When Cities: Skylines released earlier this year, it became clear that the game was the city-building simulator fans had been waiting for. It blew our expectations out of the park (read our review here), and would soon become Paradox's best-selling game, mostly thanks to word-of-mouth advertising from the gaming community. Following up on its initial success, developer Colossal Order has now released the first major content update for Cities: Skylines, and it's coming free of charge.

The robust city building tool encouraged fans to do everything from recreating the intro to Grand Theft Auto 5 to creating a full SimCopter modded experience. Whilst they warned that the new update may break some of the popular mods, it also brings in a huge European building update alongside a feature fans have been requesting since day one – tunnels.

Unlike the European city sets from the SimCity, the content update in Cities: Skyline is being released free of charge from the get-go. It allows gamers to pack in European-styled buildings wall-to-wall, in similar fashion to what exists across the pond today. With over 50 new buildings introduced to the game, the content pack offers plenty of different visuals for gamers, with 3 new European starter maps to boot.

The European buildings are included as a map theme, which means these new buildings will only work on maps with the European biome – gamers won't be able to put them in the middle of an arid dessert. Still, there's something simply gorgeous about staring down at a city with buildings packed in so close, with roofing so vibrantly decorated.

The core game itself was criticized for not including tunnels for roads and trains, a feature which was present in virtually every other city simulator. Whilst it ended up being a small complaint in the face of a game which quickly won most gamers over, Paradox has now included tunnels in the core game. This opens up a new realm of possibilities when it comes to road design, and avid city crafters are sure to be happy with the update.

Paradox Interactive has also included some fixes to the modding system, an area the developer has stated it's keen to support. The content manager itself has a brand new layout, whilst the asset editor and map editor both received a series of fixes and updates. There's also a slew of bug fixes for the actual game itself included in the update, which fans can get more details on here.

It's great to see Paradox supporting and updating the game at no cost to gamers. During the initial reveal of the European content update this morning, the studio confirmed it is keen to continue pushing out more free content updates, and mentioned that only major expansions that introduce new gameplay mechanics would come with a price attached.

The Cities: Skyline update is available for download now via Steam.

Source: Paradox Plaza