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
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  1. Hart
    Mar 26, 2015
    10
    I read the other reviews saying this is how SimCity should have been, so I was cautiously optimistic. I have always enjoyed the SimCity series, I even enjoyed the last effort as flawed as it was although I tired of the new SimCity pretty fast.

    Well the other reviews were correct, this is what SimCity should have been. It's fantastic. If you hate city simulations then this game will not    I read the other reviews saying this is how SimCity should have been, so I was cautiously optimistic. I have always enjoyed the SimCity series, I even enjoyed the last effort as flawed as it was although I tired of the new SimCity pretty fast.

    Well the other reviews were correct, this is what SimCity should have been. It's fantastic. If you hate city simulations then this game will not change your mind, but it really is a great game. I have always been loyal to the SimCity franchise, but this game just gets it right where the last SImCity effort seemed to have been developed in a direction that was not what I wanted from it.    … Expand
  2. jherek52
    Apr 14, 2015
    10
    The King is Dead ............. Long Live The King!

    EA step aside, an epic game made very clearly for gamers by gamers. Everything Sim City 5 could never have been.
  3. abraham_b
    May 4, 2015
    9
    This is what SimCity aspired to be and this is what we expected it to be. Absolutely brilliant; probably the best city-building game since SimCity 4. You can build huge cities and can play offline. These two points alone already make it a better game than the latest SimCity.
  4. dissidify
    Apr 11, 2015
    10
    I didn't buy this game at launch due to Uni work load so i never experienced the initial Stat up bugs that have brought its score down. I have now heavily modded Skylines and I still have never experienced a crash or white screen. The game is so well optimised that with a population of 270K I rarely experience FPS drops (game only designed for use of 9 tiles, my 270K save uses about 18I didn't buy this game at launch due to Uni work load so i never experienced the initial Stat up bugs that have brought its score down. I have now heavily modded Skylines and I still have never experienced a crash or white screen. The game is so well optimised that with a population of 270K I rarely experience FPS drops (game only designed for use of 9 tiles, my 270K save uses about 18 tiles)

    What makes this game good for me is the game play style can be designed by you (the player)
    Do you like Tycoon games?
    You can maximize your city services and be in the green for money once you get to a high level of population at 12% taxes
    Do you like management games?
    Cities: skylines can be micro management intensive (if you want it to be) to have your city achieve maximum performance.
    Do you like Sandbox?
    Unlimited resources can be enabled and with the help of the Terraform Tool and tsunami mods you can build cities destined to die
    Do you like small details?
    The normal game play mode generates significant income when everything is optimised rather than maxed that allows for expensive detailing using the Tree Brush, the Terraform Tool and the vanilla road guides that allow for precise road layouts or free form unlocked from the grid. The amount of detail present in the game is insane. Take the time to observe the animations that cant even be seen clearly when zoomed out.

    The best part about this game is that it isn't finished, Paradox and Colossal were never expecting the game to sell as well as it has and they are pushing updates (not just patches) to improve on a near perfect game. Already seen a popular mod (Extended Road Upgrade) on the workshop made 'redundant' because it was implemented into the game! This is what I like to see.

    And for the hardcore SimCity Fans, This game captures everything that SimCity should have been and far more than could ever have been imagined (Props to the Flight Simulator mod)
    89 hours played and I haven't found a single minor problem with Cities: Skylines that isn't already fixed or highly likely to be fixed, it has been designed in a way to remove all problems by adding mod support. The modding community is continually improving a great game, Furthermore the mod creation tools used, are being improved and expanded with mods. Highly recommend an Auto save mod in case you cause a disaster in you city.    … Expand
  5. xVinci
    Mar 15, 2015
    9
    Finally somebody made it the way it sholuld be. Along with seamless workshop integration, no Additional crapware required and beautiful scenery, it's set to be played by many people for the next bunch of years. Get it and support the devs! I'll detract 1 point though for the not always intuitive traffic system (there are strange cases) and missing complexity in water / power managementFinally somebody made it the way it sholuld be. Along with seamless workshop integration, no Additional crapware required and beautiful scenery, it's set to be played by many people for the next bunch of years. Get it and support the devs! I'll detract 1 point though for the not always intuitive traffic system (there are strange cases) and missing complexity in water / power management (one pipe / power lane will always do the trick, that's a bit too cheap for me).… Expand
  6. Creys
    Mar 23, 2015
    10
    Macht alles besser als simcity
    man könnte den verkehr noch bissel verfeinern (alle spuren nutzen wo platz ist wens in die gleiche richtung geht mehr realer)
  7. justanhonestguy
    Mar 15, 2015
    9
    Wow!! This game redefines the genre in all ways. I am just scratching the surface with a city of 18,000 people, and I'm totally digging this. Skylines is really the next generation of city sims. Every control, every effect, and every interaction of the vast number of city systems is well balanced, elegantly implemented, and beautifully presented. The engine runs like a dream on my modestWow!! This game redefines the genre in all ways. I am just scratching the surface with a city of 18,000 people, and I'm totally digging this. Skylines is really the next generation of city sims. Every control, every effect, and every interaction of the vast number of city systems is well balanced, elegantly implemented, and beautifully presented. The engine runs like a dream on my modest 3.4 ghz 4 gb system with a 5670 card, although I'm sure as my city grows into the hundreds of thousands I'm going to miss a more current gaming rig. This is the type of game that makes people upgrade their systems to play, it's that compelling.

