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Have You Played... Planet Zoo?

Snow leopards.

Snow leopards are my absolute favourite animals in the world. I would die happy if I ever got the chance to see one in real life (from a great distance of course, lest it de-grundle me). Alas, the closest that most of us will get in our lives is to play Planet Zoo - easily the best zoo simulator out there right now.

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Planet Zoo always seemed like an incredibly dense game, the kind that might take dozens or even hundreds of hours before you get a good handle on how to play it well. I was reluctant to give up that much of my free time to it, until I gave it a go and played through the tutorial. "I could always refund it if I don't get into it", I thought. And not 5 minutes into the tutorial, there it was. Curled up in a ball underneath a rock outcropping, fast asleep. Long white whiskers. Big furry paws. The most boopable nose. The most gorgeous kitty cat. I melted.

I can't really recall the rest of the tutorial. People kept popping up and telling me to fix various things about the zoo, but it was just noise. I must've spent the next 10 minutes in photo mode, just staring at the peaceful little snow leopard, until it finally woke up with a stretch and padded off to soak up some sun. From that point onward, there was no chance of me refunding the game.

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