Beavers, sea lions, moose, and more
Planet Zoois still going — not just in terms of animal-roster-boosting DLC, but also free quality-of-life updates, too. We’ve got a little from Column A and a little from Column B today with thePlanet Zoo: North America Animal Packand Update 1.7 rolling out on Steam.
On the paid DLC front,this is another $10 add-onwith seven fully roaming “habitat” animals — including one of my absolute favorites to watch swim around, the North American beaver — plus one new amphibian for stationary exhibits. The list:
This is one of the game’s most compelling DLC lists, for sure.
Aside from the wildlife, thePlanet Zoo: North America Animal Packalso has a new scenario near the Blue Ridge Mountains, so if you’re the type of player (unlike me) who prioritizes custom zoo builds, you might be disappointed by the lack of new structures and plants.
What about the free stuff? Update 1.7, which also launched today,adds a height mapping toolused to “create your own custom Heightmaps via image files,” andhere’s an example. There’s also a Terrain Type setting for the different biomes — look for the “sculpted” option if you want those pre-madePlanet Zoomaps to have more dimension.
Other 1.7 features: the ability to play Scenario Zoo maps in Sandbox Mode (including a just-include-the-terrain-and-nothing-else toggle), more “deep swimming” animals (jaguar, Bengal tiger, and Siberian tiger), seating areas for your guests attending educational Animal Talks, path barriers to better corral everyone, and a randomization option for placing scenery items to make things look more natural. Frontier also snuck in some UX improvements like quick trading in the Animal Management screen.
It’s a nice feeling knowing that the next time I go hard with an overly ambitious zoo built from scratch, I’ll havea bunch of these touch-upswaiting for me — and beavers!