    The map editor alone is a fine piece of software, you can spend countless hours in God mode before you even get to the game proper, but once in the game all of the countless variables begin to reveal their true purposes. Be prepared for a brief initially tough learning curve, but rest assured that this is a game suited for anyone that wishes a more cerebral, carefully planned out simulation of a living, breathing city. This is suddenly the new reference standard for top quality simulation programming.    … Expand
  8. pongkrit03
    Nov 5, 2017
    10
    This game sucks my life. Period. I am a veteran of city builder genre and I have to say that Cities Skyline is the BEST CITY BUILDER game I've ever played. What makes it so standout is the TRAFFIC SYSTEM which is REAL. Unlike most other games in this genre that calculate traffic problem by statistic, this game use real driving vehicles. Building road and transportation have never beenThis game sucks my life. Period. I am a veteran of city builder genre and I have to say that Cities Skyline is the BEST CITY BUILDER game I've ever played. What makes it so standout is the TRAFFIC SYSTEM which is REAL. Unlike most other games in this genre that calculate traffic problem by statistic, this game use real driving vehicles. Building road and transportation have never been this fun and challenging before. One U turn or wrong road placement can create a massive problem, not only because people will be late at work but all utility services are also delivered by vehicles. No matter how many fire station, garbage collector, police, clinic .... etc you have built, if the traffic is dead, these vehicles will not get to your people, thus create waves of a mess. ; In other games, as long as you have big money in your pocket, you can solve everything. This game is required more brain than that. The more you expand your population, more traffic problem will come.

    Apart from fantastic traffic system, this game also has everything you would normally want in Cities Building genre. Graphic is good depending on your PC spec. Size of the map is very huge, unless you are very devoted city builder (and good enough to deal with colossal population), you have more than enough. This game support mods.

    Actually, I would like the game to have more depth in other area too, not just traffic, for example, economy manipulation. I also feel like the game needs more content at mid-late game. However, since the PRICE is SO CHEAP. Only 30 USD at start, and now mostly you could buy it less than 20 USD. I understand that I cannot compare this game with AAA game attitude. You have gain more than what you have spent. That is why I give it a 10/10 which is very hard for someone like me to give. (I bought this game when steam has good discount, I paid approximately 7-8 usd, I mean seriously, super worthy game compared with the amount I paid for. I would not mind at all if I have to pay 30, it is still cheap for what you get )

    In sum, If you like this genre, buy it !! you will have no regret.

    PS. I didn't buy any DLC yet because they are expensive if compared with base game. This review is solely for vanilla    … Expand
  9. Estroyer
    May 10, 2015
    9
    As a long time sim fan I was skeptic after I bought this game. Because surely, no one could possibly bypass the original Simcity? My skeptic mood faded within minutes after launching the game!
    Game play feels very intuitive and so do the mechanics. The details are stunning so zooming in and hopping along with your citizens to drive through town is a great experience.
    I haven't been able    As a long time sim fan I was skeptic after I bought this game. Because surely, no one could possibly bypass the original Simcity? My skeptic mood faded within minutes after launching the game!
    Game play feels very intuitive and so do the mechanics. The details are stunning so zooming in and hopping along with your citizens to drive through town is a great experience.
    I haven't been able to feel this level of game addictiveness in years!
    There are still things that leave room for improvement, but to me those are small issues as the base game is really great!

