As many, many others have already said, this game is currently unfit for release. Riddled with bugs, poorly optimized and completely unintuitive for anyone unfamiliar with Frontier games, it even has a spelling mistake on one of the menus. A huge amount of content is missing in comparison with Planet Coaster 1 which makes this a very bare-bones base game. Frontier have already released DLC which is nearly half the cost of the base game so it looks like we're going to be paying for stuff that should have already been in the game. They have an update planned which may or may not fix at least some of the issues, but that's not due until December, which makes me suspect that this is when this game should have released (AND as early access!)
The disappointment with this game is huge for fans of the franchise. I'd give it at least a year, and even then, see what other people are saying because buying it now, you're paying to be a beta tester.

⬜ You forget what reality is
✅ Beautiful
⬜ Good
⬜ Decent
⬜ Bad
⬜ Don‘t look too long at it
⬜ MS-DOS

✅ Very good
⬜ Good
⬜ It's just gameplay
⬜ Mehh
⬜ Watch paint dry instead
⬜ Just don't

⬜ Eargasm
✅ Very good
⬜ Good
⬜ Not too bad
⬜ Bad
⬜ I'm now deaf

✅ for all ages

⬜ Check if you can run paint
⬜ Potato
✅ Decent
✅ Fast
⬜ Rich boi
⬜ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

⬜ Floppy Disk
⬜ Old Fashioned
✅ Workable
⬜ Big
⬜ Will eat 10% of your 1TB hard drive
⬜ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
⬜ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data

⬜ Just press 'W'
⬜ Easy
✅ Easy to learn / Hard to master
⬜ Significant brain usage
⬜ Difficult
⬜ Dark Souls

⬜ Nothing to grind
⬜ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
✅ Isn't necessary to progress
⬜ Average grind level
⬜ Too much grind
⬜ You'll need a second life for grinding

⬜ Long enough for a cup of coffee
⬜ Short
✅ Average
⬜ Long
⬜ To infinity and beyond

⬜ It's free!
⬜ Worth the price
⬜ If it's on sale
✅ If u have some spare money left
⬜ Not recommended
⬜ You could also just burn your money

⬜ Never heard of
⬜ Minor bugs
✅ Can get annoying
⬜ ARK: Survival Evolved
⬜ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

⬜ 1
⬜ 2
⬜ 3
⬜ 4
⬜ 5
⬜ 6
✅ 7
⬜ 8
⬜ 9
⬜ 10

Planet Coaster 2 brings a noticeable visual upgrade compared to its predecessor Planet Coaster 1, with impressive improvements that enhance the overall experience and Graphics. Notably, Darkrides have been fully integrated into the gameplay, offering a visual and functional boost that fans of the genre will appreciate.

While the core gameplay doesn't stray too far from its predecessor, this isn't a downside. Many classic rides and roller coasters return, preserving the charm of timeless attractions that are still loved today. This familiarity is complemented by a revamped career mode that introduces fresh challenges, ensuring a diverse and engaging experience.

One notable change is the UI. Transitioning from Planet Coaster to its successor can feel a bit overwhelming at first. The new coaster window, for example, is a bit more confusing, particularly if you're unfamiliar with specific ride names. speaking of the UI and menus, the new park management system is just great! You can manage your staff in much more detail which also makes it much easier to plan the whole park

The general building mechanics remain largely unchanged from the predecessor, with the primary difference being the new themes. The new themes are fantastic! I'm especially thrilled to finally have a Viking theme, which fits perfectly into the game and adds a lot of charm.

That said, the number of themes feels quite limited at the moment. However, this is likely to become less of an issue with future updates. While it’s true that a theme park game should ideally offer more variety in themes, it’s important to remember that this is just the beginning for the game.
On the plus side, there are more pre-built assets for the existing themes, which makes designing parks quicker and easier. As with the predecessor, new themes will likely be added as DLCs. If the current selection doesn’t appeal to you, that might be disappointing. That said, the game includes a significantly larger selection of decorative elements than its predecessor, which gives players much more freedom to customize and enhance their parks.

Overall, while the number of themes might be a bit underwhelming at launch, the quality of the new additions and the expanded decorative options make the experience very promising.

