Cities: Skylines

 PC
User Score
8.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 2115 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,829 out of 2115
  2. Mixed: 202 out of 2115
  3. Negative: 84 out of 2115
Buy Now
Buy on

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. andygoyap
    Mar 10, 2015
    10
    Cities: Skylines, everything that SimCity should have been.

    Maximum Buildable Map Size: 36km² - 100km² (Mod): ✓ Full Modding Support: ✓ Map Editor: ✓ Asset Editor: ✓ Steam Workshop Integration: ✓ District & Policies: ✓ Offline Mode: ✓ Real Population: ✓ 1,000,000 Agents: ✓ Working Traffic System: ✓ Power Lines & Water Pipes (SimCity 4 Style): ✓ Hydroelectric Power (Damns):    Cities: Skylines, everything that SimCity should have been.

    Maximum Buildable Map Size: 36km² - 100km² (Mod): ✓
    Full Modding Support: ✓
    Map Editor: ✓
    Asset Editor: ✓
    Steam Workshop Integration: ✓
    District & Policies: ✓
    Offline Mode: ✓
    Real Population: ✓
    1,000,000 Agents: ✓
    Working Traffic System: ✓
    Power Lines & Water Pipes (SimCity 4 Style): ✓
    Hydroelectric Power (Damns): ✓
    Tsunami: ✓
    Natural Resources: ✓
    64-bit Game: ✓
    OS - Linux, Windows, OS X: ✓
    Under $30: ✓    … Expand
  2. Guardian1996
    Mar 10, 2015
    10
    Truly beautiful game and an experience that is fully appreciated from my point of view. The next Sim City 4 deluxemade by Paradox. Thank you, I am sincerely grateful!
  3. ErwinRuggy
    Mar 10, 2015
    10
    I can finally say that we no longer need to play SimCity 4

    The 5 things where this game is outstanding: 1.- The size 2.- Full mod support, there are already hundreds of mods in the workshop. 3.- An in-game asset editor to build custom parks, buildings, etc. 4.- A World editor where importing the geography of real cities is very easy, or just build a volcanic island. 5.- The    I can finally say that we no longer need to play SimCity 4

    The 5 things where this game is outstanding:

    1.- The size
    2.- Full mod support, there are already hundreds of mods in the workshop.
    3.- An in-game asset editor to build custom parks, buildings, etc.
    4.- A World editor where importing the geography of real cities is very easy, or just build a volcanic island.
    5.- The transportation, both advanced roads, and mass transit like subways, buses, trains, ships, airports etc.    … Expand
  4. frlncr799
    Mar 10, 2015
    9
    After 2013’s debacle that was Sim City it was time some new devs stepped to the table. Cities XXL was a huge miss as Focus Interactive did nothing to improve their terrible running and clunky game so the question is, did Colossal Order (a Paradox dev responsible for Cities in Motion) deliver? Yes, oh my god Yes!

    Cities Skylines is another game in the long list of city building and    After 2013’s debacle that was Sim City it was time some new devs stepped to the table. Cities XXL was a huge miss as Focus Interactive did nothing to improve their terrible running and clunky game so the question is, did Colossal Order (a Paradox dev responsible for Cities in Motion) deliver? Yes, oh my god Yes!

    Cities Skylines is another game in the long list of city building and managing simulators that have been trying to succeed in the shoes of what was Sim City 4; released more than 12 years ago. From the dev that created Cities in Motion, Colossal Order does something that no other city sim has done and make a truly great game that brings back the feel of Sim City 4 and my favorite of the series, Sim City 3000. They brought it back to its basics which included zones, different building types like electrical, water, fire, police, medical, fun and even the unique landmark buildings.

    When you start creating your city you start in a small 2km x 2km square that can expand as your city gets bigger and you annex other areas to a possible 25 tile, 100km2 area (with the support of a mod that is already in the steam workshop). The game also locks different building, zones, etc. behind population goals so that it isn’t too overwhelming however there are mods that allow you to unlock everything to start if you wish along with unlimited money. The game will also allow for steam workshop when it releases for people to create their own user content to add to the game which could include more buildings, new modes, user made cities and much more.

