Cities: Skylines 2
If you can dream it, you can build it
Raise a city from the ground up and transform it into the thriving metropolis only you can imagine. You’ve never experienced building on this scale. With deep simulation and a living economy, Cities: Skylines II delivers world-building without limits.
Lay the foundations for your city to begin. Create the roads, infrastructure, and systems that make life possible day to day. It’s up to you – all of it.
How your city grows is your call too, but plan strategically. Every decision has an impact. Can you energize local industries while also using trade to boost the economy? What will make residential districts flourish without killing the buzz downtown? How will you meet the needs and desires of citizens while balancing the city’s budget?
Your city never rests. Like any living, breathing world, it changes over time. Some changes will be slow and gradual, while others will be sudden and unexpected. So while seasons turn and night follows day, be ready to act when life doesn’t go to plan.
An ever-expanding community of Builders means more opportunities to build a truly groundbreaking city with mods. They’re now more easily available in Cities: Skylines II.
The most realistic and detailed city builder ever, Cities: Skylines II pushes your creativity and problem-solving to another level. With beautifully rendered high-resolution graphics, it also inspires you to build the city of your dreams.
Deep simulation
AI and intricate economics mean your choices ripple through the fabric of the city. Remember that as you strategize, problem-solve, and react to change, challenges, and opportunities.
Epic scale, endless possibilities
Cities: Skylines II lets you create without compromise. Now you can build sky-high and sprawl across the map like never before. Why not? Your city is you.
Cities that come alive
Your decisions shape each citizen’s life path, a chain of events that defines who they are. From love and loss to wealth and wellbeing, follow their life’s ups and downs.
A dynamic world
Pick a map to set the climate of your city. These are the natural forces you’ll negotiate to expand your city amid rising pollution, changeable weather, and seasonal challenges.
Steam User 158
Let me start by saying I have almost 2K hours on this game and had many more on CS1. I will choose this over CS1 everytime. After using the road and infrastructure tools in this game, I can no longer go back unfortunately. Also the graphics on this game are amazing.
With that said, I heavily modded CS1 as well as CS2 and probably would not play as much without mods. Here is my take so far with this game:
1. Change the Camera Settings - the default settings are not optimized and I hate the motion blur, changing these will make it look so much better and keep your game running well if you don't have the fastest PC
2. Use a few necessary mods to fix functional bugs which still remain and/or ones to make building easier or better looking, my favorites:
- Move It
- Traffic Lanes Mod
- Find it (better then developement mode)
- Many other surfaces/RICO type assets
3. Play sandbox with unlimited money and unlocked assets or Easy mode as the Normal mode seems to bug a bit on Economy for some reason - hope this will be fixed soon. If you are struggling getting going, I have found that using the Geothermal Energy plant over groundwater is a huge export of Energy and Money and will help you early on if you are struggling to balance your budget.
4. As you start building constantly check different popular mods as you will find there may be some aspect missing and mods will fill that hole
As for what I would like to see in upcoming updates:
- I want the economy issues to be ironed out as sandbox is fun but having to balance a budget is also a huge favorite of mine in these simulation games
- I have found that the cities (although mugh nicer looking) dont have the same energy and life to them with people using our assets as we saw with CS1
- Stadiums and Sports Arenas need to be more like CS1 where there was a game scheduled and this creates traffic to that arena with people coming to the game and/or leaving the game
- We need bikes as this is a huge part of infrastructure (bike lanes) in almost any city and am wondering why this is missing
Overall I have seriously been enjoying this game (hence 2k hrs) but there is still so much opportunity for this to be an even more amazing game. I really hope they continue to improve it and that people stop hating on it so much.
Steam User 104
This is a complicated review for me to write as a prolific city builder player since I could use a computer.
The PROS of CS2:
- The roadbuilding and other infrastructure tools are top-notch and easily the best in any city builder. Certain mods make it even better, like lane direction tool.
- The mod library is growing weekly and it is making the experience better.
