The newest Planet Zoo: Twilight Pack Pack adds more variety and is also the first DLC to add an animal that can fly.
Planet Zoo has been out for almost three years. Frontier Developments launched the game in 2019 and since then they have been providing content consistently ever since. For those unfamiliar with Planet Zoo it is a zoo management sim where players can create their own zoo to the minutest of details. The game is built around creativity and also contains many animals, each with unique animations, designs and more.
This newest pack for the game is the Twilight Pack and it adds a great deal. To begin, the zoo has added a brand new set of design pieces that seem to homage Transylvania. The buildings have a slight medieval/gothic theme to them and are far more of a unique design than previous packs. These newer buildings stand out much more than any other pieces from any other pack. They are also stunning and are easily some of the best looking pieces in the entire game.
Moreover, the new pieces also fit together rather seamlessly as well. Not to mention the prefabs which allows even the most inexperienced Planet Zoo player to explore and utilise these exceptional pieces that have been rendered in loving detail.
New nature pieces have also been added, but ultimately, these were rather disappointing. The new limited nature pieces are nice, but ultimately, the lack of them seems a shame, since each of the nature pieces that are available are so well made.
Despite all of this talk of build pieces, the real treasure trove of the DLC pack are the animals (of course). This pack contains five new animals: Racoons, Red Foxes, Wombats, Striped Skunks and Egyptian Fruit Bats. The majority of the animals in this pack are not exactly the most unique to say the least, with the exception of one.
For those not familiar with how Planet Zoo organises its animals, they are separated between Habitat animals and Exhibit animals. Habitat based animals are the ones that require a great deal of space and allow for customisation. While exhibit animals are in smaller areas with the least customisation available to them in the game.
In this pack, we have four Habitat based animals and one Exhibit animal. To start with, the Red Foxes are excellent. Visually they are one of the more stunning animals in the pack, though they do have a lack of unique animations. Not to mention that they utilise the new coat system added in the brand new update leading to a wide range of Fox appearances.
The Striped Skunk is the smallest animal in the pack. Like the rest, visually it is amazing, the detail on the fur in this pack is great, However, the skunk lacks any ‘flair’ and ultimately falls flat in comparison to the rest of the animals in this pack.
The Wombats are a great addition and as an animal, they are very unique. The animal is on the bigger side in terms of this pack, and not to mention its design and animations are spectacular. Racoons are the best ‘habitat’ animal in this pack. They are visually exceptional and they also have the most unique animations that make them stand out. Not to mention that Racoons have been asked for by the fanbase since the game released.
The one animal that hasn’t been discussed and is ultimately the best animal in this entire pack is the Egyptian Fruit Bat. There are a number of reasons as to why this animal is the best. First of all, there is no other animal like it in the rest of Planet Zoo. It is the first of (hopefully many) flying creatures to be added to the game. Their animations are brilliant and considering the theme of this pack is ‘Twilight’ it fits it more than any other animal available in this pack.
Unfortunately, the Fruit Bat is an exhibit animal. Of course it makes sense as to why this is the case, making them a habitat based animal would no doubt lead to hundreds of complications. Regardless, it is still a shame that we can’t really stretch and customise their exhibit ourselves, particularly when their exhibit is so big.
When it comes to the animals added in this pack, they are pretty good. While they aren’t exactly stand out animals like the Amur Leopard from the previous pack, they are still animals that fans have wanted for a while and are each stunning.
In addition to this, this new DLC also adds a brand new scenario. While the scenarios are not exactly the best mode in Planet Zoo they can add a new variety of challenges, especially for players who grow bored with creating their own zoo. This newest scenario is called ‘Castle Myers’ and is a very pretty castle based map that takes advantage of all of the content littered throughout this DLC, including the incredible castle pieces that lord over the rest of the scenario.
It had a decent amount of challenge with managing broken habitats and such, but an experienced Planet Zoo player would probably ‘solve’ this scenario in a short amount of time, but at the very least it adds some more density to the pack.
Overall, the Planet Zoo: Twilight Pack is a great pack to pick up. It may not be the best DLC pack that the game has released, but it is far from the worst. It undoubtedly has the best construction pieces of the last three packs combined and the animals added are fantastic. Admittedly none of the animals with the exception of the Fruit Bat is a real showstopper, they are still great additions to any zoo.
The Planet Zoo: Twilight Pack is available right now. Also, at the writing of this review Planet Zoo itself is 70% off on Steam along with many packs, so if you wanted to dive into the world of Planet Zoo, now may be the best time to do so.
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