Cities: Skylines is a city builder that allows players to construct their dream metropolis from the ground up - creating road networks, planning different zones and districts, building important services, and managing traffic flow. Upon release, it became an instant hit, earning the adoration of its fans, receiving much critical acclaim, and leading to a string of successful DLC expansions.

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With the recent announcement of Cities: Skylines 2, fans of the original will be eager to see what new tools and techniques will be added to their arsenal. Here are some features fans hope will make an appearance in Cities: Skylines 2.

8 Campaign Mode

Cities: Skylines 2 Skyscraper

While it may be designed as a sandbox game, Cities: Skylines could take a cue from similar games, such as Planet Coaster, and add a campaign mode to raise the stakes. There’s already a variety of different map types that players can select when starting a city – some are tropical in nature, whereas others are distinctly colder.

If these were presented and linked together on a world map, each with its own set of specific objectives such as balancing the budget or fixing public transport, it could constitute an entirely new way of playing the game and enable a form of player progression from city to city.

7 More Zone Types

Cities: Skylines 2 Sidewalks

Zoning is the backbone of Cities: Skylines, letting players designate certain areas for a particular type of building, and design their city exactly how they like it. The original game only had six zones (not counting industry specializations), and the sequel could expand on this by adding a bunch more.

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Medium-density zones would be a great way of bridging the gap between high-density skyscrapers and low-density suburbs, whereas a Luxury Residential zone could grant players the ability to build mansions and high-end properties into their city. There are plenty of options to explore.

6 More Services

Cities: Skylines 2 Highway

Basic municipal services like police, fire, healthcare, and education are essentials in the original game, but the list of services that need to be taken care of for a functional city is relatively short. Cities: Skylines 2 could rectify this by adding some brand-new services.

Road maintenance could make for an interesting mechanic, requiring players to employ workers to fill in potholes or send out street sweepers to keep the city clean. There are other possibilities as well – courthouses and prisons to process crimes, a city hall to implement policies, a coastguard to rescue swimmers, or even animal control to capture stray pets.

5 Better Services

Cities: Skylines 2 Streets

While new services are a great addition to the game, it’s also important to improve the existing ones. Coverage is often an issue in the game, and even areas that are easily accessed by emergency services will become unhappy due to being too far away. It might be better to focus coverage on the capacity of each service rather than the distance.

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It can also be problematic to place down services, as their buildings have one shape and size according to each map. This can make it difficult to fit everything in, and often results in players demolishing buildings to find enough space. Different models of each building would go a long way in helping services fit in where they need to be.

4 Better Placement

Cities: Skylines 2 Roundabout

In the same vein, Cities: Skylines could benefit from a general upgrade to placement to ensure players can create the city of their dreams. Mods like Move It and Network Anarchy already provide a way for players to place and align things however they want. This should come as a standard feature in Cities: Skylines, especially for console and unmodded players.

A copy & paste tool, used to duplicate sections of the city, would also be a great inclusion for the perfectionists out there. Again, mods can add this to the game, but it would be better if it was built into the base version.

3 All Previous DLCs Included

Cities: Skylines 2 Airplane

Since the release of Cities: Skylines, the game has received a number of DLCs that introduce just about anything players can think of. Expansions such as Parklife, Airports, Campus, Green Cities, Mass Transit, Industries, and After Dark are all excellent and compelling additions to the game.

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Now these have been featured in the original game, it would be a shame if they weren’t to return in the sequel, or if they were locked behind the paywall of another DLC. Fans would surely appreciate all past content being included day one, or at least introduced in subsequent free updates.

2 Dynamic Seasons

Cities: Skylines 2 Winter Season

From the announcement trailer, Cities: Skylines 2 looks to be introducing changing seasons. This has the potential to be an impactful feature, and will hopefully add some extra challenges to the gameplay rather than just visual changes.

Winter could influence energy consumption, requiring players to produce more power in the colder months. Lakes and rivers could freeze over, affecting water intake, and a snow plow service might be required to clear roads. Other seasons could also have an effect, like falling leaves in autumn and increased farming output in summer.

1 Multiplayer

Cities: Skylines 2 Cranes Atop A Building

While not traditionally a competitive game, Cities: Skylines could benefit from the introduction of a multiplayer aspect. This might take the form of weekly competitions or building challenges, allowing players to share, rate, and interact with each other’s cities.

Alternatively, a co-op mode could be introduced, letting players team up to build the best city they possibly can. Something like this could help grow the community and ensure Cities: Skylines 2 is played just as long and becomes just as cherished as the game that ultimately started it all.

Cities: Skylines 2 will be released in 2023 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

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