Planet Zoo Reviews

Planet Zoo is ranked in the 83rd percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
Digitally Downloaded
Matt C.
Top Critic
Nov 25, 2019

Ultimately, Planet Zoo is to zoo management games what Planet Coaster is to theme park management games—a spiritual successor to tycoon games of days gone by, with more depth and more freedom for creativity than ever. Some of the more complex elements can take a while to really click, but when they do, Planet Zoo becomes an engrossing experience.

Read full review

8.8 / 10.0
Nov 26, 2019

Planet Zoo is a new step in simulation games that is backed by a large community and has enormous potential for expansion.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

83 / 100
Nov 14, 2019

Planet Zoo is undoubtedly the most authentic zoo simulator you can play, perhaps to an extent that will deter some people. While micro-management and organization can be frustrating at times, the beauty of your creations, welfare of your animals, and happiness of your guests makes all that effort worthwhile.

Read full review

Nov 11, 2019

Planet Zoo is a deep management sim featuring some beautiful animal recreations. It's a must-have for any animal lover.

Read full review

7.5 / 10.0
Nov 8, 2019

Planet Zoo gives players much more than cute animals and building habitats. That includes vast variety of options to buid and manage your zoo and the stress that comes with it, induced with many bugs you may encounter.

Review in Slovak | Read full review

8 / 10.0
Apr 27, 2024

Owning your own zoo and having a high level of control makes the experience immersive. You decide the animals, environment, and attractions that visitors get to experience. Managing the selection process and going through the tutorial is tough on a console. The learning curve is also high; trial-by-fire isn’t a reliable method. But if you ever want to make your own zoo a reality, there’s no game better than this.

Read full review

9 / 10.0
Apr 2, 2020
PLANET ZOO - REVIEW IMPRESSIONS | A modern Zoo Tycoon [2020] video thumbnail
85 / 100
Dec 6, 2019

Planet Zoo has come on the market with some problems, but they are mostly solved. What we have right now is a huge management game, with a considerable amount of content and a very bright future. If you buy Planet Zoo you won't go wrong, and I'm sure the animals will thank you for it.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

Nov 21, 2019

If you’re a simulation fan, Planet Zoo is definitely worth checking out, whether for its in-depth customisation or just to mess around with the animals and visitors as many of us love doing in these sim games – just make sure you’re prepared for it to crash.

Read full review

9 / 10.0
Jan 27, 2020

In conclusion, the best zoo simulator that has come out to date. If you are passionate about the genre you can not miss it.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

Dec 20, 2019

I will always enjoy these types of games, constantly trying to chase the high of me pouring hours into titles like ThemePark or Zoo Tycoon. Planet Zoo is another sim management game that I can wholeheartedly recommend. It may not be for the casual player with how much the game asks of you in regards to management, but to everyone else, it’s a heck of a good time. Maybe we’ll get lucky and see some Aquarium stuff out of Frontier Developments next, I’m crossing fingers here.

Read full review

7 / 10
Dec 19, 2019

Planet Zoo is a highly ambitious venture. It is very fun but it has its downsides like any other simulation game. Some of the systems prohibit a simple, fun experience, others are minor issues that can be fixed easily. But the fact that they haven't been fixed yet is infuriating. It is gorgeous when it comes to looks but most of the part, it overcomplicates itself with pointless systems. The terrible optimization somewhat adds to the negative feeling and that is what ruins it for me.

Read full review

8 / 10.0
Nov 19, 2019

Even with all of its faults, it really is hard not to love this game, Every time the UI bugs me, or a keeper gets stuck, I just head to a habitat, sit and watch the baby Panda’s walking around with their parents, or head to the chimpanzees to watch them play and socialize and all of sudden I’m reminded of why this game is so great. Planet Zoo is so close to getting a platinum thumb, If only the UI was a little easier on the eye and the path-building wasn’t so frustrating. Planet Zoo more than deserves the Gold Thumb!

Read full review

Nov 8, 2019

It’s clear that earlier Frontier games like Kinectimals, Zoo Tycoon and Planet Coaster have been stage-setters for this ultimate zoo sim. Whether you enjoy theme park builders, economic sims or most importantly, creating the zoo of your dreams, Planet Zoo will satisfy you, but be prepared for an order of complexity that the previous games managed to avoid, or at least hid a little better.

Read full review

8.5 / 10.0
Nov 10, 2019

The simulation aspects are a big step-up from Planet Coaster and Frontier have been pretty quick to resolve some of the biggest problems with the game during its launch. While the online marketplace and steep learning curve may put some people off, Planet Zoo is a beautiful zoo tycoon game nonetheless, chock full of educational content mixed in with realistic animal behaviour. It’s not perfect but it’ll almost certainly serve as a worthy replacement for Zoo Tycoon for the time being.

Read full review

Nov 15, 2019

Planet Zoo has some balancing issues and explains certain concepts poorly. Once the game is understood, however, it offers such loveable inhabitants and deep simulation that its shortcomings can be forgiven. The game shows how difficult running a zoo ethically can be, but also convinces the player how worthwhile that endeavour is by offering adorable animals at every turn. It is clever, complicated, and perfect for animal lovers.

Read full review

8.5 / 10.0
Nov 12, 2019

I see and understand some of the frustrations from other players, but this game is just too good and has too much to offer to just be tossed aside this early in the game’s life. If you a fan of the simulation genre then I fully recommend Planet Zoo.

Read full review

B
Nov 25, 2019

Your mileage will depend on your tolerance for digging through layers of text, but if you can stomach that you will find a wonderfully satisfying zoo experience. Come for the cute animals and stay for the satisfaction and pride found in creating a thriving animal sanctuary.

Read full review

9 / 10.0
Nov 24, 2019

Enter and create the animal kingdom of your dreams in Planet Zoo, micromanaging never looked or felt so awesome.

Read full review

Rapid Reviews UK
Chloe Osborn
Nov 20, 2019

Frontier has also been great at communicating with their audience, letting us know when updates are available and what they’re for, as well as when franchise mode is down for maintenance. They’ve really created something special here, and I couldn’t be happier with how Planet Zoo has turned out!

Read full review