One feature that truly stands out is the brush tool for natural elements like rocks and trees. Players can choose from pre-set brushes or create custom ones, although the latter takes a bit more time.
I have to say, I’m genuinely impressed by this tool. It makes it significantly easier to breathe life into areas outside the park and allows for faster, more efficient landscaping. This addition not only saves time but also opens up new creative possibilities for enhancing the environment around your park.
This tool is a fantastic improvement and a must-have for players who love adding natural beauty to their creations.

The highlight of the game has to be the new path system. It’s a massive improvement over the predecessor, making it much more user-friendly and versatile. The new system offers far more possibilities for designing and organizing your park.
One of the standout features is the ability to place flat rides directly on plazas or pathways. Additionally, the new tools make it easier to create larger, more detailed plazas, allowing for better crowd flow and adding a polished, realistic touch to your park.

This revamped path system truly elevates the park-building experience, offering unmatched flexibility and creativity. It's a standout feature that sets this game apart from its predecessor.

For players like me who enjoy building roller coasters, the game introduces some excellent updates. The new build menu and the redesigned smoothing tool are standout features. The smoothing tool, in particular, has been significantly improved, making it far easier to create seamless and realistic tracks. This improvement alone enhances the overall building experience, making the process smoother and more enjoyable.

The building tools have also undergone changes compared to the previous game. While the new system feels like a step forward overall, some elements, such as the rotation grid, could have been better positioned for ease of use. Despite this minor issue, the improvements in functionality and accessibility make the building process much more intuitive and satisfying.

To be honest, the game is really good, and I find it hard to understand many of the negative reviews. After all, the game was only recently released. Sure, it would have been nice if there were fewer bugs, but with regular saving, you can work around most of them. Honestly, that’s the only thing that bothers me personally.

Aside from that, the game is a significant improvement over its predecessor, and I’m genuinely having a great time playing it. For new Planet Coaster players, this game can be an excellent starting point, as it’s much more accessible and easier to pick up compared to Planet Coaster 1.

I truly recommend this game and hope to see more content added in the future. Wishing everyone the best, and happy park building!

This game is just not ready.

3 themes, lack of avatar customisation even. It's tiring to live in an age of release it now, get the money and we'll add the content that should've been there over the span of 4+ years. It's a scummy practice.

Don't support it, just play Planet Coaster 1 with mods

I like this game a lot, but unfortunately there is a solid amount of greed on display here. There are coasters & rides in the game, visible within the build menus, that send you to purchase DLC when you try to build them. Even worse, there are in-game rides, shown to every player, which require pre-order DLC that is currently not available to purchase. I wanted to build a "powered rotating ride", which is a basic Haunted Mansion-style track ride, but it's locked behind a pre-order exclusive DLC I can't buy even if I wanted to! The ride isn't some minor cosmetic difference either - it has unique functions, not available on any other track ride! Discovering this has really demotivated me from continuing to play.

Frontier, why are you tarnishing this solid product with predatory business practices?! Please, if you're going to be greedy, at least give us the option to purchase all the content, rather than trying to cash in on FOMO.

A lot of the downvoting on this game is completely unfair.
As someone who was a bit active in the community around the first game, I could see firsthand the desires and expectations of people for this second game, and now that it is out, it turns out Frontier completely blew our minds with awesome features we were not expecting! Like :

• Switch tracks for coasters. Better smoothing tool for the tracks
  
• Possibilty to attach scenery to flat rides and coaster trains, and have them move with the ride.
  
• Possibility to attach scenery to moving platforms, which can then be triggered at will, allowing custom animatronics
  
• Much better "sequencer" tool to synchronize elements together, some people have already created disneyland style parade floats with this!
  
• "Career" mode is more interesting than in first game. I know some people never play this mode and focus and sandbox/creativity. But still, it's a plus.
  
• The new path system, that can create plazas and custom paths. It takes a few hours to get used to, granted, but it's still a boon for creating the custom parks of your dreams

Now, do I deny the game still has bugs, and that the lack of beloved features like custom images at launch is annoying, even if the developers have already promised to add most of those later?
No. The game has some "day 1 problems" for sure.
But, in the grand scheme of things, those problems are very minor when compared to the core experience, which is already very good. It's already possible to build amazing things and the increased flexibility of the pieces through scaling has allowed people to make very convincing fantasy castles out of Greek and Viking pieces already.
And I would like people to dig their memories and remember that Planet Coaster 1 was also very barebones on its release day, with most of its content and many of its beloved features added over its 8 years lifespan.

