The Cities: Skylines II launch has had quite the build up, with Paradox Interactive thinking up all kinds of wild PR stunts to drum up enthusiasm for the upcoming city builder—like suspending a bunch of content creators from a crane at GamesCom, for reasons. To add to the list of experimental ways the game studio is out there creating a buzz, they've been working alongside street artists 3D Joe & Max to show off in-game scenes through street art, out in the real world.
Because what's a living city without a bit of graffiti?
Down at the London ExCeL venue at EGX last week, thousands of gamers gathered to touch grass together in the name of gaming. Just outside on Saturday, October 14, Paradox Interactive was not only painting the city with more city—because they heard you like cities—they've even been kind enough to hand out some copies of the PC Gamer magazine to unwitting passers-by. You know, the issue with the Cities: Skylines II cover feature.
The artwork was a birds eye view of towering city blocks, with a backdrop of rolling hills by an azure ocean, drawn as if the pavement had cracked to reveal a hidden world beneath our own. In the spirit of gaming, 3D Joe & Max's chalk art was actually designed to be interactive, so the public got to take some epic shots of themselves posing atop a crane in this gorgeously chalky sidewalk cityscape.
Off the back of the event, I'm pretty excited we're now vaguely associated with 3D Joe & Max too, considering some of the incredible work they do. Their portfolio includes everything from dinosaurs breaking through walls, to scenes of Luke Skywalker's X-Wing heading down the Death Star, to cavernous renditions of my favorite board game as a kid: Snakes and Ladders.
It's breathtaking stuff, the way they give the illusion of three dimensions in their work on such a grand scale. It's the perfect way to show off some of the brilliant asset designs for Cities: Skylines II.
If their city-ception has done the trick of encouraging you to download and play the newest addition to the well-loved city builder franchise, you can grab Cities Skylines II on Steam from October 24. The standard and ultimate edition are also available for pre-purchase so you can just hit download when the day finally comes.
Until then, why not check out 3D Joe & Max's Instagram for more incredible city-based artwork. I wonder if their work will ever end up in a mod for Cities: Skylines II?
