Cities: Skylines – Snowfall DLC

Summary

I bought this DLC because trams. Seriously, that’s the only reason you’ll need to buy this DLC.

Review

I live in a city that absolutely owns trams. In fact, it has the world’s largest tram network. And that, for an engineer and public transport fan, is noice. So when Cities: Skylines came out, but without the aggravated and frustrated ding-ding-dings of trams as pedestrians casually stroll in front of thirty rhinos worth of steel, plastic and human, I was a little sad. After all, Colossal Order’s previous titles, Cities in Motion had trams and trolleybuses.

So, to paraphrase Dr. Zoidberg why not Skylines?

Anyway, Snowfall’s main point is to introduce snow maps (rather than full seasons as many desire), and the associated buildings and services that cold climates require. This means that the snow maps are always cold. But you can also go into the map theme editor and make your own maps of any kind of landscape you can think of.

Now, I admit, the management aspects of Cities: Skylines were never all that deep. The snow stuff doesn’t add much depth. But I don’t play this game to be a micromanagement nightmare for my city. The idea is that we manage the city at a high level, and let the rest take care of itself. Which is much more fun. Besides, with the addition of auroras and rain, the game has just become much prettier. Again.

Prettiness aside though, the game’s core mechanics have remained largely untouched. This is good and bad. It’s good, because many cities will be compatible with new content, and bad because you don’t get to play with any particularly interesting new toys.

Of course, the biggest toy in this DLC pack is trams. And look, the implementation isn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it is relatively realistic. It’s also quite comforting to see trams trundling down the street, dinging their way past recalcitrant pedestrians who don’t look left and right before crossing the road.

But like all things Cities: Skylines, the Steam Workshop has been fantastic. Less than a week out from the release of the DLC, a whole bunch of new trams were already available for use. Ranging from the biggest, snazziest and newest of modern trams to the historically curious. Now, I’m just waiting for proper W-Class trams to complete my City Circle line, and life would then be complete.

My take on this DLC? If you’re a tram enthusiast, then this is what’s been missing from your cities. If you come from a very cold climate, this might make make you feel more at home. For everyone else, this would be an optional upgrade at best.