Planet Zoo: Twilight Pack arriving 18 Oct đŚ
- Thread starter Lydiah Moon
- Start date
This will be one of the best DLCs in my personal opinion. It's like Frontier personally read my mind when they came up with this pack.
I can never get enough small forest animals. 3 of them were even on my wishlist. Another inclusion for Australia is always great!
Some Eastern European architecture is something I have been longing for a while, and it was my last building piece theme I hoped for.
And I absolutely cannot express how glad I am over the inclusion of flying bats, I always loved their walkthrough exhibits as a kid and always dreamed of something like that in Planet Zoo but never expected it to actually come!
Lastly the new career mode mission! Finally! I was never a fan of timed scenarios, I enjoy taking my time to make beautiful habitats instead of rushed ugly ones just to beat the game.
I can never get enough small forest animals. 3 of them were even on my wishlist. Another inclusion for Australia is always great!
Some Eastern European architecture is something I have been longing for a while, and it was my last building piece theme I hoped for.
And I absolutely cannot express how glad I am over the inclusion of flying bats, I always loved their walkthrough exhibits as a kid and always dreamed of something like that in Planet Zoo but never expected it to actually come!
Lastly the new career mode mission! Finally! I was never a fan of timed scenarios, I enjoy taking my time to make beautiful habitats instead of rushed ugly ones just to beat the game.
One thing I have only really just noticed is how brightly coloured the fruit bat's eyes are. While their eyes do have some colour, they look much darker in reality. Wondering whether that is just a quirk of the lighting angle or if they have just been given luminous orange eyes.
Compare the game screenshot:
With photos of live Egyptian fruit bats:
Compare the game screenshot:
With photos of live Egyptian fruit bats:
Well spotted!
Iâm so excited for this new pack I canât wait to expand my zoo with bats, 
that we finally get some birds soon
that we finally get some birds soon
Well this is definitely a twist, a scenery pack for fall! And additionally, itâs a theme pretty much no one was guessing. Everyone was pushing so hard for a nocturnal pack when, a Halloween-linked theme (Didnât Planet Coaster receive a âSpookyâ Halloween themed DLC too?), was always right there. The new plants and the building pieces look to be really useful, so I am actually excited this is a scenery pack (though admittedly quite surprised)! I will say though that some of the decorative pieces donât seem to be very multi-use, not sure how much Iâm gonna be using a Wombat gargoyle. On the other hand, the stalagmites and other cave pieces will be incredibly useful (not only in caves but also any rock work) so thank you Frontier for those!
Now time to discuss the animals. Letâs start with the real shock of the line-up, the bat. On the one hand, Iâm over-joyed that we finally have a true flying species in PZ. But on the other hand, itâs strictly an exhibit species with limited animations/interactions and is still âlocked inâ a cube like all the other exhibits. I love that in the accompanying update to this DLC, exhibits did receive some more love, but the real issues most players have with them still wasnât addressed. The animals are all stuck on animation-repeat in a one-size cube that lacks true customization like habitats.
All this said, I now really worry about whatâs to come for potential flying birds in PZ. Weâve waited almost three years for flying bird species in PZ, for them to potentially only be exhibit species? Maybe youâve got other plans up your sleeve Frontier devs, but if not Iâm begging you not to put flying birds in exhibit boxes. They need to be habitat species, with full behaviors, needs, and animations, just like all the other current habitat species. If December is an animal pack, and itâs a grouping of flying species, I truly hope they arenât limited to exhibit boxes. If so, it will likely be the first DLC Iâm not purchasing. I donât care how interesting the species selections are, at the end of the day, exhibit species and their boxes offer very little customization and creativity in a game that advertises building and customizing things as key elements.
