General Gaming Cities: Skylines II - extensive technical analysis indicates performance issues due to rendering FAR too many polygons ("makes Cyberpunk 2077 look like Minecraft in comparison")

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

[Keyser_Soze]

Enjoy 100 pieces of DLC afterward!

[Fizzzzle]

Cities: Skylines 2 announced and launching later this year

WWW.EUROGAMER.NET

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As part of today's announcement bonanza, Paradox Interactive has officially unveiled its long-awaited city builder sequ…

 

 

It's coming to PS5 and XSX/S presumably on day 1, which is kind of cool.

 

I know there's going to be a lot of people that are probably going to complain about the game for being feature deplete when it releases, and it probably will be, but honestly DLC is how they make their money.

 

I'm more thinking about quality of life feature changes from the original, things like having greater control over traffic patterns and things, which right now you can only do with mods. In my opinion, playing the game without mods is a bit rough. There's also almost some feature bloat at this point that could be trimmed down or improved. 

[Fizzzzle]

Ah, you beat me @Commissar SFLUFAN

[Paperclyp]

I have like 30 mins in the first. I’d like to learn to play it sometime but it was a lot to take in to start. 

[Fizzzzle]

4 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

Enjoy 100 pieces of DLC afterward!

I don't mind it when games like Cities: Skylines do this. It's how they make their money, and it's not like they're charging an assload for minor changes the way The Sims does it. Plus, every time new DLC comes out, it does come with a pretty big update for the vanilla game that also comes with new shit.

 

 

With a lot of games like Cities: Skylines or The Sims, it seems like a lot of people who play those games pretty much *only* play those games. If you're someone who falls into that category, paying $60/year or whatever to keep up with DLC doesn't seem like a huge burden (in the case of The Sims 4, it's probably more like $200/year)

[Keyser_Soze]

37 minutes ago, Fizzzzle said:

I don't mind it when games like Cities: Skylines do this. It's how they make their money, and it's not like they're charging an assload for minor changes the way The Sims does it. Plus, every time new DLC comes out, it does come with a pretty big update for the vanilla game that also comes with new shit.

 

Sure I don't mind it either. But by the time the DLC comes out I'm done playing the game.

I think I have a good hunk of the DLC for the first game I got on sale  (or in a bundle) and still never played it after I got that. 🤷‍♀️

[TheLeon]

I’ll try it on Game Pass, but this is a genre I’ve never really been able to get into. 

[AshsToAshs]

Loved Cities Skylines, can't wait for this new one.

But, this has to be one of the more boringly generic game logos I've ever seen:

[Bjomesphat]

They really dropped the ball by not calling it Cities Skylines 2000.

[Kal-El814]

1 hour ago, Bjomesphat said:

They really dropped the ball by not calling it Cities Skylines 2000.

What about Ant Skylines?

[Massdriver]

If they are going to allow more flexible traffic patterns, that will sell if to me.

[Fizzzzle]

3 hours ago, Massdriver said:

If they are going to allow more flexible traffic patterns, that will sell if to me.

That's one thing I hope, as well. CPU power has come a long way since then. Dynamic problem solving from the cars would make for a wonderful approach to traffic. In Cities: Skylines, every car just takes the shortest distance possible route regardless of traffic. At first it was annoying, but after you play the game long enough it becomes pretty riciculously easy to anticipate traffic patterns

 

Also please, please give me some mid-level zoning. I hate the look of cities when it gets to a point where all of your buildings are either low-density or skyscrapers. There are ways around that, but it shouldn't be required. Just have mid-level zoning.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

 

Cities: Skylines II Feature Highlight #1: Road Tools - Paradox Interactive

WWW.PARADOXINTERACTIVE.COM

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Paradox Interactive is a world leading PC games publisher known for games such as Cities: Skylines, Europa Universalis and Crusader Kings.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

 

Cities: Skylines II Feature Highlight #2: Traffic AI - Paradox Interactive

WWW.PARADOXINTERACTIVE.COM

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Paradox Interactive is a world leading PC games publisher known for games such as Cities: Skylines, Europa Universalis and Crusader Kings.