Nothing prevents you from waiting 3-6 months if you want to enjoy the extra polish and bug squashing that the developers have already started implementing.
In fact, I am updating this review after the first update/hotfix of November 21st, and even if that update was fairly modest, it bodes well for the future, as guests get stuck much less often than before and managing mechanics is less annoying already (meaning 2 common complaints of day 1, already solved).
Custom media and the much expected water slide physics are coming soon, and even if it's a bit annoying to have to wait for those, downvoting a game which is already fun to play as is, AND is a major improvement over the first game in many ways, just isn't fair, guys!

A game isn't "bad" because you are annoyed by an extra click in a menu. It isn't "bad" because some things are not here day 1. It isn't "bad" because something you dreamt of isn't there. And no, it isn't "bad" because it didn't copy-paste all the content of the first game. This expectation shows a gross misunderstanding of how video game development works, as the massive changes to the cobra engine (especially the light rendering, which is very different and much better now) definitely made the old assets incompatible.
A steam evaluation should look at the game outside of wild, unrealistic expectations, and especially not use utterly petty criteria like ONE bug or ONE inconvenience as a reason for downvote.

Sure, we SHOULD tell the devs about those bugs and inconveniences, and have them solved and patched out through our feedback. We already have proof that Frontier is listening with the planned December update, and forgetting all the pleasant surprises that blew us away in this game, just because a menu is slightly inconvenient?! ...Come on, guys. That's just not giving this game a fair review, or even a fair chance.

Because in the end, Planco 2 may be a diamond in the rough, unpolished and not shining as much as it could right now. But it's still, very much, a diamond at its core. Its potential is gigantic and in a few patches, we are very likely to see it fully realized.
The game may be a bit unpolished now, but it's already fun to play and amazing things can already be built in sandbox. ...So saying it's a "bad game" is just an unfair overreaction to the minor problems still present in this product, especially considering how the developers went BEYOND many of the expectations of the Planet Coaster 1 community on several features.

Good game now, and, with 99% certainty, an excellent game in one year or two. Recommended. :)

As a huge fan of the original Planet Coaster, I was buckled in and ready for the ride of my life with the sequel.
Unfortunately,Planet Coaster 2 derailed before it even left the station. It’s rushed, unpolished, and riddled with more bugs than an abandoned theme park. And worst of all? It somehow manages to add less to the experience while feeling like a recycled version of the first game.

---

Terrain Adjustment is a Mess: It ignores existing rides, burying them without warning, making it frustrating to design your park.
No Object Detection: Tracks and scenery overlap, breaking immersion and ruining your park's realism.
Lifeless Guests: Guests don’t react after rides, leaving parks feeling robotic and soulless.
Bugs Everywhere: Pathing issues, glitchy animations, overlapping objects, and frequent crashes make the game feel like it’s still in beta.
Removed Features: Security management is gone, and nobody knows why. It’s a baffling decision.
Workshop Downgrade: The vibrant Workshop community from the first game has been replaced by a clunky and uninspired system that’s frustrating to use.

---

The variety of attractions and themes in Planet Coaster 2 hasn’t significantly expanded from the original. It feels like more of the same, with only minor cosmetic tweaks. The creativity and innovation that could have taken this game to the next level are nowhere to be found.

---

On top of everything else, the pricing strategy for DLCs feels aggressive. Large chunks of content are locked behind paywalls, making the base game feel incomplete unless you spend more money. For a sequel, this approach feels like a blatant cash grab.

So unfinished with so many bugs and general choices that don't make any sense. Coaster smoothing tool is great now though.

If you're the type of person who goes straight for the Sandbox Mode, you'll probably love the game. Frontier has added a lot of features that make the creative aspect of the game more powerful, from the ability to create large plazas to scaling objects to be just the right size. Being able to add scenery to coaster trains and flat rides is super fun and a desperately needed addition from the first game.

