Before starting up the Natural Disasters expansion for Cities: Skylines, we asked the developer, Mariina Hallikainen, what she thought was the appeal of people wanting to destroy their creations. Why would anyone go through all the effort to create an amazing city only to have something tear through it? As Mariina showed off all the available disasters, it became abundantly clear why someone would want this expansion: because wrecking things is awesome.
R.I.P Worker’s Village
Much loved city-building game, Cities: Skylines released last year and has seen a number of expansions since. However, its newest (and most anticipated) expansion, Natural Disasters, introduces elements that fans of the series will be eager to try. Natural Disasters builds on Colossal Order’s vision of giving the player the freedom to build whatever they want and, for the first time in the series, destroy it however they please. Introducing seven calamitous natural disasters: tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, meteor strikes, sinkholes, thunderstorms and (forest and building) fires. Players will be able to set triggers for their disasters, whether they are looking to target a specific part of the city with a standalone catastrophe, or set up a chain of apocalyptic strikes to bring a city to its knees.
Although it doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom. Fancy testing how much of a battering your city can withstand? Natural Disasters also introduces preventative safety measures and early warning systems. Armed with deep space radars, tsunami buoys and earthquake sensors, you’ll have a slither of extra time to herd your city’s inhabitants to shelters and brace for the incoming disaster. These systems are also pretty comprehensive, enabling players to build Disaster Response Units and map out evacuation routes for their city dwellers. Even if you’re not too keen on smashing up your precious city, these additions will prove to make it run just that little bit smoother. For those that are willing to wade through the debris and claw through the aftermath of the destruction, there are also a number of ways that you can rebuild your city. For the first time, helicopters will be on hand to aid the emergency services, such as the Fire Department and the Disaster Response Unit will promptly begin searching for survivors before marking out areas that can be repaired.
Set your scenario triggers and get to work
Natural Disasters will allow players to load up their chosen city (you may want to load it on a separate save, just in case!) and just wreck shop on it. If you aren’t in the mood for mindless destruction, you can always play in the brand new Scenario Mode. Colossal Order have included a Scenario Editor (complete with Steam Workshop integration) to give you some goals. These scenarios take place on a specific maps, giving the creators plenty of room to construct unique challenges. The developers are also including five scenarios with Natural Disasters, including one where you’ll need to figure out how to protect your city from their massive flooding issue. There are plenty of win/lose conditions available in the Scenario Editor, so be sure to check out our gameplay video as we check out a few of them.
System Requirements
The natural disasters in this expansion may damage your city but they shouldn’t harm your frame-rate in any way. You will need the base Cities: Skyline game to be able to access those disasters, though that should be expected at this point.
Minimum:
OS: Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1 (64-bit)
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo, 3.0GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+, 3.2GHz
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: nVIDIA GeForce GTX 260, 512 MB or ATI Radeon HD 5670, 512 MB (Does not support Intel Integrated Graphics Cards)
DirectX: Version 9.0c
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 4 GB available space
Recommended:
OS: Microsoft Windows 7/8 (64-bit)
Processor: Intel Core i5-3470, 3.20GHz or AMD FX-6300, 3.5Ghz
Memory: 6 GB RAM
Graphics: nVIDIA GeForce GTX 660, 2 GB or AMD Radeon HD 7870, 2 GB (Does not support Intel Integrated Graphics Cards)
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 4 GB available space
Release Date
Things are starting to heat up…
Mariina Hallikainen revealed in our interview that the expansion should be released by the end of this year, so you won’t have too long to wait.
Overall, we were really impressed with everything that we saw in the preview build. One of the things that particularly surprised us was how realistically the disasters are simulated. We could clearly see the abnormal ocean activity and ominous wall of water as the tsunami approached our city. In addition, it was funny to see how some disasters can ‘fix’ the problems created by their predecessors, such as old sinkholes filling with water after floods to create quaint little lakes.
Additional Thoughts
Making the best of a bad situation - let’s just plant some palms next to this sinkhole
If you are already a fan of Cities: Skylines then you don’t really have an excuse not to check out the Natural Disasters expansion. For those of you who aren’t into destruction just for the sake of it (there’s probably only two of you), there are a few additions to the game that may appeal to you… helicopters are cool, right? We honestly can’t think of any good reason why you wouldn’t want this expansion. You’ve had your fun creating an amazing city, now try your hand at defending it against the elements.
