We're nearing the release of Cities: Skylines' final official expansion, and Colossal Order and Paradox have revealed details of a free update that's coming alongside the DLC. You won't need Hotels & Retreats to download this update, which adds new vehicles and lots more, although as is always the case with Cities: Skylines, it's a bit more complicated than just owning the base game.
Hotels & Retreats will serve as Cities: Skylines' last expansion before the devs shift to focusing on Cities: Skylines II. This update will arrive alongside that expansion on May 23rd and will be free for all players, adding new vehicles, new roads, and new buildings and decorations. As ever, certain content will require you to own certain expansions.
In essence, base game owners get access to a few vehicles, as well as some new tree types to pretty up your city. From there, various combinations of expansions will get you extra roads, vehicles, and decorations, as well as new buildings to play with. It's a little confusing; some content requires you to own just one expansion, while other additions need you to have a combo of two different expansions.
It's worth giving the full Cities: Skylines update patch notes a quick read, because they'll tell you exactly what content you'll unlock depending on which expansions you own. Don't have any expansions at all? You're limited to vehicles and trees, my old chum, as well as some improvements to features like trollybuses, ferry capacity, and base game park upkeep. The full patch notes have plenty of extra info available for smaller changes and tweaks too.
This new update, as well as the Hotels & Retreats expansion, are due to arrive for Cities: Skylines on May 23rd. The second game, which has been announced for PC and current-gen consoles, doesn't have a release date as yet, so watch this space for more info on that. Until then, you can check out the original Cities: Skylines on PC and consoles.