[Fizzzzle]

I enjoy how they've basically put a lot of the most popular mods from the first game baked into the second game.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

 

Cities: Skylines II Feature Highlight #3: Public & Cargo Transportation - Paradox Interactive

WWW.PARADOXINTERACTIVE.COM

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Paradox Interactive is a world leading PC games publisher known for games such as Cities: Skylines, Europa Universalis and Crusader Kings.

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

 

Cities: Skylines II Feature Highlight #4: Zones & Signature Buildings - Paradox Interactive

WWW.PARADOXINTERACTIVE.COM

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Paradox Interactive is a world leading PC games publisher known for games such as Cities: Skylines, Europa Universalis and Crusader Kings.

 

[Massdriver]

The traffic AI looks much improved!

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

 

Cities: Skylines II Feature Highlight #5: City Services - Paradox Interactive

WWW.PARADOXINTERACTIVE.COM

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Paradox Interactive is a world leading PC games publisher known for games such as Cities: Skylines, Europa Universalis and Crusader Kings.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

 

Cities: Skylines II Feature Highlight #6: Electricity & Water - Paradox Interactive

WWW.PARADOXINTERACTIVE.COM

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Paradox Interactive is a world leading PC games publisher known for games such as Cities: Skylines, Europa Universalis and Crusader Kings.

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

 

Cities: Skylines II Feature Highlight #7: Maps & Themes - Paradox Interactive

WWW.PARADOXINTERACTIVE.COM

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Paradox Interactive is a world leading PC games publisher known for games such as Cities: Skylines, Europa Universalis and Crusader Kings.

 

Cities: Skylines 2 is 'roughly 5 times bigger' than the original | PC Gamer

WWW.PCGAMER.COM

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A new dev diary for the city builder sequel shows how much bigger the buildable area is in Cities: Skylines 2.

 

 

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Today's infodump is all about the maps you'll build your cities on, and just how big they are—and the best way to explain the size of the buildable area in Cities: Skylines 2 is to compare it to the original game.

 

"In Cities: Skylines the playable area consists of 5x5 tiles, 9 of which can be purchased once everything is unlocked," Colossal Order says. "One map tile is 1.92 x 1.92 km which results in the total playable area being 92.16km² with a maximum of 33.18km² to build a city on."

 

But things are going to get considerably bigger in Cities: Skylines 2. "For starters, one map tile is much smaller—roughly 1/3 what it is in the predecessor—but you are able to unlock almost all tiles giving you a whopping total of 441 map tiles," Colossal Order says.

 

"That results in a playable area of 159km² which is roughly 5 times bigger than in Cities: Skylines."

 

[Fizzzzle]

Much excite.

 

I don't really play Cities: Skylines anymore simply because it's become boring for me. The challenge is completely gone. I'm excited for a new one.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

 

Cities: Skylines II Feature Highlight #8: Climate & Seasons - Paradox Interactive

WWW.PARADOXINTERACTIVE.COM

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Paradox Interactive is a world leading PC games publisher known for games such as Cities: Skylines, Europa Universalis and Crusader Kings.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

 

Cities: Skylines II Feature Highlight #9: Economy & Production - Paradox Interactive

WWW.PARADOXINTERACTIVE.COM

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Paradox Interactive is a world leading PC games publisher known for games such as Cities: Skylines, Europa Universalis and Crusader Kings.

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

 

Cities: Skylines II Feature Highlight #10: Game Progression - Paradox Interactive

WWW.PARADOXINTERACTIVE.COM

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Paradox Interactive is a world leading PC games publisher known for games such as Cities: Skylines, Europa Universalis and Crusader Kings.

 

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Welcome! It’s time for another Cities: Skylines II development diary. Today is all about game progression, which has two layers: Milestones and Development Trees. As you might expect, Milestones unlock new services, policies, and infoviews, but the process of unlocking them is different in Cities: Skylines II. Development Trees, an entirely new feature, exist for each service and bring a new level of customization to game progression. Both systems are tied together as Milestones give you points to spend in your Development Trees, allowing you to unlock more advanced services.

Our goal with this approach was to give you the freedom to create the city you want without requiring you to reach high population numbers or using the Unlock All function. If you want to build just a small town next to the International Airport or the ChirpX Space Center, then you’re able to do just that. So, let’s dive into Milestones and Development Trees!

