Developed by Weltenbauer and published by astragon Entertainment, Airfield Expansion is the latest DLC for Construction Simulator and it brings a completely new scenario to the game for players. This premium DLC is the first proper expansion to arrive for Construction Simulator which was released back in September 2022 and players who were looking forward to playing more of this game are going to be thrilled because the developers have absolutely nailed it. The latest expansion goes beyond your traditional jobs in the game like the construction of a road or building a beachside hut and gives you the responsibility of building a fully functional airfield that will benefit the full city. This is our review of the PC Steam version of the new Airfield Expansion for Construction Simulator in which we build an airport and watch cool airplanes land and takeoff from it.
If you have not figured it out already, Construction Simulator – Airfield Expansion will allow you to build a fully-functional airfield in the place of an abandoned ranch and you have the complete responsibility for it. Unlike most of the jobs in the game, this single job is really tough and will require nearly all types of construction machinery in your fleet, so you are in for a treat if you were waiting for a similar type of job.
An adventurer has arrived on both maps, and they are looking to convert old, abandoned ranches into fully functioning airfields and your task is to help them out in it. They have laid down the plans, and have figured out all of the materials required however you have to provide the labor, the skill, and the fleet of heavy machinery required for this job.
There are five phases of the new contract, and each phase comes with tons of tasks that will require multiple pieces of machinery at the same time. You start off by building a two-part runway, move on to the hangar to store the airplanes, construct a terminal for all operations, and then conclude the job with a control tower that will control all of the air traffic coming and going from your newly constructed airport.
Each of these phases will require a lot of tasks and some of these tasks are even tougher to complete if you are playing solo like I did. There is tons more digging to do this time around and you can expect a lot of trips back and forth in your Dumper to sell off the sand and then come back and collect more since you have to dig out entire runways and then carpet them enough for airplanes.
I like the fact that both locations for airports really suit the maps and their themes are designed according to the cities. The American airport is more yellowish and something like you would expect to see out in Nevada or Texas with wide open areas and a lot more sand while the European airfield looks more sophisticated and much less yellow.
The tasks for both of the airports are pretty much alike so once you have constructed one completely, you will expect what to do in the next one. It also gives you an impression of what really goes on in the construction of an airport. As compared to some of the tougher jobs in the base game, I liked how this one gives you more tasks to complete and very few jobs are done automatically especially while unboxing supplies. Normally, when you unbox supplies, a lot of tasks are done automatically but not here.
You will need a complete fleet of heavy machinery to complete the construction of your airfield and having a petrol pump right next to it is really cool as well. While you will be making lots of trips to sell off extra soil, collect construction materials, or bring the rented machinery to the site but at least you will have the facility to repair and refuel your fleet right next to the site. For this scenario, you will need a multitude of dumpers, excavators, concrete mixers, road pavers, cranes, and everything else in your fleet.
This is because the airport requires nearly everything. There are runways and roads and then you have huge and wide buildings and even tall towers that require the coolest and the biggest drill machine in the game, which is required very little in normal jobs. In short, if you love taking out your machines for a spin, you are in for a treat with this new airfield construction.
The new Airfield Expansion is a really meaty piece of DLC for Construction Simulator and it is also really good. It goes to show that this game still has a lot of potential left in it and the developers are happy to keep it alive with new content for players. The scenarios are unique, and you will love working on a brand-new piece of land that was pretty much ignored in the base game.
What I also like is that you can experience it twice on both maps and while the overall premise of the job is pretty much the same, seeing the airfield in action and knowing that you built it is really satisfying at the end of this long and tedious task. This is perhaps the best thing about this expansion because you actually feel like you contributed to the city and your work is actively serving the city. After completing the new Airfield Expansion, I am now really looking forward to seeing what the developers have lined up for us next in this brilliant construction simulation game because this was surely a surprise.
Final Verdict:
Airfield Expansion actually shows us how you must do an expansion for any game with its hours and hours of gameplay. You can spend over 20 hours in this expansion alone and still not be done with it, thanks to the countless new tasks it offers, and the best bit is that you can play it on both of the in-game maps. With the arrival of Airfield expansion and how easy it is to add new content to Construction Simulator, thanks to its scenario-campaign structure, I can easily say that Weltenbauer and astragon have done an amazing job with the new expansion. If you sank hours into the base game, you would love the new Airfield expansion because it offers a completely brand-new experience. If you love aviation and construction, you will go nuts with it. Highly recommended for fans of the title or aviation experts who would love to construct an airfield and see planes land and take off.
Final Score: 8.5/10
