Planet Zoo 2 has been released to the world, and there’s a massive amount to take in, which can be incredibly daunting for a new player, so we’ve got some tips to help you out.
Whether you’re a new player to the series or have played another Frontier Developments title, Planet Zoo 2 gives you plenty to learn, and it’s impossible to be an expert straight away.
If you’re looking for some advice on where to start your journey in Planet Zoo 2, Insider Gaming has some tips to digest.
Planet Zoo 2 Beginner’s Guide
Start Small
Planet Zoo 2 can be overwhelming, and the best advice when getting started is to start small. This includes the animal you select and the exhibit size, as well as custom creations.
When starting a new zoo, the smaller and cheaper animals are often the best choice, so things like Ardvaark, Warthogs, and Meerkat are great options to get you going.
Their requirements are easy to understand; they don’t require much space or too many specific objects, don’t breed a crazy amount, like flamingos, and are relatively straightforward to get to grips with.
Use The Workshop
Creating large, complex structures in Planet Zoo 2 can be tedious, as it takes a lot of time and plenty of practice, so don’t feel you need to dive into it immediately. Instead, utilize the Workshop to select creations from the community to add to your zoo.
The workshop is a great place to get all sorts of buildings, habitats, and scenery to kit out your zoo, without having to stress about creating it yourself.
As the workshop is now built directly into the game, it’s easier than ever to search for new additions and place them into the game.
Play Through Career
Career Mode should absolutely be the starting point for every player in Planet Zoo 2, regardless of how many hours you have sunk into the first game, as it’s the best way to get to grips with all the new features in the game.
Planet Zoo 2’s sprawling Career sends you across the globe facing a plethora of challenges, managing everything from environmental catastrophes to financial collapse, giving you hands-on experience with a wealth of problems that you could face managing your own zoos later down the line.
It’s also a quick and easy way to get ideas for habitat construction, and my number one piece of advice would be to check every habitat in Career Mode for constructs you like and save them as a blueprint to use elsewhere.
Try Out Sandbox
When you’re getting to grips with the formula of Planet Zoo 2, Sandbox Mode is a great way to test your mettle without having to worry about the challenges of juggling finances, research, and all of the other nitty-gritty you’ll find elsewhere in the game.
Everything you need is readily available in Sandbox, including enrichment items and research unlocks, so you’ll have the freedom to create to your heart’s content.
As an added bonus, anything you create in Sandbox can be saved as a blueprint and then used in another location, as long as you have the funds necessary for the build.
Keep It Simple
This ties in with the ‘start small,’ theme, but a key piece of advice for any budding builder in Planet Zoo 2 is to keep it simple. Sure, you might want to build a huge castle with a fancy moat and several viewing points for your pair of tigers, but that’s likely biting off a bigger chunk than you can manage.
Instead, start simple. Rather than diving into such a huge project, set yourself a smaller target like building a habitat with your own custom fencing, building a small bridge, or similar.
Later down the line, you can tie in your experiences and everything you’ve learned into a bigger, more complex build.
Theme Supreme
With over 100 animals to adopt and thousands of building pieces, one of the hardest things to do in Planet Zoo 2 is to decide exactly what you’re doing, but that’s where themes come in.
There’s a wide range of choice, whether that be focusing on a specific biome, a specific region of the world, or a specific type of species, like canine or feline, and building from there.
Personally, I’m starting off with a European focus in my first Franchise zoo to fill out the Wildlife Reserves in the region, and I’ll probably then add an African section to my zoo.
Keep Trying
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. I’ve lost count of the number of builds I’ve failed and scrapped across my time in both Planet Zoo titles, but there are key lessons learnt along the way.
Even if you fail with your plans, the likelihood is there’s still something you can use, and, at the end of the day, as an Aardvark really going to care if your custom-built shelter looks a bit wonky?
You don’t need to adhere to health and safety standards, and you can always go back and re-attempt what you’ve created, so don’t fret.
What advice do you have for new players in Planet Zoo 2? Let us know your thoughts on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
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