Warm towels
Paradox has announced the last stops in its Cities: Skylines “World Tour” content push that will bring us to the end of the DLC for the game. The big ticket item here is the Hotels & Retreats mini-expansion, but there is also a slate of Content Creator Packs coming with it. It’s all set to drop on May 23, 2023.
Hotels & Retreats does essentially what it says on the tin. Sort of. It enables you to plop hotels in your city and run them. This runs in line with previous expansions like the Campus one that gave you things that would, I expect, be largely outside of your municipal power. I can’t see the mayor/city planner getting involved in the day-to-day of managing a hotel, but that’s what this expansion asks you to do.
You start with a small 1-star establishment, then unlock upgrades to expand it to a must-see tourist hotspot. You’ll then unlock various other types of hotels, like hostels and cabins, as well as supporting tourist buildings. Location is key, as certain hotels will bring in specific tourist groups.
This seems like it will be a completely missable expansion to a lot of people, but I’m personally very excited about it. I love service management games, so mixing that in with my favorite urban city-builder is just so appealing.
Creator Content
These are some interesting Content Creator Packs, too.
From Samantha “Avanya” Woods comes the Industrial Evolution pack. This includes growable industrial buildings that draw from both historical and modern sources.
Next is Railroads of Japan from Ryuichi Kaminogi. As the name suggests, this offers several items to make your rail system more like Japan’s legendary commuter system. This includes stations, trains, and buses. I’m probably most excited about this pack, because I have no end of appreciation for Japan’s rail.
Finally, there’s Brooklyn & Queens from creator Prosper. This one is also pretty self-explanatory as it adds a number of growable buildings inspired by the boroughs of New York City. This is quite a timely set since Brooklyn features prominently in The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
On top of this are a couple of radio stations, which are probably less interesting because, if you’re like me, you just switch off the music and play your own in the background while you build.
End of an era
This all marks the fact that attention is now moving to the recently announced Cities: Skylines 2, which is set to drop this year. Developer Colossal Order pledges to continue the support for Cities: Skylines through to the end of the year. However, it’s unlikely it will see any new content past that.
At the same time, I don’t expect Cities: Skylines 2 to launch with all the extra features that the first game built up. It could be a while before we see hotels again. Hopefully, all the new features of the sequel will make up for that. Otherwise, you can always wait eight years until everything drops.
All of the above will launch on May 23, 2023.
