2022, a quick recap for an amazing year for PZ

[Aramar]

This 2022 has been an awesome year for Planet Zoo and Frontier has done a good job when choosing the animals for this year.

Out of 31 animals, we got:

• 21 mammals
• 5 insects
• 2 birds
• 2 amphibians
• 1 reptile

Each continent has received something:

• Europe: 2 habitat animals + 4 exhibits
  Spoiler: Animals

  Red fox, red deer, Danube crested newt, European peacock, Old World swallowtail, monarch butterfly
• Oceania: 4 habitat animals + 1 exhibit
  Spoiler: Animals

  Platypus, common wombat, red necked wallaby, emu, monarch butterfly
• South America: 4 habitat animals + 3 exhibits
  Spoiler: Animals

  Capybara, spectacled caiman, manned wolf, nine banded armadillo, Menelaus blue morpho, cloudless sulphur, monarch butterfly
• North America: 4 habitat animals + 5 exhibits
  Spoiler: Animals

  Red fox, raccoon, striped skunk, nine banded armadillo, axolotl, Menelaus blue morpho, cloudless sulphur, monarch butterfly, Old World swallowtail
• Africa: 7 habitat animals + 2 exhibits
  Spoiler: Animals

  Nile lechwe, scimitar oryx, red fox, red deer, blue wildebeest, striped hyena, caracal, Egyptian fruit bat, monarch butterfly
• Asia: 10 habitat animals + 4 exhibits
  Spoiler: Animals

  Asian small clawed otter, red crowned crane, wild water buffalo, Amur leopard, Przewalski's horse, siamang, red fox, red deer, striped hyena, caracal, Egyptian fruit bat, European peacock, Old World swallowtail, monarch butterfly

Regarding biomes, we have also received a great variety of animals:

• Grasslands: 20 habitat animals
  Spoiler: Animals

  Nile lechwe, Asian small clawed otter, wild water buffalo, capybara, spectacled caiman, platypus, scimitar oryx, Przewalski's horse, red fox, raccoon, striped skunk, common wombat, red deer, nine banded armadillo, blue wildebeest, striped hyena, caracal, manned wolf, red necked wallaby, emu
• Temperate: 13 habitat animals
  Spoiler: Animals

  Amur leopard, red crowned crane, platypus, red fox, raccoon, striped skunk, common wombat, red deer, nine banded armadillo, striped hyena, caracal, emu, red necked wallaby
• Tropical: 11 habitat animals
  Spoiler: Animals

  Asian small clawed otter, wild water buffalo, capybara, spectacled caiman, platypus, siamang, raccoon, nine banded armadillo, striped hyena, manned wolf, emu
• Aquatic: 8 habitat animals (4 diving animals)
  Spoiler: Animals

  Nile lechwe, Asian small clawed otter, wild water buffalo, capybara, spectacled caiman, platypus, red crowned crane, raccoon
• Desert: 7 habitat animals
  Spoiler: Animals

  Scimitar oryx, Przewalski's horse, red fox, striped hyena, caracal, nine banded armadillo, emu
• Taiga: 6 habitat animals
  Spoiler: Animals

  Amur leopard, red crowned crane, red fox, raccoon, striped skunk, red deer
• Tundra: 2 habitat animals
  Spoiler: Animals

  Red crowned crane, red fox

The only thing that could be improved is increasing the number of birds and reptiles (but personally I prefer mammals, so this doesn't bother me too much). I hope 2023 continues this trend of adding animals for all biomes and continents.

Thank you, Frontier!

Updated to add emu to temperate.

 

[Captain Callum]

It was a great year for generally all kinds of animals

• Asia has seen several iconic and important animals added to boost the already large roster
• Africa is a little on the more lackluster side for the overall new roster but nonetheless has additions like blue wildebeest, caracal and the fruit bat to add some wonderful diversity to African zones
• North America has seen roadkill updates pretty much, very urban animals like racoon and armadillo add diversity but the northern and southern (central America) parts of north America still need attention
• South America has some wonderful additions although tropical south American is still very much empty. Maned wolf and Capybara are community favourites
• Oceania finally has received enough animals to satisfy zoo builds. Now the additions of emu, wallaby and wombat we have a diverse selection to choose from
• And lastly Europe, although only recieving 2 Habitat animals , it has boosted European woodlands greatly. Red fox and red deer are very exciting to have. Now let's see wild boar next year

Let's hope the next year brings more birds, reptiles and primates

 

[FoxyDee]

Really enjoyed the content this year, some very unexpected for me (the whole Twillight pack roster), but overall alot of fan favourite additions. I am glad we finally recieved some SA and Oceania animals and hope to see more next year. Also hope we will get more birds, even if only habitat ones).

