Now that the game has been out for a number of years I can retrospect and say that this is arguably the best, and at the very least the most interesting, DLC that Cities: Skylines has had to date. Spending dozens of hours building a city just to watch it all burn to the ground isn't the appeal of this content pack, though; instead it's the new gameplay systems which are introduced that add the additional mechanical layers and depth that Cities:Skylines has needed since launch.

Natural Disasters forces players to come to terms with the fact that everything can be taken from them; homes will collapse, the dead will pile up, and the streets will remain flooded if players don't plan accordingly. To ensure disasters have a minimal impact you must:

1 - Build the early warning monitoring systems for each disaster introduced in the DLC (earthquake sensors and firewatch towers, to name a couple)

2 - Construct radio towers which cover every inch of the city so that cities can be notified of incoming disasters

3 - Build bunkers which stockpile food and allow players to place escape routes which are used to evacuate citizens when disasters strike

4 - Build disaster recovery systems like the water pumping station which deploys trucks that soak up water flooding city streets after a tsunami, or the disaster response unit which deploys rescue helicopters that pulls trapped citizens out of building rubble.

These overlapping gameplay systems are why I like this DLC. It gives me a lot more to think about which interconnects with the rest of my city. It's not a self-contained side mechanic, like the ones seen in Park Life, Campus, or Industries. It's not visual fluff like the creator packs, or inconsequential additions like Mass Transit and Green Cities. Natural Disasters offers a real expansion of mechanics that improves the overall city building experience by giving you more things to consider during planning, and it's something I wish we saw more of.