Cities: Skylines Switch 2 Expands to 25 Tiles With 60 FPS Mode

Launching on October 28, Cities: Skylines – Expanded Edition brings Paradox Interactive’s original city-building simulator to Nintendo Switch 2 with larger maps, improved controls, two graphics modes and ten included DLC expansions and content packs.

Developed for the new console by Tantalus Media, the Expanded Edition significantly increases the amount of land available for construction. Players can now develop cities across 25 buildable tiles instead of nine, providing almost three times the space for residential districts, industrial areas and transport networks.

The additional land is supported by a map editor, allowing players to create and customise their own landscapes before construction begins. New precision placement tools, improved snapping options and a distance indicator should also make positioning roads and buildings more manageable.

For me, the larger building area is the more interesting upgrade. Higher frame rates will certainly help when navigating busy cities, but lifting the old map restriction changes how far a settlement can expand and how its transport infrastructure can be planned.

Paradox has confirmed two graphics options:

• Performance Mode: Targets 60 FPS using upscaling and adjusted graphics settings.
• Quality Mode: Targets 30 FPS while prioritising visual fidelity.

Both are frame-rate targets rather than guarantees. Paradox has not published detailed resolution figures or performance measurements for heavily populated cities, so the improvements will need to be assessed when the game launches.

The controls have also received attention. Expanded Edition supports keyboard and mouse input alongside traditional controllers, while a quick selection tool makes frequently used construction assets easier to access.

An environmental controls panel introduces real-time adjustments for the time of day, rain, fog and environmental colouring, giving players more control over how their cities appear.

The new edition also represents a considerable increase in bundled content compared with the original Nintendo Switch release.

When Cities: Skylines arrived on Switch in September 2018, it included just two major expansions, After Dark and Snowfall. Expanded Edition retains those additions and introduces Green Cities and Sunset Harbor, bringing the total to four major gameplay expansions.

Six smaller content and audio packs complete the advertised ten DLC items: Map Pack 3, Country Road, Pearls from the East, Deep Focus Radio, Carols, Candles & Candy, and Match Day.

However, this is not the complete Cities: Skylines DLC catalogue. Other major expansions, including Mass Transit, Parklife and Industries, are not among the announced Switch 2 contents.

Nintendo’s storefront provides a few additional technical details. The Expanded Edition has an estimated download size of 6 GB, supports TV, tabletop and handheld play, and includes Nintendo Switch Online Save Data Cloud compatibility.

Existing owners will not receive the new edition completely free. Instead, Paradox is offering a 70% loyalty discount to players who own Cities: Skylines on the original Switch, available from launch until April 28, 2027.

The publisher has not yet clarified whether existing Switch city saves can be imported into Expanded Edition, or how the loyalty offer will handle different ownership arrangements. Nintendo’s general system-transfer support does not establish compatibility between these two separate game versions.

This release should also not be confused with Cities: Skylines II. Tantalus Media is handling the original game’s Switch 2 adaptation, while development of the sequel moved to Iceflake Studios at the beginning of 2026.

Paradox’s official Expanded Edition announcement also confirms three separate additions for the original game on PC, PlayStation and Xbox on October 28: Holiday Getaways, Mansions & Manors and Blueprint Beats Radio. These are not among the ten packs bundled with the Switch 2 release.

With its larger construction area, additional expansions and revised interface, Expanded Edition offers considerably more than the 2018 portable version. Whether it can maintain smooth performance as cities approach the new 25-tile limit remains the main unanswered technical question.