- If you have a half-way decent PC, this game is technically better than CS1. Graphics, sounds, simulation, etc... and you can grow larger cities per amount of PC horsepower used... CS1 came out in the quad-core CPU era, and this game is in the 6 - 8 core mainstream PC era and if you have those resources, this game will use all of it.
- The simulation is more in-depth than CS1, but it is half-baked because Colossal/Paradox needed more development time for this game. There are a lot of nuanced characteristics which dictate how citizens own houses in the game, for example, but Colossal/Paradox are always tweaking those variables in each patch because of how unprepared it was.
The CONS of CS2:
- This game needed easily another year of development time. Like I mentioned, the simulation has more variables to it, but they weren't properly implemented. Each patch tweaks these variables to make the game better, but the devs are kinda playing a game of whack-a-mole because each change they make has cascading effects.
- If you have a low-end PC, don't bother running the game. Like I stated in the PROS section, if your PC has some oomph behind it, you can and will be able to build BIG. If you're on a PC from the CS1 era - quad core, GTX 1060, 16GB RAM era, this game will run like poop. The game picks up very well when you give it a Ryzen 2000+ 8-core CPU (or Intel 9700k 8-core CPU), 32GB RAM and an RTX 3060/6700 XT or better GPU. I run this game on a Ryzen 6900HS/RTX 3070 Ti/32GB RAM laptop and it's pretty good.
- The specialized industries are half-baked at the moment. They were a DLC in CS1. They come with the base game here. The devs needed more time to flesh this aspect of the game out properly.
- Most of the statistics the game shows you are nebulous and inconsistent. This is because of all the tweaks they make in each patch, and what the devs decide to present to you. You can't really trust them and instead should use common sense and classic querying/watching/observing to get an idea for how your city is flowing. If you go based on what the game's stats tell you, you'll run out of money pretty quick.
TL;DR:
Technically better than CS1. Needed another year of development time to actually be better than CS1.
I recommend and don't recommend it at the same time.
Steam User 93
Yes it is a bit overpriced and the base game lacks the content to justify it's price, but it still scratches that itch of city planning in a way that not a lot of other games can. I enjoy this game thoroughly---and I believe most people will too. It is a ton of fun if you're a civil engineering nerd like I am.
The modding community is SO strong in this game and, quite frankly, fills the gaps this game has that the official devs are slow to (for free!). I recommend starting with these mods:
Anarchy, Road Builder, Traffic, Platter, Traffic Tool Essentials, and Move It
Once you have a good selection of mods and the necessary knowledge behind the games mechanics, you can have a lot of fun playing this. Don't be immediately deterred by it's rocky release as the game has improved drastically since then, both in terms of base game updates and mod updates.
Steam User 89
TL:DR: The game has improved since launch, it's very good. Performance is what you can expect if using something like a 1080ti in a modern game. And I 100% recommend it.
In 8/24/2023 this game was not worth it, it was buggy, it was poorly optimized, and considered incomplete. In 5/15/2025, this game is worth it. It is genuinely an overall improvement over the original. The game's bad quality on launch will forever haunt it, but don't hold that against it. I stopped playing the game after launch and decided to play the OG for a while to let the devs cook, and boy did they cook, now that I've come back I much prefer the sequel.
With that out of the way, let's talk about performance. My mid-range personal computer (though some may call it a low-range computer but they can fight me on that) uses a 3060ti and an I7-12700, and it runs this game beautifully. I can crank the graphics up pretty high and enjoy a mostly smooth experience at 1440p (the game stutters for a second when zooming into a super high dense area but it isn't constant stutters). When it comes to budget cards like the 1080ti, expect 50-60 fps on very low settings at 1080p when in heavy residential zones and potentially up to 80fps if you're in a less demanding area, but it seems a little CPU dependent so your mileage may vary.
Next up, graphics. Stunning! Even though I can't run it at max graphics it's still very beautiful and I find myself closing the UI and taking screenshots. I love the effect of looking into all the lit-up windows of offices buildings at night and seeing all the offices inside modeled, and I'd love to see more games do that. Seeing dozens of people walk around a busy subway station while heavy traffic flows next to them in the heart of my city is so nice to watch and gives a sense of scale to what I am building.
