Saturdays are for putting your hand in a bucket of ice, swallowing a mouthful of honey and lemon, and breathing a sigh of relief. All that practice you put into your welcome handshake and 'Here comes trouble!' paid off. Almost every member of the treehouse has been successfully greeted home.
All bar one. But I'll get him. I'll get him good.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 hasn't sold as well as publishers Paradox predicted. As such, the company have announced plans to write-down 355 million Swedish Krona (approximately £28 million/$37 million) of the game's development costs - essentially the financial way of saying something along the lines of 'oops, this isn't worth as much as we thought it was'.
In the wake of its dramatic split with developer Colossal Order, Cities Skylines 2 has launched new DLC made by the community. 'Creator packs' have long been a part of Cities Skylines, with dozens of additions available for the original that offer plenty of ways to further expand on one of the PC's best city-building games. As we enter uncharted territory for the sequel, the Skyscrapers and Supply Chains packs offer a bit more of that familiar stability to proceedings, with the long-awaited CS2 asset editor finally due to arrive in beta right afterwards.
Read the full story on PCGamesN: Cities Skylines 2 launches two new community-made paid DLC packs in the wake of developer split, with the asset editor to follow
Honestly, there are a lot of disappointing things about Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2. Having waited far too long for a game that maybe would have been better left to our collective imagination, its performance issues, lack of stakes (pun intended), and weak RPG systems left me cold. But, as I say in my Bloodlines 2 review, the lack of connection to the first game is what kills it dead for me. Bar a somewhat meaningless throwback towards the end of the narrative, there's literally nothing connecting the two games bar disparate lore snippets scattered around the map that no one is really reading. Bloodlines 2 is a sequel in name alone, and sadly not a good enough RPG to move the needle.
Read the full story on PCGamesN: Chinese Room co-founder wanted Paradox to drop the 'Bloodlines 2' name, because "no one would be happy" with the final game
Got nothing better to do this weekend than try your hand at leading a nation to victory in World War II in one of the best strategy games ever made? On the back of a new DLC entry for the nearly decade-old grand strategy giant Hearts of Iron 4, you're welcome to try out the base WW2 game for free for the next few days. And given it'll likely take you that long to figure out the menus, the sooner you start, the quicker you can fail.
Read the full story on PCGamesN: You can play colossal WW2 strategy game Hearts of Iron 4 for free this weekend, and it's cheap to keep if you love it
As Hearts of Iron 4 storms through its tenth year since launch, new DLC No Compromise, No Surrender has finally arrived to deliver a comprehensive upgrade to the conflict in Asia. One of the best WW2 games, HoI 4 can still be found ranking high on Steam almost a decade on, and this latest expansion is the headliner of its second add-on pass. No Compromise, No Surrender follows in the footsteps of Crusader Kings 3's All Under Heaven, bringing major additions to the nations of Japan, China, and the Philippines, along with core system overhauls to the likes of factions, military doctrines, and naval combat.
Read the full story on PCGamesN: New Hearts of Iron 4 DLC expands three major WW2 players, but it's the factions rework I'm most excited about
The former creative director of The Chinese Room's Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 has finally said the quiet part loud and agreed that the game really shouldn't have been called Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2. Have you played Bloodlines 2? What would you have called it? I'm going with Vampire: The Masquerade - Third Cousin Twice Removed.
Paradox Interactive and Cities: Skylines developer Colossal Order are going their separate ways, the companies have announced, with ongoing Cities: Skylines II and the franchise in general moving to a separate studio under the Paradox umbrella, Iceflake Studios.
Colossal Order will wrap up on a few updates – the Bike patch, Old Town buildings, bug fixes and more, as well as a beta of the Editor and Asset Mods. Iceflake Studios (who also happen to be based in Tampere, Finland and released Surviving The Aftermath in 2021) will be getting up to speed to take over development from the start of 2026, and will be responsible for free updates, continuous work on the Editor and console editions, and future expansions and content packs.
Mariina Hallikainen, CEO of Colossal Order, writes, “For over fifteen years, the Cities Series and our partnership with Paradox have been a defining part of our journey at Colossal Order. When we set out to create Cities in Motion, we never imagined it would grow to become a cherished franchise with a passionate, loyal community of millions of players around the world. We want to thank everyone at Paradox for their trust and collaboration, and of course the community for the incredible support that has made Cities what it is today. We’re confident that the franchise will continue to thrive under Paradox’s leadership. As we move forward, we’re excited to channel our experience, creativity, and passion into new projects that align with our long-term vision.”
Mattias Lilja, Deputy CEO of Paradox Interactive added, “Our partnership with Colossal Order is one of the longest-running relationships we’ve enjoyed here at Paradox. Four games, dozens of expansions, and a community of millions of Cities players; it’s remarkable how much we’ve achieved together. We have deep respect for the Colossal Order team and we look forward to seeing where they go from here. On our end, we’re eager to continue working for the passionate Cities: Skylines community and make sure to provide them with more content and new experiences.”
