In time for Halloween, Planet Zoo has just gotten a spooktacular DLC, the Twilight Pack, which features five new species and over 200 new scenery items, ranging from classic jack-o’-lanterns to a Roman-inspired portcullis.
After having gone through the content, and playing around with it for a while, I must say it is perhaps the most atmospheric pack released for Planet Zoo so far. The animals are definitely great, with all the nuances and effort you’d expect from Frontier but what I was pleasantly surprised by, is just how great the new building pieces are.
The game’s new career mode is a fantastic showcase of the possibilities afforded by these pieces and how existing items can work well in conjunction. From the mist-filled entrance alone, Castle Myers shows just how atmospheric parks can become now.
What really steals the show for me, are the new foliage pieces. The game has an assortment of twisted pine trees and autumn plants that fit well within a spooky theme. These foliage pieces, especially the twisted Bristlecone pine Tree, are really good-looking and can do a lot of heavy lifting if you were to create a horror-themed section of a park.
Add in some decoration pieces like hanging bats or Jack-o’-Lanterns, mix them in with smoke machines, and you can achieve the ideal Halloween look without much effort. Whilst a lot of the previous building pieces have also been good, these new ones are exceptionally bold in their design with a strong focus on the Halloween theme.
The generic construction pieces are also really good, offering brand-new shapes that can be used to create interesting architecture. In fact, with a lot of these, you can now realistically build dreary castles that wrap around your exhibits. The Twilight Walkthrough Exhibit is perhaps the best example of this and really shows how the new tower pieces, roofs, and other masonwork materials can be interestingly combined.
The walkthrough exhibits are a brand-new addition, one that quite a few people were asking for or using workarounds to create. The great news is that it bundles very well with the new Fruit Bats, which fly around your guests as they walk through the attraction. Sadly, this is the only animal that seems to be compatible with the walkthrough exhibit for now, but it is a promising start for future additions.
The Racoons and Red Foxes look gorgeous as well, with iconic behaviours and mannerisms that contrast well with the other animals. Speaking of behaviours, my favourite addition through the new free update, and consequently the DLC, are the new escape activities!
Large animals can now start knocking over bins after escaping, eating up the trash they spill. It doesn’t really harm the animals but will impact the quality of their meal. It is good to see that Frontier is still adding more to this feature as it makes the animals and the park feel more alive.
Overall, I am very impressed by the DLC pack, especially the scenery pieces that let you completely transform your park into a spooky getaway. Not to mention, I cannot recommend the new career mode enough since it gives a very atmospheric introduction to the brand-new additions.
Now I might be biased due to my strong love for horror, but this might just be my favourite Planet Zoo pack so far. Everything from the hanging bat decorations, to jack-o’-lanterns, and the striking construction pieces will help you create aesthetics with a lighting scheme that wasn’t possible before.
If you are a fan of horror themes, then I can’t recommend The Twilight Pack enough. It is now available for purchase for £7.99 ($9.99, 9.99€) on Steam, it is available alongside the Free Update 1.11.
As We Play 