    - I feel there could be a bit more variety in buildings
    - The pastel colors of the vehicles tend to give it a sugary childish look
    - Not all road and rail tracks bends have textures
    - Chirper is annoying and doesn't seem to add anything to the game
    - No tunnels -yet- (they are working on it though)
    - Addictive

    + Option to activate mods and assets in-game
    + Very intuitive
    + Highly detailed
    + Roads are easy to place and don't have many restrictions
    + Back to basic: this is what playing a sim game should be all about!
    + The district option is a very helpful feature
    + Huge maps
    + Addictive    … Expand
  10. lightyears
    Aug 26, 2015
    8
    Great game with outdated graphics. Good interface, enough buildings, great modding abilities, no permanent online requirement. ABility to built really large and complex cities. A lot of freedom while making up plans. What annoys me are the graphics. I want to build a beautiful city and really experience how beautiful it is. Unfortuantely the visuals are pretty bad. Eeven on highest qualityGreat game with outdated graphics. Good interface, enough buildings, great modding abilities, no permanent online requirement. ABility to built really large and complex cities. A lot of freedom while making up plans. What annoys me are the graphics. I want to build a beautiful city and really experience how beautiful it is. Unfortuantely the visuals are pretty bad. Eeven on highest quality settings. Well if you play the game longer you will get over the bad graphics and still have a great addictive gaming experience. Probably the best city builder of the last years. Only Tropico 5 comes close. But with better garphics the cities would have been so much more beautiful, impressing and realistic. So because of the dissapointing graphics I cant give the game more than a 80 score.… Expand
  11. empleat
    Jun 2, 2015
    8
    Good simulator, intuitive and overall better than others.
    A lot of space for cities and lot of thing you can build.
    Also this game has workshop, so there will be new content.
    Just traffic is a bit problem in this game, play slow and make saves.
  12. Angelo0001c
    Apr 7, 2015
    10
    This is the best city-builder what i tryied. The map is great and expandible to 36km2 with a simple mod, The mod support is full and I can create Maps/Assets, share them and download other from steam workshop.
    The only things what i don't like is the lack of italian language.
  13. smilzoboboz
    Jun 9, 2016
    10
    Definitely the best city builder/manager ever made until now.

    Things you "may" not like may be the relaxing recurring background soundtrack and the kinda-diorama style, don't get me wrong, I like both but I think they are the only things that someone may not like about this game, because everything else is pure awesomeness. One of the greatest achievements this game earned is that    Definitely the best city builder/manager ever made until now.

    Things you "may" not like may be the relaxing recurring background soundtrack and the kinda-diorama style, don't get me wrong, I like both but I think they are the only things that someone may not like about this game, because everything else is pure awesomeness.

    One of the greatest achievements this game earned is that you can both play this game as a casual: building roads, services and enjoying your city growing, and as micromanagement maniac: setting district policies, modifying budgets, fine-tuning assets and many, many other things. Heck you can even watch the life of your citizens from when they move into your city till they die (possibly old, if you correctly managed pollution and health-care).

    If I'd like to point out a flaw on this game I may say that performance is not that great (at least on linux) and that anti-aliasing is really bad (barely works), but it doesn't hurt that much I guess.

    So, well, get this game if you ever thought you may enjoy creating or managing a city (or actually even a village or idk, almost everything with buildings and roads on it) or just get it anyway since it's worth the money it costs.
    Just one warning: don't look at this title for SimCity-like challenge. This game is far more about fine-tuning, cleaning and beautifying your city than struggling to keep it alive, facing cataclysms and such, and sorry if I repeat myself, Cities Skylines does it extremely well, best city manager so far by a good margin.    … Expand
  14. rrafemi
    Feb 17, 2017
    10
    Sencillamente fabuloso. Da casi libertad total para crear una ciudad. El añadido de mods le da mucha mas variedad y además puedes crearte tus propios espacios.

    Los menús son fáciles de entender, el control es muy cómodo y los gráficos son muy realistas para este tipo de juegos. 100% recomendable.
  15. Alr
    Mar 13, 2015
    10
    What Simcity 2013 should've been. The are some thing that you can miss, such as disasters or maybe day/night cycle. But it's not big deal. So buy it and enjoy being the major of your city!

    10/10
  16. Arno20
    Mar 26, 2015
    8
    نکات مثبت : جزئیات عالی بازی - گرافیک خوب
    نکات منفی : باگ - بعد از مدتی بازی تکراری میشود
  17. Jumpy
    Mar 14, 2015
    8
    Colossal Order has done a great job with 'Cities: Skylines', it's an amazing game. It's sure to keep any city-building fan entertained for hours upon hours.

