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. crishy
    Aug 19, 2017
    9
    By far the best city builder of this generation and since SimCity 4.

    Great graphics, fully 3d engine, and runs smoothly and with few glitches. The traffic/public transport simulation is one of the most addicting aspects of the game, it has a lot of depth and it is addicting spending time building and altering transit lines and building roads (that can be easily curved or    By far the best city builder of this generation and since SimCity 4.

    Great graphics, fully 3d engine, and runs smoothly and with few glitches. The traffic/public transport simulation is one of the most addicting aspects of the game, it has a lot of depth and it is addicting spending time building and altering transit lines and building roads (that can be easily curved or elevated/tunneled) in order to increase traffic flow.

    The variety of included buildings is decent, and there is a great variety of mods and assets - that are continuously created and updated - that drastically increase gameplay options and provide a much more personalized and enjoyable gaming experience. It is also remarkably easy to install and update them - just a matter of subscribing to them once online. No need to manually download and unpack files. Definitively a key core component of the game.

    Unfortunately I cannot give the game a perfect score because it suffers from a big, big drawback: size limitations. Yes, the allowed build-able area is much larger than SC2013, but that is really not saying much. The default 9 obtainable tiles add up to only 36 km squares, only a little more than two large SC4 (which allows for almost unlimited number of tiles at the cost of a shallower game simulation) tiles side by side.

    Now, there are mods that increase the maximum allowed number of obtainable tiles from 9 to 25 or even all 81 tiles, but then chances are (especially with the latter) that you will run into hard-coded limitations, such as 65k agents, a one million population limit, and most notably, around 32k road segments and nodes, that will halt to a stop any further growth in your city, very early on, unless you are playing in maps with lots of water and/or mountains. These limits have been imposed by the developers to maintain smooth performance across a wide range of PC configurations, with, sadly, no option for people with PCs that can handle the load to increase said limits. Because of the difficulty (or impossibility) in doing so, no mods have been released dealing with these limits, other than one increasing the number of trees. So caveat emptor.

    Also, lack of medium residential density and farming zoning - you must use ordinances to ban growth of skyscrapers or allow farms in industrial zones, tedious at best, Farming is also affected by the fact that zoning is limited to four squares deep (making them look totally out of scale, more than other things in-game other than the airports, which, for that matter, do almost nothing) beyond a road and best done in fertile areas only - basically, needlessly making it a much more complicated affair than in SC4, even with mods, as with these one is forced to manually plop/paint and decorate fields to visually simulate said farms.

    Many other minor complaints in vanilla (i.e. deathwaves, must build roadside first, etc.) that are easily fixable with mods.

    For the price, 30$ at launch, you cannot beat it though. It is a great bargain. As for the DLCs, I believe all of them are worth as well, except the disasters pack, which I do not own and cannot comment as I never cared for them in any city simulator game. But you do not require them to have an enjoyable experience, or to use user created content, for that matter (other than ones created specifically for content introduced in these DLCs).    … Expand
  2. 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.
  3. 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
  4. 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.
  5. Valkyan
    Mar 10, 2015
    9
    Solid city builder which SimCity 4 should have been.

    Pros: - able to play on launch date - big cities - full mod support (hey, even more size cities !) - editor - working simulation model - tons of options how to play - price - offline game Cons: - traffic simulation model should get patched ... it's not at 100% when you have three lanes road .... still miles ahead of    Solid city builder which SimCity 4 should have been.

    Pros:
    - able to play on launch date
    - big cities
    - full mod support (hey, even more size cities !)
    - editor
    - working simulation model
    - tons of options how to play
    - price
    - offline game

    Cons:
    - traffic simulation model should get patched ... it's not at 100% when you have three lanes road .... still miles ahead of SimCity 4
    - road building tool should get improved, but options are still pretty great at the moment
    - i would like to see coop multiplayer (2 players playing 1 city)