And Iceflake Studio Manager Lasse Liljedahl said, “Taking the reins on a genre-leading franchise like Cities is an immense honor and a great responsibility. There’s a huge, loyal community out there and I want to say to every member of that community that we will humbly carry this legacy with respect, together with all of you. Iceflake has the capacity and capability to get started. We have a decade worth of experience from making city building and management games. We see a strong foundation and so much potential waiting to be unleashed and I can’t wait to show you what we have planned for the next chapter of this incredible game.”
After the broad success and popularity of Cities: Skylines, it’s no secret that Colossal Order has grappled with the scope of developing Cities: Skylines II. Originally announced as a cross-platform release, the console versions were delayed and it arrived for PC at the end of 2023 to a wave of dissatisfaction over game optimisation, features and bugs. CO plugged away at the game for the past two years, but had to indefinitely delay the console version, and pushed back and refund DLC. It outwardly looked like the team might have turned a corner, releasing the Bridges & Ports DLC a few weeks ago, but clearly all parties felt it was time for a clean slate.
Hopefully Iceflake is able to quickly get up to speed with the game, and we look forward to seeing what Colossal Order’s next project might be.
Source: Paradox
Are you ready to set foot on Mars for the very first time – again? Welcome to Surviving Mars: Relaunched, a new way to play our colony-building management game for a new generation of spacefaring strategists!
When we launched Surviving Mars originally, we wanted to give gamers an experience that was grounded in reality and science, easy to understand, and built towards an ambitious future, and that was what we delivered. The heart of the game remains the same as always: from initial surface scans and deployment of drones, you will start building the critical infrastructure needed to support human colonists, including water systems, supply extraction, and environmental domes.
Once people start showing up, you can undertake more complicated tasks and developments to expand and maintain your colony, until your colony is sustainable without aid from Earth.
Since then, Surviving Mars has explored a number of new ways to bring efficiency, change, and even cute animals to the red planet. We released expansions that added Terraforming (Green Planet), Subterranean Mining (Below and Beyond), and Rival Colonies (Space Race) to the game. When we made the decision to come back to Surviving Mars and begin developing even more ways to play, we realized that there was an opportunity not just to share our ideas with our original commanders, but with a whole new crew as well!
That’s what brought us to Surviving Mars: Relaunched, a new version of our game that gives everyone lots of new features to try. For starters, we’ve upgraded the graphics, reworked the UI, and improved controller support, all to ensure the game looks and plays its best, especially now that it’s coming to Xbox Series X|S.
Next, we’ve included everything that was ever added to the original game – so players of Relaunched get access to features like Terraforming and Trains that were originally DLC with the base game, which means we can deliver updates and content based around those features, going forward. We’re also adding new features that have never been included in any version of the game before now, including factions and political management for your colonies!
We’re also giving all Martian Managers access to new ways to expand and play our game created by other players, with in-game mod support. You’ll be able to browse and install mods without leaving the game, allowing you to add community-made buildings to your planet, or explore new end-game mysteries.
With the most comprehensive version of Surviving Mars in your hands, all of us at Haemimont will have an ideal launch pad to bring more new content to the game from here on out. We’re already working on a new expansion for early next year, “Feeding the Future,” which will add new production systems and food options for your colonists to help add to their comfort – and sanity! We have another expansion, “Machine Utopia,” in the works after that one as well, which will allow you to colonize, optimize, and industrialize. It’s exciting to get to work on what feels like an all-new game for us, and start bringing life to all the ideas we’ve had, and still have!
Whether you’re about to experience Surviving Mars for the first time or whether Relaunched is the next chapter in your journey to the stars, we’re excited to keep growing alongside you and your colony, starting today. See you on board the rockets!
The post Surviving Mars: Relaunched Isn’t Just A Rework, It’s A Whole New Experience appeared first on Xbox Wire.
The development of Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines 2 cost 600 million Swedish kronor (62.8 million USD), according to estimates by analysts from the Swedish bank Swedbank. This does not include marketing expenses, which would increase the budget.More details: https://gameworldobserver.com/2025/11/07/swedish-analysts-have-estimated-the-production-budget-of-bloodlines-2-at-62-8-million
Popular city builder Cities: Skylines 2 is currently free-to-play on Steam for a limited time. Gamers can try Cities: Skylines 2until November 10, with a free weekend event ongoing and a discount extending beyond that.
Europa Universalis 5 has its first public patch, which encompasses over 350 fixes. Among the bigger things it smacks with the heal-o-spanner (an actual game development tool, traditionally carved from the base of a Taito arcade machine) is the Steams achievements system, which will no longer shower players in plaudits they haven't earned. On the plus side, you'll now earn achievements even if you activate the "allow ahistorical" game rule.
Still hoping to right the wrongs of your home town? Think you can solve its traffic woes with another road placed instantanously by your god hand? This weekend might be the best time to prove it. Virtually, at least. Cities Skylines 2 is free to play until November 10, giving you the opportunity to try the initially ill-received sequel to one of the best city-building games of all time without watching the clock to stick within the two-hour Steam refund window. Not that you would stand a chance; the hours just fly by with games like this.
Read the full story on PCGamesN: If you're quick, you can now try Cities Skylines 2 for free and see how far it's come in the two years since its disappointing launch
