What Planet Zoo 2 changes, two days before launch

A hawksbill turtle swims above the visitors, toucans cross an aviary, and thousands of miles away, a giraffe born in your zoo has just been released into an African reserve. Planet Zoo 2 launches this Tuesday, October 13, on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series, seven years after the first game. Frontier Developments promises much more than a fresh coat of paint, and the first hands-on previews back that up, with a few reservations.

Planet Zoo 2: date, price and requirements

The zoo management game from Frontier, the British studio behind Planet Coaster and Jurassic World Evolution, was announced in late May. Shacknews, in a piece by TJ Denzer, picked out the essentials at the time: freshwater and saltwater aquariums, aviaries, and the ability to release animals raised in the zoo into wildlife reserves.

• Release: Tuesday, October 13, 2026, on PC (Steam and Epic Games Store), PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
• Price on the French Steam store: 49.99 euros, or 64.99 euros for the Deluxe Edition.
• French language: interface and full voice-over.
• Minimum PC requirements: Windows 10 or 11, Intel Core i7-8700K or AMD Ryzen 5 3600, 16 GB of RAM, GeForce RTX 2060 or Radeon RX 5600 XT with 6 GB of video memory, 40 GB of disk space. An SSD is recommended.
• Recommended requirements: Windows 11, Core i7-10700K or Ryzen 7 5800X, GeForce RTX 3070 or Radeon RX 6700 XT, and an SSD is required.

The minimum spec is demanding for a management game: an RTX 2060 is no longer recent, but 16 GB of RAM rules out part of the entry-level machines. And Frontier warns on Steam that Microsoft ending Windows 10 support prevents it from guaranteeing long-term compatibility with that system. On the calendar, the game launches nine days before the opening of Paris Games Week, on October 22.

Aquariums and aviaries, at last

It was the big gap in the first Planet Zoo: no fully aquatic or flying animals. Planet Zoo 2 fills it with two new types of habitat, each with its own requirements depending on the species, such as water pumps for aquariums.

Building an aviary worried zoo game veterans, since that kind of structure quickly turns into a headache. Matt Donahue, who played part of the campaign and sandbox mode for But Why Tho, is reassuring: you just place support poles, and the netting fills in on its own. Josh Challies, from Insider Gaming, spent a long time following hawksbill turtles in a first aquarium. The preview notes a neat detail: when the camera dips below the surface, you hear a splash, and droplets run down the lens when it comes back up.

Wildlife reserves, the real novelty

In the first game, releasing an animal meant making it vanish from a menu. In Planet Zoo 2, reserves become a playground of their own. They are split into habitats, riverbanks, forests, plains, which you shape according to the species you settle there. You explore them on foot or by vehicle, with driving that both previewers compare to Jurassic World Evolution. Insider Gaming adds that you cannot ram an elephant at full speed.

Reserves are not just for photos. One of the missions given to Matt Donahue was to remove an invasive species that was ruining a habitat before replanting. The campaign is built on these round trips: you work for a fictional conservation program, FEN (Fauna and Ecosystem Network), which sends you from zoo to reserve around the world. Animals raised in your parks feed the wild populations, and the link between the two becomes a core mechanic.

What changes for first-game veterans

Animal welfare gains a tier. On top of basic needs, food, enrichment, vegetation, water depth, each species shows conditions to be Thriving: higher-grade food, several copies of the same enrichment item, and other fine adjustments. Perfectionist managers will have to balance the budget against the comfort of every resident.

The path tool, a source of plenty of frustration in the first game, has been reworked, and a brush lets you paint plants, trees and rocks in one stroke. Ready-made blueprints are far more numerous, from aquariums to open-air restaurants, and building pieces are so plentiful that filters will become essential, But Why Tho warns.

The previews’ enthusiasm needs some perspective. Both previewers played a few hours, covering the start of the campaign and a bit of sandbox. Franchise mode, the community workshop and some of the animals were not available. Josh Challies believes the game “could easily become the greatest simulation title ever made,” a claim only full reviews and the first Steam reviews can confirm. As of October 11, the Steam page still showed no reviews.