Developer Colossal Order and publisher Paradox Interactive announced that Cities: Skylines, its next simulation title, will launch in 2015 for Windows, Mac and Linux.
Paradox Interactive has announced Cities: Skylines at Gamescon today, as a follow-up to developer Colossal Order’s mass transit simulation game Cities in Motion. Unlike Cities in Motion, Cities: Skylines, which is also developed by Colossal Order, will give armchair urban planners control over building an entire city, as opposed to just public transport.
According to an official press release from publisher Paradox Interactive, the new title will have final say over road building, zoning, public services and taxation, in addition to mass transit. Paradox also promised “total control in endless sandbox gameplay across massive maps – all with extensive built-in mod support.”
Other features mentioned in the press release include setting a series of civic policies used to guide your city’s growth, directing and placing local districts and the construction of endgame “wonders.” Modding tools will also be included to give the game legs beyond its pre-packaged content.
The trailer also prominently features “play offline” as a bullet point, no doubt enticing people still reeling from EA’s SimCity “always online” server fiasco last year. That game only launched its offline mode earlier this year, after taking more than six months of work to implement it after launch. Hopefully, Colossal Order and Paradox have learned from the mistakes of Maxis and EA and will have a smooth launch when Cities: Skylines launches in 2015 for Windows, Mac and Linux.
