Let's Build a Zoo

 Switch
Let's Build a Zoo Image
Metascore
74

Mixed or average reviews - based on 9 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
5.5

Mixed or average reviews- based on 4 Ratings

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  • Summary: It's time to build a zoo! Let out your wild side, and create your own animal empire with this cute, expansive management sim. Import and breed rare creatures, hire the right staff, keep your visitors happy, and deal with plenty of weird and wonderful events. Then try your hand at DNAIt's time to build a zoo! Let out your wild side, and create your own animal empire with this cute, expansive management sim. Import and breed rare creatures, hire the right staff, keep your visitors happy, and deal with plenty of weird and wonderful events. Then try your hand at DNA Splicing, and stitch together over 300,000 different types of animal, ranging from the majestic Giraffephant to the peaceful PandOwl!

    Let's Build a Zoo lets you import a variety of animals from other Zoos around the world! Breed your animals and start families to expand your wildlife and fill your enclosures. But if that doesn't suit you... you could just create animals instead! With DNA splicing at your finger tips, you have the power to bind together over 300,000 different types of animal, creating monstrosities and oddities as you go! Ever wondered what a ChicKaka would look like? Now you can find out!    … Expand
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 9
  3. Negative: 0 out of 9
  1. Vooks
    Sep 30, 2022
    90
    Overall Let’s Build a Zoo is a great refresh of the park building genre. It allows you the freedom to make whatever type of zoo you want, in a way that feels fun yet not overwhelming. The designs are adorable, the music is catchy and sweet, the gameplay is beautifully smooth, and it’s challenging enough — but still relaxing and highly addictive.
  2. Pure Nintendo
    Nov 2, 2022
    85
    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.
  3. Dexerto
    Sep 28, 2022
    80
    Overall, Let's Build a Zoo is an in-depth and delightful tycoon management sim. Its mechanics are detailed, going above and beyond to create an enjoyable experience. Players will get lost in decorating their habitats, and revel in the difficult choices that shape their zoos. There is no denying the love and dedication put into crafting the game, and it is a true treat to play.
  4. TouchArcade
    Oct 3, 2022
    80
    Let’s Build a Zoo is a dangerous game. When I decided to take a break from playing The Centennial Case on PS5 to spend a few minutes with Let’s Build a Zoo on Switch, I ended up putting in over an hour and barely realizing it was 1:30 AM. It is a perfect fit for a portable as well, but hope the UI issues can be addressed over time with updates. If you can deal with the small text and some interface elements, this is an essential. I like the controls, gameplay, writing, and never got tired of the music. While I’m sure it runs better on more powerful systems, I don’t think I’d trade portability for anything else with Let’s Build a Zoo, and I hope it does hit iPad in the near future.
  5. Starbit
    Jan 17, 2023
    70
    Let's Build a Zoo does not a bring a revolution to the building/management genre but it does its job in a competent, fun way. It's always amusing to try out combining different species, and with its colourful visual world and engaging mechanics, fans of the genre will have plenty to look forward to. Those less versed will find it more difficult, especially with the game's lack of tutorials or more in-game explanations.
  6. Nintenderos
    Jan 22, 2023
    65
    This is a 2D pixel art game that is really visible in every way, because it has a beautiful color palette and incredible designs for animals. It is a game designed to be played on TV.
  7. Pocket Tactics
    Sep 29, 2022
    60
    Let’s Build a Zoo reminds us why tycoon games were once an industry monolith, but also why the genre couldn’t stay at the top forever. Morality mechanics, plenty of animals, and an appealing visual style all make this Zoo one you want to visit, but some tired systems and a slightly clunky Switch control scheme means you might not stick around for more than a few breeding seasons.

See all 9 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 3
  3. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. Bloodfeud
    May 29, 2023
    9
    Bought this game with low expectations and damn, its soooo much fun. Its way more in depth than i thought, kudos to the devs, buy this gameBought this game with low expectations and damn, its soooo much fun. Its way more in depth than i thought, kudos to the devs, buy this game guys if you like this sort of game.… Expand
  2. Nylus
    Oct 6, 2022
    8
    Seems great, but the “big” font size is WAYYY too small in handheld, which is how I play games. Wait for a size update or you’ll hurt yourSeems great, but the “big” font size is WAYYY too small in handheld, which is how I play games. Wait for a size update or you’ll hurt your eyes trying to read everything.
    For the developer: I don’t care if I have to scroll text more to fit it all on screen, we need much larger text options. I’m only in my early 30’s and never have problems reading tiny writing, but this hurts.    … Expand
  4. Tortor
    Aug 13, 2023
    5
    Overwhelming. I'm a full grown adult and nothing about this cute game felt intuitive enough. I was just having a hard time keeping track ofOverwhelming. I'm a full grown adult and nothing about this cute game felt intuitive enough. I was just having a hard time keeping track of all the different systems and combined with the simplistic graphics, i couldn't.

    The art style and graphics are amazing but have a huge draw back of being hard to read, hard to see even when playing docked. When the park starts getting more full is when things get harder and harder to distinguish and keep track of because the art just sorta meshes too much together.

    It feels really fast paced with the day to day too. There is a pause mechanic of course but to see if things work or not you get a small window of opportunity to make corrections and with all the systems running it just sorta made me feel incredibly anxious.

    This is not a relaxing game at all and not for those who may get even a small amount of anxiety because this will bring it out.

    The lack of intuitive systems also makes this really not a pick up and play game. You absolutely can not step away for a few days and just pick this up for a fun time. It requires a lot of memorizing of the important systems and playing a minimum of a few hours to work through particular goals.

    Anyone with even a small amount of ADD might find this to be a struggle. I found it to be too much to handle and avoid this game like the plague now.

    Its very in depth game that may work for some people, but to me, it felt like a job that I should be getting paid to manage this much stuff that is hard to see. At certain points the pacing also just feels off. Its a weird combination of too much waiting and micromanaging a mess in between a lot of waiting and hoping your waiting pays off and results in profit.
    Ugh.    … Expand