Planet Zoo‘s Tropical Pack DLC takes players to lush uncharted forests full of exciting architecture and peculiar animals. It was released alongside the 1.13 update which finally lets us set our own custom paths and brings some exciting gameplay improvements!
It is no secret that the Twilight Pack was an absolute favourite here at As We Play, featuring a unique theme and identity. It stood out to us for those reasons, as in our opinion, the best packs are those that let you really theme your park to a specific look. Fortunately, it is something that Frontier has carried on with Tropical Pack.
If you are a fan of tropical adventures like Uncharted or Indiana Jones, you are bound to love the variety of building pieces available here that allow you to create some really striking and ancient-looking structures. The look is very Southeast Asian in nature and is very distinct from what’s available through the previous packs so far.
In fact, there are over 200 scenery pieces, that pay tribute to this setting, featuring a lot of architectural references from various parts of Indonesia, such as the Bali-inspired temples, and the South Sulawesi-themed Tongkonans which are ancestral homes of the Torajan people that are known for their iconic boat-shaped look.
Due to this reason, the themes will not only resonate with backpackers and adventure fans but will go a long way in introducing and educating people about the different architecture found around the world. It is something that is worth commending Frontier for.
There is a brand new campaign scenario included as well, and it features the return of Tiffany, the rich socialite last seen in the Grasslands Pack who is now given her own zoo to run! Tiffany continues to be a great inclusion, giving the career scenario a lot of character, something that is evident here since we get to meet yet another returning character.
This time around, there are 5 new animals that the players can now take care of, which include the Red River Hog, Fossa, Lar Gibbon, Brown-throated Sloth and Asian Water Monitor. The sloth is an exhibition animal, something that we feel the game should keep adding more of, as the walkthrough exhibits are one of our favourite recent features.
Now, one of the complaints I have seen levied against this pack’s animals is that they feel like “reskins”, which feels disingenuous to say the least. These are all real animals with their own identity, and Frontier has managed to capture that with their behaviours and looks.
Of course, a new expansion also means a new update, as this time with 1.13 update we have got a few exciting additions. The biggest of which is a new animal interaction mechanic known as Animal Sociality. Essentially this improves the interaction behaviours of animals in relation to the overcrowding mechanic.
This means that animals will now have an additional definition in their Zoopedia entry which shows how they will not only engage with their offsprings but also outsiders if the population limit of a certain habitat is reached. This means that new animals will be treated as outsiders and potentially shunned from the social hierarchical structure. The developers intend to use this in order to make the overpopulation mechanic more readable for the players, justifying why something like overpopulation is an issue with animals to begin with.
Just to reiterate, this is in a free update, meaning that even players without the DLC will benefit from this and will potentially find their game experience re-energised. My personal favourites are the Null Paths, which finally allow you to create organic walkways. It makes the Zoos feel a lot more adventurous where guests can venture down interesting paths and players can blend them to fit better with the area around them.
Finally, the two quality-of-life updates that fans are sure to appreciate are the advanced movement and climbable asset toggle. Players can now move things in between two axis, and set certain objects to be non-climbable, which will prevent your animals from getting into places where they shouldn’t.
Whilst I do think that the pack will appeal more to players that love to build, animal lovers should still find enough improvements here to make it worthwhile. Though I do wish we would see more avian tropical species, and would have loved to see iconic animals such as the Toucan.
Overall, we are still very fond of this pack, and anything that helps add different themes to the game is a win in our book. Just like Twilight Pack did before, this will allow players to create some really iconic and adventurous-looking parks. Not to mention, the free update itself comes with gameplay and quality-of-life improvements. Be sure to check it out on Steam.
