We’ve hit the mid-point of the week and the see-saw of time is about to tip forward and hurtle us towards the weekend at an alarming rate. Perhaps more ominously, we will also be hurtling towards the litany of PC gaming Black Friday deals that are headed our way in a fortnight’s time.

Before then, however, the deals aren’t slowing down one bit and there’s another big batch of digital deals to check out right here, right now. Everything from this week’s release of Nioh to Cities Skylines and even the absolute gem that is Jagged Alliance 2 is represented across a variety of sites, so consider this a convenient mid-week digital deals roundup if you like. Let’s get to it, shall we?

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Cities: Skylines has always had an environmental bent – one of the first things you can build is a wind turbine – but with the Green Cities expansion, cleaning up polluted cities has become a major focus. There s a slew of new buildings and policies that make it a little bit easier to keep your citizens from living under an oppressive layer of smog.

How easy, though? I ve started up a new city to find out. My goal: a completely pollution-free utopia where everyone is happy and healthy. This is probably the nicest thing I ve done in Skylines; certainly it s nicer than the time I tried to flood my entire city in poo, or the time I turned off the heating to see how long it would take for everyone to freeze to death.

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Modern cities are okay but for those who’d rather dream a little utopian, Cities: Skylines today launched its Green Cities expansion. Like other Skylines expansions, Green Cities doesn’t massively expand game systems but does bring some eco-friendly new buildings to erect — blocks clad in vertical planting, solar updraft towers, organic food shops, that sort of thing — which have a few thematic new functions. They do look very nice. A free update has launched alongside the expansion too, with new content from electric cars to extra types of park.

Oh, and if you’re not Skylining yet, the game is on sale right now too. (more…)

Green Cities might look like urban paradise, but beneath the lush vertical gardens, something sinister is percolating. Sure, the draped greenery clinging to the side of the new high density apartment blocks looks attractive, but it’s also reminiscent of post-human imagery; nature reclaiming the land. Zoom out far enough, so that the little cars and people are less apparent, and it s not a great leap from green city to Twelve Monkeys, I Am Legend and The Last Of Us.

But forget the future for a moment because the now> of Cities: Skylines [official site] upcoming expansion isn’t the paradise it initially seems to be. Your attempts to create an environmentally friendly utopia might end with the construction of a new Silicon Valley. The road to hell is paved with reclaimed wood and good intentions.

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If the recent launch of the Concerts “mini-expansion” for Cities: Skylines [official site] made you wish the city-builder would get something more substantial, good news! Paradox today announced the Green Cities expansion for release later this year. As you might expect, it will let you turn your cities all hippy-dippy with everything from organic shops to plant-clad buildings. It bungs in a load of new assets for these and more, which should be nice for making cities more varied. Have a peek in the trailer: (more…)

How difficult can organising a music festival be? Oh, right. Well! If you’ve got the moxie despite being woefully underqualified, you can now step up and organise concerts with the latest “mini-expansion” for city-builder Cities: Skylines [official site]. It lets players build festival grounds, host bands, and hopefully not end up with a musical mega-hell. It’s not a deep business simulation but might be a bit of fun to brighten up your city. (more…)

I’ve done a lot of terrible things in my two year quest to ruin as many lives as possible in Cities: Skylines [official site]. I ve allowed the dead to fester in their homes, I ve turned off heating and electricity in the dead of winter, and once, I made an entire city drink its own poo. But with the launch of the Mass Transit expansion, I m turning over a new leaf. Instead of making things worse, I m going to fix my city s awful congestion problems and be hailed a hero of the people.

At least that’s the plan.

… [visit site to read more]

A new expansion for Cities: Skylines [official site], named Mass Transit, has arrived to expand the city-building manage ’em up’s public transport. The expansion adds ferries, monorails, cable cars, and — for those building modernist cities of tomorrow — blimps, along with new transport-y challenges, new policies, new road types, and new canal bits. Aw, it’s not for you. It’s more of a Shelbyville> expansion. … [visit site to read more]

I don’t really ‘get’ driving cars in cities. Having always lived places where I can get everywhere I need by foot, bus, train, or bike, I am bamboozled by city-building games nudging me to build intersections resembling Celtic knots. I’m relieved that Cities: Skylines [official site] will focus on public transport in its next expansion, Mass Transit, which publishers Paradox have announced will launch on May 18th. Mass Transit will bring new forms of public transport, from ferries to whimsically utopian blimps, along with new transit hubs to ease interchanges. Here, have a look at all this in a new trailer: … [visit site to read more]

As long-time readers will know, I don’t believe there’s any possibility of a party unless someone brings a strategy game to the dancefloor. This year, EGX Rezzed is going to be party central. For the first time, Paradox will have a presence at the show, in the form of three playable games (including the just-announced Steel Division: Normandy 44’s multiplayer) and two developer sessions. They’re both on the Friday, with Cities: Skylines up first at 12PM and Stellaris following at 2PM. In the former, you’ll hear Colossal Order’s CEO on continuous development post-release, and working with a large community, and in the latter Stellaris’ game director will talk about the first year post-release, and the major expansion, Utopia.

… [visit site to read more]