Strategy Sessions Weekly: August 13, 2026

Iceflake Studios keeps proving it’s serious about Cities: Skylines II, and this week’s City Corner update is aimed squarely at modders. Meanwhile, two long-awaited strategy games finally have dates: Expeditions: Samurai stepped into early access, and Endless Legend 2 confirmed when it leaves. Here’s what actually matters for your next session.

Strategy Sessions Weekly — At a Glance (13 August 2026)

Story	What Happened	Key Date
Cities: Skylines II	City Corner #10 expands modding tools, continuing Iceflake’s post-takeover patch pattern	Live now
Expeditions: Samurai	Launched into Steam early access with 5 main quests and 14 locations	7 Aug 2026
Endless Legend 2	Confirmed 1.0 launch, adding the Sandshapers as a sixth major faction	17 Sept 2026
MENACE	Terrain update overhauls mission generation and adds new visuals	Live now
Wargames	Sudden Strike 5’s France: Road to Liberation and Headquarters: Cold War’s Operation Pacify DLCs both released	Live now
Worth Watching	Repterra leaves early access; Hearth and Hamlet releases	19–20 Aug 2026

🎯 Quick Wins

Expeditions: Samurai launched into Steam early access on 7 August, dropping players into a fictionalised 1600s Japan where a civil war is reshaping the nation. The initial build ships with five main quests, three side quests and 14 locations to explore, with two further content updates planned before a full 2027 release. If you enjoyed the tactical combat in earlier Expeditions games, it’s worth a look now while the developers are still actively shaping it.

Endless Legend 2, not Endless Space 2, is the 4X title heading to its 1.0 release, confirmed for 17 September. The launch version adds the Sandshapers as a sixth major faction, along with the Order of Zelevas, the Severed Claw and a new minor faction called the Mangrove of Harmony. Worth flagging for readers still working through our guide to getting started with strategy games who’ve been waiting for a fuller roster before jumping in.

MENACE’s early access build just received a substantial terrain update, reworking how missions generate their maps and adding new ruins, weapon models and alien skins. The changes should make procedurally generated missions feel noticeably less repetitive. It’s a solid moment to jump back in if you bounced off the game’s earlier, more uniform terrain.

🧠 Strategy Spotlight

Cities: Skylines II’s post-takeover glow-up keeps rolling, with Iceflake Studios turning its attention to modding for the latest City Corner update. The update expands mod support and refines the tools that let creators dig into the game’s systems, continuing the pattern the studio set with its earlier patches: UI clean-ups, revised terraforming, and legacy toggles that let long-time players keep the mechanics they’d already adapted to.

For anyone tracking Iceflake’s changes since taking over from the original team, this is another sign the studio is playing a long game rather than chasing quick headlines. Modding support has been a persistent request since launch, and giving creators better tools now should pay off as the community starts shipping more ambitious overhauls. If you’re still catching up on what changed under the new regime, our breakdown of the Summer Solstice patch covers the mechanical shifts that led here.

Nothing in this update should disrupt an existing save, and there’s no need to hold off starting a new city while you wait for more. The bigger story is the direction: Iceflake is treating CS2 as infrastructure to build on, not just a game to patch quietly and move past.

👀 Worth Watching

Two Cold War-era wargames both got new content this week. Sudden Strike 5 added its France: Road to Liberation campaign, a six-mission arc following the Allied push through southern France, while Headquarters: Cold War released its first DLC, Operation Pacify, putting players in command of Soviet forces on a five-mission hunt for a NATO weapon.

Also worth a note in your calendar: Repterra, MicroProse’s dinosaur-themed base-defence RTS, leaves early access on 20 August after a few months of testing, and the cosy city-builder Hearth and Hamlet is due out 19 August for anyone who wants something gentler than a Cold War skirmish.

💬 Community Corner

With City Corner #10 opening up more of Cities: Skylines II’s modding tools, expect the CS2 subreddit and Paradox forums to spend the next few weeks picking apart what’s now possible. Early chatter is focused on asset customisation and whether the expanded tools will finally make ploppable RICO-style buildings easier to create. Worth following if you rely on mods to fill gaps the base game hasn’t addressed yet.

⏭️ Next Week’s Prep

Endless Legend 2 has just over a month before its 17 September 1.0 launch, so expect more previews of the new factions as that date gets closer. We’ll also be keeping an eye on early reactions to Repterra’s full release. See you next Friday for another round of Strategy Sessions Weekly.

Continue Your Journey Catch up on last week’s roundup for the Manor Lords building overhaul, brush up with our guide to getting started with strategy games, or read how the Summer Solstice patch set up this week’s CS2 changes.