Ironically in contrast to the first responder here - I would actually recommend barnyard as one of the first I think.
DLCs don’t really add much gameplay wise. They just add animals and scenery. So there’s not really much way of ‘recommending what’s best’. It’s just - which group of animals do you want in your zoo. Do you like kangaroos and koalas? Go for Australia. Leopards and horses? Pick Conservation. Want some wisents and wild boars for your European zoo? Pick Eurasia.
At the end of the day they’re all kind just cosmetic packs so just pick what animals and building bits you like the look of. If I was a new player starting today I’d probably go for the likes of zookeeper, Africa, Arid and Conservation first - simply because I like the animals in them. Twilight, Australia and Aquatic would come later because I’m not so enthused by the animals. Aquatic has good rocks tho.
But the one pack that actually kind of adds new dynamics is Barnyard imo. A) it lets you build a new ‘section’ to your zoo in a petting/farmyard area - something which is common in the majority of zoos. B) it adds a somewhat new interaction in the concept of guests entering habitats and touching animals with handwashing stations etc. this can be done with a few other animals but is the main draw of this pack.
So for me if you’re going to buy a couple of packs. Get barnyard for the petting zoo and then whatever animals you like the look of from other packs. The only other really new things are the WEs - bats in twilight and Oceania, sloth in tropical and butterflies in Grasslands. Butterflies are the best tho.
DLCs don’t really add much gameplay wise. They just add animals and scenery. So there’s not really much way of ‘recommending what’s best’. It’s just - which group of animals do you want in your zoo. Do you like kangaroos and koalas? Go for Australia. Leopards and horses? Pick Conservation. Want some wisents and wild boars for your European zoo? Pick Eurasia.
At the end of the day they’re all kind just cosmetic packs so just pick what animals and building bits you like the look of. If I was a new player starting today I’d probably go for the likes of zookeeper, Africa, Arid and Conservation first - simply because I like the animals in them. Twilight, Australia and Aquatic would come later because I’m not so enthused by the animals. Aquatic has good rocks tho.
But the one pack that actually kind of adds new dynamics is Barnyard imo. A) it lets you build a new ‘section’ to your zoo in a petting/farmyard area - something which is common in the majority of zoos. B) it adds a somewhat new interaction in the concept of guests entering habitats and touching animals with handwashing stations etc. this can be done with a few other animals but is the main draw of this pack.
So for me if you’re going to buy a couple of packs. Get barnyard for the petting zoo and then whatever animals you like the look of from other packs. The only other really new things are the WEs - bats in twilight and Oceania, sloth in tropical and butterflies in Grasslands. Butterflies are the best tho.