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

 

Cities: Skylines II Feature Highlight #11: Citizen Simulation & Lifepath - Paradox Interactive

WWW.PARADOXINTERACTIVE.COM

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Paradox Interactive is a world leading PC games publisher known for games such as Cities: Skylines, Europa Universalis and Crusader Kings.

 

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Hi and welcome back to another development diary for Cities: Skylines II!

 

This time we’ll take a closer look at the people populating your cities, their lives, and the choices they make as they grow older as well as how your actions steer their lives in different directions.

 

Citizens act as one of the primary agents simulated in the game. They are the residents of the houses in the residential zones, they are the workforce of the industrial, commercial, and office zones, and they are the customers in the commercial zones. Citizens suffer if the services do not operate properly but they also reap the benefits and flourish if you manage to govern your city well and answer their various needs.

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

 

Cities: Skylines II Feature Highlight #12: Sound & Music - Paradox Interactive

WWW.PARADOXINTERACTIVE.COM

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Paradox Interactive is a world leading PC games publisher known for games such as Cities: Skylines, Europa Universalis and Crusader Kings.

 

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Hi everyone and welcome back! Today we delve into the world of sound and music in Cities: Skylines II. The sounds follow in the footsteps of the game’s predecessor with all the familiar basic elements: City Service building sounds, atmospheric sounds, and the sound of traffic, however, all these elements have been expanded to give more depth, variety, and control. Ambient sounds generate the overall mood and feeling in the game while sound effects provide information and support in a more dynamic manner.

After sound effects, we explore how the main menu music for Cities: Skylines II was created and take a look at the radio. All of the in-game music is handled by the radio feature which, along with other sounds, has been expanded compared to Cities: Skylines. The game also now has even more audio options to help you tailor the soundscape to fit your personal preferences.

 

 

[Pikachu]

 

 

Development Diary #13: Cinematic Camera & Photo Mode | Paradox Interactive Forums

FORUM.PARADOXPLAZA.COM

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Hey everyone! We’re back with another installment of our development diary series. In this one, we will go over a feature that will help you capture the most memorable moments from your city! The...

 

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Hey everyone! We’re back with another installment of our development diary series. In this one, we will go over a feature that will help you capture the most memorable moments from your city! The Cinematic and Free Camera modes are completely different from what you are familiar with in Cities: Skylines. The difference between them is truly day and night. In Cities: Skylines II, both modes can be accessed by clicking the Photo Mode button located in the bottom-right corner of the main UI. From here, you can dive into the world of photo- and cinematography and capture your city in all of its glory, chaos, or spaghetti road madness with your friends or other players alike!

 

The power of these tools is really conveyed by the fact the in-game trailer was filmed using the built-in Cinematic Camera feature, and today’s diary is here to help you navigate the options so you too can capture amazing footage of your city! Check out the feature highlights video below or dive straight into the development diary.

 

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Recent previews:

 

At the eleventh hour, Cities Skylines 2 emerges as a GOTY contender in a truly packed year

WWW.VG247.COM

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2023, eh? Will it go down as an all-timer? With games like Cities Skylines 2 up front, it just might.

 

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What they’re offering, basically, is scale. On both a macro and micro level. Its maps are huge; around five times bigger than the first game. You’ll be able to create bigger cities with more stuff, and a more dense simulation – sure thing. But actually, the micro stuff is perhaps the more interesting element.

 

Everything has been broadly re-thought. Even placing roads is both simplified with new tools and options for automatically creating US style grid setups in just a few clicks and complicated by even more detailed levels of adjustment possible for those who really want to get into the weeds. Utilities (like electricity) now flow up and down roads beneath the ground, which means there’s less need to mess about with specific electric cabling, but there’s far more granularity in how those utilities function and are sourced.

 

Even the simulation of individual citizens is more in-depth, where you’ll be surprised at how much detail there is if you click on a specific person and follow them on their daily routine. You’ve got more control on what kind of buildings appear in your city’s residential, commercial, and industrial zones – both in terms of their functionality and their look. You can create neighborhoods with a specific visual flair. In this demo, I was able to choose between North American or European stylings, and you can see where this will go with mods and the like in the future. You’ll actually be able to designate and zone a specific ‘Chinatown’ district, for instance – and have it look authentic.

