Management sims have always found their way into my heart, and my gaming collection. From sitting for hours playing 1999’s original Rollercoaster Tycoon to getting a more hands-on experience with Zoo Tycoon’s Kinect features in 2013, I’ve raised dinosaurs in Jurassic World Evolution, I’ve built sprawling attractions in Planet Coaster, and nothing could beat the realism of 2019’s Planet Zoo.

Planet Zoo took everything we loved about the usual zoo sim but pushed the boundaries to create more realistic animal simulation, advanced building tools, and a strong community content focus. In short, it’s a winner. And that’s why I’m ecstatic that Planet Zoo 2 has been unveiled, raising the bar even further to create what looks like an absolutely stunning sequel that gives fans some of their most sought-after features.

We’re Finally Getting Aquariums And Aviaries

Like every other fan who saw the announcement trailer, I was immediately captivated by the new aquarium and aviary content. Aviaries are dynamic habitats where players can place support poles and then generate a roof over the entire space, with different options such as glass or netting. You can even control how much it sags, if you’re into that.

Both birds and fish have full 3D navigation in their environments and will adapt to whatever you do to the aquarium or aviary, whether that’s placing new scenery or changing the shape or size of the enclosure, which proved to be “very challenging, but very rewarding” for the team.

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“The real difficulty here is the subtle changes in speed and direction that these animals make as they move,” game director Gareth Hughes tells me. “Each species has its own nuances that we try very hard to capture as authentically as possible through their animation and motion.”

Within a habitat, birds can perch on trees or decorations, and the team says during the presentation that the birds were “the most challenging animals we’ve ever made”, with Hughes adding that “wings and feathers being particularly tricky”. Birds and fish act just like any other animal in Planet Zoo, with their own welfare, habitat, and companionship requirements. However, while some aquatic animals like turtles and larger fish are treated as individuals, there are shoals that are treated as groups instead.

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For fish, they stay true to their natural elevation in the water. So if a fish species is not a bottom-dweller, then you won’t find it on the aquarium floor. You also have to factor in compatible species and avoid certain predator-prey combinations. Or not, if you want a bloodbath.

I defy anyone not to fall in love with the derp face of the sunfish.

“The addition of aquariums and aviaries, and the animals to go in them, was a key part of the Planet Zoo 2 concept from its very earliest stages,” Hughes says. These were arguably the two most highly requested fan features, and Frontier Developments was “aware of how much the community wanted them” and, as a result, “felt they were an essential part of the experience” it wanted to create for Planet Zoo 2.

Of course, with these new features come a slew of new animals. Hughes tells me they spent “a lot of time thinking about and agonising over” which animals made the final roster. The aim is to include a wide variety of animals, but they also “have to take into account their suitability for housing in a zoo environment”.

There’s also a brand new feature in Planet Zoo 2, Wildlife Reserves. When you release your animals from your network of zoos into the wild, you can now actually go there. It’s not a zoo. We saw the African reserve and saw the animals running wild over the plains, interacting with natural rivers, and witnessed the beautiful landscape that surrounds them. With that in mind, when adding animals, Hughes says they also had to consider whether an animal “would be a suitable candidate for release”.

Planet Oooooooh

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Planet Zoo 2 looks impressively gorgeous. I can’t say it enough. The team moved to a new version of their internal engine, Cobra, and the result is improved visual fidelity of textures and resolution and a new global illumination lighting system, which makes it look and feel even more realistic. One of the most impressive improvements I saw with this was the realistic water. Within that realism are the guests and staff, who retain the typical Planet Zoo look, so there’s a combination of simulation and realism with the typical Planet Zoo charm we know and love.

All of the animals have been significantly improved in models, audio, and animation. Fur shaders have been reworked too to make them “look as authentic as possible”, and animal behaviour is more dynamic than ever and will react to whatever enclosures you build. Climbing animals have been reworked, so now when an animal is climbing on a beam, it can perform actions, such as sleeping or hanging, while on the beam, rather than just navigating around. Animals can now jump if it’s within range and physically possible, and overall, this adds to a much more natural, realistic behaviour.

Scratch and rub behaviour has also been improved, as now it doesn’t only happen on specific enrichments, and instead animals can do this on any applicable surface in the environment, such as rocks, plants, or trees.

New animations are layered in over basic animal movement, so you can visibly see when an animal is unhappy through the way it looks and sounds, clueing you into welfare issues without having to open a menu.

Hughes says that animals have consistently been the “primary focus” and that whenever they were looking at areas to focus on, they did so with the lens of “how does this improve the animals in the game”.

With all the work that goes into creating such stunning animals, the team have seen their fair share of bugs during development, sometimes with hilarious results. “Animals do interesting things at the best of times, but I think the instance where a group of giraffes were all swaying in sync and looked like they were performing some weird boyband routine was probably the funniest.”

Raising The Ceiling On Creativity

Planet Zoo was so in-depth that it could be daunting for more casual players who didn’t have the time or skills to craft beautiful zoos. For the sequel, the team wanted to ensure that there was a “high ceiling for creativity” so the fans who excelled at deep diving into builds could still have that experience, while “dropping the floor a little bit” so that most players could come in and build at an entry level and be satisfied with what they could make in a short time.

You can now easily make things like circular plazas as part of the new path tool, essentially setting it down like a stamp tool. All the customisable decorative items can have the colour changed too, just not foliage or anything that grows.

“Planet games offer powerful tools that let players express their creativity in-game through buildings and environments. Our focus has been to make our tools accessible to more players without creating friction for the master builders in our community.”

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To help with that, the Workshop that lets players create and share blueprints has now been improved by being integrated directly into the browser so that you can find creations at the touch of a button.

Planet Zoo 2 offers a great sense of scale and verticality, as we saw zoos with different layers of height on a mountain top, with a river running down through the middle, or a zoo that is placed directly onto an ocean coast. Different levels have different themes, with the team showing us one park influenced by Indonesian islands, and players will be able to get more creative than ever, as now you can build things like restaurants that are open plan rather than walled-in buildings.

The same can be said of staff buildings, much like many real zoos do now, Frontier wants to let players show what is going on in the background, seeing how keepers prepare food and letting “players break down those barriers” and allow guests to see in. Realism, creativity, and interactivity have been increased on every level.

Planet Zoo 2 is set to launch later this year on October 13. I can’t wait to start building my dream aquarium, even though I know whatever I make will immediately be blown out of the water by the impressive creations the community comes up with. It’s alright though, as I can just use their fabulous creations from the Workshop.

Planet Zoo 2 Like Follow Followed Simulation Strategy City Builder Sandbox Systems Released October 13, 2026 ESRB Teen / Blood, Crude Humor, Violence, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact Developer(s) Frontier Developments Publisher(s) Frontier Developments Prequel(s) Planet Zoo 8 Images Close
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