As for the other species in the pack, Iâm quite surprised these species were selected as a âstrongâ line-up for a 4 animal-limited scenery pack. Itâs not that the animals are all bad picks, just not what I would have expected as likely to be brought together and sold in a pack with such a limited roster. The Raccoon, Skunk, and Wombat will likely all have some unique animations and interactions and are quite different both taxonomically and anatomically from anything already in PZ, so I think they will all bring something fun and different to the game. Canât say Iâm overjoyed with the Red Foxâs inclusion though. We already have a number of other canids, two of which are foxes. I doubt the Red Fox will behave any differently in PZ than the already in-game Arctic Fox does.
Itâs quite obvious the devs have put a lot of love and effort into PZ, and I donât mean to minimize their work at all with any of the above things I said. This pack does have some potentially really fun animal and scenery piece inclusions that I think are really useful. But it does also have some questionable elements that I hope donât stand-in as a sign of whatâs to come for PZâs future. Flying birds have been one of mine and many other PZ players biggest âWantsâ for the game since itâs release. Frontier, please donât make us wait three years for them to only receive them as exhibit box animals.
Now time to discuss the animals. Letâs start with the real shock of the line-up, the bat. On the one hand, Iâm over-joyed that we finally have a true flying species in PZ. But on the other hand, itâs strictly an exhibit species with limited animations/interactions and is still âlocked inâ a cube like all the other exhibits. I love that in the accompanying update to this DLC, exhibits did receive some more love, but the real issues most players have with them still wasnât addressed. The animals are all stuck on animation-repeat in a one-size cube that lacks true customization like habitats.
All this said, I now really worry about whatâs to come for potential flying birds in PZ. Weâve waited almost three years for flying bird species in PZ, for them to potentially only be exhibit species? Maybe youâve got other plans up your sleeve Frontier devs, but if not Iâm begging you not to put flying birds in exhibit boxes. They need to be habitat species, with full behaviors, needs, and animations, just like all the other current habitat species. If December is an animal pack, and itâs a grouping of flying species, I truly hope they arenât limited to exhibit boxes. If so, it will likely be the first DLC Iâm not purchasing. I donât care how interesting the species selections are, at the end of the day, exhibit species and their boxes offer very little customization and creativity in a game that advertises building and customizing things as key elements.
As for the other species in the pack, Iâm quite surprised these species were selected as a âstrongâ line-up for a 4 animal-limited scenery pack. Itâs not that the animals are all bad picks, just not what I would have expected as likely to be brought together and sold in a pack with such a limited roster. The Raccoon, Skunk, and Wombat will likely all have some unique animations and interactions and are quite different both taxonomically and anatomically from anything already in PZ, so I think they will all bring something fun and different to the game. Canât say Iâm overjoyed with the Red Foxâs inclusion though. We already have a number of other canids, two of which are foxes. I doubt the Red Fox will behave any differently in PZ than the already in-game Arctic Fox does.
Itâs quite obvious the devs have put a lot of love and effort into PZ, and I donât mean to minimize their work at all with any of the above things I said. This pack does have some potentially really fun animal and scenery piece inclusions that I think are really useful. But it does also have some questionable elements that I hope donât stand-in as a sign of whatâs to come for PZâs future. Flying birds have been one of mine and many other PZ players biggest âWantsâ for the game since itâs release. Frontier, please donât make us wait three years for them to only receive them as exhibit box animals.
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For as obvious as the wombat and fox were in the trailer, I'm only just now noticing we got a glimpse of the skunk as well:
I donât mean to disappoint but I donât believe any game has flying birds as habitat style animals. Even a close competitor to this game uses the same system. Itâs not a terrible thing imo and is probably as realistic as a game maker can get it. JWE2 has shared aviary species and the animations look real and complex. There still looped tho with I imagine several loop options to make them seem more realistic same as your habitat animals. Every animal in game has a sophisticated set to keep them more realistic.
JWE2 aviary animals are not on a loop, or they wouldnât be able to escape their enclosures and fly freely.
Yes for me they Look more Like the straw coloured fruit bats you can find in most tropic halls. I Hope the exhibit Box would be customable in a degree, that its not Just a cave. But maybe a tropic hall or something similar.
