Cities Skylines 2: Maps & Themes

Cities Skylines 2: Maps & Themes

Greetings, everyone! Welcome once again to our weekly development diary series! Today, we’re thrilled to dive into the realm of Maps and Themes in Cities: Skylines II.

To kick things off, let’s briefly compare the map sizes in our sequel versus the original Cities: Skylines. In the first game, the playable area is constructed of 5×5 tiles, nine of which can be purchased once everything is unlocked. One tile measures 1.92 x 1.92 km, culminating in a total playable area of 92.16km², with a city-building maximum of 33.18km².

In Cities: Skylines II, we’ve taken a slightly different approach. Each map tile is substantially smaller—about a third of the size of its predecessor—but you can unlock almost the entire map, leading to an astounding total of 441 map tiles. The result is a playable area of 159km², about five times larger than what you had in the original Cities: Skylines.

Moreover, in our sequel, Map Tiles don’t necessarily need to be adjacent to each other. This means you can create small, isolated pocket communities, and you can acquire Map Tiles all the way to the edge of the map, giving you the ability to establish new Outside Connections. But the excitement doesn’t stop there! The height limit for maps has been greatly increased, opening up a realm of new possibilities for your dream city.

Next, let’s delve into Themes. In Cities: Skylines, Themes dictated a map’s natural environment, with preset settings for each theme. When we refer to Themes in Cities: Skylines II, we’re discussing the aesthetics of roads and buildings. You can select between European and North American themes when starting a new map. We’ll revisit this topic later in the diary, after we’ve taken a comprehensive look at the maps themselves. Stay tuned!