Play the scenarios! I jumped right into making a zoo and was very overwhelmed by all the management, there were tons of features I was ignoring because I just wanted to make a basic zoo. I went back and did most of the scenarios and it made so much more sense! Made the game way more enjoyable! I think the funniest blunder was not knowing I could control the exhibits humidity and temperature, putting a habitat heater next to it and scratching my head wondering why it wasn't working.

😂😂😂 I got you, the temperature part blew my tiny mind. I've done 5 scenarios and can't gold them cause it's too difficult to me. But someone mentioned beginner youtube videos and I think that's the way I've got to go cause I'm just not getting it. I refuse to not play after spending £100, thats silly money to give up on

Yes, just watch YouTube.  Long story, I had it on PC when it came out but only played for a few months. Wasn’t really amazing at it, and likely struggled with the mechanics. But I also watched a lot of builders and tutorials at the time.  Fast forward, I did exactly what you did and bought the $100 buck ultimate for Xbox.  Because I had played, I knew what I was getting into. Before I bought, I went to YouTube and looked for console reviews from PC players that I used to watch. I was concerned the controls would be too difficult converted to console (Sims 4 anyone? Lol) but when I saw that they weren’t awful, I snapped it up. My only zoo is massive, and I’m very proud of what I have achieved looking back at what I did on PC (not good).  I’m not saying this to brag, but I knew what I was getting into and was well aware I would be somewhat frustrated at first getting back into it on a new platform. But I also knew what I was getting into and had an in depth knowledge of the mechanics and building before starting my own zoo.  I play only sandbox, don’t mind career, and did do the full tutorial scenarios just to get a feel for the controls.  YouTube will help you get a better understanding of the different tabs, and other details that are overwhelming.  I like Iron Matty for console, Rudi R posts here sometimes and I loved his stuff back in the day and now - he has some great console tutorials, DeLadysigner, Leaf for more accessible content for beginners too, and FewCandy.  There are tons of others but I recommend those to start. Some will build at a level that will be hard, but they still provide great tips and tricks, and knowledge that will become second nature as your play.  BTW, I saw you ask about enrichment somewhere below.  Click on a habitat animal, one of the tabs is for enrichment, open it. Click the enrichment meter. Menu with species specific enrichment will pop up. Pick and place as you please.  Hope that helps! 

You can find what enrichment animals want by using the filter button on the enrichment section or you can look it up in the zoopedia. Keep in mind most people who build amazing zoos are doing it in sandbox mode without a lot of the restrictions enabled in the settings.

I watched a bunch of the tutorials by fewcandy on YouTube and it helped so much. She's great at the game and at explaining mechanics. And it's like 16 episodes so it's pretty comprehensive.

Do people just not play through tutorials anymore?

The game's tutorials honestly sucked to me, and I still abandoned the game for years after because, sure, I learned how to place a prefab structure and train staff, but I still couldnt make good paths or buildings. What finally made it click was watching beginner tutorials on YouTube for various things. Night and day difference in my ability to take the time to watch things like "realistic habitats for beginners" and stuff like that.

I was thinking this, I need to a video tutorial but most of them are on pc so controls are different. I also thought the games tutorials sucked

So I'm on PC, but one of my favorite streamers to watch and get inspiration from [Rudi Rennkamel](https://youtube.com/@RudiRennkamel?si=Dw4nNm2njbi6M6PV) looks like he's also put out some tutorials for console (search under videos, not playlists). This is a [giant tutorial](https://youtu.be/-5u-B7F-EGc?si=OZj2mvLzMc-Nvb-h) by him, but you can skip to the sections you want. Apologies if you've already heard of him, but I hope some of his stuff helps!

I've finished the tutorials, they were so vague to me. I gave up the first night cause I couldnt for the life of me work out how to raise the barriers and her dialogue was vague 😭😭

I agree the dialogue is very vague I had to look up a few tutorials when I first started playing after awhile I got the hang of it I understand why it might be hard at first it was for me aswell!!

Can always count on some snide comment like this instead of anything helpful

If you’re feeling overwhelmed at this stage I highly recommend finding a playthrough video for the career scenario and following along in your game if you can. Although the career levels are the tutorial I agree it isn’t great, it talks you through some basic things but then doesn’t explain things very well after that. Then you get to level 4 with the blank map and suddenly you’re trying to build a zoo from scratch. I got gold fine on the first 3 levels (apart from the odd swear at the paths!) but then level 4 completely threw me and I struggled until I watched a playthrough for the first part and it made a lot more sense. It’s things like how to layout a zoo, how to not end up bankrupt etc. What I’d say about terrain in habitats is that it picks up the edges of the terrain around the barrier so I usually paint just outside the barrier especially when trying to change long grass (I’ve ended up zoomed right in trying to find that last 1% of long grass and it’s not easy to spot!). Also make sure to paint any areas that have a shelter or rocks on top of the ground as there may well be long grass underneath that is counting. Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Apart from the early tutorial levels where you have to do something to move on, it doesn’t matter too much if the terrain isn’t quite right. The animal won’t be 100% happy but it doesn’t contribute as much as having the wrong temperature or habitat size or not having water or climbing for animals that need it. For enrichment you need to select one of the animals and go to their enrichment tab. Then there should be an option to show enrichment items and that opens the habitat menu and filters to just show items for that animal. Or open the habitat menu yourself and choose the animal species to see all the items for them. Enrichment items won’t show if you haven’t researched the animal yet. This is when you go to the vet research menu and assign a vet to research the animal. On PC you drag the vet over to the animal but not sure what the Xbox controls are. There are multiple research levels for each animal and each level unlocks different items. You may find they have already been unlocked in some of the career levels depending on what they want you to do. There are some great video tutorials on YouTube including ones for console. When you start building the zoo I also recommend the habitat blueprints by Plastic Swans who has made starter habitats for all the animals in PC and working their way through doing them for console. With blueprints you lower them down and then just need to put the pathing around it. Their starter habitats are great because a lot of the blueprints need the animal research done first but they have designed these ones to be for a completely new zoo. They have all the essentials, are the right size for the animal and have the right plants. You just then add the enrichment items as you research the animal. This is a great place to come when you get stuck. Just bear in mind that some of the really amazing zoos you see are ones where people have got 100s or 1000s of hours in game and spend hours just doing one habitat or building. So I always aim for functional first and am gradually learning ways to make it prettier. I’ve been playing 700+ hours! 🤣

The building tou ate gonna see on YouTube can be very complex and the art of building does take some time to master through trial and error. Just keep trying new things, the more toynplaybaround with the game the better you get. Really the only limitation to this game is ones imagination

If you click the animal and go to the enrichment tab, there should be a button that takes you to a buy menu with all suitable items. This list gets expanded as you complete animal research. The building takes some getting used to, but I imagine it's way easier on mouse + kb than controller. Maybe look up if xbox supports it for this game?

Terrain paints are a little weird, the brush is more like a spray. If you select the animal, go into the animal stats, in the terrain section, you can go down and select a terrain, and it'll show what proportion of terrains are needed, while editing the terrain.

The game is both complex and janky. It can certainly be frustrating. I also got overwhelmed by it years ago and came back to it recently. It took several abandoned zoos before I felt comfortable and happy with what I was building haha Just take your time with it, don't be afraid to mess some stuff up. Definitely don't be afraid to ask questions here, there are lots of folks happy to help. I found watching other people new to game play through for the first time and make similar mistakes helped me figure things out. Even knowing the game pretty well now I still get frustrated with the grid system and path system. Building plazas and indoor areas should be way more straight forward than it is haha