As Cities: Skylines 2 woes continue, Paradox Interactive returns to the first city builder with new paid DLC 18 months after its 'final' update

As Paradox Interactive reels from the troublesome launch of Cities: Skylines 2, the company is returning to the first game in the series, which it had apparently moved on from more than a year ago, with paid DLC.

Last May, 18 months ago for those counting, Paradox Interactive seemed to have closed the door on Cities: Skylines' long roadmap with what was supposed to have been the city builder's very last major update and mini-expansion. At the time, the company said it was shifting its focus to Cities: Skylines 2, but that plan hasn't gone so smoothly. 

The much-hyped sequel launched with technical woes so glaring that they overshadowed basically everything else in the simulation. Months of patches and fixes haven't completely cured all of Cities: Skylines 2's ailments, though, as its first DLC was also struck with similar problems and was eventually made free due to fan backlash. More recently, developer Colossal Order delayed all of the sequel's planned DLC - some packs were pushed more than a year passed their original release windows - to work on the game's more pressing issues first.

On the heels of all that drama, Paradox Interactive is now going back to its most sure fire hit. Cities: Skylines (The First) just received three new paid DLC packs themed around the great outdoors. The Mountain Village Pack and Map Pack 3 both focus on "mountain peaks and alpine terrain," while Radio Station Alpine Tunes brings new songs into the fold.

"We also want to reassure those of you that play Cities: Skylines 2, that the development of this new content for Cities: Skylines is an entirely separate effort," the publisher explained in its announcement blog. "The content you’ll find in this release for Cities: Skylines has been implemented by Tantalus, the studio who managed the console ports for Cities: Skylines. No resources were diverted from Cities: Skylines 2 for this - our friends at Colossal Order remain fully focused on developing and improving Cities: Skylines 2. This approach allows us to release some updates without compromising on either game."

Cities: Skylines 2 publisher says gamers are “less accepting” that games will “fix things over time” nowadays.