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Interested in what Cities Skylines 2 gameplay improvements may lie in store when we finally get a release date? Read on to find out our POV on what's to come for the most realistic city builder on the market!
Did you know it's been six years since the original game of Cities Skylines first came out? In 2021, it's not too strange for games - and Paradox games in particular - to have a very long shelf-life, but the phenomenal success of Cities Skylines has got us thinking that some Cities Skylines 2 gameplay improvements must be on the way as we continue to build our thriving metropolis.
It's not a new topic, though. In fact, we talked a bit about Cities Skylines 2 last year with a spark of hope in our proverbial eyes. Nothing has happened since, of course, but we do have some fresh discussion points.
Today, we're going to go over some crucial gameplay and mechanical improvements that we believe Cities Skylines 2 should feature once it's out. And yes - we are certain that it's coming. Whether the game's got a tentative release date slated for anytime soon, though, is anyone's guess. Let's just say we will be keeping a close eye on the next Xbox Games Showcase for any upcoming announcements!
UPDATE: Get Cities Skylines 2 at 2Game Today!
Cities Skylines 2 Gameplay - What Do We Know?
Right off the bat, we've got a disappointing point that we absolutely need to make: nothing has been said about a Cities Skylines 2 release date in any official capacity whatsoever. That being what it is, Cities Skylines has proven to have an extreme amount of longevity and harbors a lot of its players' goodwill by now. There's nothing quite like the original game on the market, and there's no competitor on the horizon, either.
Since the developers - Colossal Order - haven't come out to confirm that Cities Skylines 2 is being made, virtually all of Skylines' ongoing projects and content are still fully relevant. Guides, too, because the core gameplay loop has hardly changed since 2015-ish. Whether that's for better or for worse - we'll let you decide for yourself.
The silver lining to all of this, then, is that there's a huge array of core improvements that could be made to Cities Skylines 2 gameplay. Keep in mind that we don't know that any of the features we're going to talk about are coming. We are, however, very hopeful about the future, once we finally get a release date for the upcoming city builder! Colossal Order certainly knows what they're about.
Cities Skylines 2 Gameplay Improvements and Changes That We Want to See!
Engine Improvements Across the Board
The most obvious and most assured improvement that's bound to be coming with Cities Skylines 2 is an improved iteration of the game's core engine. As of right now, the original Cities Skylines is fairly limited and CPU-reliant when it comes to performance, with more substantial cities bringing even the most powerful processors down to their knees.
To that end, we believe that the developers definitely need to dedicate some time to building a more modern cityscape simulation engine for the follow-up release. Something even more scalable and modular, which is bound to be particularly handy for the Cities Skylines 2 inevitable modding scene.
Better Day/Night and Schedule Implementations
As Cities Skylines veterans will know, the game featured no day/night passage at launch. Though this did get alleviated down the line, the effect remains mostly aesthetic. Businesses don't generally close down, the traffic doesn't change much, and the scheduling stays the same, too. It's pretty easy to tell that this isn't generally how a real-world thriving metropolis works.
Getting genuinely realistic population scheduling in place along with a day/night passage feature would do huge things for immersion. Further, city planning in the real world certainly needs to take nightlife into account, which isn't generally the case with Cities Skylines. We believe this would vastly improve the core gameplay loop of a hypothetical Cities Skylines 2, and lead to a more engaging player experience. Just bring on the release date!
Country and/or World Simulation
Here's a strange idea for Cities Skylines 2, why not add a relatively simple simulation of the outside world that would affect player-driven cities, economies, and urbanization? Note that by 'relatively simple' we mean the actual in-game feature, not the programming side of things. Balancing a theoretical outside world could be very problematic, for sure, but introducing governments, federal agencies, and global players to the mix would add a huge layer of believability to the game.
After all, cities are not islands. They exist in a precarious context that is hugely affected by factors outside of their control. We feel that a somewhat simplistic simulation of these effects will be the next step for Cities Skylines 2. If for no other reason, than to introduce more granular trade, traffic, tourism, and production features. These, too, we can't imagine being skipped out on.
More Detailed Urbanization Features
This one is sure to feel obvious to anyone who's ever played Cities Skylines. It's the most realistic city builder, but in hindsight, it missed a huge array of smaller must-have features at launch. Even today, things like parking space and granular traffic planning are hugely overlooked by the simulation.
We could go into substantial detail on why a better zoning system would do wonders for the game, too. Overall, we're hoping to see better segmentation and planning feature implementation across the board. Cities ought to feel and behave organically, and it's hard to maintain the immersion when everything ends up looking the same throughout. Modular buildings, roads, parks, parking spaces... just modularity and granularity across the board, please! Oh, and a release date for Cities Skylines 2?!
Seasonal Developments
Finally, we can't help but think that seasonal progression is sure to appear this way or the other. Think about it - seasons are a major consideration all around the world. Indeed, there's little sense in ignoring the natural forces you'll negotiate to expand your city amid rising pollution, changeable weather, and seasonal challenges if there's tech in place for them to incur slight, albeit visible changes to the in-game simulation systems.
Having snow maps is completely unnatural in the grand scheme of things. If Cities Skylines 2 could support seasonal changes - be they passive or active - that would be an immense improvement for the game in the long run. Again - we believe it's inevitable, though it would certainly be nice if it wasn't limited to DLC.
What's next for Cities Skylines 2?
So, do you agree with our Cities Skylines 2 gameplay assessment? Did we cover all the important features that you are hoping to see in this most realistic city builder? Considering the sheer size of the Cities Skylines player community, we're 100% sure that many of you will have already thought about this whole shindig. Have you got better ideas? If so - do let us know via our social media accounts!
The simple truth is that Colossal Order made Cities Skylines in a vastly different marketplace in the first place. We've got precious little doubt that they can pull it off again - even better than the first time around! If they manage to deliver a better, more scalable engine, that alone will be huge for Cities Skylines 2's hypothetical longevity. Any extra features we may or may not receive would be cherries on top.
In case you can't tell, we are very impatient for the release date! However,we've got our hopes up that it won't be too long of a wait, now. Bring on the next Xbox Games Showcase or Summer Game Fest so we can hopefully learn more about an upcoming Cities Skylines 2!
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