Zoo Tycoon meets fantasy dinosaurs is the best game pitch I’ve heard all year - and the game looks swell too

An upcoming game describes itself as Zoo Tycoon, but with fantastic creatures. All I can say to that pitch is: finally.

Goblinz Publishing have announced the upcoming Fantastic Haven, which is a chill management game about building a refuge for adorable creatures. There are also some city-building elements attached, as you choose where to build your magical sanctuary and slowly construct infrastructure to house even more creatures, research new technologies, and help your animal friendos prosper.

“Bring creatures back to the refuge and rehabilitate them,” reads Fantastic Haven’s store page description. “Place them in proper quarantine structures, then move them to a sanctuary with other compatible creatures and their biotope while keeping them sequestered from others. When the time is right, set them back into the wild, helping to restore magic.” 

You can also send out “scouting parties to survey points of interest and to find creatures in need.” But even more interestingly, you can “negotiate with hostile populations using diplomacy to form strong ties” and “train your citizens to properly care for the fantastical creatures.”

I’m excited to see how Fantastic Haven rejigs city-building elements - which are usually about conquering, extracting, and colonisation - into a game about restoring nature. In that sense, the game reminds me of this year’s excellent Terra Nil, a “reverse city-builder” about ecological repair.

Fantastic Haven plans to release into early access next year, 2024. On Twitter, the publisher revealed that early access would only be available on PC, and you can find the game on Steam.

For more undercover gems, check out our upcoming indies guide.