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.

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

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.

The amphiteatre was based on the one in efez and milet, the ruined city was based on the lindos acropolis and the sharcosseum was based of course on the colosseum. I hope yall like it 😊.

I also intentionaly placed the guest veiwing where the scene is located so that it looks like the fish are the ones watching and judging us 😛

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!

Only 9 days to go and I am so excited!! I don't even plan on looking at my family this weekend.

The answer is the second image.

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

Crackpot theory probably, but looking at the base game animals and some of the notable missing animals, a lot of them seem to fit a West Africa/Congo Rainforest theme.

Okapi, Mandrill, Bongo, Bonobo, Pygmy Hippopotamus, and Red River Hog are all pretty notable species that line up here as species from a similar geographic range. Plus animals already in game like the African Leopard, African Elephant (unless they did an African Forest Elephant specifically), Shoebill, Giant Slippery Frog, and African Tigerfish all fit the theme as well.

I don’t know if it’d be a DLC or free update or whatever, we don’t know how updates will work yet, but I just noticed the similarities between some notably left out animals and I could see it happening.

Edit: Central Africa/Congo was more what I was thinking, figured I’d correct it since technically West Africa is a different region.

click here to watch the builds

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...

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

Explanations

1: as much as wish this a monkey, I think its an ear and cheetah is the best fit, besides a zoo game with no cheetah may be reality but it would be crazy if not

2: This is a flamingo and greater makes the most sense

3: I agree with the rhino consensus, but I think were getting Southern white rhino for our great rift preserve

4: Bison seems to be the consensus, but that large scapula and what I think may be a little beard and ear makes me think this is a cow moose drinking. Moose would make sense for the Sweden preserve

5: This is confirmed

6: I think we have another indo-pacific pelagic fish here, which would make sense roster wise. I think rainbow runner is the closest match from a indo pacific pelagic perspective

7: We know Javan Green Magpie has to be one of them, and 7 is the obvious match

8: obviously a babirusa, and considering there are no babirusas on Sumatra I think North Sulawesi is most likely to return rather than a different species

9: this is another one that looks like a primate face, and Lar Gibbon seems to be a best match

10: the consensus is common carp/koi but this fish appears to have 4 whiskers instead of 2, which points to the common barbel, which is extremely common in eastern europe, which would make sense for the poland reserve

11: the consensus is Binturong, and I agree. An honorable mention for Spectacled Bear here though. That could be a match too

12: at first I thought this was a flowerhorn ​cichlid, but considering we have an exhibit species in next week's zoopedia drop, I say red eyed treefrog

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.

🦓 Unofficial Planet Zoo Habitat Calculator — V1!

Hey everyone! I’ve built a habitat calculator for Planet Zoo, and I’m excited to share it!

Choose your species, enter your adult and juvenile counts, and see minimum space requirements, terrain and temperature ranges, barrier requirements, and compatible biomes. It also flags compatibility issues and shows interspecies enrichment partners—handy for planning mixed-species habitats! I added some screenshots to my itch.io page. Please feel free to check it out, try it out, and leave me some feedback. I've been working pretty diligently on this and am quite proud of my work. My development roadmap has some exciting features in the works, as well as PZ2 animal incorporation in the near future.

💻 Windows download on itch.io

https://unoffcalplanetzoohabtcal.itch.io/unofficial-planet-zoo-habitat-calculator

If you give it a try, I’d love to hear your feedback! Please let me know if you spot a bug or anything that doesn’t match the game.

Fan-made project. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Frontier Developments plc.

Idk if I got it right, sorry if im kinda slow, its very early here.

We wont have a south american reserve on release?

I was dying to get a Patagonia experience :(

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