 

[DarthQuell]

I have the agree that, while the packs may have seemed lackluster, the animal choices in all of them were actually great and, looking at the year itself and not by pack, it's fantastic.

I love the boost we got to North America. I can now properly represent my home, with only the American black bear being a key essential.

For Australia, it's way better than before. We now have enough animals to not have the same choices every single time. There's very few Australian animals I want, namely the Tasmanian devil, but it's a great roster nonetheless.

South America, wow. What used to be equally as bad as Australia has gotten a boost, too. Capybara, spectacled caiman, maned wolf and nine-banded armadillo added quite a bit. There's still a lot more to add here, in my opinion, so the continent isn't satisfying for me just yet, but it's getting there.

Africa, I guess it's ok. It was nice to get more desert animals over savannah, and there's only 2 desert animals I'd want, the dromedary camel and the addax. Tropical Africa needs a bit of a boost, though, and monkeys would help with that.

Asia is nice. Good selection, especially colder climates. India could use a tiny bit more, I think. And Japan 1 more animal.

Europe is great. What had nothing is now virtually complete, only lacking the brown bear, a proper wolf (in my eyes, the wolf is a NA wolf), and the wild boar.

Habitats aside, the exhibit animals were great, too. The axolotl was perfect for conservation efforts. The bats were a surprise and a welcome one, too. The butterflies just expanded the bats and are beautiful.

Themes, they're ok. Twilight isn't interesting to me except for the walls and maybe the metal fence. Conservation is alright, the tools are a nice addition although I don't use them.
Thinking back, the butterflies are perfect to go alongside the vegetables and fruits we got in the Conservation Pack.


Great year, 2022. Let's see what 2023 brings us.

 

[jcp011c]

Very true, this has been some fantastic content. There's also been 8 animals from the top 10 (or 7 depending on how you view it) of the Meta-List, or at least top 10 at the point their respective pack was announced. Maned Wolf, Emu, Leopard, Przwalski's Horse, Siamang (taking the Gibbon Spot), Wombat, Capybara and Platypus. That doesn't even take into account the numerous animals we got that were near the top 10, so in the top 30, like the Red Deer and Raccoon.

 

[Spiderhawk]

Here’s my opinion of the 2022 PZ.
We got alot of cool stuff this year. Mostly loved everything we got with a few areas I feel less about.

Themes:
wetlands was able to cover a lot with a variety of biomes and not too restrictive.
Conservation was a nice surprise having a green theme and a nice amount of backstage props.
Twilight was a mix for me. The gothic castle/Halloween theme has some potential and I was able to use this theme on a section of my European zoo. Didn’t love the animal roster.
Grasslands was able to cover some highly requested animals and gave previously neglected regions some love.

Animals
North America: Wetlands didn’t give any NA rep. Axolotls fit in with conservation and what seems to be the final basic exhibit critter. Not saying no to raccoons but the skunks I don’t agree with. Red foxes were one of my most requested. Armadillos give southern NA much needed attention, just wish they could have more then 2 per habitat.

South America: capybaras, manned wolfs were a big win for SA. At first I didn’t agree why the spectacled caiman was added, in the end I’m glad they can have more members than the dwarf caiman in their habitat.

Europe: So Europe rep was there but random. The newt and the red fox got included, you can say the P horse arguably has European range and the red deer made its way in thanks to the anniversary.

Africa: Africa always finds its way into a dlc. Lechwes and blue wildebeest didn’t feel special to me. Scimitars came in at the right time. The bats were a nice surprise.

Asia: glad that northern Asia got some much needed love with the cranes leopards and p horses. SEA got a lot of attention as well.

Australia: About Time! Once the regional packs ended we finally got a chance to get more Australian animals and they all were apart of the much needed Australian roster.

Others: India, Middle East got some rep with the hyena and caracal.
Walkthrough Exhibits
The butterfly houses were cool and I’m hoping frontier will consider the set of 5 rule that came from the butterfly’s with what ever else they have planned in the future. The bats really showed us that frontier has new tricks up their sleeves and know to look up.

