Planet Zoo 2 came out on October 13, 2026 for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, priced at $49.99 or $64.99 for the Deluxe Edition. If you are just starting, play the Career first. Open your first zoo with a few cheap, easy species. Put down a Keeper Hut, a Trade Centre and a Vet Surgery before anything else. Once you have Aquariums, connect each one to a Water Filter, because the filtration network is what sets the salinity.
This Planet Zoo 2 beginner guide covers aquariums and salinity, getting animals, research, money and Accreditation. It draws on Frontier’s official player guides, the Zoopedia and the 1.0.4 and 1.0.5 patch notes, and community findings are labeled. Prices and Steam figures were checked October 18, 2026 at 03:15 UTC.
Table of Contents
Quick answer
- Start in Career. It teaches the new systems (Aquariums, aviaries, Wildlife Reserves) step by step. Franchise needs a Frontier account and an online connection.
- Build these first: Zoo Entrance, paths, Keeper Hut, Trade Centre, Vet Surgery and a power source. Add a Staff Room once you hire more than a few staff.
- Starter animals: small, cheap species with simple needs, such as the Meerkat, Common Warthog and Aardvark. The table below gives their Zoopedia requirements.
- Aquariums fill with freshwater once you add an Aquarium Staff Gate. To change the salinity, connect the tank to a filtration network with a Water Filter.
- Money: put Donation Bins at your best viewing spots, check your ticket price against what Guests are thinking, add ATMs, and take a loan only if you can repay it.
- Accreditation is tracked separately in each mode. Career medals raise it in Career. In Franchise, it comes from 3-star zoos and 3-star Wildlife Reserves.
Which mode should you start in?
The three modes don’t share progress. Frontier said in its October 14 player feedback post that “progressing further into Career will not advance your Franchise accreditation”, and Franchise doesn’t feed Career either. Use Career to learn, and Sandbox to try out builds.
| Mode | Online? | Currencies | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Career | No | Cash per scenario | Learning: FEN story scenarios with Bronze, Silver and Gold medals |
| Franchise | Yes, Frontier account | Cash per zoo, Conservation Credits (CC) shared across zoos | Long-term play: trading animals with other players, Community Challenges |
| Sandbox | No | Optional (Default, Creative or Challenge presets) | Building and testing habitats without money pressure |
Insider Gaming’s beginner’s guide recommends Career even for veterans of the first game, and suggests saving any Career habitats you like as Blueprints for later. To start one, select Career, then Start New Career +, and pick the first Chapter 1 location.
How to open your first zoo
Guests come in through a Zoo Entrance, so place it next to a Guest Spawner. You can also set ticket prices on the Entrance. Every other building has to connect to your path network. These are the staff buildings that keep animals alive, in the order that matters early on:
- Keeper Hut. It’s the only place Keepers prepare food. A small hut holds one Keeper and a large one holds six. Keep it close to habitat gates, because long walks make Keepers less efficient.
- Trade Centre. You can’t adopt or move any animal without one. According to the official animals guide, “all animal moves require a Trade Centre that is connected to the main path network”.
- Vet Surgery. It treats disease and injuries, and it needs power and a path.
- Power. Standard generators are cheap to build but have running costs. Solar Panels and Wind Turbines cost more up front, have no running costs and raise your Sustainability rating.
- Staff Room. Staff with no energy stop working, and unhappy staff quit. A small room fits four staff and a large one fits twelve.
- Research Centre and Quarantine. You can add these a little later. Quarantine checks new arrivals for disease before they join a habitat.
Insider Gaming’s Franchise tips say only the Keeper Hut, Vet Surgery and Trade Centre are essential on day one. The item browser’s Essentials filter hides decorative pieces, so Donation Bins and shop blueprints are quick to find.
Best starter animals in Planet Zoo 2
Start with species that need little space, low barriers and a forgiving temperature range. The figures below come from each species’ official Zoopedia page and show the minimum habitat for one group:
| Species | Group size | Land area | Barrier | Temperature | Periodic food cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meerkat | 2-30 | 180 m² | Grade 1, 1.25 m | 14-41°C | $176 |
| Common Warthog | 1-7 | 290 m² | Grade 2, 1.25 m | 14-36°C | $117 |
| Aardvark | 1-2 | 160 m² | Grade 2, 1 m | 14-36°C | $450 |
| Plains Zebra | 3-6 | 460 m² | Grade 2, 1.25 m | 14-36°C | $174 |
The Meerkat has the lowest barrier requirement (Grade 1) and a Confident temperament, so crowds stress it less. The Aardvark needs the least land but has the highest food bill of the four. Before you build, use Pin Species in the Habitat’s Animals tab. It shows the combined requirements of every species you plan to house together.
