After months of anticipation, Colossal Order is finally rolling out mod creation tools and sharing capabilities for their city-building sequel Cities: Skylines 2. The developer announced that the Cities: Skylines 2 Modding Beta will launch on March 25th, allowing players to create and utilize custom map and code mods within the game.

This initial modding release will provide a map editor with terraforming tools and height map importing to recreate real-world locations. Code modding will also be enabled, letting skilled creators tweak various gameplay elements through scripting. While asset modding is not part of this beta, Colossal Order states additional modding features will be added over time.

“Modding is part of the lifeblood of Cities: Skylines, and starting our Modding Beta is going to be a transformative step for Cities: Skylines II,” said Mariina Hallikainen, CEO of Colossal Order. “We can’t wait to see how everyone puts these tools to use, and work alongside them to make sure everyone is empowered to make the cities of their dreams.”

Rather than utilizing Steam Workshop like the first game, mods for the sequel will be distributed through Paradox’s own integrated Paradox Mods platform. This will allow sharing across multiple platforms, including consoles lacking external mod support.

Arriving alongside the modding beta is the game’s first premium DLC pack titled Beach Properties. This $9.99 expansion adds a new waterfront residential zoning designation and over 60 beach-themed building assets across North American and European architectural styles. Larger signature structures and palm tree varieties are also included.

Additionally, a Deluxe Relax Radio Station pack ($4.99) will launch on March 25th, providing an hour of new music from a new in-game radio host.

The releases represent a major step forward for Cities: Skylines 2 which suffered a rocky launch last October due to performance issues and lack of modding at release. This caused a dip in player sentiment, with the original Cities: Skylines briefly surpassing the sequel in active players.

While modding and the Beach Properties pack were originally slated for late 2023, addressing the game’s technical problems forced Colossal Order to delay and adjust their post-launch content roadmap. The Bridges and Ports expansion has now been pushed to Q4 2024.

As the dev team works to stabilize the core experience, the mod support and new themed content aim to reinvigorate the player base and appease longtime fans awaiting powerful creation tools. Whether these additions can turn the tide remains to be seen.

Tags: Cities: Skylines Cities: Skylines II City-building game Colossal Order Paradox Interactive Strategy Video Game Unity