Cities: Skylines II arrived in October 2023 carrying enormous expectations. The original Cities: Skylines had effectively become the default city builder for an entire generation of players, largely thanks to its deep simulation and an extraordinary modding community. The sequel promised everything the first game offered and more. Delivering on that promise has been a slower, rockier process than anyone wanted.
Community reception at launch was sharply negative, focused primarily on performance problems that made the game borderline unplayable on many systems. The months since have brought improvements, and the conversation has gradually shifted from frustration to cautious optimism. But the launch left scars on the game’s reputation that continue to shape how players talk about it.
A Deeper City Under the Hood
The simulation improvements are genuine and substantial. Economic modeling is more detailed than the original, with supply chains that actually function and citizens who make realistic decisions about where to live, work, and shop. Traffic simulation, always the heart of any city builder, is more nuanced. Road hierarchy matters more, and the tools for managing traffic flow are more powerful. These aren’t surface-level changes. They create a city that feels more alive and responsive to your decisions.
Map sizes are enormous compared to the first game, giving players room to sprawl in ways that weren’t previously possible. The scale allows for metropolitan-level planning, with distinct districts that develop their own character based on the services and infrastructure you provide. Zoning is more flexible, and the ability to create mixed-use areas adds a layer of urban planning that fans of the genre appreciate.
Infrastructure systems have more depth across the board. Water, electricity, and sewage require more thought and planning. The climate system affects your city in meaningful ways. These additions create a more complex and rewarding management challenge for players who want to dig into the details of running a city.
The Performance Shadow That Won’t Lift
Performance at launch was the defining issue, and its effects linger even after significant patches. The game demanded hardware that many players simply didn’t have, and even high-end systems experienced frame rate problems as cities grew. Colossal Order has made progress on optimization, but the game still runs heavier than most players expect from this genre. Building a large city and watching it slow down creates a ceiling on the experience that the first game largely avoided.
The modding ecosystem, which was the lifeblood of the original, has been slow to develop. The first game’s modding community created tens of thousands of assets and tools that effectively transformed it into multiple different games. The sequel’s modding tools arrived later than expected, and the mod scene, while growing, hasn’t reached anything close to the density that made the original special. For players who spent hundreds of hours with modded Cities: Skylines, the sequel feels bare by comparison.
Missing features at launch created additional frustration. Several systems and tools that existed in the fully expanded first game weren’t present in the sequel at release. While some have been added through patches, the perception of launching with less content than the predecessor’s final state has been a persistent source of community dissatisfaction.
Visual fidelity, while technically higher than the original, doesn’t always translate to a better-looking game. The art style leans more realistic, which can highlight imperfections that a more stylized approach might have masked. Some players actively prefer the original’s visual style, particularly when the sequel’s higher fidelity comes at such a steep performance cost.
Building on Shaky Foundations
Cities: Skylines II is a case study in the gap between ambition and execution. The simulation improvements represent a real step forward for the genre. The systems are deeper, the cities are more responsive, and the tools are more powerful. But those improvements launched inside a package that wasn’t ready for the audience that was waiting for it.
The trajectory since launch has been positive, with Colossal Order addressing issues steadily. The question for most players is whether the game has improved enough to match its potential, and that answer changes with each update.
Should You Play Cities: Skylines II?
If you’re deeply invested in city builders and want the most advanced simulation available in the genre, Cities: Skylines II offers things its predecessor can’t match. Players with strong hardware who are comfortable with a game that’s still evolving will find real depth here. The foundation is solid enough that the long-term outlook is promising.
Skip it if you’re coming from a heavily modded Cities: Skylines experience and expect equivalent content. Also skip it if your hardware is mid-range or below, because the performance demands will undercut the experience before you’ve built anything interesting.
The Verdict on Cities: Skylines II
Cities: Skylines II is a sequel with better ideas than execution. The deeper simulation, larger maps, and more nuanced infrastructure systems represent genuine progress for the city-building genre. But the performance issues, slow modding ecosystem, and missing features at launch mean it’s still working to earn the trust that its predecessor built over years of support and community collaboration. It’s a game worth watching and possibly worth playing now, but it hasn’t yet become the definitive city builder it was designed to be.