Let's Build a Zoo

A quirky little tycoon game with enough weirdness to keep you coming back for more.

Still, with enough humour and its fun game mechanics, Let’s Build A Zoo will have you sinking hours into your park, if you can get past its poor UI and lack of guidance.

There is a lot to love about Let's Build a Zoo. Players can get stuck into the minute details of managing their own zoo or they can take a more relaxed approach to building an animal empire, but the amount of freedom is really what makes this game stand out among other management sims on the market. The sheer variety of animals on offer and the charming visuals make up for the monotonous music and sparse tutorials. This is a solid choice for players who are looking for something fun to play at a bargain price.

The game's tasks and incentives to attract more visitors are great fun, and its colourful visual environment and good performance helps with creating a more enjoyable experience. Its lack of tutorials and the way it throws players right into the action will make it less welcoming for those who are not experienced in the genre, however.

Let’s Build A Zoo is exactly the kind of game that is required to sit amongst some others in the genre such as Two Point Hospital and Campus along with Planet Coaster. 2013’s Zoo Tycoon was lacklustre when it came to the gameplay element and became more of an interactive simulation rather than the deep and intricate running of a business. The development team have done fantastically here with ensuring the game echoes those nostalgic Theme Park vibes whilst creating a potentially never-ending addictive gameplay loop.

Let’s Build a Zoo takes me back to the days of Zoo Tycoon, Rollercoaster Tycoon, and Theme Park. Of course, this game has its own stance in the “tycoon” world of games.

Create over 300,000 hybrid animals, make moral choices, and run and design your own zoo all in one game. A best-of-best-worlds mix of creativity and business management, Let's Build a Zoo provides a lot to do, a ton of people to meet, and a crazy number of animals to adopt/splice.

All in all, "Let's Build a Zoo" unfortunately could not convince me. But maybe you like it better? I'm sure that especially experienced simulation players can get into the game much easier and appreciate and fully enjoy the many possibilities, even without the stress I slipped into.

Let's Build a Zoo is an enjoyable management game that allows you to create and construct your own zoological park. The moral dilemmas you are often presented with are absurd and humorous, as you choose to either be a steady-eddy business hustler with an ecological mindset or be a sinister and exploitative tycoon.

Let's Build a Zoo excels at balancing the already traditional mechanics of management games with huge doses of charisma and fun. However, it is in the genetic manipulation system and in the challenge of caring for its illustrious guests where it proves most brilliant, not by bringing megalomaniacal ideals, but by making what is simple into something enchanting.