Cities: Skylines II Park Adventures expansion lands December 2

Paradox Interactive and Iceflake Studios have set a December 2 release for Park Adventures, the next expansion for Cities: Skylines II. The twist is that your parks finally stop being decorative green squares and start paying (or costing) their way, complete with zoos, nature reserves and roller coasters.

This is Iceflake Studios' first original expansion for the game, and it lands on PC via Steam and the Microsoft Store. The pitch is simple: draw a modular park area, fill it however you like, and turn it into a place your citizens actually want to visit.

Cities: Skylines II amusement park with roller coasters, a Ferris wheel and drop towers beside a river — Amusement parks, zoos and nature reserves all fall under the same park system.

Four tigers roaming a rocky zoo enclosure under a curved walkway in Cities: Skylines II — Amusement parks, zoos and nature reserves all fall under the same park system.

You can go quiet and leafy with tea houses, botanical conservatories and garden mazes tucked between skyscrapers, or loud and dizzy with rollercoasters and gyro towers. Nature reserves add hiking trails, park lodges and observation platforms for citizens who want to escape the city entirely. And yes, you can bolt a zoo corner onto any of them.

Parks also unlock new attractions and features as they grow, so a modest green space can work its way up into a proper destination.

Somebody has to pay for the tigers

Here's where the mayor in you gets nervous. Parks are now part of your city's economy, with a dedicated recreation tab showing city-wide and per-park profit and loss statements. You set ticket prices, staff budgets, maintenance costs and policies that shape what visitors experience. Skimp on maintenance and guests get unhappy, ratings drop, and visitors leave for a better experience elsewhere. It's theme park management with a whole city attached.

Two citizens on a bench beside a stone fountain in a cactus-lined city park in Cities: Skylines II — A city park with a fountain, benches and desert plants.

Park Adventures includes more than 100 new assets spanning city park buildings, zoo enclosures and animals, nature reserve structures and amusement park rides. It also adds five new maps covering arid, tropical, boreal, alpine and Mediterranean settings, so your next city can sit in desert sand or under snowy peaks.

The expansion carries a suggested price of $19.99/£16.99/€19.99, and it's also included in Cities: Skylines II: Expansion Pass II, so pass owners are already covered.

Waterfront amusement park with a Ferris wheel and drop tower seen across a lake in Cities: Skylines II — An amusement park on the waterfront, framed by mountains.

If you've been on the fence, there's a cheap way to find out whether city building is for you: Cities: Skylines II will be free-to-play on Steam from November 12-16. Iceflake also released the free Seasonal Shift update today, folding in the latest Open Beta improvements along with bug fixes, updated upscaler support (DLSS 4.5, FSR 3, XeSS 3) and improvements to Paradox Mods. The full patch notes are on the Paradox forums.

Cities: Skylines II – Park Adventures arrives on PC through Steam and the Microsoft Store on December 2 for $19.99. You can wishlist it on Steam here. Stay tuned to GamingTrend.com for our review, and for all your upcoming reviews, previews, and gaming news!