Cities: Skylines World Tour – PC Review

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Ever wanted to add a bit more character to your Cities: Skylines world? Well thanks to the Cities Skylines World Tour DLC you can do just that. With 4 themed DLC packs now dropped across all platforms, what do they entail and how will they enhance your experience?

Around the World in 80 Days!

I’m excited to bring a bit of culture and pizazz into my ageing cities. It’s time to play my Willy Fogg theme tune and go around the world!

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A little bit of South Korea in your city!

Gameplay

Cities: Skylines is incredible, let’s face it. While I grew up with Sim City back in the day, Skylines is to me the ultimate evolution, showing off how graphics, sound and gameplay have now expanded into futuristic realms thanks to technological advancements.

The latest Cities Skylines World Tour DLC features a number of content packs that draw their inspiration from what has been created in real life around us. What this results in is some brilliant and iconic buildings and surroundings from around the globe to adorn your cities.

Skyscrapers – £4.79 (Steam)

Skyscrapers by developer Feindbold is what you will expect it to be however there is no doubt that they are on a grand scale! There are 24 skyscrapers and high rises that you can build within your city as well as 20 variants.

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The size of the skyscrapers are staggering, as they are in real life!

Being a “World Tour” the towering buildings that are set to dwarf your cities have been selected from various continents, namely; North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and South America. What you result in is a mixture of both historic and modern buildings that look simply amazing. It is worth noting that although they are based on real buildings, their names and heights have been artistically altered slightly while the architecture remains true.

From the octagonal Australian MLC Centre that was built in 1977 to the PlayStation 2-looking 1960’s German Dreischeibenhaus office block, get ready to create your very own skyscraper district!

Heart of Korea – £4.79 (Steam)

Heart of Korea by developer Elvis brings a taste of South Korea to your city with 60 assets to play with. Featuring 8 unique buildings such as the Dosan Square Centre, a Korean food alley and a temple to service buildings including a plastic surgery center, crematorium memorial park and a large elementary school. There is also a range of low-density residential and high-density commercial to bring that Korean vibe to your district that will grow as your city expands.

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A huge gaming dev building is available. Not sure on the vibes though.

Graphically the look of the content was well-detailed and I enjoyed creating an area in my city devoted to South Korea.

Financial Districts – £5.79 (Steam)

The Financial Districts DLC is a mini-expansion from developers Colossal Order. It is unlocked once you hit the Big Town milestone (7000 population). The aim of the pack is to introduce the ability to play with your economy, further than just altering taxes.

Through the buildable stock exchange, you can make investments on behalf of your amazing citizens in 13 different categories such as logistics, farming, and healthcare to name a few. A clever in-game app lets you see how each investment opportunity is doing and then it is over to you to buy and sell at the correct time. Levelling up your stock exchange provides a tax bonus to nearby financial district buildings.

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Get your exchange up and running!

Banks can be constructed that then deploy a wealth of armoured security vans to drive around the city in order to ferry money around, helping to lower the crime rate. Can you upgrade your financial buildings to make them look like Scrooge McDuck’s Money Bin?

Financial Districts can be designated that allow the construction of shiny glass-clad high tax-paying buildings. This does have the issue of lowering happiness in the area therefore you need to find a way to offset this nearby.

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Invest wisely.

While boosting your economy is not only a gamble, but great fun at times when you get it right, the Financial District DLC brings with it 72 new buildings, 6 unique buildings, 4 plazas, 3 banks, and 5 new maps. With plenty of variation in how you want your buildings to look, the world is your oyster!

Map Pack 2 – £4.79 (Steam)

Map Pack 2 by content creator Sidai is the last DLC I have had the pleasure of looking at in the latest World Tour pack. Here you will find 10 new maps; Bay of Rivers, Desert Valley, Fertile Desert, Hilly Strait, Land of the Isles, Mountain Plain, River Delta, River Plains, Table Mountains and Winding River. They give some lovely variations of environments, land masses and beautiful vistas to unleash your inner-city imagination!

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Land of the Isles. I want to holiday there!

Although only having a buildable area of 48%, Land of the Isles was my personal favourite due to the inviting golden beach areas mixed with pockets of grassy plains and mountains.

Final Thoughts

While each of the World Tour DLC adds a different flavour to your city, I felt that the Financial Districts DLC was the best out of the bunch. The main reason being that the implementation of the financial mechanics really added to your overall experience of running a city. While the others are mainly aesthetics to aid the looks and customisation of your city areas, playing the stock exchange and trying to gain, and hopefully not lose, your accrued money brings with it risk and glory that ultimately can lead to greater expansion of your city and vast wealth.

Overall I give what I have seen so far of the Cities Skylines World Tour Pack a Thumb Culture Gold Award!

Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.

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