Game Modes

Planet Zoo 2 offers three core ways to play, each suited to a different style of player, plus a global management layer that runs across all of them.

Career

Career mode is a structured, globe-trotting campaign in which the player starts as the new Conservation Coordinator for an organisation called the Fauna and Ecosystems Network. The job is to champion conservation and improve zoos worldwide, travelling between stunning Wildlife Reserves, distinctive zoos, and a range of scenarios, and meeting a cast of characters along the way.

Sandbox

Sandbox mode removes restrictions so players can build freely, with the full creative toolset described under Building and Construction available from the start. Players choose their preferred level of simulation and challenge, from a relaxed creative space to a more demanding management game, and can build either a zoo or a reserve.

Franchise

Franchise mode connects players into an international network of interconnected zoos and reserves, with shared progression and research. Players trade animals with one another and contribute to community conservation efforts, and the network runs across platforms.

It is worth being precise about what that means. Frontier has stated that Planet Zoo 2 has no multiplayer: there is no live co-operative building and no shared session. Franchise is an asynchronous online layer, and the cross-platform sharing that sits alongside it lets players upload and download parks and blueprints through the in-game workshop.

Planet Hub

The Planet Hub is new to the sequel and available in every mode. It is a global menu for running an international network rather than a single park: from it players track progress, read performance data across their sites, travel between their different zoos and reserves, and make decisions on research and conservation projects.

Guest View and Sharing

In any mode, players can drop into a first-person guest perspective to explore a zoo from ground level, whether their own or one created by someone else. Buildings, habitats, and blueprints move between players on different systems through the cross-platform workshop, which is integrated directly into the editor.

Modes at a Glance