After a private beta phase, which included a successful showcase at Gamescom, we're ready to tell you exactly when the new Microlandia 2.0 update will arrive: September 28. And we're opening a public beta, so if you're happy to jump in before everything is fully balanced, you can play it today.
Also, in addition to what we already announced: environmental challenges, bigger maps, terraforming, and skyscrapers, we're adding a few extra features we're really crazy about:
Build your own brownstone blocks
Since in 2.0 the grid changes from 20m to 10m we adapted our smallest apartment unit the „townhouse block“ to smaller units „townhouse“. And we also developed a new style for it, inspired by New York City: the brownstone, with its iconic 19th-century architecture!
But if you still prefer the old colorful Victorian vibe that 1.x had, you can still build it by selecting the "Frisco" style. With this, we're adding the first building with two architectural styles to choose from. Same stats, same simulation, but different looks that better match the style of your city. Of course, you can also mix both!
Business in the front, party in the back
We've also added the smallest mixed-use housing type, one that is ubiquitous across Southeast Asia and especially iconic in Singapore: the shophouse. These narrow buildings pack a shop on the ground floor and a home above, creating lively streets where commerce and everyday life happen in the same place.
We love this idea because it gives small businesses an easy way to get started while bringing jobs, shops, and homes closer together. In Microlandia, the shophouse is both a home and a mixed-use building, helping create neighborhoods with their own local business ecosystem, and fewer long commutes.
Garden cities
One of the most influential ideas of 20th-century urbanism was to break apartment buildings free from the traditional street block and place them inside a continuous landscape of trees, lawns, and gardens.
In postwar Berlin, the Hansaviertel became one of the clearest examples of this modernist idea. On the other side of the divided city, later developments along Karl-Marx-Allee also moved toward open layouts, with apartment blocks surrounded by generous green spaces.
To allow this in Microlandia, we're bending the rules of what is a park and what is residential space: apartment buildings can now be placed in the middle of a park, as long as there's a road close enough for service vehicles.
Play Microlandia 2.0 today
To try it, open the game's properties in Steam and switch the release channel to "beta". This will upgrade your game to the 2.0 beta version.
Please be warned: there are still a few placeholder assets, and not everything is fully polished. We're also happy to get all your feedback and bug reports, as we'll be working hard over the next two weeks to iron everything out so that, on September 28, it will be ready for all players.