufficiently.
In addition, there are even more options when it comes to design. In fact, an incredible number of new decorative objects have been added to the game for free, and now you can even customise the water. With the help of bubbles and steam, for example, hot springs are created, which you can even heat up appropriately with the new heat regulator for bodies of water. You can also colour the water so that your alligator swims in greenish Amazon streams or your turtles float through crystal-clear Caribbean waters.
Frontier has not forgotten the administrators among you. The interface has been further optimised in many areas and offers lots of new comfort options that I wouldn”t want to miss. From new search bars to consistent linking of Zoopedia entries or new heat maps that make important information available.
One of my personal favourite innovations, which should never have been missing, is the exploration camera. With it, you land directly in your own zoo in the first-person view and can easily marvel at your building skills from the visitor”s perspective.
The economy remains shallow, but not always easy
With all these new additions, many of which I haven”t even listed, Planet Zoo plays a whole lot better today than it did in 2019. But that mainly refers to expanding the zoo, acting out and giving both humans and animals something to do. But many also play a park sim to challenge themselves economically.
This was the area where Planet Zoo showed its greatest weaknesses at release. Building a park that is economically viable and always brings in enough to cover any extravagant design was never particularly complex. Unlike the determination of the platypus, whose skeleton researchers initially thought was a fake when it was discovered.
And here, too, not too much has changed since the release. There have been small improvements, certainly. But as before, I don”t really have to think long-term about how I design the prices in the shops, what drinks I offer and what children or parents pay in entrance fees. You can do that, but it”s almost never necessary.
At least if you play a normal game. Planet Zoo now also offers time challenges. Then you have to cultivate a certain terrain such as a swamp or mountain terraces within a predetermined time frame of about one to two hours. You often have to ensure a certain economic plus, which is not easy to achieve within the strict time frame. This doesn”t make the economy itself any more complex, but if you”re up for a challenge, you”ll still get your money”s worth.
Alternatively, there are new levels of difficulty in sandbox mode, which makes guests grumble more quickly, animals stress more easily and generally less money flow. This also gives you a greater economic challenge.
Surely Planet Zoo hasn”t gotten that one gigantic new feature since release that you”re dying to play again for now. But all in all, there are so many cool new features to discover that two years later, the park simulation just feels a whole lot more rounded, multi-faceted and alive. Like the platypus.
Editorial conclusion
Just the other day I went to a real zoo for the first time in a while after the long lockdown years and was truly enchanted by the lions in the Munich Zoo. At the same time, I decided to play Planet Zoo again, as so much has happened in the two years since the release. Yes, I admit, a big part of my return had to do with finally wanting to build a platypus enclosure that made its way into the game with the Wetlands DLC. But then I was genuinely amazed at how many innovations Planet Zoo has received in the months since release, even completely detached from any costs.
On paper, there are small things like the conversation station or new interaction possibilities for guests and animals, but this variety simply breathes so much more life into Planet Zoo. No two parks are the same and I can actually build the zoo of my dreams here. Basically, Planet Zoo improves on everything that was already good when it was released and makes little progress where it looked difficult. That”s why there is “only” a two-point increase in the rating. But in fact, the building game plays even better today than before and consolidates its position as the best zoo simulation to date.
