Planet Zoo's three pillars are conservation, education, and welfare

Planet Zoo is coming from Frontier Developments, the same studio that made Planet Coaster, and at Gamescom we spoke with senior artist Lisa Bauwens to hear about the ideas behind the game, and the general overview of what we'll be doing when managing animals instead of theme park attractions.

"Planet Zoo is the next installment in the Planet franchise. If you've heard of Planet Coaster, then this is kind of the next game in that series," she said. "In this game you will be managing a modern zoo which is all about conservation and education, and about the welfare of your animals. And these are the three pillars that our game rests on, and the three pillars that we want you to enjoy."

This includes realistic attention to detail, like fur.

"So we never did fur back in Planet Coaster, so this was new technology that we developed [...] our programmers have worked really hard on it and our artists are really taking full advantage of everything it can do, and I think it looks especially nice on the Bengal Tiger," Bauwens told us.

In the same interview we also got to hear about Franchise Mode, which is "essentially a combination between Sandbox and Simulation. So you will be building your own chain of zoos where you'll be doing research into animals and building your brand as you continue through diverse biomes. So this is really a chance for people who want to combine Sandbox with their own kind of type of zoo, and bring that over multiple biomes altogether."

Planet Zoo is set to launch on November 5, but a beta test is running this month for those who pre-order the Deluxe Edition, letting you try it out early.

What mode will you play in Planet Zoo?