We’ll have a review of Planet Coaster 2 soon, but I keep making Brendy do other tasks so he’s not had enough time yet to ride the rails. That means it falls to me to at least let you know that Frontier’s theme park builder is out now.
The sequel’s big new feature is the ability to fill your theme park with water, crafting pools and slides alongside your more traditional rides, or combining the two Splash Mountain-style.
Planet Coaster 2 was announced back in July and Brendy had a chance to play it at preview in September, where he found it mostly offered the same creative charms as the first in the series:
Much of what made up the first game returns. The focus is still on creating your own rides and attractions from scratch, rather than relying on pre-made roller coasters and water flumes (though those will still exist for those who prefer to pre-plop). That encouragement to piece things together even goes for the snack kiosks and changing rooms, which can be embedded in the shells of other buildings, like clicking together modular toy models.
The original Planet Coaster led creative and patient souls to craft some truly wild rides, but its reputation as a management game was less positive. I’m curious if Planet Coaster 2 can make the game more appealing to me, someone who can’t be bothered to craft an original and physically feasible rollercoaster from scratch, but who does enjoy designing a capitalist hellscape which siphons the money-marrow from customer’s wallets. Hopefully Brendy will answer that question next week.
In the meantime, the Steam user reviews aren’t looking too hot, but you can pick up the game for £40/€50/$50 if you’re already convinced.