Planet Zoo 2 Review: What the Critics Are Saying

Launch reviews for Planet Zoo 2 landed on 13 October 2026, and the picture they paint is unusually consistent: a deep, beautiful management sim whose flaws are real but rarely structural. Written scores cluster high, with IGN at 9/10 and Destructoid at 9.5/10, while the sharpest criticism comes from reviewers who played console builds or wanted a bigger species roster. This page distils every major verdict we could verify into one place, so you can see the praise and the pushback side by side.

Planet Zoo 2 review scores at a glance

Outlet	Score / verdict	One-line takeaway
IGN	9/10	"A vibrant and thriving sequel… It's a roaring success."
Destructoid	9.5/10	"A hallmark of excellence… a worthy sequel that expands the franchise."
GameWatcher	7.5/10	"Potentially the biggest and deepest Zoo Tycoon successor yet," held back by "design frustrations and rough edges."
COGconnected	85/100	Gorgeous animals and deep building tools; convoluted interface and controller pain.
ACG	Buy	Top rating on its Buy / Wait for a discount / Wait for a big discount / Never Touch scale.
GamingBolt	No numeric score announced	"Uneven experience" based on the PS5 build.

Two notes on the table. IGN's 9/10 comes from the written review page, as catalogued in Frontier's own review roundup on its official forums; the widely watched IGN video review, past 420,000 views in its first week, ends on the "roaring success" line without announcing a numeric score on screen. GamingBolt likewise delivered a textual verdict rather than a number, so neither outlet should be quoted with an invented figure.

What reviewers praise

The aquariums and aviaries are the near-universal headliner. IGN highlights the fine control over an exhibit's shape, look and even depth — including glass tunnels that run through aquarium tanks — and the added realism of needing separate filtration networks for freshwater and saltwater exhibits. Destructoid calls the addition of aquatics and aviaries "absolutely brilliant" and was impressed by fish schooling in lifelike ways, while ACG singles out the immersion of staff literally diving in to feed and service the tanks. Community reviewer Leaf, a seven-year Planet Zoo veteran, goes furthest of all: mesh aviaries that can even hold big cats, and aquariums that fill with a single gate placement.

The animals themselves earn the second round of applause. IGN calls the fur, skin and musculature modelling incredibly impressive and admits to losing minutes just watching lions prowl and siamangs romp, while Destructoid credits "a massive improvement in animal behaviour animations." Leaf points to penguins returning to their burrows at night and emerging noisily by day — the kind of daily routine that makes the creatures feel like real animals rather than wandering props. Even IGN's verdict on sheer variety was warm: at no point did the roster feel stingy.

Management depth is the third pillar. IGN re-ran an experiment from its Planet Coaster 2 review — one small warthog exhibit, maximum price gouging — and found it failed here, concluding that Planet Zoo 2 is "actually a challenging economic simulation." ACG praises how zoo reputation splits into animal care, sustainability, education and guest experience, so a rating drop tells you where to look. Leaf likes the new prosperity tab, modelled on real-world AZA care guides, for making him feel like an actual zookeeper rather than a decorator.

Launch stability and quality-of-life improvements round out the positive column. Builder-focused reviewer Iben of the ZWED channel says the launch is far more stable than Planet Coaster 2 or Jurassic World Evolution 3, with nothing game-breaking across two weeks of play. She also credits the reworked pathing system — plazas and tunnels are finally manageable — plus a massively improved climbing system and fully customisable interiors that guests keep using. Destructoid adds a smaller favourite: terrain can now be edited even underwater, a lifesaver for mixed land-and-water habitats.

Where critics push back

Wildlife Reserves draw the most consistent criticism about depth. IGN finds reserve management "a little shallow" — clearing invasive plants is one click of the bulldozer tool with no rangers required, and every body of water remains a fixed-height trough you cannot carve into a flowing river. GamingBolt goes further, calling the reserves half-baked relative to the rest of the game. Even sympathetic reviewers describe the feature as a pleasant change of pace rather than a second core mode.

The species roster is the other sore spot. Leaf documents entire regional groups missing — much of South America, North America and Oceania — with no parrots, passerines, waterfowl or South American freshwater fish, and African rainforest favourites like colobus monkeys, mandrills and okapi absent until future content. Iben lists peafowl, cheetah, polar bear and kangaroo among the notable absences. Destructoid frames it mildly, noting that some fan-favourite species are missing from the base game and expecting DLC to fill the gaps, mirroring the original's release pattern.

Interface friction dominates the usability complaints. GamingBolt's PS5 playthrough calls the UI difficult to read and cluttered with icons, with controller controls that ignore years of genre progress on consoles. COGconnected lists a convoluted interface, painful controller play and a daunting learning curve among its negatives, plus no carryover of Planet Zoo DLC content. ACG adds smaller papercuts: disease information can stay hidden until you try to move an animal, and some menus live in unintuitive places.

Console players also face the roughest technical experience. GamingBolt reports load times that feel long for PS5, occasional frame-rate drops, and several bugs that soft-locked or blocked career progress badly enough to force full restarts. On the reassuring side, the same review notes the console complexity meter that protects performance, and ACG's PC playthrough ran entirely bug-free. Minor grumbles recur elsewhere: ACG finds the soundtrack forgettable elevator fare, and both IGN and GamingBolt treat the campaign as an extended tutorial rather than a headline mode.

The overall verdict

Combine the verdicts and a clear shape emerges. Planet Zoo 2's foundations — building tools, animal simulation, economic pressure — are the best the series has had, and the launch is technically steadier than Frontier's recent record. The complaints concern depth (reserves), completeness (roster) and ergonomics (UI, controller) rather than anything structurally broken, which is why even the harshest written score sits at 7.5/10. ACG's framing is the honest one: this is a game made for series fans, and it is unlikely to convert you if the first Planet Zoo left you cold.

Whether those trade-offs matter for your wallet depends on how you play, which is exactly what our buyer's guide breaks down: read Is Planet Zoo 2 worth it? for a verdict by player type. If a missing species is your dealbreaker, check the full animal list before purchasing. New to the series entirely? The guide hub walks you through your first zoo step by step.