Planet Zoo: Console Edition

Guest facilities are buildings designed to fulfil a guest's needs. In many cases they need power to function. If they have scenery associated with them then the guests and any staff that work there will have their happiness improved.

Zoo Entrance

Zoo entrances determine the location at which guests enter and leave the zoo. They also act as a useful starting power source that guests don't mind being near. Selecting a zoo entrance displays its info panel, and this can be used to set ticket prices for adults and children.

Staff facilities are the collection of buildings the staff use to perform their duties. All staff facilities must be powered and accessible by path to function. Staff facilities that have scenery placed around and/or built onto them improve the happiness of your staff whilst they are inside.

Guests don't like to be near staff facilities, so staff facilities should be placed away from them. The strength of this dislike varies from facility to facility.

Water treatment facilities require power and are used to keep water bodies clean. Water treatment is essential for animal welfare as it provides them with clean drinking water and reduces the chance of disease. The cleanliness of water also gives guests better views of animals through clear water.

Guests are not impressed by seeing water treatment facilities and being near them will make them unhappy. A water treatment facility will clean any body of water within its radius, even if partly outside its radius.

Many zoo facilities will not run unless they are powered, therefore maintaining a power supply is essential to maintaining a functioning zoo.

A power source will power anything that touches its radius, even if the object or habitat is only partially within it. Power facilities will deteriorate and lose efficiency over time; transformers are more resilient to deterioration than wind turbines, while solar panels are the least durable.

Paths form the lifeline that connects all of the zoo's facilities together. Without paths, staff and guests cannot navigate around the zoo. Paths can be created by accessing the 'paths' menu.

To build paths:

There are two kinds of animal homes in Planet Zoo:

The landscape upon which your zoo is built is completely customisable, with terrain sculpting and painting tools that allow you to modify the zoo to your heart’s content.

Terrain Sculpting

Terrain sculpting allows you to modify the elevation and shape of the landscape within your zoo to craft hills, flatten areas and create scenic vistas to build exhibits and attractions. Some modes will allow you to either start with a flat area to build or an already sculpted area to edit.

The controls of Planet Zoo have been built from the ground up to be accessible and intuitive – including on gamepads.

The best way to learn how to move around your zoo and navigate the various in-game menus is to complete the tutorial as part of Career Mode. This tutorial has been designed to equip you with all the tools you need to get started with Planet Zoo and will introduce you to Bernie Goodwin as you help complete renovations of the beloved zoo, Goodwin House.

Along with difficulty, when selecting Franchise, Challenge or Sandbox modes, the location of your zoo is also chosen when a zoo is first opened. In Career mode, the location of the zoo is set by the narrative.

A zoo's location is defined by the continent and biome it is set in, with the location presenting different modifications to the gameplay.

The choice of continent and biome will impact the following: