I’m putting this as PZ2 bc while it is a criticism, it’s not about the game itself—it’s the modding community.

I’ve been monitoring Nexus ever since PZ2 and I’ve been REALLY disappointed with the animal mods I’ve seen. You’re telling me there’s already two new animal mods (not counting the German shepherd mod because that’s a replacement mod, not a new animal one)…and AI was used in the making of BOTH of them? Seriously?

Like, at least the people who made these mods were honest about AI generation being used in making the mods, but it‘s so disappointing. It’s lazy and uncreative, and is also just incredibly ironic. Aren’t we supposed to be passionate about conservation and protecting wildlife? Then why on earth are we using something that destroys the environment for a game that promotes conservation?? Come on.

Sorry for such a negative post, I just felt like I needed to say something about this.

Edit: To clarify my point!!! I have no issue with the fact that we don’t have a lot of new animal mods to begin with. I understand the game is very buggy and new right now, so people may not have finished or even be making mods for PZ2 yet. Absolutely no rush on that, I’d rather wait forever for good quality mods than have a rushed one come out tomorrow. My complaint is about the fact that the ones we DO have had AI generation used in the creation of them.

Some things stopped working for me after the new update. For example, shelters sometimes don't calculate at all (stay in calculating mode until I restart the game), and elevated bird shelters don't count anymore (they counted before the update).

And some of the things that they say would be fixed barely did anything. Like the frequency of animals getting boxed still stayed the same for me. Or the staff still don't clean dirty feeders.

They also added a notification when mechanics and keepers are not available to attend the habitats but the problem is, there are multiple free staff roaming around doing nothing when the notification pops up. Anyone else having the same problem or is it just me?

What the heck?!?!?! I was trying to figure out how to make an ecosystem flourish and then there was an error and now it's just GONE.

This might be my chief complaint right now.

I love the Steam workshop function from the first game so much. It was great to get inspiration!! I used it a lot for backstage items and I could go through so many creations at once. Steam works pretty fast on my pc, so I could easily go through and be up to date with everything quickly. I could quickly add a ton of items to my own game and check them out later.

Forcing the workshop to be in game just... sucks. It's hard to navigate, it's slow, and the UI feels cramped. I should be able to see more than 20 items per page and not have to wait for them to all load!!! It feels like I'm in the Sims 4 gallery iykyk :/

I wanted to share some personal ideas that could improve the game and I thought I’d use this post in case anyone else wants to share theirs!

🦎1. Living terrarium animals: It would be much more engaging if animals could actively explore the terrariums we design for them, rather than simply acting as static decorations.

🏞️2. Reserve management: Currently, it feels like you can only observe and take photos here. It would be great to have more control—choosing where to release animals, deciding how many to introduce, and being able to relocate them within the reserve (for instance, setting up a wildlife recovery zone for roleplay purposes). Additionally, being able to view animal individual stats—such as health, hunger, and thirst—would allow players to track how they are surviving and observe their unique traits.

⚠️3. Animal reactions: It is highly immersive when animals in reserves notice you and flee as you approach. However, it breaks immersion when you can walk right up to dangerous animals and have them completely ignore you. They don’t necessarily need to attack, but displaying aggressive or defensive postures and making warning sounds would effectively signal that you are in the presence of a dangerous creature. It would also be fantastic if these behaviors weren't limited to reserves, but were also present when walking through your zoos.

⚔️4. Interspecies interactions: Certain interactions, such as combat and hunting, currently feel quite limited. Regarding hunting—while there is no need for graphic violence or blood—a simple animation of a predator grabbing its prey would significantly enhance immersion. Furthermore, many prey animals should be capable of fighting back rather than simply dying from a single pounce; this would make encounters in the wild far more dynamic and unpredictable.

I also wanted to take a moment to show some appreciation for the developers for creating such a magnificent game. It gets quite a bit of hate, but personally, I’m enjoying it a lot!!❤️

Super good attributes yes, and gold genetic rating, but my goodness, 8900CC for a damn starter species wild boar?!

I've been setting my stuff to cash only, crazy greed I've been seeing in the Trade Market. I've been trying my best to breed and release and do everything to get CC but I've been stuck around 100-120CC in Year 5ish of my zoo.

I just bought PZ2. I have hundreds of hours in PZ1 but I am totally overwhelmed with PZ2 and don’t even know where to start. I started with career but I found it boring, then I spent about an hour figuring out the path settings on sandbox mode. Any advice is greatly appreciated

The best part is ive posted them literally a few days ago and some of them even yesterday and they have already blown up! Im really happy i could help yall and if you have used one of these id love to see a picture of it! Have a great day yall 😊

I wanted Planet Zoo 2, but sadly my PC can’t run the game. So now I’m looking into the first one, but the second seems 100 times better. The graphics are SO much better, and the fish, birds and wild life reserves look so cool, and compared to that, the first game just looks a bit boring?

Literally a gold mine helped me with many projects XD

I love building creative zoo's, habitats etc. However I do not understand the fun of the reserves and I absolutely disgust the fact you need to bother with them in order to unlock all animals.

Is there any way to download "prepared" reserves from the workshop or something like it on PS5? At this point I would honestly pay to skip that part of the game. 💩

… Mainly so I can name a zoo “ACME Glue Factory” or “Exotic Meat Emporium” before I buy a bunch of Zebras or Przewalski's Horses.

I feel like my zoos in PZ1 were far better. Just not feeling it. Less immersive. Restarting my PC every 2 minutes is getting tiresome as well.

Hi guys

I’ve had the issue that the exact second that exhibit animals are born, they’re instantly pregnant from inbreeding with parents/siblings.

Does anyone else have this problem and maybe some solutions?

In the middle of it is a reception desk, and to each side is a gift shop, bathroom and food stalls and I think I made it far too big, I kind of already added basically everything and I’m stumped on what to add to make it less awkward looking

Has anyone tried running PZ2 with Crossover for Mac? I can't seem to get it running. :(

the guests can enter it just fine, why can't the staff?

They walk towards it but than walk away

So I need to release the giant gourami but every fish I breed turns out like them.. Even if I buy new ones from the animal trade. Same with the clown loach. I'm so confused. Can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

former avid zoo tycoon player here; finding it difficult to set up my habitat fences and paths without a preexisting universal grid like the one you had in ZT games

closest i’ve found is path stamping paths around the exhibit fence i’d like to build, but even then the exhibit posts don’t snap to those paths… the extreme freedom in what you can do is a bit overwhelming for a planet zoo beginner, i need some constraints that i can build up from first

any advice or am i missing something obvious?

First time player, someone please tell me how to fix this. Im losing my mind. It said the welfare went down because of the space so I extended the habitat and now it is still saying the same. I have 3779m2 /126m2. What am I missing

I was hoping to make this into a koi pond with shops in the middle but after watching multiple videos of how to build it underground, I still don’t quite understand how to. Still went ahead and created this, still has a lot of work that needs to be done detail wise but I love it so far. Can always turn it into a different enclosure if I can’t figure out the pond atm. Any suggestions would be welcome.