Cities Skylines 2 base game lacks a key building feature

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The Cities Skylines 2 base includes an enormous amount of additional features, quality-of-life changes, and vital tools incorporated from mods. Between the new roads and traffic systems, seasonal weather, disasters, a much more detailed economy, and tons more, Cities Skylines 2 seemingly launches with almost everything we might have wanted in a sequel. But with the Cities Skylines 2 release date almost upon us, city building game developer Colossal Order confirms that one very useful feature will be absent. If you’re trying to measure and specify a construction on multiple levels, in CS2, it might be a little tricky.

There’s a lot of great stuff coming, including the revamped Cities Skylines 2 maps, which are bigger, more diverse in terms of landscape, and can be customized in terms of climate, location, and architectural style. But when it comes to examining the finer points of the topography and planning how to build roads, zones, and everything else, the Cities Skylines 2 base game at least is missing what is normally a very useful tool.

In a recent Cities Skylines 2 stream, Colossal Order community manager Madeleine ‘Maddie’ Jonsson, who is playing the game live, is asked whether there will be contour lines in CS2 when it launches. Contour lines in the original Cities Skylines highlight changes in elevation and the rough edges of the terrain so that you can more accurately decide where to lay building foundations.

“At release there will not be contour lines,” Jonsson says. “There aren’t any contour lines in the game right now and there won’t be at release.”

Though Colossal Order has not yet discussed post-launch plans for Cities Skylines 2, it is possible that contour lines will be added as part of an update, after the game is out. Features such as customizable park outlines and other detailing and decoration tools specific to park building are also confirmed to be absent from the Cities Skylines 2 base game, though Colossal says it is “interested in hearing what you hope to see added in the future.”

Speaking of which, find out everything there is to know about Cities Skylines 2 DLC, and what we might expect in terms of long-term support. You can also prep yourself for launch day with the complete Cities Skylines 2 system requirements, so you know your PC is ready.