I want to start by saying that I'm genuinely enjoying Planet Zoo 2. There are some great improvements, I find the wildlife reserves interesting, and I can absolutely see the potential here. But after playing since launch and seeing what other people have been posting, I'm surprised by how little discussion there has been about the actual state of the game, especially from some of the bigger content creators.
For weeks, so much of the conversation surrounding PZ2 has revolved around the roster. And I understand why. There are legitimate complaints about the animal selection, particularly when it comes to regional representation. But I honestly think that discussion has distracted from some much bigger problems.
The game is riddled with bugs. We've all seen the clips people are posting of broken or bizarre animal animations. Animals sometimes lose their textures entirely, the day/night cycle doesn't seem to work properly, and Franchise Mode has had some pretty serious issues since launch. Then there's the hunting mechanic in wildlife reserves, which raises its own questions about how polished and functional some of the new systems actually are.
There are also features missing from the first game that I genuinely don't understand the reasoning behind. Why can we no longer see genetic information directly in the animal management tab? Why was automatic population management for exhibit animals removed? These were useful features that already existed.
And this brings me to something that's been bothering me about the coverage of the game.
I follow and enjoy several of the bigger Planet Zoo creators, and I appreciate the work they put into their videos. But some of them had access to the game for days before launch, and I find it strange how little attention many of these issues received. Even in the first few days after release, so much of the discussion still seems to revolve around the roster, while players are discovering and documenting problems that make parts of the game feel unfinished.
I'm not suggesting anyone deliberately concealed anything, and I understand that creators have different priorities and limited time. But when you're given early access to a game and your coverage helps shape people's expectations before release, I think it's fair to question how accurately that coverage represented the experience players were about to have.
Frontier is already working on patches, and I'm sure the game will improve considerably over time. But why did it launch like this in the first place? At what point did we become comfortable with paying full price for games that need weeks or months of fixes? Sometimes it genuinely feels like we're being treated as unpaid beta testers.
I want PZ2 to succeed. I loved the original, and I already enjoy a lot about the sequel. But I think we can appreciate what's good about it while also being more critical of how unfinished certain aspects feel.
