Eight years after the original game's launch, Frontier Developments is releasing Planet Coaster 2 - a much-anticipated sequel that aims to bring fans the kind of new features they've been hankering after for almost a decade. During a hands-off preview, the spotlight was firmly shone on the new water parks that you can incorporate into your park builds, complete with wicked designs for flumes, pools, and a new inflatable shop among other fresh features. But, there's plenty here for park enthusiasts to get excited about ahead of the loose Fall 2024 release date.
Let's start with the water parks though shall we? Rather than being a totally separate park, the flumes, slides, and pools can become another area of your creations. Pools can be constructed in your classic geometric shapes, or you can opt for a custom formation, but my, interest lies in the flumes. We got glimpses of quite a few different pieces that you can incorporate into your water slides, from vertical drops for the ultimate thrill factor, plugholes, and boomerang pieces, to transparent sections so that your riders can take in the views as they slip downhill. There were even a few unique flume types on show, including a six-person raft flume with a Venus Flytrap-inspired piece like a half-pipe in the middle.
Like the rollercoasters in the original game, you can build all of these new flumes from scratch, customizing the colors and looks of each segment. You will have to balance your creativity with making the slides actually fun to ride though, with the EFN (excitement, fear, and nausea) rating from the original game playing a big part in flume creation too. No one wants any vomit in the water park.
To complement the new water parks, there are several new management features and other facilities to utilize. Guest Services, for example, now will sell the passes to the water park, and you can open up an adorably named Splash Emporium to start selling floaties and other inflatables as a new revenue stream for your park. You'll also need to build changing facilities so that your new water park guests can get into and out of their swim gear. You'll also need to employ some Lifeguards to be sure there's someone on hand for any health and safety dramas. There's even a brand new entertainer called Queen Splash being added to help celebrate the new water parks. Don't get too excited though, because although Queen Spash might sound like it has a cool design, it's just a glorified ping pong ball wearing sliders, a ping rubber ring, and a splash effect crown - a variant on the original game's mascot, King Coaster.
Walk before you can swim
What I particularly like about the water park design we were shown is that it really takes advantage of the new path tools that allow you to create much wider paved areas in Planet Coaster 2. It's a seemingly effortless way to make more open spaces in your park, like shopping areas, food courts, or decorative plazas.
It'll be a great way to show off the themed areas of your park too, which is handy as new ones are coming with Planet Coaster 2. They include a particularly eye-catching aquatic theme inspired by deep-sea exploration. It's all about adding things like coral and subs, but it's the animatronic jellyfish that wobble above your scenery like they're floating that is particularly alluring to my ocean-loving soul. There's also a resort theme, inspired by California and a West Coast US surfer vibe, so think colorful sails, clean lines, and sunny palettes.
Enhanced customization is another strong theme for Planet Coaster 2, with Creative Tools getting a boost for the sequel. Not only will you be able to change the colors of your rides, you'll also be able to apply patterns. Plus, scenery pieces can be added to rides and coaster carts, which will be so handy for creating truly themed areas of your park. For example, sticking a bunch of coral on top of a teacup ride in your brand-new aquatic area will help it blend in a lot more than was ever possible in the first game. Certain scenery elements can also be scaled in Planet Coaster 2 as well, which gives you a lot more creativity with placement and the new ride integration.
Ride but hopefully not die
Of course, as you'd hope for a new theme park sim, there will be new rides. We got to see just one as part of this preview. It's called the Frenzy Thrill and essentially consists of seats on arms arranged in a circle that spins and lifts the chairs simultaneously. Looks pretty fun to me. However, it's not all about the new, as some fan-favorites including the teacups and 360 Power rides are getting redesigned for the new game to let you have more fun with customization and creativity, along with being more authentic to the real-world rides they're based on.
I was intrigued by the mention of improvements to the guest experience in Planet Coaster 2. While developer Frontier said that it’s improving diversity and representation into the kinds of folks you'll see in your park, it also hinted at the game giving you more feedback on their emotions and needs. I assume we'll learn more about these improvements in the run-up to launch, but I'm excited to see how this will change park management going forward.
The one thing that did fill me with fear slightly was the introduction of new management features including power and water. You're going to have to manage your generators to ensure you have enough resources to keep your rides running and your water parks clean. It's a big part of the simulation dream, but power, in particular, needs to be implemented carefully so as to not disrupt the aesthetics that you can put so much work into with Planet Coaster creations.
So far though, I'm hyped for Planet Coaster 2 with its enhanced creativity options and its amazing new water parks. I just can't wait to see what other new features, and hopefully an expanded career mode that's better than the string of scenarios from the first game.