    Along with the buildings and zones there are also the financial and policies that make a city sim a true city sim. They are simple enough and not as annoying as was the advisors in sim city 3000 but they change things greatly including outlawing private traffic in certain zones forcing people to take mass transit instead. What those policies and other specific buildings do is increase the happiness of the people in the commercial, residential and industrial zones. As your happiness increases they are more likely to accept higher taxes and recommend more people to move in causing an increase in desire for residential and other financial zones. I can also say that Colossal Order certainly know how to make their transport lines work and work well because every form of transportation was easy to create and maintain.

    That being said the roads themselves were difficult to make sure they were right especially having off ramps connect to highways. When I bought my first annex there was a highway running through it. I thought it would have been easy enough to figure out how to implement a overpass/rounded off ramp to have access to the other side of the highway however I had to do a lot of work to get a new one working. First I had to delete the existing off ramps and highway to make way for a 4 way off ramp. On top of that in order to make sure a one way road/highway continues to go one way, instead of detecting which way automatically the roads go you to build the road in the same direction traffic would flow. Took me about 15 minutes to realize this. Hopefully it’ll be something they patch after release because I can imagine it’ll be something some people will complain about.

    One other complaint, and maybe it is something I’m not used to due to the simplicity of zones in Sim City 3000, I don’t like the way zones sit for “squares” off the road for each road you make. I’m more of a fan of dragging and dropping to make a zone like it was in SC 3000. That is just a personal preference. However all you can do with the roads is quite impressive and though I did play this game quite a bit I wasn’t able to play it enough to truly design a city that looked great.

    Now this game looks quite impressive and the buildings are quite varied enough to make the cities and areas look unique. Mod support and steam workshop is only going to improve the variety of buildings after release. The engine runs smooth, however capped at 60 fps (not that you really need more since this isn’t a action moving game), and looks great. The UI is clean and they actually made a change to it as I was playing my review copy in the last week.

    The sound isn’t anything spectacular, however it is there and does work well with what the game is. If you zoom in to roads you can hear cars going by, if you do the same for various areas you hear what you would expect to hear if you were walking on the street. The ambient music also makes it nice to listen to while you are designing away. So nothing over the top but fits quite well.

    Overall, Cities Skylines, I feel, is truly the best city sim game since Sim City 4 and in fact is better than 4. It has everything that you could want in a city building game; large building areas, variety in design and buildings, unique challenges in building and managing and a great looking engine.    … Expand
  5. alanjuio
    Mar 10, 2015
    10
    What SimCity should have been but never was.
    This game is much better than SimCity, with more features.
    I spent hours playing on this and never got bored, and the best part is it's only $30 at launch.
    This could have been easily $70 game like simcity because this game is more polished, less buggy, full mod support, and most importantly so much fun!
  6. Lyrande
    Mar 10, 2015
    10
    Really a great game, everything we have hoped for since SimCity 4. A shame that it took that many years to have a game resembling the good old city builder times.
  7. FurballHer0
    Mar 10, 2015
    9
    I want to congratulate the Dev team on bringing back the city building experience.

    After the blunder that was Sim City, Cities in motion is exactly what we all wanted from Sim City in the first place.

    Losing 1 point due to no Multi-Player.
  8. Nadz_
    Mar 10, 2015
    10
    At last a city builder worth my time. Cityskylines has a huge amount to offer in creativity, simulation and scale. With details ranging from individual citizens walking their dog as part of there persistent simulation all the way up to gigantic traffic systems and death epidemics.

    There may be some rough edges (if you go looking) or certain elements some may dislike, But the best thing    At last a city builder worth my time. Cityskylines has a huge amount to offer in creativity, simulation and scale. With details ranging from individual citizens walking their dog as part of there persistent simulation all the way up to gigantic traffic systems and death epidemics.

