Planet Zoo ▶ Trailer
Planet Zoo screenshot 1Planet Zoo screenshot 2
CasualSimulationStrategyManagementZooBuildingSandboxNature

1,354 playing

Peak in the last 24 hours: 2,925

Peak in the last 7 days: 4,051

Planet Zoo Steam store

Game description

Build a world for wildlife in Planet Zoo. From the developers of Planet Coaster and Zoo Tycoon comes the ultimate zoo sim. Construct detailed habitats, manage your zoo, and meet authentic living animals who think, feel and explore the world you create around them.

Basic info

DeveloperFrontier Developments
PublisherFrontier Developments
PlatformsWindows
Steam DeckPlayable
Release dateNov 5, 2019
Price

Prices by IsThereAnyDeal

Minimum specs

OSWindows 7 (SP1+)/8.1/10 64bit
ProcessorIntel i5-2500 / AMD FX-6350
Memory8 GB
GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 (2GB) / AMD Radeon R9 270X (2GB)
Storage16 GB
steamyze

Review Analysis Score

Based on 443 reviews from the past 1 year

83.2/ 100
Top 50%

Steam rating: Very Positive (91%)

Metacritic: 81 /100

Review analysis summary (Reviewed Oct 22, 2026)

Players design and run their own zoos here, and Planet Zoo scores 83.2 across 443 analyzed reviews.

👍 Strengths

150 reviews find it engaging, and some say it quietly eats whole afternoons or serves as a relaxing break from harder games. 57 praise the creative freedom of the building tools, and a few say they can build almost anything with the modular pieces. Content Volume ranks 93rd of 1351, and Visuals & Sound ranks 190th of 1249. 16 admire its world and atmosphere, and some point to accurate animal behavior while a few note what it teaches about animal welfare. Story & World ranks 272nd of 1096.

👎 Where it falls short

70 reviews describe a steep learning curve, and some say the tutorial is thin, leaving players to look up how building and paths work. 66 find the building controls clunky and fiddly, and several single out a path system that can take hours to fix. 31 feel the DLC prices are too high, and some say animals sold in separate packs make the base game feel incomplete. Gameplay ranks 509th of 1396, Pricing & Fairness ranks 685th of 1399, and Tech & Support ranks 816th of 1399.

Representative reviews Original reviews ↗

“alternating between stressful and relaxing games shows deep engagement” · 150 reviews
“complete creative freedom, no limits on customization, build anything” · 57 reviews
“game freezes and becomes unresponsive during gameplay” · 18 reviews

How it holds up

−50+5

Controls, difficulty, progression and depth
Mentioned in 73% of reviews · Top 40% of the games we've analyzed

Freedom +3.51 · Room to explore, build, and play your own way
Positive “complete creative freedom, no limits on customization, build anything” · 57 reviews
Negative “building complex structures required, no simple way to build, design process extremely complex” · 8 reviews

Progression 15% · Difficulty 6% · Onboarding 34% · Strategy 14% · Controls & feel 24%

Plot, characters and the world
Mentioned in 19% of reviews · Top 30% of the games we've analyzed

World +3.48 · Lore, atmosphere, and how immersive the setting is
Positive “game teaches animal welfare and conservation education meaningfully” · 16 reviews
Negative “animal AI is weak, everything has flaws” · 1 review

Story 1% · Characters 1%

How much there is to do, variety and replay value
Mentioned in 22% of reviews · Top 10% of the games we've analyzed

Volume +3.85 · How much there is to play, including endgame, for the price
Positive “lots of content and features available” · 12 reviews
Negative “not enough birds in the game” · 1 review

Variety 9% · Replayability 2%

Graphics, art style, music and sound
Mentioned in 29% of reviews · Top 20% of the games we've analyzed

Visuals +3.99 · Graphics, art style, and animation
Negative “graphics lack appeal due to poor aesthetic design, not technical limitations” · 2 reviews

Audio 4%

Playing with others, the community and servers

Not enough data — only 4% of reviews mention this.

Community +3.27 · Who you play with — how many, and how friendly

Playing together 1% · Servers & Connection 0%

Pricing, cheaters, balance and matchmaking
Mentioned in 14% of reviews · Top 50% of the games we've analyzed

Pricing -0.14 · Whether the price, DLC and microtransactions are reasonable, and how much paying gives you an edge
Negative “animal expansions at ridiculous prices, paywall frustration” · 31 reviews
Positive “many good aspects and cheap price” · 3 reviews

Anti-cheat 0% · Balance 1% · Matchmaking 0%

Bugs, performance and developer support
Mentioned in 17% of reviews · Bottom 50% of the games we've analyzed

Stability -0.15 · Crashes, freezes, save loss, and game-breaking bugs
Negative “game freezes and becomes unresponsive during gameplay” · 18 reviews

Performance 8% · Developer support 6%

Grey means too few reviews mention it to trust. — means almost no reviews mention it.

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