But if you're the kind of person who enjoys the limitations that come from balancing a budget and managing guest needs, Planet Coaster 2 has failed in that regard. The guest AI is bad and confusing. They'll refuse to join short lines, complain about nonexistent trash, and will insist on clumping together in large mobs when they have a giant plaza to navigate through. Add on top of these issues roller coasters that stop working after you open them, a messy UI that was clearly designed with priority for console players, and a number of other frustrating bugs, and you end up with a game that is difficult to fully enjoy.

I sincerely hope these issues will be fixed sooner rather than later because I've been a fan of the Planet franchise from the beginning, and I genuinely want this game to live up to its potential. Frontier has already publicly addressed some of these concerns and intends to fix them, but I still feel like this game needs to go back in the oven to bake for another month or two.

as of 11/23/24 and probably for months, dont listen to any of the positive reviews.. they either have no standards or are paid off... this game was released in a completely unacceptable state, but not only that, it was just badly designed. its not the typical launch problems, where the bugs are performance/stability related, those are actually more acceptable given all the possible combinations PC's have now. this game actually has none of those (Aside from a few random crashes) and runs pretty well, with some clipping issues. nope the problems are much deeper... bugged coaster stations, bugged water rides, bugged mechanics, but janitors, bugged gameplay mechanics, buggy camera, terrible UI design, missing features, poorly organized scenery. bad workshop, etc.. the list just keeps growing, the longer you play, the bigger the list gets. especially if you are looking for a theme park SIM. its often extremely frustrating.

all that said, there are a few genuinely positive changes, but they are outweighed by everything else, to the point where i cant even think of them, and even if i did, i could think of something wrong with them too. HOWEVER, if you get creative, there you can still squeeze some enjoyment out of it. my latest thing is seeing how badly i can build a successful park, just to highlight how awful it is. if you are a creative type and just want a park painter, where you can make whatever you want, this has you covered. sorta.. if you dont count all the missing scenery.

this is yet another big title, from a big company, thats fails hard. i swear these companies dont even play their own games. cause if they did, they never would have pushed this out the door in its current state.

there is a small possibility that in a 6 months or so, this might be a good game, but i they would have to add an entire games worth of content and functionality to it in order to make that happen, and they abandoned PC1 for their love child Planet Zoo (which should have been an EPIC expansion pack for PC1) rather quickly. so i dunno how much hope there is. they did push out a few hotfixes rather quickly, so that was nice, but i just dont think this team knows how to or wants to make a theme park only game.

side note: this is the safest most politically correct game i've ever played.. to the point where its obnoxious. i get it, its about theme parks, which should be fun for everyone, but holy crap... no vandalism, no theft, only "big" women wearing 2 pieces, food allergies, only boy/girl couples, shape 1/shape 2 instead of boy/girl, only the least the offensive make believe feel good (as much as it can be without being offensive) inclusive content. absolutely nothing even possibly mildly offensive. its so safe and pc, i feel like they spent more times having votes about how to make it safer, than they did making the game play itself. even with myself being highly liberal, it makes me gag. like i get this game isnt supposed to be edgy, but they removed ENERGY DRINKS. combined with all the other "make it safe" choices i can only stipulate that energy drinks that gave guests energy were too close to "drug use", and replaced with sugar free sodas. thats the level of unoffensive we are talkin.
so for anyone who hopes for a real themepark simulation to come from this game, its not going to happen. its a perfect totally safe fantasy land.

Very fun, and much like planet coaster 1, got me immediately addicted

Multiplayer:
The multiplayer was a let down at first but I've come to find it's still an excellent feature. I love working with my friends all under the same company even playing on different parks. It lets you keep your individuality while also giving you options to visit and edit your friends parks too. I feel like if it were live multiplayer on the same park, everyone would have kept to their own corner of the park anyways.

Graphics/Performance:
Runs a lot better than the 1st one but I haven't stress tested it as much. I have a 1660 gpu and a 3 3100 cpu so my computer is on the low end but surprisingly it still reaches very high and consistent frame rates with relatively high graphic settings.

Content:
I never played with any dlcs in the 1st game so just comparing base games, planet coaster 2 has made really good improvements. The landscaping and auto foliage features are really amazing even if you prefer placing each tree by hand. There are also many props too to choose from with some really good themes.

Big fan of these games and would recommend it despite the initial bad reviews.