Features: I like the water mechanic making bubbles. The new education items I like, certainly wish for more and I hope we can customize those signs ex: silly to have a height stand for the gorilla when I don’t have any gorillas.

Educator boost: holding the safe and small exhibit critters is cool. I have never seen the educators successfully do a roaming presentation, always failing to grab a crowd or sulking that nobody came to their presentation. I had high hopes for the guided tours and I am immensely frustrated with how broken they are: at an intermission my educators go start a new tour leaving their guests hanging and they get too tired waiting for guests. I think it should be more organized like the education talk points where you control what month the event happens.



Either way great job frontier. I hope in the future that build dlcs will include an extra animal or 2. WE will go with the new Set of 5 rule. basic exhibits continue and come out alongside WE rather then have one or the other. Animal packs have animals spread out so fans of each biome and region can be satisfying. Koi ponds and a set of 5 bird. The wait for the spring and fall dlc was unbearable, announce and release in March, June, September and December please. And finally birds.

Thank you and see you next year Frontier.

 

[Pinguin]

Yes itwas good year for Planet zoo, I have bough all the remaining packs that I was missing so i finally have every animal. I hope we will get much more in next year! and maybe some more less known animals like Saki Monkey ) and I go to write reviews on dlcs now.

 

[YesIndeed]

While yes I love mammals as much as the next person I think we still need some more I feel like reptiles are severely lacking. Habitat reptiles to be more specific. Birds are separate thing which I won't get into now.

For habitats we currently have 5 crodillians, 2 tortoises, 2 monitor lizards and thats it. Earlier in the year I didn't really care for the whole free the iguanas thing but after going too a local reptile zoo and seeing lots of small lizards in more open habitats I would love this. Along with that I think slinks, frilled lizards, water dragons and stuff should be considered too.

Along with that I think we need 1 more crocodillian. Like a freshwater, nile or African Dwarf Crocodile. At least 2 more lizards preferably more though. These could things like a caiman monitor, Lace monitoror perntie. At least 1 more Tortoise, mabey a Radiated. And we need some turtles.

Be it Snapping turtles, smaller pond turtles or proper ocean turtles I don't care I just want something. In terms of packs next year I think a Lace monitor or snake-necked pond Turtle could fit really well to that Rainforest pack everyone wants or we could have a Spurred Tortoise and perentie in a desert pack. If you any options on this please tell me I love hearing peoples ideas!

 

[Fallax]

For reptiles, I definitely want to see actual aquatic turtles... I would love an Alligator Snapping Turtle! Tortoises, I am fine with the two we have right now but I would take a Sulcata or Greek tortoise.

I think the crocodilian roster got all its essentials once we got the American Alligator, we had 1 crocodile, 1 gharial, 1 caiman, and 1 alligator... Perfect! However it seems Frontier had other ideas as we got what was in my opinion a pretty meh addition that was the Spectacled Caiman... If we were to get another caiman I wish it could have been the Black Caiman as it is the largest of the caimans and has a distinct dark colour that would have made it stand out from the Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman! If we are to get any more crocodilians, apart from the afromentioned Black Caiman I would also take the Tomistoma, Slender-Snouted Crocodile, or the Dwarf Crocodile but I really don't need any of them. I never really got the hype around the Nile Crocodile, it looks virtually identical to the Saltwater Crocodile and among true crocodiles there is much more interesting species. If it got in I wouldn't be annoyed because I know its popular but I wouldn't be pleased either.

Lizards is one I haven't actually thought about at all until now! We have two monitors in the game currently and I'm fine with just the two, if we get more lizards I would like to see some from different families. I agree that the iguanas should be habitat animals and I'd really like that to happen. I guess seeing tegus would be cool, but apart from that and freeing the iguanas I don't really know what other lizards I would want to see as habitat animals.

Give us tuataras too btw, they'd look cramped in the current exhibits so I honestly wouldn't mind them being habitat animals

 

[Marvinb]

For reptiles, I definitely want to see actual aquatic turtles... I would love an Alligator Snapping Turtle! Tortoises, I am fine with the two we have right now but I would take a Sulcata or Greek tortoise.