Habitats, aviaries and Exhibits
A Habitat is a single continuous loop of Habitat Barrier with a Staff Gate. An aviary is the same thing with a roof. Add a roof with the Roof Tool, then raise it with Roof Supports to give flying birds more room. Small animals such as frogs, snakes and insects live in Exhibits, which are standalone vivariums with no gate. Insider Gaming points out that Exhibit animals breed easily and their young count as adults straight away, which makes them a cheap source of animals to sell or trade early on.
Aviaries are Habitats with a mesh roof; Roof Supports raise it for more flying space. Image: Frontier Developments
How to get animals in Planet Zoo 2
Open the Trading & Storage tab (with a Trade Centre built), pick a species and select Adopt. The animal goes into Animal Storage, which every zoo you own shares. From there, choose a habitat to move it into. Storage space is limited, and higher Accreditation Tiers increase it.
- Cash or Conservation Credits. Some listings cost cash and others cost CC. Insider Gaming advises buying cash animals early and saving scarce CC.
- Only healthy adults can be traded. Juveniles and gestating, elderly, sick or injured animals can’t be.
- Getting rid of animals: Quick Trade pays cash, Quick Release pays CC and Rehome costs a fee. In Franchise you can also list animals for other players.
- Franchise market supply was thin at launch. Frontier says it has since added more animals to the market and more server capacity. Update 1.0.5 (October 16) also evened out the split between males and females, both among animals offered for cash and among animals born in Franchise.
To stop a group outgrowing its habitat, turn on Apply Contraceptives in an animal’s Info Panel, or for several animals at once under Management > Animals.
How to fill an aquarium and change water salinity
Aquariums are new in Planet Zoo 2. They have their own section of the Habitat Barrier tool. Here is how to set one up, according to Frontier’s official aquarium guide:
- Select Habitat Barrier > Aquarium and draw the tank with the Line or Curve tool.
- Add an Aquarium Staff Gate. The tank fills with water on its own. The water is freshwater by default.
- Place a Water Filter (Facilities > Utilities) with power nearby. Select Edit Filtration Network, then run a pipe from the node on the Aquarium Staff Gate to the filter.
- In the filtration network panel, set the salinity to Freshwater, Brackish or Saltwater. That setting applies to every body of water connected to the network, so give saltwater tanks their own network.
- If the gate has power, set the water temperature in the Environment tab of the Aquarium’s Info Panel. The bigger the gap between the set temperature and the weather, the higher the running cost.
- Add aquarium feeders, nests and enrichment, check each species’ Zoopedia needs, and then move the animals in.
Keepers dive in to restore Tank Cleanliness, while Water Filters handle water cleanliness and salinity. Image: Frontier Developments
The official guide says a single Water Filter can clean up to 500 m² of water. Bigger tanks, or tanks holding lots of animals, need more filters on the same network. If the filtration rate falls below the tank’s demand, the water gets dirty, Tank Cleanliness drops faster and disease risk goes up. Wrong salinity is far worse: animals can die of osmotic stress. Here is what some popular aquatic species need, per the Zoopedia:
| Species | Salinity | Water temperature | Deep water area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Koi | Freshwater | 18-25°C | 50 m² |
| Clown Anemonefish | Saltwater | 24-28°C | 50 m² |
| Yellow Tang | Saltwater | 24-28°C | 50 m² |
| Hawksbill Turtle | Brackish or Saltwater | 22-30°C | 100 m² |
| Blacktip Reef Shark | Saltwater | 22-28°C | 210 m² |
To edit a tank, box up the animals, use Drain Water under the Info Panel, edit the barrier, then refill it. Mechanics must service Aquarium Barriers: worn barriers leak, Guests flee from leaks, and an Inspector who spots one ends the inspection with a fine. Water bodies in land habitats need a Water Pump on a filtration network instead. Keep that network freshwater, because only freshwater counts as drinking water.
How to make money early
Your cash comes from tickets, shops and restaurants, donations and quick-trading animals. The official zoo management guide and community guides agree on what to do first:
- Donation Bins at the best viewpoints. Guests give more after a good view of an animal, and more again for high-appeal and Thriving animals. Insider Gaming’s money guide suggests three to four bins per habitat or Exhibit, next to that species’ education boards.
- Tune ticket prices. Guests pay more for a better zoo, but they refuse to enter if they think they’re overpaying. Watch Guest Thoughts after every change.
- ATMs. Each Guest arrives with a set amount of cash. ATMs let them withdraw more and keep spending. ATMs need a path and power.
- Loans. There are up to three loan offers at a time, with seasonal repayments. Paying them off faster cuts the interest. Update 1.0.4 lowered the interest rates on low-level loans.
