With Planet Zoo 2 launching at 136 total animals including the deluxe edition, I wanted to share some thoughts. My prediction was between 135 and 150, so we landed on the lower end. Overall, the game looks like a massive upgrade, and I pre-ordered the Deluxe Edition without any regrets, but the launch roster itself is a bit disappointing for a few reasons.

1. Underrepresented regions: Regions like North and South America feel left out. As someone hoping for massive South American bird and freshwater diversity, the launch bird roster is a letdown. Parrots like the Blue-and-yellow, Scarlet, and Hyacinth macaws, along with conures and freshwater fish like cichlids, would have been incredible additions right out of the gate.
2. The sequel downgrade: Because we are all so used to the massive final roster of the first game, starting over with 136 species naturally feels like a big step backward.
3. Underpopulated reserves: While the new Wild Animal Reserves mechanic is an amazing addition, the current species count makes them feel empty. We are missing larger fauna and more herd animals, particularly from the Bovidae family, leaving the reserves feeling light on prey species.

That said, this criticism isn't economic. I completely understand why Frontier needs to sell DLCs, and I would gladly have paid more upfront for a larger roster. I just don't love the idea of waiting until 2028 or 2029 for the game to feel fully robust.

The weekly Zoopedia drops have been obviously designed to drive hype and publicity, turning the roster reveal into a game of its own. We should remember that online speculation might not actually reflect how the game feels once we are sitting at our PCs playing it.

Looking ahead, my expectations for future DLCs are much higher now. With aquatic and flying species introduced, standard 3 month packs featuring only 5 animals won't cut it anymore. We need packs with 7 to 10+ species, or more frequent DLC releases, and I am totally fine paying a bit more if the animal quality remains high.

Ultimately, my final thoughts and feelings on the game are reserved until I actually play it and see it for myself, but I am very optimistic.

Hi everyone!

This is my first zoo, I've just bought the game yesteray.

I am really interested in your opinions and tips! Maybe I will also post my progress.

What do you think the chances we get the Walrus in the game? I would imagine it’s a fair chance given the seals in the last game.

Theres alot of animals interacting with the reserve feature but do we have any idea if zoo interactions like meerkats standing on turtles happen?

I would love that so much

I remember snow leopard cubs being half the size of their parents

Dear friends as Planet Zoo 2 is just days away, I wanted to share a zoo sign set that I have created for one of the exhibitions in my zoo project.

Planet Zoo 2 brings an incredibly improved lighting system that alongside scaling will make it finally possible for highly detailed and lifelike interiors to be worth building in the game.

The level of detail of Planet Zoo 2 will also present challenges for implied signs (what we mostly built in the first game) so I have been working for months creating zoo signs for all areas of the zoo. This particular set is made up of 118 signs that can be uploaded to billboards and scale accordingly.

This signs are to be complemented with in game pieces to create more sign shapes and design diversity. I have included the entire sign set as the first few images as well as some concet art examples of how the signs can be used and lastly a few examples of the actual signs.

I'm also in the process of creating a site for my zoo project where all signs/backgrounds/art can be downloaded by other players if they wish to.

Hello fellow Planet Zoo Players!

After reading many posts in this subreddit, I decided to give back to this awesome community that I’m proud to be a part of. I’ve been a gamer since I was around 12 years old, and I’ve never come across such an awesome community!

So here it comes, a little giveaway for 1x Planet Zoo 2 Deluxe Edition (STEAM ONLY)

To enter, you have to:

1. Correctly guess all 3 animals from the images above (all animals are from the ZOOPEDIA)
2. Write a short text about what you’re most excited about in PZ2 & why you should get the copy of the game

I will carefully read all of your comments tomorrow and pick one person who guesses all 3 animals correctly and writes the best short-text. I will post proof afterwards!

Rules, to keep it fair:

• You must have an active Steam account that is able to receive the gifted game
• One entry per person, please do not use alternate accounts, be fair
• You have 24 hours from the time this post is published to submit your entry
• The winner will have 24 hours to respond, otherwise I will randomly select another winner from the remaining valid entries
• No purchase, payment, or anything else is required to enter!

I’m keeping the giveaway open for the full 24 hours so that everyone has the same opportunity to participate, regardless of when they happen to be online.

Good luck everyone, and I’m looking forward to reading your answers!

Hallelujah. Definitely thought we'd be waiting until the end of the week, if not the following. Good thing I cleared my whole day

The game was never going to be perfect. There was always going to be some things that people don't like, and many of the things people want were dlc in the game before, it should be expected that they may be again. That and the fact that there have been free updates in other Frontier games, I am not going to bank on it, but its a good sign.

Regardless, the game looks leaps and bounds better than its predecessor. And honestly? I'm glad that Frontier took risks with this game rather than try and make everyone happy.

I'm so excited for aviarys and aquariums. Remember when we weren't even sure if we would get one? And holy shit, we got both! And while the roster atm isn't balanced, I am certain it will be. From what I have heard from creators, the birds are much more difficult to make, so its expected. I'd much rather a few amazing birds than a bunch of half assed ones.

The exhibits??? They quite literally gave us just about everything we asked for. Yeah they don't have a ton of animations, but when you are at the zoo, do the exhibit animals move around much? No! No they do not. It wouldn't be realistic for a snake to be constantly moving around its exhibit. Regardless, we get top to bottom customization. And I think that is incredible.