Now that I've had some time to gather my thoughts together, overall my feelings on this pack are quite mixed. The two "bats", the Common Wombat and Egyptian Fruit Bat, absolutely elevate this pack way higher for me than it would be otherwise - with a wombat being my 2nd most wanted animal and me being a huge fan of bats IRL, they're certain to be among my favourite animals in the entire game! Not to mention the inclusion of bats virtually confirming we'll be getting flying birds very very soon!
For the other animal picks however, I'm more or less ambivalent. I think they're all great choices, with red fox and raccoon being on my wishlist, but that was mostly due to me thinking they should be in the game more than anything else. I probably won't use the raccoon and skunk and I'll likely only use the red fox sparingly (fennec supremacy), but I'm very happy for those who have been waiting for them!
While I think the animal choices are good, the scenery pieces is where the pack really falls flat for me. Not only does the spooky autumn theming do nothing for me (it's spring right now for me, most of the trees here, including all native ones, are evergreen, and I've never participated in or been a fan of Halloween), but it feels wayyy too gimmicky for my tastes - gargoyle wombat, really? I did notice what appears to be new rock and dead tree pieces I could probably get some good use out of, but other than that I don't imagine myself using any of the scenery here.
Given the next pack is probably an Avian Animal Pack, the absence of the Tasmanian devil here is even more strange than it appeared after the livestream (I mean, it's not gonna headline a bird pack is it). That said, while I may have to wait a bit longer, the introduction of what is essentially a whole new enclosure type (the walkthrough exhibits - might as well just call 'em aviaries) really helps convince me that the game has got a lot of life in it yet. Don't worry devil, I'll get you next year!
For the other animal picks however, I'm more or less ambivalent. I think they're all great choices, with red fox and raccoon being on my wishlist, but that was mostly due to me thinking they should be in the game more than anything else. I probably won't use the raccoon and skunk and I'll likely only use the red fox sparingly (fennec supremacy), but I'm very happy for those who have been waiting for them!
While I think the animal choices are good, the scenery pieces is where the pack really falls flat for me. Not only does the spooky autumn theming do nothing for me (it's spring right now for me, most of the trees here, including all native ones, are evergreen, and I've never participated in or been a fan of Halloween), but it feels wayyy too gimmicky for my tastes - gargoyle wombat, really? I did notice what appears to be new rock and dead tree pieces I could probably get some good use out of, but other than that I don't imagine myself using any of the scenery here.
Given the next pack is probably an Avian Animal Pack, the absence of the Tasmanian devil here is even more strange than it appeared after the livestream (I mean, it's not gonna headline a bird pack is it). That said, while I may have to wait a bit longer, the introduction of what is essentially a whole new enclosure type (the walkthrough exhibits - might as well just call 'em aviaries) really helps convince me that the game has got a lot of life in it yet. Don't worry devil, I'll get you next year!
I think your misunderstanding me. They wonât be looped like say zoo tycoon 2013. Theyâll have like I said modified animations to keep them fresh but itâs still a animation set nonetheless. Theyâll function close to habitat animals in a aviary the same way jwe2 has them. But theyâll be in some kind of similar setup jwe2 keeps thereâs in. It would be crazy imo to think our system would be any better or realistic then theirs.
Awesome! The building pieces we'll see about because gothic is simply not my style but I'm curious what can be used as something else 
And the animals are great <3
And the animals are great <3
I guess nobody wins bingo @Old Country 
Just a heads up to all of you guys who are disappointed by the heavy theming: The âHalloweenâ or âspookyâ theme is just a small part of the building set, most of the new scenery pieces will revolve around European Castles, Villages and overall cottagecore buildings.
The one on the left has darker eyes, so I think itâs a light effect. I think theyâre extremely well done!
I hadn't thought about the consiquences of a revised larger system meaning they may consider smaller too.. now that would be interesting!