Cities: Skylines Reviews

it’s fun, creative, and perfect for people who love building and planning. Not too stressful, but can get deep if you want it to.

Unless you buy all the DLCs, it is in my opinion not worth it. Especialy because of the traffic system.

For some reason, the game launches, says it is running, but never appears on my screen to play.

The game is very fun and helps let out creative ideas in a fun way!

I'm kinda late with this review, but it's only because I was to addicted to this game and even though it's from 2015, it's still fantastic. The modding community alone makes this the definitive city builder. It gives you all the tools to build your dream city, and then some.

Quite an addictive game. I've lost hours to optimising my city. That being said, if you've never played it's worth diving into a few starter city tutorials on YouTube. Especially any by CityPlannerPlays. I found his advice crucial to start my first city that actually thrived. My first two attempts descended into traffic anarchy which has a flow on effect that will cripple your city.

Reviewing (mostly) every game (or DLC) in my library, part 300: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆☆☆☆ (6/10) "Babe, it's not you, it's me." That's exactly how I feel about [i]Cities: Skylines[/i], the kind of game I respect more than I enjoy. It’s clearly a high-quality, well-supported city builder, and I can completely understand why it’s a favorite for simulation fans. But honestly, it never fully clicked with me. No big deal, just not for me. 🌆 [b]Pros:[/b] [list] [*] The level of simulation is impressively deep. Everything from sewage to schooling, traffic lights to tourism, is tracked and managed. There’s a satisfaction in slowly learning how all the systems connect and building a city that works, not just looks good. You get to feel like a real urban planner—if your urban planner had godlike powers and no budget constraints. [*] The visuals are clean and surprisingly cozy for a simulation game. Zooming in on little neighborhoods, watching cars crawl along a highway you designed, or seeing a bus route finally take pressure off traffic—it all looks good and feels like progress. It’s easy to lose time just watching the city move. [*] The modding community is incredibly strong. Between Steam Workshop assets, traffic tools, UI improvements, and entire gameplay overhauls, it’s obvious the player base is passionate. If you need anything else, someone has already uploaded a tool to help you do it. [*] The DLCs, while expensive, add depth. Things like natural disasters, industries, public transit expansions, and park-building can really change your approach to a city. That said… [/list] 🧱 [b]Cons:[/b] [list] [*] It can be overwhelming and frontloaded. New players are left to figure out too much on their own. There are in-game tutorials, but they’re pretty surface-level. Even after several cities, I still wasn’t sure if I was balancing taxes or utilities properly, and most of the time, I couldn’t tell if my fixes actually worked or just delayed collapse. [*] The base game feels too limited without mods, but the modded experience can be unstable. Out of the box, the tools are there, but the UI is clunky and the building variety is limited. Add mods, and suddenly you have thousands of new options—but also longer loading times, higher RAM usage, and occasional crashes. It’s a trade-off between boredom and bloat. [*] Weird, I know, but the cities lack personality. You can name streets, districts, and individual citizens, but it never quite feels like they matter. Sims exist to use infrastructure—not to create stories. I never got the sense that a neighborhood had character beyond how it contributed to the city’s overall stats. Even the disasters and unique buildings feel a bit sterile. [*] It might be my ADHD, but I found it more mentally exhausting than creatively stimulating. I went in expecting something chill and sandboxy, and instead got a system that rewards micromanagement. It’s hard to make something beautiful without first making something highly optimized—and the amount of behind-the-scenes work needed to get there took the wind out of my sails. [*] It has the common Paradox DLC model: LOTS of useless or necessary, cheap or expensive DLCs that require you to do research before buying. [/list]

1000x better then the sequel. Only wish the road tools from CS2 were in this game. 100% get this one and not CS2 you've been warned!

This game was fun, but after over 10 years, there is no reasonable way to get the DLCs. The DLC policy is a greedy shakedown.

It's an ok game, but it relies to heavily on DLC to get the full experience, and the base game gets old pretty quickly.