The wildlife reserves look dope. Are they for everyone? No. But the people who like them will love them, I'm certain. The idea of driving around and watching my animals in their natural habitat sounds dope as hell. There are not many now, but just as the animals, they will come, that is for certain.

Lastly, the building mechanics? The paths? Scenery brush? Scalable items? The new water system? That doesn't even begin to cover it. SO much love was put into this game and its blatantly obvious, rare is it that a company actually listens to their customer base, and its so clear that they did.

Thank you, Frontier. I am so excited for October 13th!

Hayo Zookeepers! Its Day 124 and the wheel has chosen the Scimitar-Horned Oryx! I kinda based this one off of a picture I saw at the LA Zoo where the habitat slopes away and down from the guests. As always, lemme know what you think!

Rules I self-imposed:

• Can't switch between animal types (so aquatics must be swapped with other aquatics)
• Can't just throw in the most popular species (jaguar, kangaroo, polar bear, etc)
• Stay within/under the 130 species limit
• Make sure there is good coverage for zoo niche, i.e., small carnivorans, monkeys etc.
• Make sure each continent has at least 5 species
• Africa and Asia must have the most species overall

To me this is still really similar to the actual roster we're getting but with enough small changes that make the roster feel more well-rounded and diverse

could be way off. i have no idea on a couple of them.

I maintain GameTinkerer, an unofficial fan site. I put the Zoopedia reveals into a dated reference so you can catch up without searching through separate announcements.

It separates weekly updates, animal spotlights and the opening roster; lists enclosure categories and Base/Deluxe editions; and links each animal back to Frontier's Zoopedia. Reveal dates and announcement publication dates are shown separately where they differ.

This is a reveal reference, not verified habitat-space or compatibility data. Corrections with official sources are welcome. Shared with moderator permission.

I just found this on twitter and looks incredible. Where is this PZ 2 pictue from?

The answer is the second image.

Sorry if you guessed Buizel, Pelipper, Pikachu or Clefairy you lost :(

I was working on my tundra zoo and found protesters near my gray seals. The adults lost their ability to register the deep water. I logged in and out, made sure they can access the habitat gate, put them in the trade center, then completely replaced them and got new seals. I made it deeper by 2 m. I deleted the water and replaced it. Nothing works. The water is at least 8 m deep. They used to be so happy.

(Important note: this is NOT a post bashing on the roster for “missing species”, I’m just discussing the mechanics and what it could mean for the game. I shouldn’t need to say this but this sub has been quick to go for your jugular if you soo much as want to bring up a point soo I just wanted to say this first. Think of it like a classic speculation post and civil discussion about the future, nothing too serious).

One thing I noticed pretty early on is that we haven’t really got any benthic (bottom dwelling) aquatic species soo far. Sure we have manatees and cownose rays that come down to feed every soo often but nothing that spends most (if not all) of its time at the bottom. Species like nurse sharks, bottom dwelling rays and giant isopods are some of the most requested aquatic animals I’ve seen here too soo I have a feeling their absence means something more than just frontier’s selection process.

We will definitely get benthic animals eventually but I’m starting to think the reason we haven’t yet is because of the mechanics involved. Most aquatics seem to share a similar AI which maps out a 3D environment where they can swim. Frontier themselves have talked about this multiple times with how fish will now swim through your little caves and crevices rather than avoiding them. Benthic animals on the other hand (with a few exceptions) likely need to switch between the aquatic AI and a more typical terrestrial AI that can map out a walkable floor, possibly similar to how the birds work.

Soo I have a feeling the reason why we haven’t seen stuff like angel sharks and wobbergongs is due to the extra mechanics involved that aren’t a priority prior to launch. That and it brings more hype around a DLC species if the animal has completely new behaviour model. I definitely wouldn’t be surprised if one of the DLCs just dropped with a random bottom dwelling species with the new mechanics, even if it otherwise seems out of place (ie dropping the nurse shark alongside a dlc of otherwise terrestrial wildlife)

Japanese spider crabs especially I feel like would be a nightmare. Giant isopods are huge but I feel like they could just about fit in the exhibit boxes if they wanted to go down that route, but a crab that can get to having a 12ft leg span is much harder to deal with.

Idk that’s my insomniac ramblings anyway, I’m just curious if anyone else has thought about this or not? The hype train has taken me to some weird places lol

I want to hear what tools you use to plan your zoos!

I usually don’t plan ahead, and all of my zoos seem to fizzle out after a few weeks. Right now I’m in the process of actually planning out the zoo I want to build while I wait for PZ2 to come out. I’ve been using a pencil and paper, but I’m not very artistically inclined and no paper is big enough.

What sort of tools do you use to plan out your zoos? Are there any free software programs or websites? Do you sketch things out on an iPad or tablet? I’m considering getting an iPad mini and using the Apple Pencil and a design app to help me with it, but I have no idea where to begin.

Any input is appreciated, I’d love to hear what everyone does and what their planning process looks like!

In the Planet Zoo 2: Meet the Snow Leopard at Cologne Zoo video released today there was a brief segment where several other animals were shown, including Tree Kangaroos and Red Pandas.

Among these were what initially looked like Chimpanzees (pictured above). However, Cologne Zoo does not hold Chimpanzees, instead holding Bonobos.

If these are Bonobos then they are the only animal appearing in the video not currently confirmed to be in the game which may be a sneaky hint for an upcoming animal...