Cities: Skylines

This is the first review I’ve ever written for a game. Obviously, that’s because this is the best game I have ever played. Where do I even start? I originally built my gaming PC with flight sims in mind, stuff like MSFS, DCS, and similar. I figured those were the only kinds of games I’d ever touch. Honestly, I don’t even really consider myself a “gamer.” That said, I’ve always been in awe of huge cities. I live in a medium-to-small city myself, but I’ve been lucky enough to travel to some major ones, and from the very beginning, I’ve loved everything about them. The hustle and bustle, the giant highways, it all fascinates me. I’d heard of Cities: Skylines a while back but never paid it much attention. I didn’t realize a game could actually simulate that specific love I have for cities. Then one day I saw it on sale on Steam, read some reviews, and thought, “Why not? I’ll give it a shot.” And for the first time since childhood, I was glued to a game. Time flew. I played for six hours straight after installing it, but it felt like half an hour. It was like discovering my first Minecraft cave when I was 12, all over again. I had never gotten addicted to a game so quickly. It was wonderful. This game makes you feel smart. Proud. Like a problem-solver, a designer. A city builder. It’s not for everyone. Not everyone’s going to enjoy spending hours figuring out how to optimize traffic flow from the industrial zone to the commercial zone, all while managing raw materials, worker supply, and outside connections. But the crazy part? I didn’t think I would, either. News flash: I do. And it feels great. Seriously, solving those little logistical puzzles makes you feel amazing. Sure, the game has its quirks, some small bugs here and there, but nothing out of the ordinary for a game of this size and complexity. The only one you’ll probably notice early on is how vehicles change lanes, which can cause some traffic issues. But honestly, I wouldn’t even call that a bug. It’s just the game mechanics. So yes. I highly recommend this game. To everyone. If you’re reading this and even slightly think you might enjoy it, buy it. Sale or not, this thing is worth a million bucks. Even now, with Cities: Skylines II out for over a year, I can only hope that, with time and updates, it’ll capture the same magic this first one did. Thanks for reading—and good luck with your city!

my combined steam workshop assets are larger than the base game plus all of its DLCs and CCPs one of the best ways i've found to waste my life no notes 10/10

Rating: 8/10 Cities: Skylines is one of the most robust and satisfying city-building games available today. Developed by Colossal Order and published by Paradox Interactive, it offers players a rich sandbox to design, manage, and optimize sprawling urban environments. The game excels in simulation depth. From traffic management to public services and zoning policies, Cities: Skylines gives you full control over your city’s development. The interface is clean, mod support is extensive, and the variety of tools available makes city planning feel both rewarding and realistic. It's incredibly satisfying to watch your creation evolve from a tiny village into a thriving metropolis. The modding community deserves special mention—thanks to Steam Workshop support, the game has essentially limitless replayability. You can customize almost every aspect, from buildings to traffic AI, giving the game a long life beyond its base features. While the core gameplay loop is engaging, there are still some pain points. Traffic AI can behave unrealistically at times, leading to frustrating congestion that feels out of your control. Some features, like natural disasters or advanced public transit systems, are locked behind DLC, making the base game feel slightly stripped down unless you're willing to invest more. Performance can also become an issue in large cities, even on capable systems, and the learning curve may be steep for newcomers unfamiliar with the genre. Despite its flaws, Cities: Skylines is a standout city-builder that rewards creativity and problem-solving. With great visuals, smart systems, and unparalleled customization, it’s a must-play for fans of the genre. A few rough edges hold it back from perfection, but it still stands tall as a modern classic.

7/10 Could have been a wonderful game, but this business practice with 430 Euros of DLC is a shame. Building on uneven terrain is not optimal.

Great game if you can grab this on a deal with all the DLCs. Still waiting for the sequel to reach the heights of the original. If you liked Sim City or enjoy city builders, then this is definitely for you.

The best game in its genre, where you can enjoy hours of construction with its own unique songs and many other challenges.

It is a very fun game, very nice, so nice ! Almost 60 hours already !!!