On to the simulation aspects of the game. The traffic is genuinely better but also worse(in a good/realistic way). People in cars behave like actual people in cars, they can be smart with their routes and choose paths that are not as backed up, they can not turn left when you specifically put a no-left-turn sign at an intersection so traffic doesn't get backed up, they can follow routines, get in accidents, and what's so realistic is they can also be impatient, 10% of them don't understand half the traffic laws, they'll pass all the backed up traffic in the left most lane then at the last second try to force their way in so they can exit and cause the traffic to get worse, they'll easily spin out in rain and cause an accident, and you get those special drivers that will 100% turn left when you specifically put a no-left-turn sign at an intersection so traffic doesn't get backed up. Besides cars, people are fun to watch live their lives, going through relationships, jobs, death, relocation, it's like you get to watch someone's life unfold, and you can realize that the change you made to your city affected someone you were watching negatively or positively. BTW just like with traffic, you get the special few that won't obey laws and will walk when the light is red and says "DON'T WALK" at crosswalks and cause traffic to stop for a second, and it's not a bug because they sprint across the road like they're aware of what they're doing. In terms of zoning, it's very important where and how much you zone, even things like parking areas can affect the success or failure of a business.
Bugs. This one is going to be a sore spot for a lot of people who got the game on launch, but, right now after playing 9.4 hours between 2 days I haven't noticed any bugs
Mods. The mod support is great, plenty of mods to choose from and tailor the game to your liking, and if there is a certain feature the game has that you don't like or a small but super in-depth feature that you feel is missing then there is probably a mod for it (seriously, there are entire mods dedicated to stuff like getting the colors of cars to match real life by using statistics from real life, pretty much making 80% of them black, white, or gray).
User Interface. This beautiful UI that has graced my computer is actually peak. Unlike the OG interface, I can actually easily navigate it and build things while barely conscious playing at 2 in the morning after my 28th 10 hour shift this month. And it fits the aesthetic of the game perfectly.
Finally, it's just fun. It's a game I can reliably sit down and play. It can be fun, satisfying, and a creative outlet, but also be challenging to the point where you almost quit but get that last second idea that just works and gives you 10000% dopamine. I'm no gaming/review professional, I'm no gaming genius, im not a dev, modder, coder, etc. I just play games, and I say this one is pretty chill.
Steam User 65
The game is a lot more enjoyable now and I can create cities over 60,000 population without the game slowing down to a crawl on max graphics settings like when it initially released. My recent city has 390,000 population with all the official mods and most of the popular contributor ones and the game is smooth and very playable.
If you download mods, you may want to use Skyve CS-II from the Mods store to review conflicts and issues. This has really helped me stabilize the game and prevent crashes.
Two areas I feel are really lacking right now. I wish for more custom buildings to download like in the original Cities Skylines' Steam Workshop on their own mod platform Cities Skylines II. Also the industrial infrastructure is very lacking. The CS1 Industry mod expanded that game's possibilities a lot. I still recommend the game, hoping it continues to get a lot better where it's lacking right now.
Steam User 233
---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☑ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS
---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't
---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☑ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf
---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma
---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☑ Rich boi (specially when you add mods to the game)
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☐ Old Fashioned
☐ Workable
☑ Big
☐ Will eat 15% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data
---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☑ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls
---{ Grind }---
☑ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding
---{ Story }---
☑ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life
---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☐ Average
☑ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond
---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☐ Worth the price
☑ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money
---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☑ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs
---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☑ 6 (can become 8/10 with less bugs, better optimization and some key features that can be added by mods)
☐ 7
☐ 8
☐ 9
☐ 10
Steam User 36
When I first bought this game, I couldn't even play it (yes, performance was that bad!). But now, CS2 has really become the game it was promised to be. The free creator packs with many beautiful new assets from different world regions, plus along with new mechanics (bikes, ports, quays, etc.) have made this the best modern city builder out right now. With asset support and new mod support, CS2 allows you to actually be creative and innovative. Love this game, so happy the team has stuck with its development!