Planet Zoo’s North America Animal Pack adds fan-favorite critters

Beavers, sea lions, moose, and more

Planet Zoo is still going — not just in terms of animal-roster-boosting DLC, but also free quality-of-life updates, too. We’ve got a little from Column A and a little from Column B today with the Planet Zoo: North America Animal Pack and Update 1.7 rolling out on Steam.

On the paid DLC front, this is another $10 add-on with seven fully roaming “habitat” animals — including one of my absolute favorites to watch swim around, the North American beaver — plus one new amphibian for stationary exhibits. The list:

• American beaver
• Moose
• California sea lion
• Cougar
• American alligator
• Black-tailed prairie dog
• Arctic fox
• American bullfrog

This is one of the game’s most compelling DLC lists, for sure.

Aside from the wildlife, the Planet Zoo: North America Animal Pack also has a new scenario near the Blue Ridge Mountains, so if you’re the type of player (unlike me) who prioritizes custom zoo builds, you might be disappointed by the lack of new structures and plants.

What about the free stuff? Update 1.7, which also launched today, adds a height mapping tool used to “create your own custom Heightmaps via image files,” and here’s an example. There’s also a Terrain Type setting for the different biomes — look for the “sculpted” option if you want those pre-made Planet Zoo maps to have more dimension.

Other 1.7 features: the ability to play Scenario Zoo maps in Sandbox Mode (including a just-include-the-terrain-and-nothing-else toggle), more “deep swimming” animals (jaguar, Bengal tiger, and Siberian tiger), seating areas for your guests attending educational Animal Talks, path barriers to better corral everyone, and a randomization option for placing scenery items to make things look more natural. Frontier also snuck in some UX improvements like quick trading in the Animal Management screen.

It’s a nice feeling knowing that the next time I go hard with an overly ambitious zoo built from scratch, I’ll have a bunch of these touch-ups waiting for me — and beavers!