City Planner Plays' DLC Guide | Cities:Skylines DLC Ranked

there's one question that i get asked more than almost any other question and that is what dlc would i recommend that someone buy if they only have the base city skylines game in today's video i'm going to give you a brief overview of each of the city skylines dlcs and rank them in the order that i would buy them if i were starting fresh but to start why don't we take a look back at the timeline of the releases starting with the base game city skylines was released on march 10 2015 to generally positive reviews and compared to other city builders available at the time it was miles beyond anything that had been seen in the city building genre before and at thirty dollars it was a steal it's no wonder that it only took a month to sell one million copies which is pretty impressive but the base game that you'd have purchased then is much different than the game that's available today primarily because the developers have generously included significant patches to the game that have coincided with the dlc releases these patches have added things like the day and night cycle the themes in the theme editor the scenario editor more in-game radio stations and cool assets like the child health center and toll booths six major dlcs have been released since the game was originally published as well as a couple of mini dlcs and six creator packs these dlcs include in order of release after dark snowfall natural disasters mass transit green cities park life industries campus and sunset harbor the many expansions include the discontinued stadiums and the related match day pearls from the east and concerts the creator packs include art deco high-tech buildings european suburbia university city modern city center and modern japan interestingly it has been over 300 days since the last dlc which makes me wonder about city skylines too while each major dlc expansion is fun and adds value in its own right some of them are more valuable and add more to the gameplay i'm going to rank each dlc on a scale of 1 to five where one is skippable and five is a must-have and i'm going to start with the most skippable dlcs first and make my way towards the best ones i'm not going to go into policies or scenarios or maps but do know that each dlc does add policy scenarios and maps so that makes all of the dlc's worthwhile in their own right so without any further ado let's get started on our first one natural disasters this dlc is for a very specific type of person someone that is a glutton for pain the dlc was released back in 2016 and introduces seven natural disasters that can absolutely devastate your city but at the same time it adds 16 service buildings six unique buildings and a new monument that can really enhance your game play that said the only assets that i would miss if i didn't have this dlc would be the freshwater outlet and the helicopter depots i like the outlet because it makes it possible to create streams in vanilla games and i like the depots because they make the game feel more alive i also enjoy the aesthetic of the radio masts but don't consider the must-haves all in all this dlc is one of the last i would pick up i consider it skippable and give it a one out of five next is snowfall which was introduced in 2016 and it's a controversial dlc to me i like the idea of playing on a snowfall map however i would have strongly preferred to have seasons or the ability to convert an existing map to a snowfall map without mods that said the maps are visually stunning and there are a few assets that are must-haves in the pack including road maintenance depots and trams but that's not enough to give it much more than a two out of five next is the most recent dlc release sunset harbor this was released in 2020 and while enjoyable it doesn't add enough to the base game to make it a top recommendation this dlc introduces a number of transit hubs which can be useful for smooth transfers between different modes of transit but they aren't essential but rather a nice to have the dlc does have a number of utility assets that i appreciate such as the inland water treatment plants the large water tower the waste processing complex and the transfer facility and oddly the inland eco water treatment plants i use all of these facilities in nearly every build that i have this pack also introduces the metropolitan airport and the aviation club which are absolutely essential if you want a more realistic looking airport with vanilla assets but this dlc was named for the fishing industry and while i like the buildings the whole concept feels shallow to me after the release of the industries dlc which we'll discuss later on in the video there isn't a very complex supply chain and warehouses aren't even utilized for the fishing industry i presume that's because warehouses full of fish would be very stinky i view this dlc as a nice to have rather than an essential to have and as a result give it a rating of 3 out of 5. next up is green cities which was released back in 2017. i think it's dlc offers a ton of value but it isn't without its faults the dlc introduces 14 new service buildings many of which are my favorites in the game it's hard for me to imagine playing without the recycling center for instance and other assets like the community school sports hall and gymnasium community pool biofuel bus depot and others can really take your community up to the next level in addition it adds six unique buildings including the central park a wonderfully flexible unique building that can be used to enhance almost any city it also introduces three new districts including the organic and local district self-sufficient buildings and the it cluster and this is where things begin to go awry these districts are populated with 350 new assets which is incredibly impressive my core critique is that the self-sufficient buildings particularly the low-density ones remove grass from their lots this could make a green city look brown which is really off-putting if you're building a tropical paradise like my city verde beach link to the playlist above also the organic and local district only has low density buildings which hurts my soul a bit the it cluster has the exact opposite problem and only has super tall buildings overall i give this dlc a rating of three out of five next up is one of the most important dlcs that has been added to the game in my opinion and that is mass transit but the reason it's one of the most important is likely going to be a controversial topic and that is because of the different roadway options that it adds to the game this dlc was introduced back in 2017 and it introduces ferries monorails cable cars and blimps all transit options that are very specific to certain