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Cities: Skylines II’s Free Update Will Bring 4 Biomes to the Editor

Arid, tropical, alpine, and Mediterranean environments will influence natural vegetation, rocks, and terrain textures.

Bojan Kicevski1 minute ago

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A dry Cities: Skylines II landscape with rocky mountains, scattered cacti, a river, and roads.

Cities: Skylines II’s next environmental update will make a map’s biome affect more than its opening screen. Four options, arid, tropical, alpine, and Mediterranean, will shape naturally appearing plants, rocks, and terrain, while players can still choose vegetation from other climates.

The City Corner #14 developer diary says the biomes are being created for new Park Adventures maps, but all four will also be available to everyone through the Editor in a free update. The same free approach applies to the leisure overhaul, while Park Adventures adds its park-district building options.

Each biome will change the city’s natural details

In an arid environment, climate-appropriate plants such as cacti can appear around zoned buildings, and rocks can take on warmer colors. The biome guides what appears naturally, not what players are allowed to place, so a city can still mix vegetation from different environments.

Terrain has to support the same look. The team is working on how grass, dirt, sand, and other ground textures blend together, since rough transitions can make an otherwise fitting landscape look patchy. The work builds on the terrain-painting tools introduced in Summer Solstice and is intended to give future environmental changes more flexibility.

Rock formations and ground surfaces in arid, green, and pale coastal terrain

Trees are getting more attention at a distance

Trees use simpler level-of-detail models when viewed from far away, rather than rendering every branch as a full 3D model. Those distant representations are being improved alongside the detail on new trees, including bamboo coming in the free patch.

The team is also changing how textures are used across tree growth stages. Different-aged trees will be able to share a texture instead of requiring a separate one for each stage, part of an effort to improve the scenery while keeping performance in view.

Bamboo models at several growth stages beside a dried plant

Which of the 4 biomes would give your next city its identity? For more on the visual changes and tools coming with Park Adventures, follow us on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram, Steam, and Telegram.

Create and manage your own city without restrictions. Offering a deep simulation and a living economy, Cities: Skylines II will challenge your decision-making skills and allow you to build the cities of your dreams. Get ready for a new epic scale in the most realistic city builder - ever.