 

 

 

Cities: Skylines 2's huge maps blew me away with their sheer size and scale

WWW.ROCKPAPERSHOTGUN.COM

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RPS played an early build of Cities: Skylines 2, and came away impressed with its very detailed and user-friendly tutor…

 

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Confession time: if you've been keeping up to date with Colossal Order's feature highlight video series for Cities: Skylines 2 over the last couple of months, you're probably not going to learn a huge amount from my experience of playing it at Gamescom a couple of weeks ago. I spent most of my hour-long demo session steadily working my way through its extensive tutorial, as I have not, in fact, played Cities: Skylines before now - although I can at least confirm that its tutorial is very newbie-friendly, and that I now feel more prepared to give it a go properly when it comes out in full on October 24th.

 

But the thing that really impressed me was just the sheer scope of its playable spaces. We've known since the end of July that its maps are roughly 5x bigger than those in the first game, and when I saw Colossal Order's Maps & Themes video, I thought, 'Yes, those sure look enormous!' But actually seeing them in person really put things into perspective for me, especially when I tried zooming the camera out and it just kept going and going and going and…

 

 

 

Cities: Skylines 2 preview - fixing the UK road network one roundabout at a time | TechRadar

WWW.TECHRADAR.COM

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Swings and roundabouts

 

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Cities: Skylines 2, in all its realism, scale, and perfection, could seem a little intimidating at first. Looking after an entire city is by no means easy business, but thankfully the sequel does a fantastic job at taking care of the little details so you can focus on the bigger picture. 

 

During the short demo available to play at Gamescom, I got to go hands-on with Cities: Skylines 2 and experience many of the elements that it has to offer. There's a plethora of new features up for grabs in the sequel, many of which go above and beyond in making the upcoming city-building simulator feel realistic. 

 

The sequel introduces changing seasons and climates that will affect your residents' moods, customized ambient and city sounds, a realistic economy, updated AI residents, and, thankfully, various roundabouts. 

 

 

 

Cities: Skylines 2 looks set to found a new era of city building

WWW.THESIXTHAXIS.COM

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When you think of city builders over the last decade, there's only one name that still comes to mind: Cities: Skylines. The breakout success for Colossal

 

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A city builder starts with the road-laying tools, and Cities: Skylines 2 refines and expands upon the already pretty solid offerings of the first game. The fundamentals will be instantly familiar and usable for anyone that played the original, from placing straight roads on a strict grid to putting in curves and winding sections with just a few quick clicks, but there’s some new and exciting options to be found as well. Asymmetrical roads give you three lanes split unevenly between directions, catering better to heavier directional traffic or letting you siphon off from a route with a bespoke turning lane, going hand in hand with the more intelligent traffic AI. You can also now add alleyways to enhance your New York-style cities (and you can also place a quick grid, if you like) or place pedestrianised roads if you want to be more European, and roundabouts are an actual feature instead of an awkward collection of curving road sections.

 

Oh, and those roads are automatically plumbed for water and sewage, and wired for electricity, smoothing out some of the busywork that accompanied every early game and city expansion in the original. Then again, there’s some new tasks and quirks to get accustomed to with the other utilities. Pipes and cables don’t run through bridges, so you need to separately handle those, hiding them underground unless you fancy creating an eyesore, and you need to cable up remote wind turbines to the grid instead of just having them within range of some pylons or buildings. Maybe you don’t want to deal with either of the pollution of fossil fuels or the visuals of green energy, in which case you can connect up to electrical pylons that bring power in from other cities, though this comes at a higher production cost that you’ll need to cover with taxes and industry.

 

 

 

Cities Skylines 2 preview - City of Dreams - VideoGamer.com

WWW.VIDEOGAMER.COM

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We went hands-on with the sequel to the popular city building sim, and came away impressed with its new features

 

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I spent some hands-on time with the game recently at Gamescom, and immediately what struck me was how self-assured this follow-up is to play. The result of eight years of the previous game, plus feedback from those fans, shines through in even the early build, and though it’s been some years since I last played Cities Skylines, it really didn’t take long for me to re-learn the ropes, and start putting down zones such as Residential, Commercial and Industrial. I was helped along, of course, by a very clear tutorial – which explained the game’s concepts to me very well and took me through the basics of my city.

