10 Best Games Like Planet Zoo 2

A great zoo sim can turn a simple afternoon into hours spent adjusting an enclosure, moving a path, and wondering whether your animals would prefer a little more shade. If the wildlife care and creative building in Planet Zoo 2 appeal to you, there are plenty of other games that make running an animal attraction just as absorbing.

Frontier’s Planet Zoo 2 highlights fully aquatic animals, flying species, and wildlife reserves. These recommendations focus on that announced mix of animal care, exhibit design, and park management. We’ve ranked them by how closely they match those interests, with the strongest overall alternatives at the top of the countdown.

10. Parkitect

Official trailer: Parkitect launches on November 29th! — Texel Raptor.

If you enjoy working out why a beautiful park still loses money, Parkitect deserves a spot on your list. Its theme parks revolve around rides rather than animals, but the familiar balancing act remains: give visitors a great day out while keeping the operation behind the scenes running smoothly. You build attractions, shape the grounds, and consider how your staff and supplies move through the park.

The useful twist is its attention to the backstage side of the business. A convincing park needs more than an impressive entrance; its service routes and infrastructure matter, too. Choose this one if layout problems are your favorite part of a management sim. Animal welfare isn’t the focus here, so it sits lower in our countdown, but it offers a rewarding alternative when you want to spend an evening improving how a park works.

Official game details for Parkitect

9. Two Point Museum

Official trailer: Two Point Museum | Launch Trailer — SEGA.

A museum might sound like a change of pace, but Two Point Museum understands the appeal of building somewhere people actually want to visit. You arrange exhibits, hire staff, send experts on expeditions, and keep visitors interested enough to support your growing institution. A carefully placed display can become the centerpiece of an entire room, much as a habitat can anchor a zoo.

Its colorful humor makes the management approachable, while exhibit care and visitor needs give your decisions a purpose. It’s a strong pick if your favorite part of zoo building is planning an attraction’s layout and watching guests react to it. You trade naturalistic outdoor habitats for curated displays and a much sillier atmosphere. Gaming.net’s Two Point Museum review takes a closer look at its mix of creativity and management.

Official game details for Two Point Museum

8. Planet Coaster 2

Official trailer: Planet Coaster 2 – Launch Trailer | PS5 Games — PlayStation.

Sometimes the best part of a zoo sim is spending far too long decorating one corner of the park. If that sounds familiar, Planet Coaster 2 is an easy recommendation. Frontier’s theme park sequel combines customizable roller coasters with pools and water slides, giving you plenty of reasons to rethink your paths, scenery, and guest facilities.

The connection is strongest in the creative work. You can build an entire themed area around a single attraction and keep refining it until everything fits. What changes is the star of the show: rides and water attractions take the place of animals, so you won’t be designing habitats around species needs. Pick it for park design and spectacle. Our Planet Coaster 2 review covers both its creative freedom and its more awkward controls.

Official game details for Planet Coaster 2

7. Zoo Tycoon: Ultimate Animal Collection

Official trailer: Zoo Tycoon: Ultimate Animal Collection Trailer — XBOX.

Want to spend more time enjoying the animals and less time placing individual scenery pieces? Zoo Tycoon: Ultimate Animal Collection offers a welcoming route into zoo management. You build exhibits, meet animal needs, and keep your visitors happy, with the option to step away from the overhead view and explore your creation up close.

Its emphasis on ready-made enclosures gives it a different feel from the highly customizable Frontier zoo builders. That can be a benefit if you want a more guided experience or simply fancy a relaxed session surrounded by wildlife. You still have a zoo to run, but intricate habitat construction isn’t the main attraction. Make sure you choose Ultimate Animal Collection when looking it up; this entry is the modern version, rather than the original PC game from 2001.

Official game details for Zoo Tycoon: Ultimate Animal Collection

6. Parkasaurus

Official trailer: Parkasaurus Launch Trailer — Washbear Studio.

Don’t let the cheerful dinosaurs fool you: Parkasaurus gives you a proper park to manage. Its exhibits need to suit the creatures living in them, and expanding your collection means thinking about space, facilities, staff, and the money coming through the gates. Research opens new possibilities as your little dinosaur attraction grows.

The appeal is how clearly it connects habitat building to animal care. A new enclosure is a place you have to make comfortable, not just somewhere to drop another attraction. Compared with the naturalistic look of Planet Zoo 2, its bright, playful presentation makes the whole operation feel more whimsical. It’s a good choice if you want recognizable zoo management ideas with a lighter visual style, especially when the prospect of keeping prehistoric animals happy sounds better than building another conventional wildlife park.

