Cities Skylines II new biomes will bring four additional environments to the game’s Editor: arid, tropical, alpine and Mediterranean. Paradox Interactive confirmed that all four biomes will be available to every player through a free update accompanying the upcoming Park Adventures expansion.
The Cities Skylines II new biomes are separate from the paid expansion’s five maps. They determine which plants, rocks and ground details appear naturally, while players can still add vegetation from other biomes by hand.
Are Cities Skylines II new biomes free?
Yes. Iceflake’s October 29 diary confirms that arid, tropical, alpine and Mediterranean biomes will be available to everyone through the Editor when the free update arrives. Owning Park Adventures isn’t required.
Park Adventures is paid DLC with five new maps, but the developer names only four new free biome types. Five maps and four biomes aren’t interchangeable figures, and the October diary doesn’t announce a fifth free biome.
Players with the base game will receive the biome options in the Editor, while the DLC provides its maps and park attractions. Neither the free update nor the expansion has an exact confirmed release day in the diaries.
All four Cities Skylines II new biomes explained
The four environments are arid, tropical, alpine and Mediterranean. Iceflake is adding distinct natural vegetation and terrain details to each, giving maps more personality before you’ve built a single road.
| New biome | Environmental direction |
|---|---|
| Arid | Dry scenery, cacti and warmer rock colours |
| Tropical | A new tropical vegetation and terrain environment |
| Alpine | A new mountain-oriented environment |
| Mediterranean | A new Mediterranean-style environment |
The clearest example is the arid biome. Vegetation around zoned homes can include cacti rather than the trees you’d expect in a colder climate. Rocks change too, with redder tones instead of the familiar grey varieties.
Cities Skylines II new biomes are more than different ground colours. The natural plants, scattered rocks and transitions between surface textures all help make the environment look consistent.
Can you mix vegetation from different biomes?
Yes. A biome influences what appears automatically, but Iceflake says you can manually place trees and other plants from different environments. That means you can create an unusually green neighbourhood on an arid map without abandoning your chosen landscape.
For mapmakers, this keeps things flexible. Let the biome provide the background scenery, then introduce your own plants wherever they fit a park, town square or garden. The natural environment isn’t a rule that blocks creative planting.
The October diary doesn’t demonstrate an exact Editor menu for changing an existing map’s biome. It also doesn’t confirm whether older maps can be converted without altering their scenery. Those details need to come from the released update.
What changes with trees, bamboo and terrain?
The free patch is also adding trees, with bamboo specifically mentioned. Iceflake has been improving how trees appear from far away, which is particularly noticeable when viewing a whole city or park instead of a single tree.
The new trees can share textures across different growth stages instead of using a separate texture at every age. That’s intended to avoid unnecessary rendering costs, not a promise of a particular FPS increase on your PC.
Grass, dirt, sand and other ground textures are being improved so their transitions look natural. Redder rocks alone wouldn’t make a convincing desert if the ground beneath them still looked out of place. The team is designing terrain, vegetation and rocks together.
When will Cities Skylines II new biomes arrive?
The Cities Skylines II new biomes update will accompany Park Adventures, which is listed for Q4 2026. Paradox hasn’t given a precise day. These options aren’t available in the current game yet.
The expansion includes new maps and park attractions, while the biomes themselves will be free in the Editor. Our Cities Skylines II Park Adventures guide covers the separate district system, four park types and visitor management.
The free update brings four Editor biomes, more varied natural scenery, bamboo and tree-rendering improvements. For Cities Skylines II new biomes, exact biome-switching steps will need to be checked in the finished Editor after release.
Official source: Paradox Interactive: Shaping the Environment.
