The first expansion to Cities: Skylines, After Dark, was revealed today at Gamescom 2015. The expansion will add day and night cycles to the game, changing the way players will have to manage their cities. Developer Colossal Order and publisher Paradox Interactive shared some details on the After Dark expansion including the fact that the cycles won’t just be visual in nature. Traffic will be visibly slower at night and some zoned areas won’t work with full efficiency, further easing traffic. In addition, service vehicles will function as usual.
Commercial areas will gain a new specialization: leisure activities. Leisure activities will be especially active during night time, but will work like regular commercial buildings during the day. In addition, there will be a beach specialization for commercial areas, adding buildings like beach bars and restaurants or a small marina and fishing tours on the shoreline.
Read: Cities: Skylines Review: Gentrification
City services will also be expanded in After Dark and criminals will now be taken to Prison from Police buildings. Taxi service will also be available to help citizens and tourists travel around the city while cargo hubs are harbors that will accept cargo trains straight to the terminal. A new international airport will also be added, significantly larger than the standard airport currently in Cities: Skylines, allowing more traffic to and from. The international airport will also have a metro station attached to it while a bus terminal will allow citizens to transfer to other bus lines in the terminal building.
Lastly, After Dark will add new transportation options to the game including bikes and dedicated bike lanes and bike ways. Bus lanes will also be added to help the public transportation run smoother.
The best news? The day and night cycle part of After Dark will be free for all users. As for the rest of the add-ons, Colossal and Paradox have not yet announced pricing.