 

It’s also helped by the streamlining of some processes that may have taken some extra time previously. Rather than feel reductive, it let me focus on the important parts of running my city – and it wasn’t as if it did everything for me. It’s also helped by the new Grid mode and improved road tools that helped me build a network of vehicular pathways around my city in almost no time at all. And if I wanted to change things up, the system is flexible enough to allow you to do so with minimal fuss.

 

 

 

Cities: Skylines 2 Preview - Listening to Your Community Works | TechRaptor

TECHRAPTOR.NET

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Here's TechRaptor's preview of Cities: Skylines 2, a game obviously built while paying close attention to community feedback, and it shows.

 

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At Gamescom in Cologne, I played a preview build of Colossal Order and Paradox's Cities: Skylines 2. I played the original Cities: Skylines for more hours than I dare to admit, so my excitement and expectations for its sequel are through the roof.

 

Once you start a new game, fans of the original won't be too disoriented as you'll find similar options when picking a map. Yet, the climate information for each map is more important, this time around, because the game has dynamic seasons.

 

This is a massive game-changer. In the original game, the presence of snow was permanent if you picked a map that had it after it was introduced by one of its DLCs. If the climate of your map includes temperatures under 0°C, you'll see snow appear dynamically, so you need to make preparations for it even if there's none when you start your game.

 

Themes are back, and you can pick between American and European. This won't just affect the look of your buildings, but also that of your emergency service vehicles, road markings, and signs. 

 

 

 

In Cities Skylines 2, I foolishly contaminated a small town and followed a citizen's epic journey to find a parking space | GamesRadar+

WWW.GAMESRADAR.COM

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Gamescom 2023 | Hands-on with the city builder sequel Cities: Skylines 2

 

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During my hands-on session with Cities: Skylines 2 at Gamescom 2023, I'm taken to a pre-built, bustling metropolis that gives me the chance to see what you can create given enough time and resources. It's immediately apparent that the map here is considerably larger than those found in Paradox and Colossal Order's first city builder, and I'm instantly impressed by the creator's handiwork. Areas have been segmented into industrial, commercial, and residential zones, and everything has been placed down in an aesthetically pleasing and well thought-out fashion. The industrial area, for example, sits in a pocketed area all by itself, well away from the residents who might suffer from the rising smoke and air pollution it brings. 

 

This is how it's done, I think to myself. If only I'd had the same kind of city building prowess at the beginning of my demo. Prior to seeing this impressive cityscape, I had the opportunity to start mapping and creating my own little town. Much like the first game, it begins by placing down roads, setting up power lines, and laying down the basics to start populating the area. A helpful tutorial is there to guide you, too. When I place down a row of homes to bring in some citizens, I give half of them a European theme, and the other a North American theme which gives the place an interesting stylistic vibe. 

 

 

 

Cities Skylines 2 is everything that fans, modders, and CO ever wanted | PCGamesN

WWW.PCGAMESN.COM

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Cities Skylines 2 combines the dreams and desires of fans, modders, and Colossal Order, as one CS2 dev explains all in our exclusive Gamescom interview.

 

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Cities Skylines 2 has a lot of different people to please. Like any experience in the superlative city-building game, if you give one group precisely what they want, you risk alienating another. Raise commercial taxes so you can put more money into schools, and business owners will revolt; introduce all the features and systems that you might imagine for a sequel, and although it gratifies long-standing fans who understand the game already, it’ll be daunting to Cities Skylines 2 newcomers. With the Cities Skylines 2 release date inbound, developer Colossal Order wants to deliver on all fronts.

 

Helped by a passionate community, and fully versed in the greatest Cities Skylines mods, CO is also trying to make the game that it has always wanted to make. The key is harmony – somewhere between what fans want, what modders have always been trying to do, and Colossal Order’s greatest ambitions, is the perfect version of Cities Skylines 2. Speaking to PCGamesN at Gamescom, designer Henri Haimakainen explains how to make a game that meets all expectations.

 

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Console versions delayed to Spring 2024:

 

Console News - Paradox Interactive

WWW.PARADOXINTERACTIVE.COM

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Paradox Interactive is a world leading PC games publisher known for games such as Cities: Skylines, Europa Universalis and Crusader Kings.

