Following the latest patch of Cities Skylines 2, players received some much-needed roadbuilding options that will revolutionize the game’s experience.
Cities Skylines 2 Receives Crucial Patch
Cities Skylines 2, one of the most hotly-anticipated citybuilders, has already been out for about one year now. However, it’s safe to say that it has had quite a bumpy start, with numerous bugs and issues plaguing the game. Developers Colossal Order have been slowly grinding away at these problems in an attempt to fix all of these problems and match the quality of the critically acclaimed predecessor of the game.
It hasn’t been an easy time for the devs, however. Some time back, we asked the question of whether Cities Skylines 2 is worth playing in its current state. After all, the game missed many features that the first title had, which had a detrimental effect on its playability. Couple that with the bugs the game had, and one might think twice if it’s worth investing in the title just yet.
However, while there’s still a lot of work to be done on the game, things are slowly improving. One major win for Cities Skylines 2 and its fans is the newest update, which finally adds the traffic tools the game needs.
Traffic management is one of the most important aspects of Cities Skylines. A badly designed city can quickly become infested with cars and gridlocked streets could grind its development to a stop. Therefore, a player must spend quite a lot of effort in designing the zone and street layout of the city, alongside a mix of good urban transit and walkable areas, to both diminish the volume of traffic and make the rest flow easily and effortlessly.
Fortunately, Patch 1.2.0f1 adds just the right tools for the job!
What Features Does the Update Introduce?
While the patch introduced many new things, perhaps the most important when it comes to gameplay are the road building tools. Among these, the most prominent one is arguably the return of the Traffic Routes feature, a very useful tool from the first game.
By toggling the Traffic Routes option when you have selected any vehicle, pedestrian, road, or building, you will be able to see exactly how traffic is moving through your city. Different paths will have different colors, and the thickness of these lines will represent how much volume of traffic is going through that route. This will help you more easily see what type of traffic goes where.
To go along with this feature, Cities Skylines 2 also got a whopping eight new road types. Three of these are one-tile-wide, one-way roads – a great way to manage traffic in smaller spaces. The other five roads are all asymmetrical, ideal for when there’s more traffic in one direction rather than the other. Some of these roads even have various parking spots, giving you more flexibility in designing your city.
Of course, all those cars have to go somewhere when not in use, so Colossal Order added 12 new roads with more flexible parking options to suit your needs. In addition, you also have nine more parking lots and halls at your disposal. Meanwhile, service buildings such as hospitals and police stations now have their own dedicated parking for their vehicles. This means they won’t clog up other parking spots. However, you will have to replace your existing buildings in order for these new-look variants to be available.
Finally, to further improve traffic flow, the game now has several new roundabout variations. These come in different sizes, giving you various options for the different situations you may encounter.
What Else Did the New Patch Introduce?
While the numerous new traffic management tools are the main focus of the newest Cities Skylines 2 patch, they aren’t the sole thing the update brought. Experienced players know how important it is to make good public spaces for the quality of life of your citizens. Now, they have more options for that, as the patch introduced ten extra “pocket parks”. These can neatly fit into those small gaps in your city, bringing much-needed greenery to the urban sprawl.
To go with the idea of greenery, the devs also introduced a new Line Tool. It helps you carefully adjust the spacing between props such as trees, even adjusting the individual heights and life stages of the foliage. Used in conjunction with the Roadside Tree Selector, you can easily alter the vegetation on your city’s streets.
Last, but certainly not least, Patch 1.2.0f1 introduced numerous much-needed bug fixes and optimizations to both the gameplay and the UI. You can read the full list of changes on Paradox’s official website.
While it may seem that Cities Skylines 2 still has more work to do before reaching the breadth of options and features of its predecessor, it seems this may not take too long. Colossal
Order has been working tirelessly over the past year to improve the game, and with the latest big patch, they are one step closer to that goal.
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