This game consistently crashes at launch and leaves me with a black screen and I am unable to open my task manager to close the application, resize or minimize the window using keyboard shortcuts and I have to manually shut down my computer using the power button. It will also crash in the middle of game play so I'm having to redo things in the game due to automatic saves only very 10 minutes. I has crashed so many times but my final straw was it crashing 3 times last night, and now again this afternoon. I am so utterly frustrated and disappointed and I was very excited to purchase this game and play it. My computer has never had a game crash and I do not have this issue with any other games I currently play either, only this game is a problem. I've made sure all of my drivers are up to date, graphic settings are optimized, all computer settings are optimized, my computer components are new and working properly, temperatures and fps are fine, and I've checked the integrity of all game files through steam and it's still an issue. I am very sad to give this bad review as I actually enjoy the game but constantly going through this is ruining the game for me.

Great game for people enthusiastic in advancing in your own little sandbox world. Great attention to detail.

Enjoying the game, check out the workshop, tons of buildings to download and build along side the reg buildings.

After the start and wanting to rip your hair out, it actually becomes really fun. They should add casinos though...

This one reminds me a lot of one of my childhood games: SimCity 4 and what a game that was... It's a great overall building game with a lot of things to do from building houses to managing taxes and creating bus lines. In the context of this, the game is very complex and may not be on everyone's taste as You need a lot of time, learning and understanding on how things work, for example traffic. I for example just can't solve the mass deaths for some reason, but I'll get around it somehow sometime (I hope). Yes, like all Paradox games it has a ton of DLCs that together amount to hundreds of dollars but I personally found the game really fun to play even without all those DLCs. It's a nice and chill you can play to relax in the afternoons or weekends and just enjoy it.

Want to play CS2, but I can't build my dream city because there is no asset editor! It's been nearly 2 years :((( So, I'm playing CS1 where I can build exactly what I want.

I lost track of time and space everytime I locked in. Once you get past the financial turbulence in the early game, what's left is all the fun (I never once tried the unlimited money option because it'd spoil the fun to me).

this game is old but it is much more flushed out with EP's and Mods than CS2 is

Can be overly complicated but it's a lot cheaper than cities 2.

oil resource depleted too quickly and therefore i had to invade Iraq early in game. 10/10

it could be good, but they lock trams behind a dlc making traffic a massive issue. i already payed 30$ for the game and it wants me to pay more to enjoy the game? you can f##k right off.

I already had city skylines on my ps5, and i was bored because there were no cool mods to play around with. this version had the cool mods so i was very happy about it! i highly recommend this game if you like to build anything faster than in minecraft.

Pretty peak game, so incredibly playable and enjoyable as a sim.

Fun and even potato laptops can run this game at 15FPS! (40 For Above Average Laptop!)

This game with DLCs is so much fun. I have played 6 or so hours with the DLCs within the past few days. There is so much to do!

Really feeds into my autism. I spend most of the game perfecting intersections with proper lines, times lights, etc.

This game is beyond fun for a complete newbie playing casually. Love re-working new cities based on whatever my imagination wants that day.

great game. bery gud. i lik. much appresheated

A great city-builder that will have you playing for hours on end, whether sprawling fast and inefficient to keep up with demand or meticulously planning and placing buildings to look realistic. The graphics work well for the scale of this simulation and the soundtrack, designed to operate like a radio, is a charm to listen to during the extended play sessions. The modding community for this game is immense, supplementing and improving the tools available to make the metropolis of your dreams.

I love this game so much! It has endless potential and makes me so happy.

There's a bit of a learning curve, but if you play with unlimited money on and keep the unlock system active you'll get the hang of it! This has officially inserted itself into my regular rotation of games that I bounce around between new games. (Sims, minecraft, and now cities skylines! :) )

Hands down the best city building game I've played, I can't remember a time I got bored playing it. This is actually the game that made me get a Steam account, I saw so many people playing it on YouTube and wanted to try it. It's one of my oldest and most played games. It's basically dethroned Sim City as the go to city builder and its remained great after all these years.