    There may be some rough edges (if you go looking) or certain elements some may dislike, But the best thing this game offers has the potential to resolve all issues.. It has been built to support Mods! Mods give a game the potential to not only fix or tailor elements of the game to the players liking but can also provide more content! I am yet to see the scope available in terms of how deep mods can go but the fact that certain options like 'unlimited money' and 'all unlock's are included as packed in mods, it certainly seems like modding has been on the developers mind for quite some time.    … Expand
  9. NotBanMePLZ
    Nov 22, 2018
    9
    Лучшая стратегия в своем роде. Лучший городостроитель который вообще существует. Убивает SimCity даже не стреляя. Как же круто дополняет игру даже такая мелочь как переименование улиц, зданий и т.д., с этим можно очень весело побаловаться. Например улица (Фамилия вашего бест френда) или "улица разбитых фонарей". Крч веселая игрушка, всем рекомендую)Лучшая стратегия в своем роде. Лучший городостроитель который вообще существует. Убивает SimCity даже не стреляя. Как же круто дополняет игру даже такая мелочь как переименование улиц, зданий и т.д., с этим можно очень весело побаловаться. Например улица (Фамилия вашего бест френда) или "улица разбитых фонарей". Крч веселая игрушка, всем рекомендую)
  10. kveldby
    May 7, 2019
    8
    игра класс, но оптимизации нет, и аи не очень
  11. RomanGor
    Nov 7, 2019
    8
    Лучший градостроительный симулятор как по мне. Проще, чем последний сим сити, но в то же время более увлекательный.
  12. Fallconex
    Dec 17, 2020
    9
    The best strategy of its kind. The best city-builder there is. Brought so many new mechanics to the lovers of this genre
  13. HansSigmaringen
    Dec 29, 2020
    8
    Good game. Give it a try it has nice graphics and mod community is very big.
  14. LQSNIXT
    Jan 23, 2021
    10
    This game is milestone! I played this game +500h and only after so much time I got bored, but this is more because after exceeding 650 000 people in city it started to hang a bit and work slowly on my gaming computer. But despite this, I highly recommend the game, it develops creative thinking and the concept of world, thanks to mods you can upload cool buildings and vehicles and extendThis game is milestone! I played this game +500h and only after so much time I got bored, but this is more because after exceeding 650 000 people in city it started to hang a bit and work slowly on my gaming computer. But despite this, I highly recommend the game, it develops creative thinking and the concept of world, thanks to mods you can upload cool buildings and vehicles and extend the city to the entire map. I don't regret wasting all hours in this game. If we want extend city so much you will have at least i5 9400F and 16gb of ram, but it is worth. Recommend it to everyone… Expand
  15. omwair
    Feb 14, 2021
    9
    Great game, even better with mods. Almost everything missing in the game can be fixed with mods.
  16. fridayy
    Jan 30, 2022
    10
    Loads of stuff to do, and i like how it comes with an unlimited money mod for sandbox!
  17. dadum
    Mar 10, 2015
    10
    This is just everything you would want for a city-building game. Full modding support and already a thriving modding community even though the game just got released. I just have no words, this truly feels like a spiritual successor of Sim City 4. Good job Colossal Order and Paradox!
  18. Arniedadrink
    Mar 11, 2015
    9
    Very good city manager, does not seem as easy as other city games that have come out, which is great as they can get boring quite quickly. With only 5 hours under my belt so far I still have a lot to see and learn but this is looking very promising.

    Road management is a little tricky at first but as you learn to use it, it is a fairly powerful tool, especially compared to the    Very good city manager, does not seem as easy as other city games that have come out, which is great as they can get boring quite quickly. With only 5 hours under my belt so far I still have a lot to see and learn but this is looking very promising.

    Road management is a little tricky at first but as you learn to use it, it is a fairly powerful tool, especially compared to the competition.

