Planet Coaster 2 enters the splash zone with the addition of water parks

Just shy of eight years after the release of Planet Coaster, developer Frontier Developments is looking to build upon the ultimate amusement park-building experience with a sequel. Frontier recently invited me to spend about an hour and a half hands-on diving into some park building in Planet Coaster 2, and I’m very excited about the direction in which the theme park sim appears to be heading.

Pack your bathing suit

The first part of the preview dropped me into a Scenario that I was told is about midway through the reworked Career mode in Planet Coaster 2. My inherited park was split into two separate partitions, and it’s my job to essentially build a water park in one of them. I knew that water parks were the big draw of the sequel, but I was afraid it would just be the addition of some simple water-themed rides. I’m happy to report, that’s not the case.

While there are in fact some new water-based flat rides, the main new feature here is being able to build your own beaches and pools. There are a few pre-made pools you can build, but you can also free-form build your own, shaping the size and the depth of the water. Aside from looks, this also impacts how you can further interact with the pools you build.

Several new rides also interact directly with the pools you build. You have the option of keeping your pool as its own attraction in itself, be it a simple swimming pool, a wave pool, or even building out a lazy river for your guests to wade around the park, but you also have the option of integrating rides with the pool. New attraction options include water slides and flumes, with the opportunity to build your own custom creations, dumping your visitors into your pools at the end of the ride.

Instead of taking the easy route and just throwing in some simple new rides, Frontier has added in-depth and fleshed-out systems that allow you to get creative and build some impressive water parks. The great thing is, it’s up to you if you want to make the water park section of your amusement park its own thing, or you can integrate it alongside your standard coaster park.

Putting the THEME in Theme Park

Even though I only have about 50 hours in the original Planet Coaster—very casual numbers to the park-building aficionados—I immediately realized there are a handful of major quality-of-life improvements in the sequel. A very divisive task in the park-building world, the placement of queues and paths, has been fleshed out and optimized, making the process of wrapping your queues around the limited space in your park much easier than I remember in the original.

New themes have been added when building parks, giving players plenty of options for designing thematic sections of their park including the Resort, Aquatic, Viking, and Mythological themes. The custom pools you build can also integrate the new themes and props, allowing you to create uniquely themed sections of your park, just like you’d see at Disney World.

For the real park-building pros who like to add all the nitty gritty details, a new event sequence tool allows players to perfectly time and execute mesmerizing effects to further bring rides and the park itself to life. Some of the creations from the original Planet Coaster we absolutely insane, and I can’t wait to see what players who take the time to master all the new systems in Planet Coaster 2 will be able to come up with.

A little more management

My only issue with the newer simulation titles including Planet Coaster, Planet Zoo, and Jurassic World Evolution is that the management options feel a bit thin. I didn’t get to see all the new aspects of Planet Coaster in that regard, but what I did see was certain improvements to the management features available.

I spoke with Planet Coaster 2 Senior Executive Producer Adam Woods and Game Director Richard Newbold about this exact thing, and they assured me that improving the actual management aspect of your park was a big focus when developing the sequel. First and foremost, an entire narrative aspect has been implemented alongside the Career Mode, with fully voiced characters.

As you progress through the Career Mode you’ll be presented with challenges on how to tackle each scenario, earning starts for completing various challenges. As you accrue more stars, you can access more scenarios.

But even on a base level, more management options are present in Planet Coaster 2. There are more staff to hire, more management-related buildings to build, and services to maintain. Players will have to build power generators and setup a power grid to keep their park running. Any attractions or pools will need to be properly maintained, and cleaned, as well as provided with a source of water via water pumps.

Planet Coaster 2 is set to launch on November 6, 2024 on PC via Steam and Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S at a price point of $49.99. A Deluxe Edition is also available for $64.99 which comes with the Vintage Funfair Ride Pack. This pack features a collection of 10 vintage attractions including a nostalgic Grand Carousel and some traditional wooden coasters.