Honestly this pack has made it pretty hard for me to pick a favorite, there’s a few interesting choices that likely include new animations and interactions (which is the factor that I care the most about when it comes to new species). It’s a toss up between the California Sea Lion, American Beaver, and Black-tailed Prairie Dog as my likely favorite. I can’t really decide until we get to experience them in-game.
I’m really looking forward to this animal pack, a lot more so than I did the South East Asia animal pack. The SEA pack focused almost entirely on mammal carnivorans, which is currently the most plentiful category of animal we have in PZ. The only real outliers in that pack were the Babirusa and Proboscis Monkey (I know there is also the Malayan Tapir but it is easily the most disappointing animal Frontier has introduced to PZ. It is the only animal that is quite literally a clone of an already existing in-game model, the Baird’s Tapir).
The NA animal pack has done a far better job of providing variety. The pack will introduce the game’s second cervid and pinniped, an additional habitat reptile, and our first rodents. Additionally, I’m not a huge fan of PZ’s exhibit boxes because of the limited attention and customization options Frontier has given them, but it is nice to receive a second species for the aquatic exhibit box.
As for an additional species, I would have loved to have received a habitat bird in the NA pack. I understand that Frontier would probably want to address true flying mechanics in a dedicated pack, but more bird species that are primarily land-based, like the flamingo or peacock, are still greatly needed. North America is home to an abundance of species that fit in this category, like the Greater Roadrunner, Wild Turkey, Roseate Spoonbill, and Prairie Chicken. Another North American species that would have easily been my favorite in the pack is the West Indian Manatee, but I still have hopes we could see it in a future DLC (fingers crossed there’s a DLC focusing on fully aquatics in PZ’s future!)