Cities: Skylines enrols Campus expansion
Watch your back during freshers' week
Laid-back city-builder Cities: Skylines today enters the period of supreme slack with the addition of universities in its latest expansion. 'Campus' is its name, and building campuses is its game. You too can establish fine educational establishments for students to doss about, build sports arenas for them to shout in, and shape your city's policies to enable their idleness. It's possible you may find some benefits to educating and occupying young people, I suppose. Their vomiting in the streets might sate seagulls who'd otherwise be mugging grannies for chips, for example.
Campuses are the main feature of Campus, obvs, coming in three forms: university; trade school; and liberal arts college. They can churn out academia to unlock new buildings, produce doodads to display in museums, and even hold wee graduation ceremonies.
These are clearly inspired by American schools, as you can build a variety of sporting grounds--baseball, basketball, athletics, swimming, and American handegg--and manage them a little by hiring coaches, customising your kit and busses, selling tickets, and such. Even as a supporter of my local football team, American schoolsport culture baffles me.
Skylines not being a mega-serious sim, expect more colour and texture for your city rather than deep consequences. You probably will not find universities focusing on profitable overseas students to the extent that they tear down lovely old buildings for endless ugly new student blocks, displacing long-term residents and businesses to flood the city with fleeting nuisances (HI UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, HOW'S IT GOING?).
As is the way for strat-o-sims published by Paradox, the paid expansion is accompanied by a free update adding new bits for all Skylines players. These include a public library and academic library to build, a reworked education system where people progress through stages as they grow up, and bus line customisation. See the version 1.12.0 patch notes for more on both the DLC and the patch.
Cities: Skylines - Campus is out now on Steam, priced at £10.29/€12.99/$12.99. The base game has a 75% discount for a few days too, bringing it down to £6.
Tying into the theme is another decorative DLC made by a Skylines modder. The University City Content Creator Pack, also released today, adds 68 new buildings and 15 props to make a city feel student-y for £4. Creator Michael "KingLeno" Warren has made oh so many free bits before.