Difficulty
What Easy, Medium and Hard change for animals, guests and staff.
3 difficulty levels
Easy, Medium and Hard compared
Medium is the standard; Easy and Hard change the settings below. New Sandbox and Franchise zoos start on Medium.
| Setting | Easy | Medium | Hard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Animal welfare | Easier to maintain | Standard | Harder to maintain |
| Animal stress | Builds up more slowly | Standard | Builds up faster |
| Death when needs are critical | Takes longer | Standard | Comes sooner |
| Animals get bored of enrichment | No | No | Yes |
| Guest learning from education | x1.75 | x1 | x0.8 |
| Guest happiness loss | Slower | Standard | Faster |
| Guests request refunds | No | No | Yes |
| Guest spending | More willing to spend | Standard | Less willing to spend |
| Average happiness for a 5-star Guest Happiness Rating | 80% | 85% | 90% |
| Staff tiredness | Tire more slowly | Standard | Tire faster |
| Staff movement | Faster | Standard | Standard |
| Happiness boost from training | Larger | Standard | Standard |
Difficulty and progress
Changing the difficulty can affect whether achievements can be earned. A zoo keeps track of every difficulty it has been played on, and the scenario completion screen shows the lowest one. Career progress records the difficulty each medal's objectives were completed on.