Cities: Skylines is one of our favorite games from 2015, firmly re-establishing the City Builder genre with an enjoyable mix of strategy and playfulness. Gameplay expansion is spurred-on by easily obtained community mods and, now, an official "Theme Editor" for owners of the base game. Expansions "After Dark" (added night clubs, day/night cycle) and next week's Snowfall have built tremendously upon the game's existing content, but neither is required for players to use the new Theme Editor.
Cities: Skylines' theme editor allows modification of terrain elements and atmosphere beyond the usual climates. Players can now fully modify the map to fit their thematic liking -- lighting and terrain coloration included. The new utility allows granularity of control all the way down to sun size, position, and hue; as demonstrated in the below video, creative players could design a veritable Venus for development by the map's inhabitants.
In the meantime, "Snowfall" aims to introduce more public transit that'll please players who enjoy un-jamming traffic -- shockingly fun, really -- and new weather elements. The expansion ships on February 18 for $13.
- Steve "Lelldorianx" Burke.