types of builds in addition it introduces asymmetrical roads two lane and four lane one-way highways two-lane two-way highways and large avenues which can be incredibly incredibly useful if you want to preserve right away for collectors in the future this is a wonderful dlc for anyone that loves transit but it's especially important if you want to plan a complex runway network in the future without adding a bunch of roadway mods i give this dlc a rating of 4 out of 5. next is one of my absolute favorite dlcs campus campus was introduced in 2019 and adds the ability to create sprawling college campuses in your city this is particularly useful if you want to have a campus town or a major city with multiple college campuses the pac provides you with three different campus types including a trade school a liberal arts college and a traditional university campus each of these campuses has 19 unique buildings that can be used in conjunction with the 19 unique faculty buildings three museums and five varsity sports buildings that come with the dlc pack as a bonus you can take the var city sports buildings and place them outside of the campus area where they will become a pro sports facility a neat little bonus i personally feel that this is one of the most charming dlcs and can add a significant amount of character to your city i give this dlc pack a 4 out of 5. next is after dark despite the name this dlc pack brought a whole lot more to the table than just the date night cycle in fact the day night cycle was actually brought on as a free add-on to the base game when this dlc was released back in 2015. this dlc introduced the concept of bus stations cargo harbors the international airport the prison and leisure and tourism specializations along with a number of other harbors and special assets and unique buildings in addition it added five new roadway assets that i feel are completely mandatory and should be included in the base game and this is roads that include bike facilities and bus only lanes it literally adds a mode of transportation to the game while off street paths are good on-street bike facilities solidify cycling as a mode of transportation while i do not love that the tourism buildings are almost always massive skyscrapers and the leisure buildings are always low to mid-rise buildings this update offers a significant functionality upgrade that is difficult to ignore i personally find the game less engaging without this dlc and as a result i'm giving this dlc a rating of 4.5 out of 5. next is industries which was released in 2018 and adds something i often thought was missing from the base game huge factories that are perfect for massive industrial parks in my opinion this dlc is like a game in and of itself adding a significant management simulator to city skylines with industries you'll need to manage massive supply chains and all the mayhem that can ensue when a portion of that chain is bottlenecked the buildings also generate a massive amount of industrial traffic which can increase the difficulty of the game in a good way the dlc introduces four different industry types farming forestry oil and ore along with the factories that process the raw materials produced by those industries if you aren't interested in having a specific industry in your city you can always import raw materials by placing a warehouse which is another new asset type that was introduced with this dlc industries also introduces post offices and post sorting facilities an interesting if not essential public service finally it introduces the cargo airport and cargo airport hub two buildings that can really make an airport district come to life in general this dlc creates a more realistic city by introducing realistic industrial areas by adding massive buildings with huge building footprints these massive buildings force you to create a roadway layout that conforms to them and the result is a much more realistic feeling city i give this dlc pack a 5 out of 5. and finally the absolute most essential dlc park life park life was released in 2018 and in my opinion is the best and most essential dlc to pick up and i understand that this might be controversial but hear me out while the functionality of park life is similar to that of industries in campus not every city will have a sprawling industrial park or a massive university campus however every city will have a significant park area and with this dlc pack you can go wild with parks creating massive city parks amusement parks and zoos in addition the dlc adds the hot air balloon tour which is a really neat tourism asset as well as sightseeing buses this can really make your city feel like it's coming to life and that's what this dlc pack is all about bringing your city to life and making it feel unique heck there are whole games dedicated to the concepts included in this dlc pack i'm also a big big big fan of the unique buildings that come with this dlc the city arch the clock tower the old market street the observation towers they're all some of my favorite unique buildings that come with the game overall this is a solid dlc that would be likely a first pick up for me if i were to buy the game again which is why i'm giving it a 5 out of 5 and recommending that you get this one first if you're just starting out with the game lastly i'd highly recommend that you consider picking up all of the content creator packs i can't think of another developer that has allowed some of their best modders and asset creators to actually sell their creations in packs in the way that city skylines does and they're doing so for a good reason these packs are outstanding so what do you think of this list do you disagree with my rankings do you think i missed something let me know down in the comments and if you liked this video please hit that like button consider subscribing to the channel and if you want to chat with me consider joining the discord server which is linked in the description i also want to give a huge shout out to my patreon supporters whose names are listed below and i thank you and i will see you in the next one [Music] bye-bye

Channel: City Planner Plays

Views: 107,132

Rating: 4.9687366 out of 5

Keywords: cities skylines, city planner plays, cities:skylines, cities skylines best dlc to buy, cities skylines best dlc, cities skylines dlc guide, cities skylines which dlc, cities skylines which dlc to get, cities skylines industries, cities skylines parklife, cities skylines after dark, cities skylines snowfall, cities skylines natural disasters, cities skylines mass transit, cities skylines green cities, cities skylines concerts, cities skylines dlc ranked

Id: SEq0_FWqKQo

Length: 14min 14sec (854 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 20 2021