Cities Skylines 2 is like a checklist of fan requests, that’s being ticked off one by one. Roundabouts? Yes. Better road-building tools? Done. Intelligent traffic that finally uses every lane? You got it. Now, with the Cities Skylines 2 release date heading towards us, and the city-building game starting to look very promising indeed, Colossal Order and Paradox deliver on another long-standing community request, demonstrating how Cities Skylines 2 will feature mixed zoning for hyper-realistic residential and commercial builds.
In the standard Cities Skylines base game, zones are split between residential, commercial, and industrial. Although, theoretically, you can lay down a city block with a mixture of different zones, they don’t truly interact with one another – unless of course it’s a residential area complaining of noise pollution from the nearby factory.
Now, however, that’s all changed. Cities Skylines 2’s mixed zoning means you can layer different zones on top of and alongside one another, creating complex urban environments that more closely resemble real life. The best example is a new type of residential and commercial zone called ‘mixed housing,’ whereby apartments can be zoned above restaurants and shops. If you want a bustling downtown with lots of commerce, while also using the airspace to build multi-storey apartment blocks, now you can.
There are also new types of residential zone. In the past, we’ve only been able to build low-density houses, suitable for smaller, single families, and high-density residential areas where hundreds of citizens live together.
CS2 introduces medium-density housing, essentially attached row houses that are still occupied by one family each, but are pushed together. There is also low-rent housing, which is cheap but poorer quality. If you have a lot of citizens looking for homes, but can’t afford to drop taxes on your current residential areas, this may be an option.
We’re also getting new signature buildings. These can be residential, commercial, or industrial themed and unlock once you pass certain in-game thresholds. Available for free, they add a boost to your citizens’ happiness and area attractiveness depending where you build them. They also give your city a unique look, serving as minor landmarks that define certain neighbourhoods.
So, that’s another long sought-after feature ticked off the list. Check out the full Cities Skylines 2 system requirements, since you won’t want to miss this one at launch. You might also want to try some of the other best management games on PC.