Image: Frontier Developments

In case you couldn't guess, Planet Zoo 2 is the sequel to the highly-acclaimed Planet Zoo, a simulator that lets you craft your own wildlife sanctuary for a wide array of animals – and in the sequel, you can finally have aquatic creatures and soaring birds alongside your landlocked friends! Well, you can if it decides to work, that is...

Planet Zoo 2 builds upon the solid foundations of its predecessor, allowing you to construct the perfect zoo just the way you want to, from rocky mountains to bright green plains, customise and morph your zoo to fit your animal species and create habitats to complement them.

Your animals will also exhibit authentic behaviours in these habitats, interacting with their environment realistically, such as herding and grazing. All of this customisation has to be meaningful, too, and the game's intricate management systems let you take hold of every part of your zoo to keep not only the animals happy, but the guests, too.

Then, if it tickles your fancy, hop into a (reportedly quite buggy) franchise mode and gain the ability to trade animals with your friends, and access the frontier workshop and download other players' blueprints to implement in your world. You also aren't limited to your zoo and can take on the task of launching a fully customisable wildlife reserve and take conservation outside of your zoo.

Despite all of these amazing features, many people in the Steam Store reviews have been quick to criticise the roster (or lack thereof) of animals, noting that some very popular animals are simply missing, along with a limited number of birds, which is sad to see. Many players also say the performance (or, again, lack thereof) doesn't meet the modern standards we expect, which is sad and quite disappointing; optimisation seems to be a long-lost art.

Overall, Planet Zoo 2 seems like a great step up from the last in certain areas, held back by the modern vice of poor optimisation and a buggy launch. If you don't mind a few bugs or performance issues, go ahead and buy Planet Zoo 2 on Steam for £39.99, or the £54.99 deluxe edition; if they do bother you, hold off for now.