I think the crocodilian roster got all its essentials once we got the American Alligator, we had 1 crocodile, 1 gharial, 1 caiman, and 1 alligator... Perfect! However it seems Frontier had other ideas as we got what was in my opinion a pretty meh addition that was the Spectacled Caiman... If we were to get another caiman I wish it could have been the Black Caiman as it is the largest of the caimans and has a distinct dark colour that would have made it stand out from the Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman! If we are to get any more crocodilians, apart from the afromentioned Black Caiman I would also take the Tomistoma, Slender-Snouted Crocodile, or the Dwarf Crocodile but I really don't need any of them. I never really got the hype around the Nile Crocodile, it looks virtually identical to the Saltwater Crocodile and among true crocodiles there is much more interesting species. If it got in I wouldn't be annoyed because I know its popular but I wouldn't be pleased either.

Lizards is one I haven't actually thought about at all until now! We have two monitors in the game currently and I'm fine with just the two, if we get more lizards I would like to see some from different families. I agree that the iguanas should be habitat animals and I'd really like that to happen. I guess seeing tegus would be cool, but apart from that and freeing the iguanas I don't really know what other lizards I would want to see as habitat animals.

Give us tuataras too btw, they'd look cramped in the current exhibits so I honestly wouldn't mind them being habitat animals

With tuatara being such cold climate animals l, for reptiles atleast, they would even work pretty well as habitat animals.
And i get the "oh its not really captivity or common in zoos" but that didnt stop frontier before to add a cool species

 

[Fallax]

With tuatara being such cold climate animals l, for reptiles atleast, they would even work pretty well as habitat animals.
And i get the "oh its not really captivity or common in zoos" but that didnt stop frontier before to add a cool species

Yes definitely not too common but my local zoo does have them... They are so unique I think it would be a major missed opportunity.

 

[biggest_dreamer]

I think North America, Oceania, Asia, and Africa all came out of this year with major wins. North America is one animal away from being "complete" in my eyes (the black bear), Oceania is finally actually usable, and Asia and Africa both got some very strong icing on top of their already strong rosters.

Europe didn't fare quite so well, but given that it's the region that I'm personally least concerned with, that works out for me. Genuinely hate it for our European players and fans of European fauna in general, though.

South America is, as usual, the real loser here. Out of 31 animals, only two of them (the capybara and maned wolf) feel like they provide anything genuinely new for the region. While I'm over begrudging the caiman in general, it really didn't add anything to the game that wasn't already being provided by Cuvier's. And as someone who builds in North America, the armadillo is going to end up in North American sections 10 times out of 10. We need some major focus on South America, and we need it yesterday.

 

[Marvinb]

I think North America, Oceania, Asia, and Africa all came out of this year with major wins. North America is one animal away from being "complete" in my eyes (the black bear), Oceania is finally actually usable, and Asia and Africa both got some very strong icing on top of their already strong rosters.

Europe didn't fare quite so well, but given that it's the region that I'm personally least concerned with, that works out for me. Genuinely hate it for our European players and fans of European fauna in general, though.

South America is, as usual, the real loser here. Out of 31 animals, only two of them (the capybara and maned wolf) feel like they provide anything genuinely new for the region. While I'm over begrudging the caiman in general, it really didn't add anything to the game that wasn't already being provided by Cuvier's. And as someone who builds in North America, the armadillo is going to end up in North American sections 10 times out of 10. We need some major focus on South America, and we need it yesterday.

Imo the spec caiman actually fills the niche of a medium sized croc, which i enjoy. Every other croc in the game is either the tiny dwarf caiman or a hulky brute

 

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

I think North America, Oceania, Asia, and Africa all came out of this year with major wins. North America is one animal away from being "complete" in my eyes (the black bear), Oceania is finally actually usable, and Asia and Africa both got some very strong icing on top of their already strong rosters.

Europe didn't fare quite so well, but given that it's the region that I'm personally least concerned with, that works out for me. Genuinely hate it for our European players and fans of European fauna in general, though.

South America is, as usual, the real loser here. Out of 31 animals, only two of them (the capybara and maned wolf) feel like they provide anything genuinely new for the region. While I'm over begrudging the caiman in general, it really didn't add anything to the game that wasn't already being provided by Cuvier's. And as someone who builds in North America, the armadillo is going to end up in North American sections 10 times out of 10. We need some major focus on South America, and we need it yesterday.

Honestly we might have only got 2 european animals but to be real they are both great catches. Arguably equally important for europe as the emu and wallaby are for australia and eventhough the wild boar would still be very nice, im content with the current roster and while id like a bit more, id be cool if we wont get any new european animal anymore

 

[premierfong]

Thank you Frontier, more to come please!