Cities: Skylines has achieved remarkable success in such a short time since its launch. It’s not undeserved, as our review points out, but there are still a few issues with the game that have yet to be resolved with updates. Though these issues don’t ruin the experience, their resolution would result in a game that makes your city planning more fun and a little less tedious.
Thankfully, the game is easily moddable. New features, new buildings, and tweaked systems are available to be installed directly from the Steam Workshop page. We’ve pulled together ten of the best mods that feel like essential additions for any mayor’s budding metropolis.
First-person Camera
Not since Streets of Sim City have we been able to get this close and personal with our virtual citizens. This First-person Camera mod allows you to toggle a new camera mode, by pressing the Tab key, which allows you to stroll your own impeccably designed streets. Play with citizens in the park, check out your wind turbines up close, or just creepily follow one citizen as he journeys to work and back each day. You need to get to know people if you want to be the best mayor possible.
Timboh’s Marvellous Interchange Emporium
Traffic management is crucial in Cities: Skylines, and it’s hampered by the less-than-perfect traffic AI. Long story short: you want to avoid having intersections that require cars to stop at all. This is why you should browse Timboh’s Marvellous Interchange Emporium–a package of massive, complex interchanges and roundabouts that don’t require cars in any lane to ever stop. Plus, interchanges are just amazing.
Tree Brush
Who’s bright idea was it to only allow players to place individual trees, one at a time? It’s madness. That’s why you need to download the Tree Brush, a tool that lets you paint trees in a large radius–similar to the way in which you paint districts. With just a click and a few swipes of the mouse, you can have beautiful, lush forests covering the whole map.
Automatic Bulldoze
Personally I’ve never had to bulldoze an abandoned building because my city is so perfect that no-one would ever want to leave, but we can’t all be as civically-gifted. Use this Automatic Bulldoze mod to make your abandoned buildings automatically disappear, which is a treat for especially large cities beset by crime, fire, or buildings full of corpses due to the lack of a cemetery. You know what they say: out of sight, out of mind.
Day Night Cycle
New York is known as the city that never sleeps, and since Cities: Skylines doesn’t ship with a day/night cycle, technically my city can never sleep so it follows that it is on par with New York. Only, with fewer murders. To keep things that way, you should allow your citizens to get some shut-eye by installing the Day Night Cycle mod. Not only does it provide some variety to the lighting effects, but you’ll also get a better sense of the passage of time.
Auto Save
I find it incomprehensible that the game shipped without an auto save function, especially since it costs cash to undo recent mistakes–like the wind turbine I accidentally put near the park swing set. Unlike me, you can avoid civil lawsuits from grieving mothers by installing this Auto Save mod, which allows you to set how regularly the game periodically saves your city.
Lenin Square
Personally, I think there isn’t enough concrete in Cities: Skylines. So why not turn your city into a grey Bolshevik paradise with the Soviet Buildings pack and its crown jewel, Lenin Square. After all, what better way to simulate the redistribution of wealth, and the brilliance of central planning, by giving you absolute power–down to the ability to rename individual citizens.
Reddit For Chirpy
If you’re sick of bulldozing the houses of citizens who send snarky messages to you through the in-game Chirpy app, then you need this Reddit For Chirpy mod. This changes the messages that appear from a fake social media feed, to real-life topics or replies from your preferred actual subreddit. Set it to the Cities: Skylines subreddit for a deliciously meta experience.
True Colour Correction
I lied when I said there wasn’t enough concrete in Cities: Skylines. What I actually meant was, there isn’t enough colour. Though the game already features a couple of colour grading options accessible through the settings menu, they don’t offer visuals as gorgeous as the True Colour Correction mod. The effects here are on the subtle side, but they help to enhance the game’s slightly dull palette without being too distracting. Sorry Lenin, we’re trying free markets for a while.
Traffic Report Tool
Remember how I said traffic management is crucial? Well, one oversight Cities: Skylines made was a failure to provide in-depth visualisation for how traffic is actually flowing. The game shows heat maps, but it’s not enough information to troubleshoot congested areas. Download the Traffic Report Tool to see arrows that show exactly how traffic is flowing, and how heavy it is on each road.
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