Publisher Paradox Interactive recently released Cities: Skylines – Expanded Edition, a significantly revamped version of the original game, on Nintendo Switch 2. With better visuals, performance, and tools, it gives Nintendo Switch 2 players a definitive way to experience the city builder’s impressive scale.
If you’re not already familiar with it, Cities: Skylines is an in-depth single-player building sim where you’re mayor of a city that starts as an empty plot of land connected to a nearby highway. It’s up to you to create roads, houses, office buildings, and industrial areas to grow your city while maintaining its infrastructure with power, water, and other services to keep everything running smoothly
That central gameplay loop is still intact, but with new features that make things easier to manage. So even if you played the original when it landed on Nintendo Switch in 2018, there’s a lot more to discover with the optimized Expanded Edition.
Cities Just Got a Lot Bigger
The literal biggest change in the Expanded Edition in comparison to its predecessor on Nintendo Switch is the potential size of your city. Tiles represent about 1.92 km x 1.92 km of space, and the original game limited you to nine tiles of buildable area. In the Expanded Edition, that area has increased to 25 tiles, nearly tripling the land your city can cover.
With such a big building area, you can create some truly gargantuan megacities. You’ll need to plan ahead, though. The bigger your city gets and the more your population grows, the more difficult it will be to manage if you don’t account for things like overloaded roads or public transportation bottlenecks beforehand.
There are lots of different ways to plan your city. If you want to create a touristy beach town, you can do that. If you want downtown to be car-free, you can do that. Or maybe you want to make the world’s most smog-filled industrial behemoth. That’s within your power too, and hey, you don’t actually have to live there. So why not?
The Expanded Edition also includes a Map Editor, which allows you to create and customize your own landscapes and maps before you start building. You can change the terrain, adjust the sea level, add water sources, and lots more. So if you want to re-create a real-life city and see if you can manage it better, now’s your chance to find out.
Everything Under Control
The depth of Cities: Skylines is one of its biggest selling points, but managing everything requires lots of different systems and menus. The Expanded Edition smooths out that process with refined controls and improved tools for Nintendo Switch 2. That includes UX improvements like precision placement, distance indicators, and updated snapping options that make construction easier.
That level of control extends to new options for atmospheric conditions. At any time, you can alter the time of day, environmental coloring, and the levels of rain and fog. There’s also a quick selection tool that allows you to swap between essential assets or duplicate objects without having to use as many menus.
Keyboard and mouse support was a popularly requested feature when the game first released on Nintendo Switch back in 2018, and the Expanded Edition adds that too. There’s still support for controllers as well, so you can use whichever you’re most comfortable with. There are now performance options, too. You can choose between Performance targeting 60 fps with upscaling and adjusted quality settings, or Quality targeting 30 fps and prioritizing visual fidelity
Expansions and Content Packs Included
This is where the Expanded Edition fully earns its name. It comes with four major Expansions. After Dark transforms your city at night, with places like nightclubs becoming particularly active. Snowfall, as you’d probably expect, is focused on winter and adds new visuals for snow as well as heating and transit systems to deal with it. Green Cities lets you build eco-conscious neighborhoods. Sunset Harbor introduces the fishing industry and allows you to manage maritime hubs.
Six additional Content Creator Packs and Radio Stations are also included: Map Pack 3; Country Road; Pearls from the East; Deep Focus Radio; Carols, Candles & Candy; and Match Day. These add all kinds of things, from mountain landscapes to Christmas songs.
Loyalty Pays Off
Expanded Edition launched on the eShop on 28th October, and it is listed for £41.49 / $49.99 / €41.00. But if you already own the base version of Cities: Skylines on Nintendo Switch, you’re eligible for a 70% loyalty discount.
To get the cheaper price, make sure you’re using the same account that purchased the original game. You should automatically see the discount applied when you go to check out. Be aware that the loyalty discount is valid from the release date until 28th April 2027. Here’s hoping you manage to build a thriving city.
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/cities-skylines-expanded-edition-switch-2/
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