 

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Hello City Building Enthusiasts!

 

We are sharing an update with you on the upcoming launch of Cities: Skylines II.

 

We are hard at work preparing the game for our release on October 24th. While doing so, we have realized that we need more time to reach the quality targets we have set for Console. As we want to provide the best experience for our players, we are updating the release window for Xbox and PS5 to Spring 2024.

 

The additional time allows us to focus on matching the quality and performance across all platforms.

 

We’ll share more updates on the console release window soon.

 

As work on optimization continues, we’re also updating the minimum and recommended PC specs.

 

If you have remaining questions, please find our FAQ here.

 

In the meantime, we are excited to welcome PC players to build their dream cities on October 24.

 

Happy Building!
Colossal Order & Paradox Interactive

 

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

The developers announced today that the game will release on October 24 for the PC despite "not achieving" their targeted performance benchmarks.  Also, the game will not use the Steam Workshop for mod support, but will instead use the Paradox Mods platform.

 

Updates on Modding and Performance for Cities: Skylines II | Paradox Interactive Forums

FORUM.PARADOXPLAZA.COM

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MORE MODS FOR EVERYONE We know you have been waiting, and now it's time to share the latest developments regarding modding in Cities: Skylines II. First and foremost, our in-game editor is...

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Game Information
Game Title: Cities: Skylines 2

 

Platforms:

• PC (Oct 24, 2023)

 

Developer: Colossal Order Ltd.
Publisher: Paradox Interactive

 

Review Aggregator:
OpenCritic - 76 average - 64% recommended

 

Critic Reviews

Spoiler

Saving Content - Scott Ellison II - 5 / 5

Colossal Order offers an intricate deep simulation of a city builder. Aside from the taxing performance, it’s simply amazing to see in motion. For the price, you get a metropolis-sized game full of options. It’s also one of those things where I can’t wait to see what this game is like eight years from now. Cities: Skylines II offers the next-generation of the city builder that constantly impressed and amazed.

BossLevelGamer - 9 / 10

Cities: Skylines II is a very worthy sequel to the popular 2015 city-building that improves upon the original. It could stand to use some quality-of-life updates, perofrmance optimziaiton, and mod support, but don't let that deter you from diving in.

But Why Tho? - Matt Donahue - 9 / 10

Cities Skylines 2 is a worthy successor to the long standing original city builder

Checkpoint Gaming - Omi Koulas - 9 / 10

Cities: Skylines II is a city-building experience of epic proportions, filled with complexity and creativity. Its immense ambition in city design is complemented by an intricate web of services and an intelligent population. It may stumble under the weight of technical performance and a few bugs but the series still continues to redefine urban strategy in games. Colossal Order have truly delivered a living, breathing, dynamic city management game.

Noisy Pixel - Colin Buchanan - 9 / 10

Despite its few peculiarities and performance issues, Cities: Skylines II successfully upholds the legacy of its predecessor and raises the bar for the city-building genre. Whether you’re a seasoned city planner or a newcomer ready to embark on an urban adventure, Skylines II offers endless possibilities and countless hours of creative enjoyment.

Gamersky - Mega杰尼龟 - Chinese - 8.6 / 10

Cities: Skylines II is a game that's ahead of its time in terms of both gameplay and hardware demands. It has taken significant steps forward in terms of quality, gameplay, and detail compared to its predecessor, although this comes at the expense of very demanding system requirements. In an era where city-building simulations are becoming increasingly scarce, Cities: Skylines II remains the top choice for fans of city-building simulation.

Everyeye.it - Alessandro Preziosi - Italian - 8.5 / 10

We could go into more detail about the many innovations introduced in Cities Skylines 2, but what really matters is to emphasize the freedom of choice it offers the player.

Gamepressure - Jacob Nowak - 8.5 / 10

Cities Skylines 2 offers a myriad of great, all-round, quality-of-life improvements over the prequel. Whereas the game faces technical challenges at launch, it seems well set to become a worthy successor of the original, being much more sleek and accessible as well as bringing a bunch of fun novelties.

God is a Geek - Mick Fraser - 8.5 / 10

While it does struggle under the weight of its own ambition a little, Cities: Skylines II is still a super addictive city sim.