    Conclusion:
    - great game for a great price. If you like to build then get it ...    … Expand
  6. dk3d
    Mar 11, 2015
    9
    I can't in all fairness give this game a perfect score but it comes close. SimCity2013 wasn't really even a playable game, I lost interest with SC2k13 in 15 minutes and found the graphics outdated and dull (can't understand how people thought they were great). Skylines is very very playable so far although there are a few annoyances like clicking the school icon both (a) shows the overlayI can't in all fairness give this game a perfect score but it comes close. SimCity2013 wasn't really even a playable game, I lost interest with SC2k13 in 15 minutes and found the graphics outdated and dull (can't understand how people thought they were great). Skylines is very very playable so far although there are a few annoyances like clicking the school icon both (a) shows the overlay on the map of school coverage, but (b) also picks up a school building as if to build it. So because of (b), I cannot actually click on a school to get info about it in this mode until I back out to regular map viewing mode. Kinda weird. But nothing to get upset about.

    Graphically, maybe it's me, but from a sheer "graphic" quality standpoint, Cities XL (or that series) is still the best, cleanest, Nicest AA and textures, game of the bunch. That game sucked, but that's not my point. Graphically, it was the best of these 3 with C:S coming in second. I find the lack of AA (even with it turned on) a bit rough around the edges. Moving around is just not a clean feeling, pixels in the distance flickering around, even at details maxed out. But from a "scale" and feeling like you are in fact looking at a big city with big distances, C:S gets the feeling across well.

    Despite both SC2k13 and this game using 2km grids, maybe it's the scale of the buildings of something but there is waaaay more space in THIS 2km grid than SimCity. In SC you felt your elbows bumping within 5 or 10 minutes. In This, playing several hours, I've yet to feel the need to expand yet beyond the first 2km grid although I do own another 2 to use.

    If my review sounds like I'm nitpicking, well I am because I'm giving it a 9, closer to 9.5, and basically I think by now everyone knows the good points. The "bad" points are few and mostly related to the visual presentation.

    My system is a desktop i5 with 16Gb of RAM, an Nvidia GTX 750ti, running at 1920x1080 and everything is silky smooth as far as FPS. Even Far Cry 4 with everything on runs like butter on this setup (40-50fps). But unlike FarCry, I think this game will tax both GPU and CPU equally especially more the CPU as the population grows. I can see that a laptop with onboard GPU might not be up to it.    … Expand
  7. dadoitz
    Mar 11, 2015
    9
    This is the first time that ive enjoyed a game so much that i've felt compelled to sign up and post a review. Firstly the games runs great and very smooth, the attention to detail is astounding and the game play mechanics are great, there is the odd bug which i'm sure CO will iron out. in time. The real draw card i feel is the modding capabilities of the game, this game will endure forThis is the first time that ive enjoyed a game so much that i've felt compelled to sign up and post a review. Firstly the games runs great and very smooth, the attention to detail is astounding and the game play mechanics are great, there is the odd bug which i'm sure CO will iron out. in time. The real draw card i feel is the modding capabilities of the game, this game will endure for years to come. Great job CO & Paradox!!… Expand
  8. 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.
  9. 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
  10. 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
  11. 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
  12. Bribarian
    Apr 7, 2015
    9
    This is what SimCity 2013 should have been. The game is extremely addicting for the fact that you have the options to get bigger and expand, expand, and expand.

    All the better elements are there from the Simcity sims, managing traffic, zoning, etc.... My only complaint is the cartoony look of the game, which I assume is to help it run as smooth as possible, and the cities can look    This is what SimCity 2013 should have been. The game is extremely addicting for the fact that you have the options to get bigger and expand, expand, and expand.

    All the better elements are there from the Simcity sims, managing traffic, zoning, etc....

    My only complaint is the cartoony look of the game, which I assume is to help it run as smooth as possible, and the cities can look kind of generic and plain, whereas older sims had more way to spice it up. Hopefully with the mod community, it will make it much much better though.

    It's a solid addition to the genre overall.    … Expand
  13. 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.
  14. Vonlinchen
    Mar 23, 2015
    9
    Its been more than a decade but I think Simcity 4 finally has a worthy successor, Cities Skylines.

    Improvements Over SC4 This Game Offers; - A decent artstyle, the first decent replacement of the 2d Simcity style. - Much greater infrastructure detail, customisation & ease of use over SC4 - The traffic model appears more realistic and your actions have logical impacts on it - Good    Its been more than a decade but I think Simcity 4 finally has a worthy successor, Cities Skylines.