    There are only a few minor features missing and some areas that could use polishing, which should be corrected in future patches for sure.

    For now it's a score of 8/10, but I'm sure it'll be a 10/10 in the near future.
  18. exotikras
    Mar 28, 2015
    7
    Amazing game and no EA :)
    But there is one annoying thing with road system. .. for some idiotic reason, you can't disable right turn where you want... that's frustrating and really bad for traffic.
  19. JohnKristofer
    May 23, 2015
    9
    Truly a fun game to play if you want to create your own city,It is addictive and fun.The game can let you create your own city that needed your creativity to work.Spending hours of creating a city that you wanted to create.Cities:Skyline is a well-made city builder game.
  20. ireviewthings1
    May 8, 2015
    10
    The game itself is a 8.5
    It's a wonderfully fun city builder that doesn't do anything wrong.
    I give it a 10 because: - it is only 30 bucks - it is actively supporting community created content. ( you can fly helicopters first person now through your city for christ's sake!) - it is a big huge F you to anything that is wrong with triple A publishers and their ever growing    The game itself is a 8.5
    It's a wonderfully fun city builder that doesn't do anything wrong.

    I give it a 10 because:
    - it is only 30 bucks
    - it is actively supporting community created content. ( you can fly helicopters first person now through your city for christ's sake!)
    - it is a big huge F you to anything that is wrong with triple A publishers and their ever growing anti-customer behaviour

    Cities: Skylines is a love letter to the genre, to gaming, to gamers and it's customers. And it is a PC exclusive!    … Expand
  21. cervan
    Mar 21, 2015
    7
    Really enjoyed making my city in the game so far. Nice work! Love the traffic simulation aspects and the way the system clogs up over time. Not the bets looking game in the world but thats ok.
  22. Titannumber20
    Mar 15, 2015
    9
    This game offers what SimCity should have offered and a lot more. A solid City simulation game and by far the best one available on the market. You simply cannot go wrong with this one.
  23. hayhay7789
    Mar 16, 2015
    9
    An amazing game that has finally replaced the ever-dull SimCity in my gaming library. The modding support thanks to Steam Workshop, the massive city sizes, true simulation, and the brilliant mechanics make this game the best simulator I've ever played.

    On a different note, the transportation system "add stop" function is a little screwy, causing my already existing lines to somehow    An amazing game that has finally replaced the ever-dull SimCity in my gaming library. The modding support thanks to Steam Workshop, the massive city sizes, true simulation, and the brilliant mechanics make this game the best simulator I've ever played.

    On a different note, the transportation system "add stop" function is a little screwy, causing my already existing lines to somehow become incomplete instead of just adding a stop to it. Nonetheless, all I can say is this is a work of art.

    BUY. IT.    … Expand
  24. TheChronicle
    Mar 18, 2015
    9
    Just about perfect, graphically amazing. Fantastic Ai. Good amount of replay value and not as expensive. I have already put about 4-8 hrs in this game and everything is so right, until the problems begin. After hitting about 40-50 thousand citizens i began to experience minor to major dashboard problems. Such as watching the power surge through the city the display is pretty much invisibleJust about perfect, graphically amazing. Fantastic Ai. Good amount of replay value and not as expensive. I have already put about 4-8 hrs in this game and everything is so right, until the problems begin. After hitting about 40-50 thousand citizens i began to experience minor to major dashboard problems. Such as watching the power surge through the city the display is pretty much invisible and happens to every single dashboard like, Sewage, happiness, fire,police,etc.The game is very uneventful,but still gives the player an in-depth city builder. Overall a great game but lacks techincally… Expand
  25. Fields007
    Mar 18, 2015
    9
    Simcity? Cities XL? sure some people think it is a rip off from those games, but lets be honest, ain't all city builder games the same anyway?

    The game like the ones named above each have some unique features, cities skyline is no different from that. the game might have few bugs at the moment, but don't all games these days have bugs? At least the bugs are not game breaking unlike    Simcity? Cities XL? sure some people think it is a rip off from those games, but lets be honest, ain't all city builder games the same anyway?

