Cities Skylines 2: Time & Seasons
Cities: Skylines II introduces a fresh perspective on in-game time, setting it apart from the original. In this sequel, a full day-night cycle represents a month, meaning that one in-game year spans just twelve days and nights. The game’s representation of day and night durations depends heavily on the particular map’s climate and the season in play, leading to extended nights during winter months.
As dusk approaches, a transformation takes place: buildings illuminate and streets glow with the onset of street lights, providing pathways for the city’s inhabitants.
But seasons bring more to the table than merely altering daylight durations. They also influence various weather parameters, such as temperature, rainfall probability, and cloud cover, over the year. During chillier periods, those maps with climates conducive to colder seasons witness a snowy blanket enveloping the ground. And when snow strikes, the Road Maintenance facility dispatches snowplows to clear the streets, ensuring road safety and minimizing accident hazards.
Furthermore, the geographical positioning of the map – whether in the northern or southern hemisphere – dictates the timing of these seasons. For instance, cities situated in the southern hemisphere undergo seasonal changes in reverse compared to their northern counterparts.
As in the original Cities: Skylines, players can adjust the game’s tempo. With three speed levels to pick from, and an anytime pause feature, players have the flexibility to pace the game as they see fit. On standard speed, one in-game day spans a little over an actual hour, while at maximum speed, it whittles down to a third of that duration in real-time.
