A theme is the climate element that changes the overall appearance, terrain, and effects of your city. It consists of European, boreal, temperate, tropical themes and winter. Their character is aesthetic in most cases and it is all about the atmosphere and environment. Other themes have the ability to change the appearance of buildings.
Themes in Cities Skylines:
- European – It focuses on the appearance, styles and climates of a European city in general. You can find there wall-to-wall buildings with more than 70 different styles. The climate is sunny with slightly reduced tones.
- Boreal – It stands for the colder climates of northern countries. The climate is with slightly reduced tones and the colors of grass and water are darker, cooler and less vibrant. Flora is represented by pine and conifer trees.
- Temperate – It represents the central and southern European climates. The colors are brighter, warmer, vibrant and optimistic. The sky is bright blue and the flora is highly represented by different types of plants.
- Tropical – It represents the most warm and sunny climates of California and tropical islands. The colors are warmer with a bit of orange-yellow undertone and the sky is azure blue. Flora is represented by palm trees and a wide variety of bushes.
- Winter – It is the coldest climate with snow and a lot of issues around that. The trees are snowed in and the citizens and buildings of a city are adjusted to the weather.
How change or create more themes?
To customize the base game theme, you will need the theme editor. This is a feature available for all users of the game with the 1.3 update released together with the Snowfall DLC.
With this editor, you will be able to create unique environments by using custom textures and other special tools. All you need to do is to click on the tools submenu in the main menu and you should see it there.
Step-by-step guide on how to change the base theme:
- Select the base game. You can also load an existing theme.
- After the editor loads, open one of the properties panels from the bottom of the screen.
- Now you can experiment with the features, colors and textures as much as you like. The textures you choose will apply immediately. You will be able to work on terrain, water, atmosphere, structure, world and disaster properties.
- When you are done, save your work. You can also share your work to Steam Workshop and help other players.
The best map themes in Cities Skylines?
To find the best map themes in Cities Skylines, it depends a lot on your preferences and taste. In case you are interested in trying something new, be sure to visit Steam Workshop and look for the map themes there.
Just search for the steamcommunity.com > Community > Cities Skylines > Workshop and select Browse (next to the Home button). After that, search for Browse By Tag and select Map.
All you need to do then is to check your preferences and tada, you have what you searched for. If you want to know our discoveries, check the list of recommendations below:
- Detroit – It simply looks good and has great features just like the Detroit River. It splits the map of Canada and Michigan and it is also equipped with the Detroit Bridge. The map is full of space (but still decorated with plenty of trees and greenery), and roads. For the resources, you got trees, oil, ore and fertile land so there are many possibilities with industry specializations. The map can be found in Steam Workshop under the following link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2933004038
- La Spezia – La Spezia is a region in Northern Italy with dramatic terrain and a view of the Apian Alps. Moreover, it has everything you need to build a beautiful and well-functioning city: rail, highway, space, greenery for aesthetics and the surrounding sea. The only thing that may be challenging is building a sensible transport system (you can easily overwhelm the city with roads. The map can be found in Steam Workshop under the following link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2927576576
- The Road Home – This is one of the most detailed and well-managed maps you can find. The map is equipped with a nice highway site, two ship paths, and a wide variety of trees and natural resources such as ore, fertile land, trees and oil. Moreover, the start can be one of the most comfortable since the starting square is made with a flat surface. The map can be found in Steam Workshop under the following link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2910923224
Which themes will be in Cities Skylines 2?
Is confirmed that themes will be also in Cities Skylines 2. For now developers said that there will be two themes of buildings which will be European or American. More themes of maps will be published at 31.7.2023