    The game like the ones named above each have some unique features, cities skyline is no different from that.

    the game might have few bugs at the moment, but don't all games these days have bugs? At least the bugs are not game breaking unlike Simcity and can be worked around till a patch is released    … Expand
  26. RaZeLSKi
    Mar 18, 2015
    7
    In my opinion this game is good but not great. I thought that after such stunning reviews and scores I would be knocked on my knees, but no. Cities Skylines has many great features like hard at first but very complex roads, districts, huge space for city building, cemeteries, water physics, content editor and Steam Workshop. But still there is a lack of human character in these littleIn my opinion this game is good but not great. I thought that after such stunning reviews and scores I would be knocked on my knees, but no. Cities Skylines has many great features like hard at first but very complex roads, districts, huge space for city building, cemeteries, water physics, content editor and Steam Workshop. But still there is a lack of human character in these little people that populate the city. Nothing seems to bother them. Hours spent on train platform waiting in huge crowd for a train, too few schools, slow traffic - not a problem. It makes a game too easy. They do some things but it does not make the city alive like in Sim City. This ruins for me a purpose to build really big and great city just to watch my little residents struggle with life. There aren't also many service buildings and zones buildings models. Also descriptions in unique buildings menu are meaningless. Sim City has a great system with improving buildings the way it is needed at a time what give a lot more design choices. Whole content in Cities Skylines after seeing so many roads at the beginning is small and seems like developers thought that community will do the rest. Of course I will not compare Sim City Complete Edition and Cities Skylines Deluxe Edition, but they could do more. I hope for a big DLC loaded with new content from CO and maybe then I will be able to say, yes it is a great game. I think that really great game should have all whats good from Sim City and Cities Skylines. For now seven, but I wait for developers to prove me wrong.… Expand
  27. ander01se
    Mar 20, 2015
    10
    I love management games / city builders and stuff but didn't really expected to get hooked with Cities: Skylines even if it looked pretty solid.
    I was wrong... O_o
    Best €22 I've spent this year and probably last year too. It has a few minor bugs and flaws, but nothing game breaking. PROS: THE GAME actually seems 'finished', not a "we'll patch that later"-product or "why aren't    I love management games / city builders and stuff but didn't really expected to get hooked with Cities: Skylines even if it looked pretty solid.
    I was wrong... O_o

    Best €22 I've spent this year and probably last year too.

    It has a few minor bugs and flaws, but nothing game breaking.

    PROS:

    THE GAME actually seems 'finished', not a "we'll patch that later"-product or "why aren't these basic features in yet... are they going to come as a DLC?" á la EA.

    BEST Mod Support I've seen in ages, 16,000+ 'mods' on steam already and the game has been out for 1-2 weeks... seriously... :D

    HALF the price compared to any EA title released the last few years.

    ALREADY had a nice sized patch. (2K Games take notes! XCom still got game breaking bugs f.ex.)

    CO and Paradox both seems to have excellent management.    … Expand
  28. ror
    Mar 20, 2015
    7
    I have played this for about 2 days. If you just want to build pretty towns and cities then this game is for you, but that's it. I broke the 1 million dollar mark within a day and when that happens the challenge has gone and it gets repetitive quickly, the unlocks along the way are relatively boring. Most of all it needs REAL LIFE to flesh it out....There's no media, newspapers radio orI have played this for about 2 days. If you just want to build pretty towns and cities then this game is for you, but that's it. I broke the 1 million dollar mark within a day and when that happens the challenge has gone and it gets repetitive quickly, the unlocks along the way are relatively boring. Most of all it needs REAL LIFE to flesh it out....There's no media, newspapers radio or TV. People don't do much other than drive and walk around or complain on "twitter" instead of vandalism, crime, riot, disease. No animals, no pets. Nothing seems to age (apart from abandoned buildings). The people don't react to fire or floods. I'm not talking about "the sims", just some more dynamic features to engage the brain. Anyway I gave it a seven because of the modding capability, I will probably come back to this game when it has more developments from the community… Expand
  29. PsychoNauts
    Mar 21, 2015
    9
    What SimCity Should have been, But with No Online ( Who cares ).
    It's one of the few games that I enjoy playing when I'm talking to someone on TS3 or Skype ,plus when I'm alone I really find my self spending a lot of time building my city and having fun.
    I recommend this game to everyone.
  30. Edelplastic_com
    Mar 21, 2015
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. My last good experience with City-Simulations i have do with SimCity 4, after that no one Game was good like this. But Cities:Skylines is the new Star on the Stage!… Expand
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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

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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
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