Natural disasters are coming to Cities: Skylines 2, developers Paradox have confirmed. Natural disasters, familiar to Sim City fans and those of us watching the real-life climate crisis roll out around us, was previously only available in Cities Skylines if you bought a DLC.
Over the last few months in the build-up to Cities: Skylines 2 release Paradox Interactive has made it very clear that realism is its priority in this city-building simulation game. Whether that be making the younger citizens poorer or treading the line between chaos and safety with new service features.
This time Paradox Interactive has announced in a dev diary that climate and seasons will be getting a realistic overhaul in the sequel with some new brilliant features. Players can now enjoy new day and night cycles as well as seasons that are specific to their chosen region of the world.
"Climates are based on latitude and longitude resulting in differences in the length of day and amount of sunlight as well as other elements such as temperature range, amount of cloud coverage, and precipitation", details the dev diary. "Those parameters mean all maps will introduce different Climates with four distinct seasons."
It's crucial that you choose your region carefully, as the climate will have a significant impact on your citizens. "Temperature and the amount of rain or sun affect citizens’ behavior when they are deciding if they want to use a park or indoor leisure activities", the dev diary explains. "Temperature also realistically affects the city’s energy consumption with hot weather increasing the energy consumption as the city needs air conditioning to keep cool."
You won't just have to worry about air conditioning costs as the new climate system brings the far more deadly feature of natural disasters with it. In the first Cities: Skylines, natural disasters were only available in a DLC; however, this time, they're available to all who play the sequel.
The disaster will be random and encourage challenging in-game decisions for players who will have to think on their feet and enact emergency response scenarios and prioritization of resources. You'll likely encounter forest fires, hailstorms, and tornados during your time in Cities: Skylines 2.
You can see past events and natural disasters in your Event Journal which is located on the right-side panel of the main UI. This will provide you with information on what happened, when it happened and what the outcome was. With this at your side, you'll hopefully be able to plan accordingly for any occasion.
Cities: Skylines 2 will release on October 24, available to play on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. In the meantime, check out our best simulation games lists for more realistic and engaging titles.