Cerealkillerz - Steve Brieller - German - 8.4 / 10

Cities Skylines 2 improves on the beloved first part of the series. While it misses scenarios and dedicated tutorial missions, it captivates from the first minute on with the premise of building your own dream city and optimizing all the little details. Be aware though, that even with high end hardware the performance is abyssmal. But Colossal Order already promised to deliver performance improving patches and an early WIP patch we could use made the situation way better already. With the performance upgrade and the yet to come mods from the community, this game will surely be the new frontrunner of city building games.

CGMagazine - David Walters - 8 / 10

As far as world-building games go, Cities: Skylines II is second to none. The sheer volume of capability is staggering and the possibilities are endless for what you can create.

GGRecon - Harry Boulton - 4 / 5

Cities Skylines 2 is more of the same in the best possible way, giving players an abundance of quality-of-life improvements and new adjustments to keep the city-building fun going for years to come. While it doesn't quite have that one new blockbuster feature, nor does it revolutionise the genre in the same way that the original did back in 2015, it is still a brilliant game that you should not miss out on.

Unfortunately, it does come with a barrage of performance issues that dampen the experience in a number of ways and only get worse the bigger your city grows.

GameMAG - Russian - 8 / 10

Cities: Skylines II is a gripping experience and a perfect follow-up to the first game. Sadly, all of that is really dragged down by myriads of technical problems. For now, we can only hope that Colossal Order will fix most of the issue and gets the game to the state it deserves to be.

IGN Italy - Stefano Castelli - Italian - 8 / 10

A good sequel which provides a better interface and lots of freedom for building your own cities. Too bad the game lacks in modes and optimization.

Shacknews - Josh Broadwell - 8 / 10

There’s still work to be done, but Cities Skylines 2 is an impressive improvement over the original. Its systems work together seamlessly, and you have more control over how your city develops without it feeling overwhelming or intimidating.

Spaziogames - Daniele Spelta - Italian - 8 / 10

Cities Skylines II does its best to become the best city builder on the market and this first step surprises for how many things Colossal Order managed to improve. Of course it still needs more time to build (pun intended) on this foundation, but the ambition of this game was surely delivered with the right amount of love and care for even the little details.

TheGamer - Harry Alston - 4 / 5

The game isn’t unfinished, it’s just unpolished, unhoned, unrefined. It’s still a gem, though.

TheSixthAxis - Stefan L - 8 / 10

Cities: Skylines 2 has a bright future ahead of it. The core city building is solid, a well-rounded new take on the city building genre that already covers a lot of bases, but has plenty of room for expansion and further ideas to come through to it. Sure, you might miss the creature comforts of old DLC and mods, but given time Cities: Skylines 2 will be a bigger and better city builder.

VG247 - Alex Donaldson - 4 / 5

This is an excellent sequel, and an exciting foundation for what I’m sure will be a bright, addition-packed future.

VideoGamer - Antony Terence - 8 / 10

Cities Skylines 2 is a well-loved home that picks smart renovation over a sweeping revolution. With incredible visuals and immaculate detailing, few cities can eclipse this colossal effort in terms of sheer freedom and choice.

PC Gamer - Christopher Livingston - 77 / 100

The city builder sequel is packed with big improvements but a fair share of disappointments.

Game Informer - Sarah Thwaites - 7.5 / 10

Quantifying the nuance of Cities: Skylines II isn’t easy. As I dig deeper into its complicated systems, more and more exciting features are still coming into focus. The sequel is ambitious and wants players to juggle hundreds of considerations as they build towards Elysium, and it delivers in that aspect. Yet, unfortunately, the game’s consistent technical problems tend to mire that calculated success.

Hobby Consolas - Alberto Lloret - Spanish - 75 / 100

City Skylines 2 is a great city management and creation game, with a bright future ahead thanks to updates, mods and user-created content, which already has a range of interesting options, although the whole is weighed down by poor optimization that still has a little way to go to unfold its full potential.

SECTOR.sk - Branislav Kohút - Slovak - 7.5 / 10

Skylines II is a good strategy builder that meets today's standards, but could have delivered a little more. You won't find anything in the management that you haven't seen in the previous game or in other city building games. We appreciate the opportunity to build a really huge megalopolis with a complex structure.

