So question - after what animal are we happy to stop? Because first it was the Capybara, then the Devil, then the Wolverine, now the Coati.
If the last pack is LAm themed, will people really be satisfied with a complete roster? If we get the Coati, will people leave it there and be happy with end of support, or just find another animal that ‘simply MUST be added before support ends’.
This is a genuine question. Because I’m not sure I can see the negativity and the insisting and the doom-talk ending on this forum until everyone has every single niche need filled.
The truth is that many of us may not realise this, but Planet Zoo has defied expectations time after time after time.
It started out as another zoo game, with far more freedom and much more realism, but not intended for any of the detailed stuff we see today (as evidenced by things like the cartoonish base game lion and the change over time in resolution of new construction pieces and foliage). We can be grateful to the developers to actually respond to the needs of a very small minority of the player base that makes those crazy popular YouTube videos and is active on the forums.
When it comes to animal choice, we have also seen many developments. Sure, there's no flying birds and fish, but the game started with mostly the animals you'd see in traditional games. Not per se realistic choices when it comes to presence in zoos (HBB over meerkats, capybaras, pelicans etc.), but large species that the average person can easily recognise. The initial packs expanded on this by adding the missing iconic species (polar bear, jaguar, kangaroo, penguin) and introducing deep-diving.
It's from the second and third year of support that things got really advanced. We got smaller species - many of them from the wish-list - and smaller as well as more detailed items (take the decals from the Europe pack). To me this is where Planet Zoo really shifted from 'another more detailed zoo game' to a simulation of real zoos, with the only exception being that we still lack aviaries and fully aquatic species. It's also where we could realistically hope for animals like capybaras and Tasmanian devils.
Do I still miss species? Absolutely. For me, the baboon, coati and pelican are iconic zoo species. And until the recent announcement I thought a selection of petting zoo species was also severely lacking. However, if I look back at the game from its early development, I'm amazed at how far we've come. We've got 17 DLCs, which is more than any of us could've expected. Only in the most optimistic scenarios - even after two full years of support - could we expect to still receive something in 2024, yet here we are.
Of course there's still plenty of things to demand (especially generic zoo animals IMO), and even reasons to complain (yes, every pack came with one or two species that we won't use much). But while doing so, I think we can be a bit grateful for all the hard work that has already been put in this game for almost five years now, and admit that the game has come further than any of us could have seen coming back then.
