Hayo Zookeepers,
We hope you've enjoyed our magical winter tale experience, but of course, every fairytale needs a good ending - and what better way to end than with releasing the Pack? The Europe Pack and Update 1.8 are officially out now, so you can update your game now to enjoy!
The Planet Zoo: Europe Pack introduces 5 new animal friends to create your own winter magic with! If you loved the Planet Zoo winter tale, you can now have your very own Lumi with the new Eurasian Lynx. Not only this, you can welcome his musical friends - the Fallow Deer with their soft brown fur, the short and sturdy European Badger, the mountainous Alpine Ibex, and the slender Fire Salamander.
For those of you who love building, this pack is definitely one you don't want to miss - with over 250 new scenery pieces inspired by various European countries and cultures, you'll be spoilt for choice! This includes items that capture our magical winter theming, as well as inspirations from Italy, France, Germany, The Netherlands, and Switzerland! We've also included a lot of water and bridge elements, so you can create your very own Magical Wishing Bridge!
Lastly, see if you can handle the cold in an all-new Timed Scenario set at the foot of an alpine mountain. Challenge yourself to complete 3 distinct areas, each inspired by a different European location, to create a wonderful multicultural experience - we know you can do it!
The Planet Zoo: Europe Pack is available now on Steam for £7.99 ($9.99, 9.99€). You must have the base Planet Zoo game to be able to play this content.
Update 1.8 is free for all players who own the Planet Zoo base game, and brings with it several new features we know you're all excited for such as Restaurants, a brand-new inclusion that allows you to create dining experiences for your guests! You can create restaurants with up to 20 tables connected, and they can even be made in walkthrough animal habitats. For a deep-dive on restaurants and how they work, check out this forum post.
Alongside this, you'll be able to give your guests even more new consumer experiences with all new Shop Counters! These give you a standalone, counter-only version of shops that allow you to create your very own, fully-customised shop fronts. Only a selection of shops will be available in this format for now, and you can find a full list of what's available here.
Prepare yourself for the winter cold with all-new animal burrows! Place these items on your terrain and they will automatically align themselves with an underground chamber that animals can seek shelter in, sleep, give birth, and adjust temperatures - perfect for chilly winter nights. Burrowing will be available for both the base game Aardvark and the new European Badger that comes with the Europe Pack!
Pay tribute to your beloved animals with Animal Memorials. This is a two-part feature, consisting of a UI screen that tracks information of the animals that pass away in your zoo such as their name, death date, and cause of death, and then also new memorial items that you can place in your zoos. There will be 3 options available - a Screen display option, and plaques in either Limestone or Brass. All memorial dedications can be autofilled with information from the UI screen, or customised individually, allowing you to write your own dedication lines or even create memorials for real-life animals (perfect for pets, or animals from your favourite zoos).
These features come alongside various other tweaks and fixes. For full information, check out this forum post and the update notes below.
Don't forget that Planet Zoo is also available on NVIDIA's GeForceNOW service, which gives you instant access to GeForce PC performance on nearly any PC, Mac, SHIELD TV, Android, iOS device or Chromebook without any downloads! This will let anyone dive into Planet Zoo and join the PlanZo fam.
Thank you all for your love and support in the run-up to this release! Your warm reaction to our stream and reveals has kept the cozy vibes strong throughout, and we're sure you'll be able to continue them with all this new content. We can't wait to see what you build! Keep an eye on our social media for future news and announcements, and for highlights from the Europe Pack. Also, be sure to tune in soon for a special launch live stream at 11:30AM GMT on Youtube and Twitch!
Happy holidays everyone!
PS: Our patch notes for Update 1.8 are quite substantial, and can be found here.