Paradox Interactive and Colossal Order have announced Cities: Skylines 2, a full sequel to the breakout city building game that launched almost exactly eight years ago. Cities: Skylines 2 will be coming to PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S later this year, and will be in Xbox Game Pass as well.
This will be a new and modern take on the city building genre, and will have fully-realised transport and economy systems, construction and customisation options and feature advanced modding capabilities from day one. It will also be on consoles right from the off, where the original game was ported to consoles years later – Cities: Skylines was just upgraded for new generation machines, by the way.
However, this will also be a big reset when compared to the eight years worth of expansions and updates made to the original game. The first half decade saw regular DLC that overhauled different areas of city management, added day-night cycles, disasters, new transportation options, prisons, and so much more. It will be interesting to see how much of that is built into the core of Cities: Skylines 2.
Colossal Order CEO Mariina Hallikainen said, “Cities: Skylines reset the bar for city building games when it launched eight years ago, and we are incredibly proud of its impact. We built a thriving community around Cities and introduced many to city building for the first time. Now, we’ve brought the years of experience we’ve gained to take a new step forward in the city builder genre, again, for our community and new players”.
Paradox Interactive CEO Fredrik Wester hailed the sequel’s “unprecedented amounts of customization and player control,” saying that it “will continue to push boundaries for the city-building franchise.”
As a big fan of the original, I can’t wait to see what a new generation of city builder can offer.