    Improvements Over SC4 This Game Offers;
    - A decent artstyle, the first decent replacement of the 2d Simcity style.
    - Much greater infrastructure detail, customisation & ease of use over SC4
    - The traffic model appears more realistic and your actions have logical impacts on it
    - Good modding support and tools
    - Whilst the scale, in terms of population, is much lower than SC4 it appears more realistic and accurate
    - I would estimate the maximum city size is 2x the size of the larger city tile in SC4

    The only negative thing I can say about the game is that it is very difficult to fail, however its something I'm willing to overlook. The unlocking of buildings/services/functions as your city progresses does not feel limiting but serves a vital role in ensuring less experienced/casual players find the game easier to play.

    90/100
    Only improvements I can think of would be;
    Adding a Region, allowing cities to interact
    Adding multiplayer region or easy way to exchange city tiles.

    I hope paradox will consider these improvements for the sequel, they are certainly on a distinguished road.    … Expand
  15. winnston
    Mar 26, 2015
    9
    A little confusing to start off with, but the game does a nice job of staggering content so as not to overwhelm you. Feels a little light on some of the available buildings and content, but this game has been built to make the most of modding, and the steam workshop has tonnes and growing every day. Appears the developers have the gamer very much in mind, keeping up to date with posters onA little confusing to start off with, but the game does a nice job of staggering content so as not to overwhelm you. Feels a little light on some of the available buildings and content, but this game has been built to make the most of modding, and the steam workshop has tonnes and growing every day. Appears the developers have the gamer very much in mind, keeping up to date with posters on reddit and the workshop, I expect this game to have a huge vault of additional content over the coming years.

    I came to this game having missed a truly decent one since sim city 4 and it doesn't disappoint.    … Expand
  16. Iconium
    Mar 28, 2015
    9
    There is not much to be said than what people and critics already said. The game is good, solid, and have zero breaking bugs, just minor bugs.
    This is what was supposed to be Simcity 5. The game has all features and full 3D rendering to be the truly successor of Simcity 4. With great mod support, and seamless integration into steam workshop, it will easily be much more moddable than    There is not much to be said than what people and critics already said. The game is good, solid, and have zero breaking bugs, just minor bugs.
    This is what was supposed to be Simcity 5. The game has all features and full 3D rendering to be the truly successor of Simcity 4. With great mod support, and seamless integration into steam workshop, it will easily be much more moddable than SimCity 4 and will grown much more, much faster.
    You have basically what we wanted for Simcity 5: same ideas and mechanics of Simcity 4, with 3D graphics, improved simulation and huge plots.

    Things that i dont like much is the current low variety on buildings, but this should be soon fixed by modding community. The fact you can change several game rules by mods, enhance graphics like added SSAO and god rays is just like the final touch. Where also cities XL failed, this game will probably be the gold standard of the genre for years.    … Expand
  17. Protagonist72
    Apr 8, 2015
    9
    Love it. Biggest advantage of CS over Sim City is that you can build huge cities. I never had a problem with always on but these tiny mini cities made me nuts. Some stuff is not that good than in Sim City but most of it is better.

    8/10 but with the price point a 9/10
  18. Sgfrid
    Apr 12, 2015
    9
    This is the city builder we have all been waiting for since the first PC was born. Seriously great building tools and the graphics are just perfect for this kind of game. I can't praise this game enough!
    And this is just the original game. The modding capabilities are so vast and fun. Even if you don't mod yourself there are so many great intersections and buildings you can download from    This is the city builder we have all been waiting for since the first PC was born. Seriously great building tools and the graphics are just perfect for this kind of game. I can't praise this game enough!
    And this is just the original game. The modding capabilities are so vast and fun. Even if you don't mod yourself there are so many great intersections and buildings you can download from other players. For this price it should be an instabuy to everyone who ones a capable PC or Mac!    … Expand
  19. krekozavr
    Apr 18, 2015
    9
    R.I.P. SimCity 4:D New king is here, this game is just better in almost everything. Map size is amazing, different mods and a lot of stuff here. New simcity must be really good to beat that.
  20. CakeFox
    May 16, 2015
    9
    Very nice game, lovely made, nice features and an amazing modding community.
    SOmetimes the polygon count is to low, but generally its a fine peace of work.
    Have fun playing it.
  21. MihaiKrieger
    Jun 4, 2015
    9
    A modern take on city building simulation. Supports mods extensively and does not have the classical grid system. The car AI is scripted though. I would have expected something more intelligent, but it's good enough for a game of this magnitude.
  22. jaehong
    Aug 16, 2015
    9
    This game is so good. But, I think that It has an error. For example, factories have a stock (full). And they can't sell. Also, stores can't get enough goods. What is reason about this error? Please fix this error.
  23. krebal
    Nov 21, 2015
    9
    IT`S THE BEST CITY BUILDER SIM OF ALL TIME i think. Mod-ability, Cities up to 1,000,000+ , Great Devs, Great Community, My Favorite Game. 200+ hours OF FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  24. agurczuk
    Jun 21, 2016
    9
    A simcity we always wanted.

