Let’s Build A Zoo is a zoo management sim from Springloaded and No More Robots. It combines cute graphics with building and running a zoo, adding in a few unique features you may not expect. We took a look at a short beta demo to unpack everything Let's Build A Zoo has in store.
The first thing sim game fans will notice about Let’s Build A Zoo the way the graphical style takes its cues from the likes Stardew Valley. It’s simplistic yet colorful, offering a very different experience to the in-depth zoo simulator Planet Zoo. There are no realistic-looking animals here, neither are there an excessive amount of decisions to make. Instead, the zoo building experience is scaled back both in detail and features. However, the game never feels empty or lacking – sometimes simplicity can be far more engaging.
You’ll begin with a piece of land and will need to build enclosures and facilities for your animals, staff, and visitors – try not to get those mixed up, yeah? A task list will help you work out your priorities and keep you on track. In this version these were limited and we only had a handful of staff buildings and grass enclosures, but it appears the final version of the game will have a much larger number of options to create different types of exhibits.
Related: Planet Zoo – A Complete Guide
Animals can be acquired in three different ways. The first is via a rescue center, where you can choose to adopt various abandoned animals. The second option is trading, through system that allows you to trade your extra animals, such as baby rabbits, for other species. Finally, you can buy animals on the black market. This is a system that encourages you to purchase a range of exotic species from a shifty guy called Joe, and he seemed very exotic. Tigers weren’t mentioned in the demo but we were offered some interesting animals from dubious sources. We were also warned that purchasing these would affect the morality of our zoo, so keep that in mind of you scouring the black market.
Building the exhibits was simple and the animals enjoyed bouncing on the trampolines we unlocked with research. All you need to do is create an exhibit, add water and enrichment items, and watch the animals play. Just make sure as your zoo grows to hire another zookeeper so you're not overworking. While your zoo is still new it seems to take a long time to hire people, which makes sense if you only have one zookeeper in charge of everything. However, if this goes on too long, your animals can start to get hungry and visitors won't like it.
Guests will wander around enjoying the food, drink, and shops you build, as well as viewing the animals. You can build paths to help them discover everything but we found that most of them ignored this, preferring to saunter across the grass instead – hell is other people, eh?
Related: Stardew Valley: Complete Guide And Walkthrough
The most intriguing feature that’s likely not related to owning a good, morally outstanding zoo is the DNA splicer. This lets you combine the DNA of different animals to create brand-new species – after all, that worked so well in Jurassic Park, didn't it? Some are cute, others are hideous, and many defy morality. This feature is limited in the demo but shows a huge amount of potential even in its scaled back form. No matter what you think of the moral questions, it’s hard to resist the opportunity to combine some adorable creatures to see if you can craft a cuddly toy brought to life. Alternatively, if morals are less of an issue you can go full-on Cronenberg and see what happens when snakes DNA is mixed with rabbits. Hint, it’s not pretty.
We only had a few in-game days and a couple of hours to play around with Let’s Build A Zoo but already it promises to be a great way to spend some time. Making a huge complex and realistic habitat for a polar bear isn’t always what I’m looking for in a zoo simulator – it’s equally great to just watch a horse bounce on a trampoline, just because.
Access to a limited beta preview was given to TheGamer. Let’s Build A Zoo is now available to be wishlisted on Steam, although there is currently no release date.
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