Absolutely sick game i cant wait to play more would absolutely reccommend to all my fellow video gamers. Kind regards Nallut

I LOVE this game, I usually would just play Roblox and never got actually into any games until this one. Bought this for like 3 eur and the value is insane. Can't wait till I can afford Cities Skylines 2

This is still the only game I've ever spent 5 months *straight* playing *only* one game. That was back in 2021 but my love for this game has not faded. And I'm not "anti CS2," but I still love this game to bits. Over 1200 hours...makes sense!!

It's a relaxing but still addictive game. Sometimes you spend time being artistic about one neighbourhood and forget about growing the population. Other times you are immersed in trying to grow the population and figure out why certain areas are growing and others are not. Fun and challenging.

I was so happy playing this game and exploring the world of Tamriel. Not as enjoyable as Skyrim but the world was good!

Great game, but expensive if you want to get all the best features. Buy it if you love city simulators, it's the best modern one out there!

It's super easy to play, really easy to learn but just the right amount of challenge to make it fun!

Even though mods and DLCs play a huge role in this game, this game still holds out as a very good game. This is not a payed review

I was late to Cities: Skylines, but after 6 months I have to say that it is a very entertaining game. It's not perfect, but the effort that Colossal Order as well as the community have put into improving the experience have made it well worth playing.

One of my favorite games of all time. The ultimate sandbox for insane creativity, realistic modeling or nurturing a complex monorail line to full capacity.

재미는 있는데 어찌 뭐 좀 하고싶으면 싹 다 DLC. 파고 들어가면 결국 교통 말고는 뭔가 애매한데... 결국 심4만큼의 뭔가 도시를 운영한다는 느낌은 영... 시티즈 2에서 이것저것 많이 넣어서 작정하고 뭐 해보려는것같긴 한데, 글쎄... 뭔가 영 아니다.

A masterclass in a city design sim. A natural evolution from SimCity. Since CS2 didn't perform so well, this is the better option if you want to be a petty (or loving) dictator and play god with thousands of city residents. Should be part of every sim gamer's library, it's a classic.

Loved this game. The most peaceful yet detailed and well thought out city building game I've played. The management system always keeps you on your toes, it can get overwhelming but it pushes you to do better. Very easy to sink hours into this game.

Good relaxing game. Wish the dlcs weren't too pricey and the base game had more of the dlcs included.

I like playing cities alot. I have Cerebral Palsy and use a HeadMouse to work the computer. Its one of the few games that will work with my HeadMouse. Its hard finding games that I can play because I don't have use of my hands. I would recomme it to anyone with a disability.

quite hard to learn at first, but after you understand how it works, it's very nice, recommended for players who like city builder game

Played only on vanilla. Nice, chill, easy to learn game...until traffic consumes you and you notice quays don't work very well and shipping (rail and ship) create huge traffic jams. Still like the game!

My rating is 9/10: I have never found a game that can suck me into hours of play without noticing! Cities: Skylines is a perfect game for anyone who is into city planning. Ever wanted to make a really car-centric city with highways criss-crossing the city and inner suburbs? You can do that. Ever wanted to make an extremely transit-oriented and walkable city? You can do that. I personally have sunk hours into the game on infinite money trying to make a transit-oriented and walkable city, and the results are so satisfying to see. All the skyscrapers, all the middle-density, all the human-scale streets, it looks like my dream city! My only problem is the DLCs. There are too many of them and in total are very expensive. But that just might be because I'm broke. Nevertheless, the base game is still perfect! And with the addition of mods, the experience is just as good as with DLCs. Mods are abundant in this game. People have made mods for everything, let it be buildings like the Taipei 101, or trains, like the R142 in NYC, or custom stations, custom roads, custom buses, custom maps, custom UI's the list goes on. Mods really enhance the game's experience and is one of my favourite parts of Cities: Skylines. TLDR: WOULD DEFINITELY RECOMMEND!!!

Typical Paradox Interactive game. If you are not bitcoin millionare and buy just the base game, there is fun 100%, but content wise? Not so much. If you would like to do MORE, prepare to spend your childs university savings. But the building and managing City is quite fun, shame they just take so much advantage of really good title like this.

Really fun, a little difficult to succeed at when you first get it though. I got it on my computer after playing it for free on xbox. The workshop is fantastic, theres some really great mods to make the game even better.

This game is very accurate about engineering, and makes you more interested as well.