Attack of the Fanboy - J.R. Waugh - 3.5 / 5

In many ways, Cities Skylines 2 is addictive, but the word 'addictive' should be taken subjectively. The game has good addictive potential, like the runner's high after intense exercise or a delicious cup of coffee. But it also has bad addictive potential, like a narcotic, as you grind through the performance issues because you know it'll get good again soon, and you know your rig can totally handle it, as you promise to your friends.

Game Rant - Max Borman - 3.5 / 5

Even with some of its shortcomings, Cities: Skylines 2 delivers an extremely deep and content-rich city simulator that genre fans will definitely want to check out. It should once again remind fans why Colossal Order is the perfect studio to lead the urban city-building genre after the failings of the SimCity franchise. However, it is also hard to look past the fact that this game is launching with less content than the original game currently has. Couple that with the limitations the districts have and the lack of the custom-building tools that players loved in the original, and the game feels like it is being held back a bit at launch. Much of this may be fixed with post-launch updates, but right now, it feels like a pretty glaring omission.

PCGamesN - Edward Smith - 7 / 10

Intricate, intuitive, and ambitious, Cities Skylines 2 successfully integrates all the major improvements that players might have wanted. Something personal is lost in its larger scale,  while performance problems spoil the beauty, but this could one day become the superior city building game.

Hu3br - Lucas Moura - Portuguese - 6.5 / 10

Cities: Skylines 2 is an ambitious sequel that manages to both implement amazing simulations systems while at the same time do little with them. It fails to recapture the magic of the original and the performance issues are a huge letdown. Maybe it will become the “ultimate city builder”, but that day is still far away.

GRYOnline.pl - Konrad Sarzyński - Polish - 6 / 10

Cities Skylines 2 can be engaging – expanding your city provides a lot of fun. Unfortunately, it cannot overshadow a vast sea of greyness, identical, levitating cars and ugly graphics that do not explain ridiculous system requirements.

IGN - Leana Hafer - 6 / 10

Cities: Skylines 2 is an ambitious sequel that might have bitten off more than it can chew – be prepared to do a lot of terraforming if you don't want your metropolis to look like a nightmare.

GamesRadar+ - Dustin Bailey - 2 / 5

It's going to take a lot of improvement to get this sim into an acceptable form

GamingTrend - Ron Burke - Unscored

Suffice it to say I’m excited for this game, and so much of me wants to recommend every bit of it. Right now, the performance issues make that very, very hard. I’m not sure why Colossal and Paradox didn’t delay all of it until 2024 instead of just consoles, but here we are. Much like other games that launched in a rough state, I’m certain that Cities: Skylines II will eventually be something to behold. For now, however, there’s a bit of buyer beware.

LadiesGamers.com - Paula Moore - Loved

Cities: Skylines II has much to life up to, and you. know what? This is a fantastic  start to a fabulous game. I’m excited for the future of city building. The game will take off once the modders get to work and Colossal Order pushes out the usual updates. 

If you buy Cities: Skylines II, you can expect unfamiliarity, familiarity, surprises and the occasional frustration. But once you settle into it, plenty of new gameplay mechanics will keep you on your toes. 

I love it, and I can see that Colossal Order love their game, too. I predict Cities: Skylines II will be even more successful than it’s predecessor.

Polygon - Cameron Kunzelman - Unscored

Skylines 2 appears to be the distinct result of a dev team looking out at other places to find beauty and, more importantly, designing with an aim toward getting players interested in thinking of themselves as people making aesthetic choices. It’s thrilling.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun - Sin Vega - Unscored

An engaging zone-based city builder that balances simulation with ease of play, but offers little that feels substantially new or improved enough to warrant a sequel.

cublikefoot - Claire Ferrin - Avoid

The performance issues really just sour the entire experience. The game should not have been released in its current state and I would recommend waiting for further optimization.

 

[Spork3245]

Cities Skylines 2 im Tech-Test: Hardware-Sprenger mit Performance-Problemen

WWW.PCGAMESHARDWARE.DE

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Cities: Skylines 2 frisst Hardware zum Frühstück. Unsere GPU-Benchmarks und Hinweise zur CPU-Leistung.

 

1440p high settings, 28.8fps avg for a 4090