    This game crept on me unexpectedly. I wasn't aware it's coming out, haven't heard anything before it released and was really positively surprised when it came out. This game is good. It really is. It's a city builder that just makes sense. The graphics are amazing. The sound, the ambience - everything is as you would like it to be. Even more they've added    A simcity we always wanted.

    This game crept on me unexpectedly. I wasn't aware it's coming out, haven't heard anything before it released and was really positively surprised when it came out.

    This game is good. It really is. It's a city builder that just makes sense. The graphics are amazing. The sound, the ambience - everything is as you would like it to be. Even more they've added day and night cycle for free.

    It's really enjoyable to build a city here. You get a wide array of tool that lets build the city in the way you want to. You will need to keep an eye on traffic and population happiness. Not really much more to say. At this point probably the best sim city like game out there.    … Expand
  25. noelanz
    Nov 16, 2018
    9
    This is easily the greatest game I've played in a few years! It definitely has a way of wasting your time so efficiently. The workshop on steam really helps immersion.
  26. baris697
    May 5, 2016
    9
    The best current city-build strategy. It is not hard game like some other titles from the same category, it si more like sandbox and in fact, it is harder to do something bad. Game has quality mechanisms, comfortable graphics design, nice soundtrack and good UI. My only problems has been with trainz, where is possible to create some deadlock situation. Summary great title for a nice price.
  27. atisfix
    Oct 6, 2016
    9
    Cities: Skylines is a nice city builder game. I quiet enjoyed playing it however for the first time it was really difficult to start with it. It is different from other city builder like SimCity but graphics and controls are really easy to use. Graphics are very nice and neat as well! Good game!
  28. dzbnkx
    Nov 13, 2019
    9
    Best city builder of all time. Highly detailed, you have to care about everything in your city.
    However, Paradox wants you to buy 100s of DLCs.
  29. Ilya2017
    Aug 31, 2017
    9
    Хорошая игра, лучший градостроительный симулятор. Конечно не без багов. Играю со всем комплектом дополнений.
  30. Armywild
    Nov 20, 2019
    9
    Review castellano, Jugado en Gamepass, Pc graficos medios. No es necesario explicar de que se trata dado que es un simulador perfecto para crear tus ciudades, vengo de pasarme mas de 70 hrs construyendo y mejorando ciudades desde sus cimientos y puedo decir que es un simulador muy completo. Corrigieron muchos errores por el Pionera SimCity, pero en esta ocasion se agregaron formas deReview castellano, Jugado en Gamepass, Pc graficos medios. No es necesario explicar de que se trata dado que es un simulador perfecto para crear tus ciudades, vengo de pasarme mas de 70 hrs construyendo y mejorando ciudades desde sus cimientos y puedo decir que es un simulador muy completo. Corrigieron muchos errores por el Pionera SimCity, pero en esta ocasion se agregaron formas de agilizar tanto el trafico como la obtencion de recursos. Moderno y facil de jugar, con buenos tutoriales para lograr llevar tu ciudad a lo mas grande. Recomendado para jovenes interesados en aprender a gestionar recursos y lograr la mejor eficiencia. Y que mejor que su version incluida en gamepass de xbox.… 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

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
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