Let’s Build a Zoo

Genre: Management Simulation

Players: 1

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Review:

Let’s Build a Zoo is a Management Simulation released on PC in 2021 and then ported to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch in 2022. As the title indicates, this game has players acquiring and building up a zoo, controlling various elements of running it, from the placement of its various facilities and hiring staff, to how well-fed the animals are, to what developments to research and what projects in the local community to support.

The presentation in Let’s Build a Zoo is pretty good, making use of 2D pixel art visuals with a lot of color and personality, and backed by a wonderful, relaxed soundtrack with a great mix of instrumental and synthesized tunes. For a few examples, check out Sun Bear, I Want More Animals, Kat Coffee, Flamingo, and Nothing But Hope. This relaxing soundtrack is an absolutely perfect at building an inviting atmosphere for this game.

When it comes to the gameplay, let’s Build a Zoo adds a lot of clever gameplay mechanics on top of the standard formula you usually see in this genre. Firstly, researching new buildings, upgrades, and developments all happens on a grid, with new upgrades only revealed when you unlock the development next to them. This can make the process of progressing through the game seem a bit more like an RPG.

Another interesting element here is how you get your animals – you don’t just order new animals from the animal store. Instead, you must pick which animals to acquire from whatever happens to be in the shelters at the time, or look to see what other zoos are wanting to trade. You can also use genetic engineering to create your own animal variations, or if you want easy access to something more exotic, you can make a deal with a poacher.

This leads to another interesting element of Let’s Build a Zoo – the morality system. Players dealing with unsavory characters gradually become more evil, or you can opt to turn those poachers in to the authorities and assist your local community to be seen as an ethical and benevolent zoo manager. Both sides have their advantages, as many of the upgrades can only be accessed if you’ve gone far enough down one path or the other.

Be a goody two-shoes and you’ll unlock access to renewable energy, and better methods for keeping your animals happy. Go down the dark side path and you’ll get the ability to slaughter your animals for their meat. Hey, it might seem evil, but when your bunny population starts exploding, this will seem like a lucrative way to take advantage of your burgeoning population…

The controls here take some getting used to, but once you do they’re pretty good, although this game sadly does not support the use of the touchscreen (and the text in handheld mode is just a bit small for my tastes). However, on the bright side, this game is generally pretty great at conveying information to the player, as well as the way it gradually eases the player into learning about the different gameplay mechanics.

I do have a few complaints about this game, however. Getting new animal species for your zoo seems slow-going, especially at first, when your only options are the few species being offered by the animal shelter. Even other zoos willing to trade you a species you don’t have will mean very little if you don’t have what they want for trade. Also, while the game is generally good about introducing you to its gameplay mechanics, there are a few times where it’s not clear where to find a specific option or menu. The research upgrade system’s way of gradually revealing potential upgrades means that finding a specific upgrade can be a gruelling task (unless you cheat and look it up online). And the game apparently has no way to select and move multiple placements, nor can you change the orientation of placed holding pens, meaning that moving around sections of a park can be unnecessarily time-consuming.

However, overall, Let’s Build a Zoo is still one of the best Management Simulations I’ve played on Nintendo Switch. It starts with gameplay that is well-crafted and provides a lot of options, and then adds onto that gameplay some really clever game mechanics and a wonderful presentation. If you’re looking for a Management Simulation on Nintendo Switch, Let’s Build a Zoo is an excellent choice.

tl;dr – Let’s Build a Zoo is a Management Simulation about building up and running a zoo. The core gameplay here is solid, epitomizing the genre formula well. However, on top of this, you also have some clever game mechanics and a wonderful presentation. The result is one of the best entries this genre has seen on Nintendo Switch, although it’s certainly not without its flaws. However, if you like Management Simulations, this is definitely one you won’t want to miss.

Grade: A-

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