14 DAY TRIAL // The development team at Colossal Order and publisher Paradox Interactive are announcing at the Gamescom 2014 event that they are working on a new title called Cities: Skylines, which will be launched on the PC using Windows, Mac and Linux OS at some point in 2015.
The game, which is a follow-up to the Cities in Motion series, no longer focuses just on public transportation and allows players to take over all the urban planning duties and develop their own cities.
The two companies state, "From zoning to building, from utilities to beautification, and from taxation to outreach, players of Cities: Skylines will have total control in endless sandbox gameplay across massive maps – all with extensive built-in mod support."
Cities: Skylines will deliver massive backdrops and maps which offer players a variety of ways to improve and expand their settlements, which will evolve from small homes and timid shops to massive sky-scrappers with unique architecture.
Players will be able to build roads and zone for various types of buildings and they will also control public services and taxation in order to fuel their building efforts.
A set of civic policies are included in Cities: Skylines to allow gamers to control how their various neighborhoods evolve and the graphics engine is enhance to make it easy to see how the city grows and how its systems work.
Paradox states players will be to "strive to build up a city towards jaw-dropping endgame 'wonders', and then go beyond what is possible with built-in game modding tools."
Cities: Skylines is clearly designed to offer direct competition to the SimCity series from developer Maxis and publisher Electronic Arts, which was plagued by problems on launch and failed to develop into the game that the fan base was expecting to get access to.
It remains to be seen whether the development team at Colossal Order can make the jump towards full city simulation and if the coming experience can deliver both solid core mechanics and the level of customization that could make the title a hit.
Cities: Skylines certainly looks good, judging from the images launched when the announcement was made and from the official trailer.
Paradox Interactive is best known for its work on grand strategy titles but the company has been seeking to diversify its portfolio of titles in the last few years.
During Gamescom 2014 the publisher announced that it was working with Sony in order to bring Runemaster, its mix of role playing and tactical combat, to the PlayStation 4.
