Let's Build a Zoo Reviews

Bugs that likely won’t get fixed because they have moved on to their other game. And pretty sure they are aware of the bugs but last update was a year ago.

i was a huge fan of zoo tycoon growing up and had a lot of fun with this game. while it's a lot simpler in some ways, you get a good variety of animals for being a base game, vs a game like planet zoo that's granular to a point of being overwhelming and you need a whole bunch of DLCs for animals you actually want. i definitely agree with the criticisms that it gets a bit slow/repetitive/tedious toward the end as you expand your zoo with lots of different animals while trying to get all variants and achieve all goals, i still had a lot of fun and would revisit this game in the future on a different morality run or after grabbing the DLCs when they go on sale.

A nice little game about making a zoo with surprisingly deep but easy to understand game mechanic. Very much recommended

I was a huge fan of the original zoo tycoon, and this game is satisfying to me in a very similar way. I really love animal and zoo simulator games, but I felt overwhelmed and dissatisfied by some of the other newer games in the genre. I personally like this game a lot more than some of the bigger zoo sim games like Planet Zoo - you can tell by looking at my hours on both of them. I feel very satisfied with the progress I made every time I spend a couple of hours on Let's Build A Zoo. Don't let the silliness and pixel art style fool you - you can make some awesome looking zoos! I got 80 hours just doing a high morality run on the base game, and I am expecting to get a similar amount from the first DLC at 20 hours in. This is also a game you can very easily pick up, put down and then go back to later - the mechanics are in depth enough to be engaging, but simple enough to be easy to relearn. I am eagerly awaiting more games from this studio.

A fun and simple zoo tycoon sandbox. Entertaining research mechanics, animal trading, and discovery keep things engaging. Pretty fun overall.

top tier zoo game.. perfect mix of decorating,managing, and cuteness

Very very addicting. I wasn't too sure about it at first but now I cannot put it down. you get to manage every single detail from the animals habitats and what they need to eat for nutrients to how much you want each shop item to cost-could be more of a profit by lowering the quality orrr you could make it the best quality which will make it more popular and would most likely sell more often instead of a high priced item that isn't of quality. anyways that's my review and I hope I managed to shine a light on this game. Enjoy if you end up getting it!!

Overall the pixel art style of the game is super cute, there's lots of funny choice pop-ups, and I really like the morality meter. I also really like collecting the different variants of the animals. HOWEVER: At the time of writing I'm currently 57 hours into the game, and I'm now starting to experience super severe lag. I'm unsure whether it's the volume of items I have in my zoo, my connection streaming via Steam Deck, or a combination of both. Regardless, it's enough to rustle my jimmies something chronic. YMMV. I would say that I'm starting to approach late-game, with only the two outer-most layers of land to buy. As you proceed through the game, you need to buy more land in order to get more enclosures. This means you have to shift all your decorations and the million trees you've slammed down (because customers keep moaning about the lack of foliage) in order to keep a good flow of your zoo. Which leads me to my biggest jimmy-rustle: There is no mass editing function. You have to painstakingly move/delete every single tree/building/decoration/enclosure/trash/water outlet one by one. There's TWO hotkeys which aid you in this. And when you have a large enough zoo, this becomes a tedious nightmare. It was certainly enjoyable, at least up until this point. At the very least I'm glad I waited it out and bought this on PC rather than the Switch, because I could NOT imagine playing this game without mouse/keyboard.

If you grew up LOVING the OG Zoo Tycoon, love cute pixel art, and also have good multitasking and resource-management skills, this game might be just perfect for you. Now, I know everyone mentions the cuteness of the art, the insane level of control you have over object placement, and the ridiculous amount of décor (seriously, SO much décor). And please believe them, all of that is absolutely true. But I also need to tell you about 5 things I adore about this game that, for me, make it the best of its genre: 1. The NPCs In most games like this, the visiting NPCs just kind of blurt out what they like or dislike about your zoo. That happens here too, but in a way that feels way more lively and human-like. Not only the customers, your workers talk too. Plus, you’ll get special visitors: influencers, criminals, people trying to pass off a golden retriever as a lion (!!). These trigger special events, and you also manually choose each one of your workers. It’s just so fun and full of life. 2. FarmVille reborn Do you remember FarmVille? Because I do. I’ve thought about it almost daily since they shut it down. I’ve even cried over how much I miss it. Let’s Build a Zoo is the only game that’s ever scratched that itch for me. When I unlocked the barn for the first time, it honestly felt like seeing my husband (supposedly KIA) suddenly standing at my doorstep. You can grow food for your herbivores, gather resources for your other animals, and produce supplies through recycling plants, water collectors, wind turbines… And the products can even be used in your shops! It’s almost full self-sufficiency. 3. You can be evil This isn’t for everyone. I know many of us can’t bring ourselves to hurt the cute animals. But if you choose to, you can be absolutely evil. You can create a cruel farm–zoo hybrid, accept shady NPC offers, or reject them. You can pay your workers the bare minimum, break every FDA regulation in your restaurants, and basically run the most unethical zoo imaginable. Of course, that affects your reputation, but hey, it’s all up to you. 4. A perfectionist’s dream If you’re a micromanager, this game is paradise. You control everything about the animals, down to their diet composition, but it doesn’t stop there. You manage product quality, prices, staff hiring (with a star system), salaries, and even a whole side business of bus routes. It’s control on every level. 5. Genetics and mad science Sure, you can let your animals do the horizontal tango and get adorable baby versions, with subspecies and natural mixes. But you can also go full Frankenstein and create abominations of nature by combining completely unrelated animals. They’re ugly, weird, and probably live lives of endless suffering… but it’s honestly hilarious. And that’s it. I love this game and recommend it with all my heart and soul.

An insane ADHD simulator that pretends to be a tycoon. The normal tycoon loop is there — you look for animals, breed them, design spaces for them and your visitors — but everything also JUMPS, BLINKS, and CHATTERS. The kind of person who would find it easy to follow everything happening in this type of zoo scares me. When I bought it, however, I was looking for an animal/creature game with fun genetics, and [i]Let's Build a Zoo![/i] is close. You unlock new species by completing mini-quests for other zoos, and you unlock subspecies/types by breeding your creatures, which is an involved process and overall fun. And, as befits a tycoon, you of course need to keep an eye on your employees, their needs, wages, as well as a number of systems in the zoo itself like lighting. The final result is completely overwhelming. Thankfully, it's loosely balanced, so staying afloat is not hard. I had fun with this game. Now I might need an ambulance.