    I also love the way they are approaching modding so hopefully they can concentrate on interesting features for DLC in the future and not wasting time on pretty hats.    … Expand
  19. ollyhinge11
    Apr 5, 2018
    9
    Absolutely superb game, I've racked up nearly 2000 hours on this. One criticism I do have is the traffic. So stubborn and will only ever use one lane, which without mods causes endless traffic problems. Thankfully, due to the 100% support and encouragement of mods by the devs, this can easily be changed. Thank you for such a wonderful game.
  20. WilliamReviews
    Oct 28, 2018
    9
    This game is fantastic and is what Simcity (2015) Should have been. Some Examples:
    1. A good map size
    2: Residents have ONE house, they go to ONE job and they come home to that same house

    Minus one point due to DLC
  21. citizen-ychoux
    Mar 10, 2015
    10
    TL; DR version: Cities Skylines is the best city builder game ever made since Sim City 4. It is everything a great city builder game is supposed to be: broad, realistic, detailed, complicated, fun. It is a definite must have for anyone who likes building things.

    Long version: With the catastrophic release of Sim City 5 in 2013, I have felt being left alone, betrayed, frustrated.    TL; DR version: Cities Skylines is the best city builder game ever made since Sim City 4. It is everything a great city builder game is supposed to be: broad, realistic, detailed, complicated, fun. It is a definite must have for anyone who likes building things.

    Long version:

    With the catastrophic release of Sim City 5 in 2013, I have felt being left alone, betrayed, frustrated. Maxis and EA destroyed the Sim City licence, and got all the panning it deserved. Other developpers tried to fill the void, but without achieving greatness.

    Now meet Cities: Skylines.

    From a graphic point of view, this title has a real appeal. It looks like a toyesque feeling about buildings, vehicles and people. Some may dislike it, I personnaly love it.

    Speaking about lenght, Cities Skylines is a City builder. You can actually build BIG cities. Not towns. You start with a small area, but you can extend to other land tiles as your city grows. Up to 9 2*2km tiles, creating cities up to 1'000'000 inhabitants. Yeah, that big.

    What about the simulation side. Well, in the contrary wih Sim City, the RCI system does work, as in you actually need all of them to make your city work. You have to balance, and can't just build parks to make your citizens happy. Water, energy, crimes, health, education, amusement, everything is covered, and feels realistic.

    Complicated, this game can be. Especially when it comes to traffic management. And it is difficult to have your goods and people flow in a packed city center. Much like in any real big city around the world. But you are not without tools to achieve it. Roundabouts, highways, metros, train, buses, you can basically use everything you can to make it happen.

    I could go on for hours talking about all the good things, I'll just list some cherries on the cake: areas management, policies, and mods. Yes, real, free, endless mods. Not lousy DLCs.

    Is the game perfect? No, it's not. It lacks some endgame challenge (money is really easy to come by) and randomness events (climate calamities for example) to make it the best game ever.

    But for now, it's a deserved 10. Go get it.    … Expand
  22. Mistafreeze3
    Mar 10, 2015
    10
    This is what Sim City was supposed to be. The game is beautiful, runs smooth, and is easy to mod.

    Sim City 4 can finally be retired after 12 years of loyal service, it's successor is here.
  23. justinxfan
    Mar 10, 2015
    10
    This game is simply wonderful in every aspect! There are some features such as day/night cycles that people complain about, but they'll probably be added by mods. The core game is well furnished and I encountered very few, if none, bugs. Overall, the dev team has finally made a way for me to stop playing SimCity 4!
  24. xannepan
    Mar 10, 2015
    10
    Ever since simcity-4, city simulation has become more a hobby for me than just occasional game play. Over the years I have created many custom buildings (mainly Paris and medieval themes) and mods (amongst other the Jupiter (weather) and the Aurora mods) for simcity-4. Simcity 2013 was a major disappointment on all accounts.

    I have been fortunate to have been invited to test Cities    Ever since simcity-4, city simulation has become more a hobby for me than just occasional game play. Over the years I have created many custom buildings (mainly Paris and medieval themes) and mods (amongst other the Jupiter (weather) and the Aurora mods) for simcity-4. Simcity 2013 was a major disappointment on all accounts.