Official game details for Parkasaurus

5. Megaquarium

Official trailer: Megaquarium – Release trailer – The aquarium tycoon game! — Tim Twice Circled.

If the aquarium side of Planet Zoo 2 has caught your attention, put Megaquarium near the top of your shortlist. This public aquarium sim turns individual tanks into interconnected management problems. You choose aquatic species, meet their care requirements, arrange displays, and employ staff who can keep the collection healthy as visitor numbers grow.

A small floor plan can hide a surprising amount of work. Adding a striking new animal affects the equipment and expertise you need, while guests still expect the facilities that make a visit comfortable. That gives expansion a satisfying rhythm: improve the aquarium’s appeal, then make sure the business can support it. It’s especially well suited to players who enjoy animal care and efficient layouts. The scale is more compact than a sprawling zoo, but that makes each tank and corridor feel consequential.

Official game details for Megaquarium

4. Let’s Build a Zoo

Official trailer: Let’s Build a Zoo Launch Trailer — XBOX.

Let’s Build a Zoo starts with a familiar job: create enclosures, acquire animals, hire keepers and vets, and build a place visitors want to explore. Its pixel art makes the park easy to read, but underneath that charming surface is a busy management game with breeding, staffing, and expansion decisions to keep you occupied.

Then it lets you get wonderfully strange. DNA splicing can produce unlikely animal combinations, giving your zoo a direction that realistic simulators deliberately avoid. The game’s moral choices also make you consider what kind of business you want to run. Pick it if you want the animal-and-visitor balancing act with more humor and room for outrageous experiments. It lacks the immersive 3D habitat design of Planet Zoo 2, but its personality and breadth make it one of the most appealing alternatives.

Official game details for Let’s Build a Zoo

3. Prehistoric Kingdom

Official trailer: Prehistoric Kingdom Early Access Announcement Trailer — Crytivo.

For players who treat every habitat as a landscaping project, Prehistoric Kingdom is a particularly close match. You build a zoo for extinct animals, using terrain tools and modular construction to shape exhibits, facilities, and the spaces between them. Dinosaurs share the spotlight with prehistoric mammals, giving your park a broader identity than a dinosaur-only attraction.

The main reason to choose it is the creative freedom. A habitat can become an ambitious landscape rather than a simple fenced rectangle, and the building tools encourage you to develop a style for the whole park. It remains an Early Access game, so approach it as a developing simulation rather than assume every management system is finished. If your ideal evening involves perfecting an enclosure and then watching its residents explore, this is one of the strongest options. Gaming.net’s earlier park management recommendations also introduce its prehistoric setting.

Official game details for Prehistoric Kingdom

2. Jurassic World Evolution 3

Official trailer: Jurassic World Evolution 3 | Announcement Trailer — Jurassic World Evolution 3.

Swap modern wildlife for dinosaurs and Jurassic World Evolution 3 becomes an obvious companion. Frontier’s third entry combines prehistoric animal management with expanded creative tools, including modular building and terrain shaping. Juvenile dinosaurs add another reason to slow down and watch the animals, even while the park’s facilities and visitor attractions compete for your attention.

It’s the choice for players who want an animal park with cinematic stakes. The Jurassic setting makes containment and dinosaur management part of the appeal, while the construction tools give you more control over the park’s identity. That balance puts it close to the top of our list, though someone seeking modern species and a conservation-focused zoo will naturally prefer the Planet Zoo games. Read our Jurassic World Evolution 3 review for more on its building improvements and familiar management systems.

Official game details for Jurassic World Evolution 3

1. Planet Zoo

Official trailer: Planet Zoo | Launch Trailer — Planet Zoo 2.

The original Planet Zoo is the closest match for a simple reason: animal welfare, detailed habitat construction, and running a believable zoo are already at its heart. You shape landscapes, choose suitable plants and terrain, provide enrichment, and make sure your keepers and facilities can support the collection. A beautiful exhibit only works if its residents are comfortable in it.

That gives it the best overall balance of the ingredients this list is looking for. There’s room to build freely in Sandbox mode, tackle structured scenarios, or develop a zoo while keeping an eye on the business. It won’t provide every new feature advertised for Planet Zoo 2, and additional animals and themes may require paid DLC. Even so, if you want the most direct alternative rather than a different kind of park, start here. It remains the natural first choice for modern wildlife and elaborate zoo design.

Official game details for Planet Zoo

If you want the closest overall experience, go with Planet Zoo. For a prehistoric park, try Jurassic World Evolution 3 or Prehistoric Kingdom; for aquatic care, choose Megaquarium. And if designing an efficient visitor attraction matters more to you than the animals themselves, Parkitect and Planet Coaster 2 offer plenty to build. You can find more ideas in our best park management games feature.