Colossal Order has explained that there is one thing they cannot carry over from Cities Skylines over to Cities Skylines 2.
As reported by GamesRadar, Colossal Order CEO Mariina Hallikainen said that “We absolutely cannot have ten years of Cities Skylines 1 content done.”
It’s certainly disappointing news for fans, but also perfectly reasonable. The transition between the two games is a transition between console generations. That required Colossal Order to build from the ground up, and so the assets aren’t easily transferred between them.
Now, Colossal Order did not claim that it would be impossible to carry the content over to new platforms. Many games, such as Minecraft and Grand Theft Auto V, have demonstrated that it is possible to invest in transferring assets across generations of platforms to make them work.
However, what we are talking about here is moving content between games. This would be like trying to squeeze a square peg into a round hole.
But then, Cities Skylines 2 is more than just Cities Skylines on the new consoles. Hallikainen explains that Colossal Order worked on “those things that we feel should have been in the original Cities: Skylines, but we didn’t have the time or manpower.”
So the choice to not tie themselves up to the original Cities Skylines is a prudent one. While fans may have gotten used to many of the conventions of the first game, Cities Skylines 2 is an opportunity for a fresh start by overhauling the game, and seeing what they can do better.
Hallikainen actually talked about one of these things that they have changed fully. As he put it, “if the management part of [Skylines] is your interest, you can definitely go and see detailed information of how it affects [yield] when you support a certain production.”
Colossal Order also didn’t say that nothing was getting carried over from the original. In fact, they are going to add in some things that were originally DLC in the first game, and just make them permanent parts of the new game.
For example, there is a day and night cycle, with one hour of gameplay matching up to 24 hours in game. This system is matched with a weather system, so that you would have to face up to and prepare for disasters such as forest fires, tornados, and storms.
Colossal Order is also making it all come together with a seasons system. So, easing your job as city builder, you can rest assured that certain calamities and weather conditions only appear in certain seasons, and you can prepare for them accordingly.
Cities Skylines 2 is releasing on Windows via Steam and Epic Games Store on October 24, 2023. It will also release on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on Q2 2024.