    I have been fortunate to have been invited to test Cities Skylines' modding tools during the beta phase for the past couple of months. And during that time I have also been able to play the game. Cities Skylines exceeds my expectations. The potential that can be unlocked by the community and by DLCs provided by CO is unbelievable. I am absolutely overwhelmed by how great this game is.

    Additionally, I have gained the utmost respect for CO. It is unbelievable what a small team of creative people can do. Aside from developing a fantastic game, CO actually listens to the community to the best of their abilities.

    Bound by an NDA, it has been challenging for me not being able to respond to all the comments, questions, critisicm, (sometimes unjust) speculation on the forums. And I kept thinking if only you could get to play the game for half an hour and - like me - become captivated by studying the little CIMS in their daily routine, or laying out the most amazing road interchanges. Finally a game I can enjoy again without having to shoot someone.

    Off course some I do share some of the criticism that also has been shared on the forums. I could even create a list of a dozen or more features that I would like to see changed or improved. But all that is driven by my enthusiasm for this game, and there is a time a place for everything. So for now I am just giving this game a 10/10.    … Expand
  25. napalm
    Mar 10, 2015
    10
    By Far the best modern day city builder on the Market. This is what SC 2013 should have been, or wished it was. Great game and it is recommended to any people that like city builders
  26. zane411
    Mar 12, 2015
    9
    Everything about this game works exactly the way you want it to, though I can list a few features I feel are missing that would bring this from a 9 to a 10.

    1. Circle roads tool
    2. Ability to 'paint' trees like you paint much everything else
    3. A brief tutorial would have been appreciated
  27. EvilTerrorizer
    Mar 25, 2015
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Expanded city twice, loving the free-design. I like the upgrade tool for roads, makes it easy to just build and upgrade later if traffic gets bad. The progressive unlock mechanism for everything is also making it easy for me to learn the game. The unlock steps are not far in-between so I find the pace descent.

    Creating your own districts (with a paint-brush) and specializing the industry there and cherry-picking specific laws that only affect that district is great. In fact it's something I've never seen in city builders but now that I use it in this game is seems so obvious... Cool idea.

    City mechanics like traffic, pollution, cash, jobs, services etc. are working well so far. I'll update later if I get the chance with more info once the game progresses.

    Update:

    After playing the game a bit there's two major comments I'd like to make.
    1. The steam workshop mods are great, and expand the game nicely
    2. The game is a bit too easy, and I find myself not really challenged at this point.    … Expand
  28. OfekA
    Mar 10, 2015
    10
    Excellent game! The developers has listened to the community on every front and has delivered a game that is incredibly hard to imagine only 9 people worked on, astonishing success!
  29. PopTarts
    Mar 11, 2015
    10
    Fantasitically solid. Look forward to what they could add on to make the very end game (20-50+ hours in one city) interesting. There's a ton of potential on top of the base of this game.
  30. Spaceweird
    Mar 10, 2015
    10
    Absolute win. After gamers taking the one-two sucker punch of Simcity and then Cities XXL to the jaw FINALLY a real city builder emerges again. Smooth, responsive, full featured, modable, large maps and it WORKS. It works on day one. That, in my book is what we've been waiting for and deserve.
prev
Page:

Awards & Rankings

19
#19 Best PC Game of 2015
13
#13 Most Discussed PC Game of 2015
37
#37 Most Shared PC Game of 2015

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
85

Generally favorable reviews - based on 60 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 58 out of 60
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 60
  3. Negative: 0 out of 60
  1. PCWorld
    Jan 21, 2016
    80
    Cities: Skylines somehow lives up to the unfair expectations heaped upon it, presenting one of the best city builders in years.
    Read full review
  2. Eurogamer Italy
    Aug 12, 2015
    80
    Cities: Skyline is the game SimCity should have been: a great game and a greater base for modders.
    Read full review
  3. DarkStation
    May 27, 2015
    100
    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.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »