DLC REVIEW: ‘Planet Coaster 2: Parades’ Introduces A New Learning Curve

Planet Coaster 2 Parades is the largest DLC addition to the game yet. With a new kind of entertainment for park guests, the titular parades offer a very different way to customize theme parks. Parades are a natural extension of the Park Manager experience that Planet Coaster 2 offers, and, as has been said about the game, there’s quite a bit to learn about them.

Getting started on creating parades in the new DLC is quite easy and requires no full tutorial. Frontier Developments provides a clear overview in text form when first starting a parade build and then trusts its players from that point forward.

Parades leverage the Planet Coaster 2 mascot characters – they can both walk beside parade floats or in groups of their own in between. Behaviors can be set to various engagements with park guests to keep their enjoyment high.

Embrace the initial silliness of crafting a float in Planet Coaster 2 Parades.

The floats themselves are a far more complicated beast. Frontier Developments does provide some vibrant themed floats as scenery. Besides that, floats begin in a blank state for players: only the train frames of different lengths are available.

From there, Park Managers can build effectively whatever they want with all kinds of float bases and the now vast amounts of scenery pieces of Planet Coaster 2 to decorate. This process brings in a new learning curve at first.  The physics of how pieces snap into place makes sense, but it’s not immediately clear. All that trust that Frontier Developments puts in its players to understand how to use these new options might not be earned.

Since it can be a little rough to figure out at first, the first attempts at float building come out pretty silly. Some of this is just a limitation of trying to build directly on the park ground; a simple mouse move could shift a piece onto a rail and flip the entire orientation from horizontal to vertical without entirely understanding why. 

As players work for their successes, the expansion becomes increasingly fun. 

Zooming in can only do so much, so there will inevitably be trial and error for players in Planet Coaster 2: Parades. Of course, for PC players, graphical settings will determine whether this limitation is an issue at all. It’s entirely possible that a maximum setting solves this problem entirely, but the float bases are all dark colored, including the wheels, so even at high definition squinting could happen. 

Regardless, once the initial learning curve is overcome, there is a lot of fun to be had in designing parade floats. Even something simple, like standing up a basic Pride float with rainbow displays and colorful lights, is satisfying once the parade gets going – particularly at night. The introduction of more firework emitters, in particular, makes the nighttime entertainment at players’ parks far more vibrant.

As was the case with the main game, Planet Coaster 2 Parades really makes you work for success. Even experienced players will need to spend some time learning, which also explains why the community-built floats haven’t flowed into the workshop yet.

The joy is in the details. 

However, this is likely how fans of Planet Coaster would prefer it. Mastering the details is part of the joy, and the grin on my face when I managed to put together some viable floats reflects that. It’s a sense of accomplishment that simulation games strive to give to the player. Being able to make a parade to celebrate whatever one would like does offer a new layer of depth to master for enthusiast mind Planet Coaster 2 remains laser targeted at.

Even without the challenge of creating a park parade, Park Managers will have fun with the additional items provided in the Parades DLC. New Americana-themed scenery can create a Main Street, USA replication, perfect for a parade, naturally. 

The compact V&N Narrow Drop is a welcome addition for a player who is trying to maximize their park space – which is me. With all these pieces and more, Planet Coaster 2 Parades is a very meaty expansion that continues to reward its dedicated fans.

Planet Coaster 2 Parades is available now for $18.99. Planet Coaster 2 is required to play and is available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.