How to research in Planet Zoo 2
Research needs a powered Research Centre connected to a path, plus a Vet or Keeper to staff it. Open the Research tab and choose Species, Enrichment, Education or Disease research. Then pick a free staff member and a topic. Species research is the important one. It unlocks that animal’s education topic, its Thriving requirements, fertility boosts and the option to form Release Groups. Some species can only be fully researched after you release them into a Wildlife Reserve. Completed research carries across every zoo in your Hub.
How to increase accreditation
Accreditation Tiers unlock more species for trading, Marketing slots, Research Network equipment and extra storage. In Career, your tier goes up with scenario medals. In Franchise and Sandbox, it depends on zoos with high Zoo Reputation and Wildlife Reserves with high Biodiversity Ratings. Powerup Gaming has mapped the Franchise tiers. This is community data, and Frontier says it is “investigating” feedback about the requirements, so they may change:
| Tier | Requirement (Franchise) | New species |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Starting tier | 32 |
| 2 | 1 zoo at 3 Reputation stars | +33 |
| 3 | 2 zoos at 3 stars + 1 reserve at 3 Biodiversity stars | +31 |
| 4 | 2 zoos at 3 stars + 2 reserves at 3 stars | +30 (and +50 storage) |
| 5 | 2 zoos at 3 stars + 3 reserves at 3 stars | +10 |
Zoo Reputation has four parts: Animal Husbandry (average welfare plus Thriving animals), Sustainability (eco power and recycling bins), Guest Education (boards, speakers, tours and covering most of your animals’ topics) and Guest Experience (happiness, scenery and a varied collection). Check Management > Overview, fix the lowest of the four, then repeat.
Wildlife Reserves and biodiversity, explained
A reserve’s Biodiversity Rating has two halves. Ecosystem Rating goes up when you paint Ecosystems with the Ecosystem Brush and meet their area, terrain and plant requirements (Invalid, then Established, then Flourishing). Clearing Environmental Pollution and Invasive Flora with the Demolish Brush and releasing more species also raise it. Research Rating comes from a network of Observation Platforms, Camera Traps and Acoustic Monitors. Don’t let their coverage overlap.
To release animals, research the species, then create a Release Group in Trading & Storage from animals already in Storage. Finalise it, which can’t be undone, and release it into an Established Ecosystem that suits the species. A successful release pays Conservation Credits. Ecosystems become Flourishing once released groups fill the Ecosystem Roles they need.
An Ecosystem stays Not Established until its terrain and nature requirements turn green. Image: Frontier Developments
Known issues and recent patches
The game is rated Mixed on Steam: 2,618 of 4,078 reviews were positive (64%) when checked. Frontier has acknowledged that stability “has been below what we would expect”. So far, two patches have landed:
- Update 1.0.4 (October 14): fixed DLSS/FSR, resetting keybinds, audio distortion and several crashes, cut animal escapes, improved breeding success and set the default angle snap to 1 degree.
- Update 1.0.5 (October 16): improved Franchise loading stability, added an Edge Scrolling option, fixed settings not saving, fixed three Career softlocks (Nordic Fjords, Great Rift Valley, East Africa) and fixed a server connection failure on Steam Deck with Proton 11 and newer.
Frontier also says a VPN can cause Franchise connection errors, and an “under investigation” tracker post is due next week.
More management game guides
Planet Zoo 2 uses the same piece-by-piece building tools as Frontier’s coaster game, so our Planet Coaster guide covers useful groundwork. If you want a smaller zoo game to play on the go, try the Zoo Park Story beginner’s guide or the Parkasaurus guide to dinosaur park management. For more builders on phone, see our best tycoon games on mobile list.
FAQ
Is Planet Zoo 2 on PS5 and Xbox?
Yes. It launched on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S on October 13, 2026. It’s $49.99 on Steam and the Xbox Store; the $64.99 Deluxe Edition adds 6 species and exclusive animal signs.
Is Planet Zoo 2 on Steam Deck?
Valve rates it Steam Deck Verified. Update 1.0.5 fixed online connection failures on Proton 11 and newer.
Can you play Planet Zoo 2 offline?
Career and Sandbox, yes. Franchise needs a Frontier account and an internet connection, and Conservation Credits aren’t shared between Franchise and the offline modes.
How many animals are in Planet Zoo 2?
Frontier says “over 130”. The official Zoopedia lists 136 species, including fully aquatic animals and flying birds.
Sources: Frontier’s official player guides (basics, animals, aquariums, building, zoo management, Wildlife Reserves) and Zoopedia; Frontier Steam announcements (launch Oct 13, player feedback Oct 14, update 1.0.4 Oct 14, update 1.0.5 Oct 16); Steam store page (price, reviews, checked Oct 18, 2026 03:15 UTC); Xbox Store listing; Insider Gaming (beginner’s guide, Franchise tips, money guide); Powerup Gaming accreditation guide.
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