Cities: Skylines 2's playable areas are roughly 5x bigger than the first game
You can also build higher than ever before
Developers Colossal Order have been explaining the nitty gritty inner workings of Cities: Skylines 2 during their weekly development diaries, and this week’s update boasts about how massive the urban management sequel really is. The newest video (embedded below) says the sequel’s playable area is “five times bigger than before,” and it also details how map tiles and themes work this time around as well.
In the first urban jungle build ‘em up, you could purchase nine 5x5 map tiles, resulting in the total playable area being 92.16km². In a new Steam blog, the team explained that the sequel’s map tiles are much smaller than before, but you can unlock a whopping 441 map tiles to build on. “That results in a playable area… which is roughly 5 times bigger than Cities: Skylines.”
The increased number of map tiles means you can now build “pocket towns” away from your main trophy city, and choose to either connect them via roads or leave the communities isolated. Maps aren’t just wider, though; they’re also taller thanks to the increased height limit, meaning you can probably build a community way up in the mountains.
The blog detailed several maps you can choose from, too, and each one has a different landscape, buildable areas, natural resources and more. Colossal Order say that each map is based on real-world locations, so you might just recognise its archipelagos or aforementioned mountains. You can also carve out your home city however you like - truly the ultimate power fantasy. The full blog is worth a read to see every available map variant.
Cities: Skylines 2 offers two themes at launch: European and North American. These themes affect your building’s designs, street markings, vehicle models, and other roadside differences. Although you can put some European-style buildings in your North American city, and vice versa. Those themes were explained in a previous dev diary alongside its changes to zoning tools. The team have also explained how traffic simulation is being improved in their citybuilding follow-up, too.
Cities: Skylines 2 will launch on October 24th on Steam and Game Pass.