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- Paradox Interactive
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- Paradox Interactive
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- Paradox Interactive
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- Paradox Interactive
Cities: Skylines
Released On: Mar 10, 2015
85
8.7
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 60 Critic Reviews
85
97% Positive
58 Reviews
58 Reviews
3% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 60 Critic Reviews
85
97% Positive
58 Reviews
58 Reviews
3% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
This game managed to be everything I had hoped it would be and then some, with all the wonderful attention to little details and customization options. Fans of the genre wont want to miss this one.
It’s a shame that Maxis folded the way it did, but the baton has been passed. Rejoice, mini-mayors, for the city-builder is born anew.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 2,257 User Ratings
8.7
86% Positive
1940 Ratings
1940 Ratings
10% Mixed
227 Ratings
227 Ratings
4% Negative
90 Ratings
90 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 2,257 User Ratings
8.7
86% Positive
1940 Ratings
1940 Ratings
10% Mixed
227 Ratings
227 Ratings
4% Negative
90 Ratings
90 Ratings
Best city builder out there.
After the epic fail, that was SimCity, I gave up hope for a good, relaxing city building game. Then, I came across Cities: Skylines and my hope was restored.
Right from the start, the appeal, calm music and peaceful, non-forced gameplay had my deepest respect. You can do whatever you want, whenever you want. You start with your piece of land, which you choose at the start of the game, and start building your glorious city.
The mechanics are well implemented and work great. You start small, having limited building, roads and facilities at your disposal. As your city grows, new buildings will unlock. This keeps the game in balance and is, at the same time, some sort of tutorial which lets you know what you might need next, now that your city has grown.
If you want more control and freedom, you can also play sandbox mode, in which you can choose unlimited funds, create your own landscape and make everything exactly the way you want. I used this mode a lot to create (or trying to do so) a realistic presentation of my hometown and its districts.
Although the game never really ends, the goal is to create a healthy, accessible and proper functioning city, in which your citizens are happy. At the start of the game, this is easy, because the city is small and does not require that much facilities and work, but later on, you are managing fifty things at a time, constantly keeping an eye on your finances, happiness in the city and problems that need your attention. Although I really liked playing the mayor of my humble city, later on in the game, I sometimes lost a little control and overview of what needed to be done and were some problems originated from. However, this is to be expected when your city grows and grows.
Visually, this game looks amazing. The detail does not just include landscape and buildings, but also people, cars, traffic lights and much more. Every person and car is animated properly and, when zooming in, the game almost feels like watching a movie. I could enjoy myself for a good hour just looking and checking out my city while zooming in.
In terms of sound, the best aspect of this game is the ambient, calming music. The little ping sounds when something is happening, the many voices when a lot of people are in the same place, the sound of cars stuck in traffic, it is all just right.
The buildings and options in Cities: Skylines are endless. Besides the public service buildings, you can build parks, monuments, wonders, art, and so much more. Each new building adds something to your city in terms of functionality and look, and it makes your city look so much more alive.
The modding community for this game is awesome. So many new vehicles, buildings, skins, landscapes and mechanics are added each day and, when you are finally done with the base game, it opens so many new possibilities.
By far, the best aspect of this game is it’s calming and relaxed nature. You are playing a videogame, but for me, it feels like a little vacation in which I certainly do stuff, but can just relax and watch my citizens go to work, read some info about them, give them a new name, attach myself to that person and then realize that I am playing a game. It is the experience from this game that I missed from SimCity and I am really happy that this game came along my path.
Needless to say, I definitely recommend this game.
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PC
Cities: Skylines is absolutely the best city-builder I’ve played since SimCity 4. From macro to micro, from the sprawling transport networks and city-wide policies to the fine-tuned districts and street-level detail, it impresses.
Cities: Skylines isn’t without its flaws, but even the things wrong with it add to its charm. It might not be that much of a challenge, but it delivers on the glee of expansion.
Cities: Skyline is the game SimCity should have been: a great game and a greater base for modders.
Even though Cities: Skylines is not without flaws, it's still the best game in city-building genre.
As limber as Cities: Skylines is, it’s sorely lacking in replayability. Instead, it lets you get the most out of your favorite city by encouraging you to endlessly optimize and furthermore giving you the tools you need to do it. Come for the ant farm spectacle and spreadsheet detail. Stay for the endless cultivation of your favorite garden.
You can really get stuck in the game, but there is a significant drawback: when paradox doesn’t finish its games, they add paid DLCs, specifically in this game they cost $80, which is a lot for a city planning simulator. Also, when building large cities, FPS drops significantly, which cannot be corrected in the settings.
p.s. I didn’t think that I would criticize my favorite simulator like this(
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PC
Eh. Money is hard to make.
Report
PC
This game is potential wasted. It has great graphics, asset creators, and is almost perfect for those who just like to create cities to look at. If you want a city simulator, though, Cities: Skylines falls flat on its face.
There is very little content in the vanilla game. To actually have a good experience, one needs to purchase a load of DLCs. The graphics, while better than some games, are not optimized for all but the most high-end computers. Even with the lowest graphics settings, I struggle to get more than 5fps. To make this game playable, one needs mods, which is unfortunate for such an expensive game.
The simulation is not realistic, and does not represent how actual cities work. It is very hard to go bankrupt, even on the hardest settings, and one spends the whole game fixing traffic around freight rail stations. Additionally, big deathwaves come through the city, and kill off half of your population every now and then for no reason. There is no mixed-use zoning. You can't have streets without cars. You can't have alleyways, or canals, or a lot of the things that make real-life cities good. Transportation is basically swept under the rug, and the way people get around shares no resemblance to real-life.
There is a lot of potential here for the ultimate city-building game. Unfortunately, there are a few humongous flaws that hold it back.
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PC
Summary Developed by Colossal Order, Cities: Skylines offers sprawling landscapes and maps with endless sandbox gameplay and new ways to expand your city. Key to progression is the ability to influence your city’s policy by incorporating taxation into districts. All this plus the ability to mod the game to suit your play style.
Rated E
for Everyone
Platforms:
- PC
- Nintendo Switch
- PlayStation 4
- Xbox One
Initial Release Date: Mar 10, 2015
Developer:
- Colossal Order
Publisher: Paradox Interactive
Genres:
