Planet Coaster 2: A Year in Review

Planet Coaster 2 released on November 6, 2024. Although I’m a few months late for the game’s first anniversary, I wanted to reflect on my experiences with it over the past year.  Essentially, this is a combination of my thoughts and a review of the game after a full year, as well as various updates the developers made since its initial release. 

First, I’ll highlight what features I really like in Planet Coaster 2 that the first game didn’t have. Then I’ll get into elements in Planet Coaster 1 that this sequel doesn’t have that I miss. And finally, I’ll discuss what I don’t like about this game, and what I hope the developers might add in the future. 

This won’t be a compressive review of the game as a whole though. My favorite part about the Planet Coaster games is simply creating the parks. I don’t do much of the management aspects, besides checking out what it would be like to have guests in my parks for a brief amount of time. And I don’t play the career in the game. So, I can’t give you a proper full review of those elements besides a few short comments.  

With all that being said, let’s get into this review.

What I Like About Planet Coaster 2 

There is a lot to like about this game, but there are a few specific features that really stand out.

The Waterpark

The main attraction for me and, I’m sure, for everyone else has been the waterpark features. It’s a dream come true to have pools and waterslides in my parks. It adds a whole new creative element to work with. It’s a great addition to the game. There’s a lot of customization with them too, and I love the variety we get with lazy rivers and wave pools.  

Paths

The new pathing system was the second most exciting new element to me. I love how much more flexibility and customization we have with paths in Planet Coaster 2.  

They didn’t take away Planet Coaster 1’s pathing system, so you can still use that. But the newer options are so much better. With choices like shape stamps and free hand, you can practically make any kind of path you want. And the fact that rides can go directly onto paths without queue lines at all is such an awesome and realistic feature.  

It’s finally so much easier to make incredible looking plazas.

I also just discovered the ability to get rid of the curbs. I’m pretty sure that wasn’t a thing when the game first came out. I was always really annoyed that my nature paths had those small wooden posts along the edges. To my surprise, I just found out you can get rid of them now! 

Plus, adding tables and benches is so much more freeform now. I wish I had had this system when I was making an indoor kid ride area in my boardwalk park in Planet Coaster 1. It was impossible back then to make a decent-looking floor and place benches in nicely. 

Extra Features

The new scaling option for scenery items is an excellent feature. It opens up new creative avenues to use the pieces in a variety of ways. I’ve used it on plenty of trees, bushes, and rocks.  

While I was disappointed that restaurants weren’t in the game when it first came out, I’m glad for the wait. We got so much more out of them now. It’s nice that they aren’t just black holes guests walk into anymore. Now, we have actual restaurants where you can control what the interior looks like. 

I also really like the new themes and scenery items. Graphics look good, though I have to lower them a bit since my laptop isn’t super fancy. And while I don’t do much of the management, it’s clear there are so many more awesome new features, like the heat maps and electricity. I haven’t experienced it yet, but the new weather system sounds fun too. 

There are probably some other features I really like that might not be coming to mind as I write this right now. But let’s get into what I miss from the first Planet Coaster game next. 

What I Miss from Planet Coaster 1 

There are a few elements that I wish still carried over from the first game.

The Old Themes

For a while, Planet Coaster 2 didn’t have the old themes. I can understand why they didn’t have them. Who would want to play a game with the same themes they already worked with? So, it makes sense to add new themes. But I did miss some of the scenery items from the old themes.  

They have now added the original themes, so many of the scenery items are back. However, I had the sudden inspiration to make a fantasy park with the waterpark elements, but when I went to start, I realized they didn’t bring in any of the premade buildings from those themes. Yes, you can make them from scratch. But honestly, I really didn’t want to make an entire town from scratch. That’s a ton of work. 

Versatile Scenery Items

I also really miss the studios pack. There were so many versatile scenery items in it that would have been great to use with the newer elements. And while I love many of the nature options this new game has, I really miss the scaevola plant the first one had. I put that stuff everywhere, and now I have to find alternatives that just don’t give me the same look. 

I just feel like Planet Coaster 1 had more versatile scenery options. While the new themes are great and there are some really awesome themed pieces, I’ve been finding it harder to adapt the pieces for other uses. 

Hotels

It’s also disappointing that we don’t have hotels, especially with the resort theme. Hopefully, like the restaurants, the developers are working on a way to make the hotel options more detailed and better than the ones in the first game. 

What I Don’t Like and Hope to See in the Future 

It’s not necessarily that I don’t like certain aspects of Planet Coaster 2, it’s more that there are some elements that I think they could improve or add.

Scenery

Just as I stated above, I feel like there are fewer scenery options that can be adapted for other uses. I would love to see more variety of choices. As we get more updates and new DLC though, I’m sure that will happen. After all, we’ve already gotten some great new pieces since the second game first came out.  

For example, I tried to make stores inside of a hotel building and added shelves with actual items on them. However, there weren’t a lot of choices for “merchandise,” so I tried my best to adapt what was in the game. But since then, they added new scenery items just for people to use as scenery merchandise on shelves. 

I’m a little disappointed we don’t have some big waterpark features. The main attraction that makes this game different than the first one is the waterpark elements, and what we have is great, but there are a lot of scenery options I feel they missed that many waterparks have.  

Where are the kids’ area dunking buckets you always see in waterparks? Where are the extra pool elements like floating lily pads and other fun little pool games? There are a lot more waterpark items they could add. 

I also hope they might add some carnival games. I’m not sure it’s doable to make them interactive, but at least some scenery items that can be used to make some famous carnival games would be great. I’ve been wanting to be able to add games into my parks since the first game, like balloon popping or ring toss.  

Building and Guest Mechanics

Unfortunately, my camera still can’t go through ceilings when I’m building. I made an indoor pool area, but if I accidentally pull the camera too far out when I’m working inside, I get stuck outside of my building. I have to leave my spot and find a wall area that will let me through. It also makes me afraid to add ceilings to my hotel while I’m stilling adding to the interior.

And while I haven’t played much of the game with guests, I did test it out once. I was still sad to see guests only go to certain areas in my park like they did in the first game. The guests like to crowd the same places while there are many other available options.  

They wouldn’t use two out of three of my waterslides. The game didn’t give me a reason why all of them would only pick the same one. Then the guests would complain that it was too crowded while there were two other options free to slide down. The guests did that for the pools, too. They all picked the same two pools when I had at least four, then complained when the pools got too full. 

Conclusion 

I love playing Planet Coaster 2. I think it’s a great upgrade from the first game. There are a lot of new elements I really enjoy, like the waterpark options and the new pathing system. The new themes are fun, but I do wish they would add some more versatile scenery items that are less themed. There are a couple of specific scenery items I miss from Planet Coaster 1, but we also got a lot of new, exciting ones. 

Still, I think there are some aspects from the first game I hope they add again, like hotels. I think they could have given us more scenery item staples for waterparks, but with consistent updates and new DLC, maybe we’ll get them in the future.  

There are a few minor annoyances with the building mechanics, but they are overall much better and more adaptive than the first game. And the same can be said about the guests and management features.  

There is still much more for me to explore in Planet Coaster 2. We’ve already gotten a couple of interesting DLC packs, like the sorcery and toybox packs, both of which I haven’t bought yet but might eventually. There’s a lot more they could add, so we’ll see what else they might come up with next. 

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