Cities in Motion 2: The Modern Days

Cities in Motion 2: The Modern Days is the subtitle used in early promotional material, while the current PC storefront lists the game simply as Cities in Motion 2. This transportation management simulation from Colossal Order and Paradox Interactive puts you above a growing city, where route planning, vehicle fleets, fares, and timetables determine whether public transport becomes a profitable service or a daily congestion problem.

Build the network, then keep it moving

The central loop is focused on operating a public transportation company rather than governing every part of a city. You place stops, connect districts, buy vehicles, assign them to lines, and adjust service around changing passenger demand. The main transport types include buses, trolleybuses, trams, metros, and ferries, giving each map several possible solutions.

Road construction is part of the management toolkit. You can create new streets, use dedicated bus lanes, and shape routes around traffic rather than accepting the original road layout. A line that looks efficient on the map can still fail when vehicles bunch together, maintenance interrupts service, or rush-hour demand overwhelms its capacity.

The camera presents the city from an elevated management perspective, making it easier to inspect districts, follow vehicles, and identify weak points in the network. This is a planning game first. The satisfaction comes from watching a badly connected city become legible through better routes and more disciplined scheduling.

Timetables, fares, and city growth

Timetable management is one of the sequel's defining systems. Services can be organized around daytime demand, morning and evening peaks, night operation, and weekend travel. Instead of sending identical service across the entire day, you can tune frequency and operating periods to match how citizens actually move.

Ticket policy adds another layer of control. The game supports different fare structures, including individual tickets, monthly passes, network passes, and zone-based pricing. Prices influence revenue and passenger behavior, so a profitable network is not created by simply charging more. You must balance affordability, coverage, vehicle upkeep, and the quality of connections.

Transport investment also affects dynamic city growth. Affordable services encourage housing and workplaces, while more expensive or specialized transport can attract higher-value development. This relationship makes route design part of urban planning: the network does not merely respond to the city, it helps determine where the city expands.

Campaign, sandbox, and user-created maps

The campaign presents scenario-based objectives built around practical transport problems. Missions ask you to connect important areas, satisfy passenger needs, expand infrastructure, or operate within financial constraints. The structure gives new players direction without removing the game's emphasis on experimentation.

Sandbox mode is the more flexible option for players who want to design networks without following a fixed chain of objectives. You can develop a city at your own pace, test different vehicle mixes, and refine routes until the system behaves as intended. The included map editor extends that approach by allowing players to create custom cities for single-player and online use.

Players who prefer a broader city-building scope may find a useful contrast in full city builders such as Cities Skylines Deluxe Edition, where transport is one part of a much larger municipal toolkit. Cities in Motion 2 is narrower by design, but that narrower focus gives its transit decisions more weight.

Vehicles and downloadable content

The base game provides the main transportation-management framework, including the campaign, sandbox play, vehicle operations, road construction, timetables, fare policies, and multiplayer modes. The commercial model is a paid base game with separately sold content rather than a free-to-play structure.

The PC catalog includes 12 listed content items for Cities in Motion 2. The add-ons cover new vehicles, vehicle themes, landmarks, historical transport, European settings, and a soundtrack. Notable packs include Bus Mania, Wending Waterbuses, Trekking Trolleys, Metro Madness, Marvellous Monorails, European Cities, and Players Choice Vehicle Pack.

European Cities is the largest setting-focused expansion in the official catalog, adding a campaign with six scenarios and maps inspired by Liverpool, Düsseldorf, and Prague. It is an expansion for the full game, not a standalone edition, so players should treat the base game and add-ons as separate parts of the catalog.

Multiplayer and PC features

Cities in Motion 2 supports online co-op and competitive multiplayer. Cooperative play lets players develop a shared transportation network, while competitive modes turn efficiency, coverage, and city performance into opposing goals. Multiplayer is a complement to the solo management loop rather than a replacement for the campaign or sandbox modes.

The current Steam version lists Steam Workshop, Steam Achievements, Trading Cards, Family Sharing, and cross-platform multiplayer among its platform features. The storefront identifies keyboard-and-mouse play and does not advertise full controller support, so PC players should approach it primarily as a mouse-driven management game.

Steam lists English and German interface support. Full voice acting and subtitle coverage are not advertised in the storefront language table, so players looking for broad localization should not assume that every menu or text element is available in additional languages. The game uses the Steam client and requires agreement to a third-party EULA.

Who should play Cities in Motion 2?

This is a strong fit for players who enjoy transport tycoon systems, route optimization, economic simulation, and the small operational decisions that make a network reliable. It rewards patience more than speed. The best results come from observing passenger flows, revising weak lines, and accepting that one successful route can create a new problem somewhere else.

It is less suitable for players who want a character-driven campaign, detailed civic services, or a city builder where every urban system receives equal attention. Cities in Motion 2 is specifically about public transit. Its maps and development systems exist to create transport problems, not to provide a general-purpose urban sandbox.

Players interested in a more infrastructure-heavy logistics game can also compare it with rail-focused management games such as Sweet Transit. The two games share a network-building mindset, but Cities in Motion 2 is centered on passenger mobility, timetables, fares, and urban demand.

Cities in Motion 2 FAQ

Is Cities in Motion 2: The Modern Days the current official name?

No. Cities in Motion 2 is the name currently used on the PC storefront. “The Modern Days” appeared in early promotional and third-party references, but it is not shown as a separate current edition or rebrand on Steam.

What kind of game is Cities in Motion 2?

It is a transportation management and economic simulation game with strategy, sandbox, city-building, and multiplayer elements. You run a transit company rather than controlling every municipal service in the city.

Can you play Cities in Motion 2 in multiplayer?

Yes. The game includes online cooperative and competitive multiplayer. Solo campaign and sandbox modes are also available for players who prefer to build and manage alone.

Does the game include a map editor?

Yes. The map editor lets players create custom cities, which can then be used in single-player games and online multiplayer.

What transport can you operate?

The core vehicle lineup includes buses, trolleybuses, trams, metros, and ferries. Additional vehicle-focused add-ons expand the available transport themes and options.

Is all Cities in Motion 2 content included in the base game?

No. The base game contains the principal campaign, sandbox, multiplayer, map editing, and transportation systems. The Steam catalog lists separate paid add-ons for extra vehicles, maps, landmarks, historical content, and audio.