Paradox Interactive just held their own announcement show, and there will be quite a few interesting upcoming games, so here's a round-up.
First up, no doubt many are excited at the idea of it, Cities: Skylines II is official although they did not show off any gameplay it just had a fancy trailer. So nothing to really show there, and no release date hint yet either. Even the Steam page doesn't have in-game screenshots, just screenshots from their own trailer.
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“Cities: Skylines reset the bar for city building games when it launched eight years ago, and we are incredibly proud of its impact. We built a thriving community around Cities and introduced many to city building for the first time,” said Mariina Hallikainen, CEO of Colossal Order. "Now, we’ve brought the years of experience we’ve gained to take a new step forward in the city builder genre, again, for our community and new players".
“The Cities brand has been an important part of Paradox’s catalog of games for over a decade. Cities: Skylines is a profound success, selling millions of copies, welcoming more than 5.5 million new players just last year, and setting the foundation for Cities: Skylines II,” said Fredrik Wester, CEO of Paradox Interactive. “With unprecedented amounts of customization and player control, Cities: Skylines II will continue to push boundaries for the city-building franchise.”
They're also now doing their own game like The Sims called Life By You, which is not a big surprise because the studio Paradox Tectonic is working with Rod Humble who previously worked on The Sims 2 & 3.
Life By You also only got a short teaser, because it's going to have its own event on March 20th.
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Harebrained Schemes, known for BATTLETECH and Shadowrun, announced The Lamplighters League, a tactical turn-based strategy game set in an alternate 1933.
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“Harebrained Schemes is all about weaving tactical gameplay that challenges your mind with narrative and characters that engage your heart,” said Christopher Rogers, Game Director of The Lamplighters League at Harebrained Schemes. “For years, we’ve been privileged to tell stories in cherished settings like Shadowrun and BATTLETECH. Because The Lamplighters League is set in a new world, it allows us the creative freedom to simultaneously create narrative that supports gameplay and gameplay that supports narrative. We love these characters and hope that players and fans enjoy getting to know them while exploring each one's unique abilities the way we did. I cannot wait to share everything we’ve been working on.”
Since it's Paradox, there were of course going to be some DLC announcements like…
Crusader Kings III: Tours & Tournaments was announced, releasing in "late Spring":
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Europa Universalis IV: Domination was also announced:
Direct Link
Then there's a few indies from their Paradox Arc publishing team.
One I'm quite excited to try is Mechabellum, a new auto-battler where you're commander of a big mechanized army, releasing May 11th. Take a look below:
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Knights of Pen and Paper 3 was also announced launching tomorrow:
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Across The Obelisk is set to get DLC with Across The Obelisk: The Wolf Wars:
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The rest of it was trailers for stuff already announced with dates like Stellaris: First Contact and Age of Wonders 4.
The full show can be seen on Twitch and YouTube.
Was there anything announced that you're particularly excited about? Let us know in the comments.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Obviously Cities:Skylines 2 is a mandatory purchase. :)
Not with the Paradox launcher.
Mechabellum had me 100% bought in until they put the word "PvP" on screen. An autobattler with massive armies, in a visual style I really dig, mechas... But it will depend on how much they emphasize multiplayer - not just in terms of singleplayer being fun, I can play against human opponents in an autobattler, but if they try to design for ladders and tournaments and season passes (or god forbid, microtransactions) it would be a bummer.
I like the look of Lamplighters League, and stealth tactics is a good one - though might be a bit too RPG for me. I'm not really into The Sims, but not against it either, so I'll have a look into Life By You.
Kimyrielle Mar 6, 2023
Obviously Cities:Skylines 2 is a mandatory purchase. :)
Not with the Paradox launcher.
I hate launchers too, but if you're boycotting every game having one, there is not a lot of choice left.
Personally, I am totally thrilled about both Skylines 2 and the Sims-alike. The Sims 4 is one of the last EA games I am playing, and I can't say I would be sad about that company being gone from my life. I also have zero faith in The Sims 5 becoming a good game.
Skylines is one of my favorite games overall, and the only bigger complaint I am having about it is engine performance. The successor will probably solve that, so that alone is enough reason for me to buy it.
ElectricPrism Mar 6, 2023
Is Tencent still involved with Cities: Skylines II ???
Obviously Cities:Skylines 2 is a mandatory purchase. :)
Not with the Paradox launcher.
I hate launchers too, but if you're boycotting every game having one, there is not a lot of choice left.
There is not a lot of AAA left, but with few exceptions indies just don't pull this bullshit. There are few games I own that have launchers, and of those most have added the launcher recently. As far as I remember, only Firaxis (the recent 2K launcher), Feral (XCOM and Total War), Paradox, Stardock, and a few isolated games like Age of Mythology.
Sure, it can be hard to avoid it (games are not interchangeable, it's not like you can just replace the game you want with another that is launcher-less), let's place the blame where it lies and not treat a small set of publishers as all of gaming.
I was already looking forward to the stellaris expansion, and thought the after the aftermath DLC looked promising.
TheRiddick Mar 7, 2023
Cities: Skylines I was published with Tencent
Is Tencent still involved with Cities: Skylines II ???
It says in the article you linked yourself that Tencent released CS in China, so no worries
gaboversta Mar 7, 2023
The DLCs are just squeezing what is left to be squuezed out of the old core.
Let's hope that this new one is more flexible and the busses don't stop in the middle of the stop.
Also still hoping for multiplayer, but that seems far-fetched.
Last edited by gaboversta on 7 March 2023 at 7:59 am UTC
Arehandoro Mar 7, 2023
@ life by you: i don't know how to feel about this, when the publisher famous for DLC-boosting wants to make a copy / alternative to THE DLC-hell game of all times.
@EU4: Little bit underwhelmed by the DLC announcement. Feels a little bit like the expansion or rework nobody asked for, as its focus seems to be an overhaul of already very loved nations, whereas many nations of the middle east or south asia (which players asked for for a very long time now) is still not coming and the rework of other central nations like England and Spain was announced to be part of free updates, as far as i remember.
However, not a big deal as i usually pick up the Paradox DLCs as part of HumbleBundles and so I am accustomed to wait.
The $1000 worth of DLC for the original put me off even trying it out.
Same ahah, I can't wait to see the gameplay but there is no way I'll put hundreds or thousands of bucks (given one's waiting for discounts) on DLCs.
Since I enjoyed the previous ones, "Knights Of Pen And Paper 3" is likely a good bet. If you haven't played them, go for it!
oooo i hope Life by you gets a Linux release.I don't expect any Native Linux releases from Paradox outside of PDS stuff using their strategy game engine. Not that it's really a big issue with Proton as good as it is right now.
I dunno. Most of Paradox stuff in the past has been native. Harebrained Schemes' past stuff has been native too, even before they were associated with Paradox. So there might be some.oooo i hope Life by you gets a Linux release.I don't expect any Native Linux releases from Paradox outside of PDS stuff using their strategy game engine. Not that it's really a big issue with Proton as good as it is right now.
Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 7 March 2023 at 4:00 pm UTC
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