A sequel that does n’t live up to the hype is rightfully a tragedy . This one might as well be one . Here is our Cities : Skylines II inspection .
If there is a gaming musical style that has always been my go - to genre for spending my leisure time clock time , then that would be simulation games . I have played almost all Sims games , and my inner megalomaniac of sorts fly high whenever I get the chance to play a urban center - building pretense game . The amount of time I have invest in games such as SimCity , Aven Colony , and even Frostpunk — I ’ve never experience as useless as I did when I wager Frostpunk — could have easily made me the next multimillionaire if induct in more productive areas of life . Well , too bad , I ’m a gamer , and that ’s just how life is , especially now that it has become my career to publish about them .
While playing games and writing about them is an natural process that I make love profusely , some things will make me question my life sentence choices or even life as a whole . impoverished games at launch , red-faced flag regarding the biz ’s development , neglect for your interview , and almost sell your somebody to the demon of gaming : greed . While I can not say in in effect moral sense that this all applies , Cities : Skylines II is the consummate storm with only one victim demographic : the fans .
An impressive and realistic experience
Let ’s start thing on the correct foot . obstinate to what I have already say , Cities : Skylines II is a subject - filled game that I had the chance to savor . I did n’t have the chance to play the early stage of the first game , so when I judge the late version of Cities : Skylines , the original , I felt a bit overwhelmed by the absolute number of choice and mechanics . I ’ve got to say that the tutorial implementation during the first hours of city : Skylines II is a great achievement .
My initial builds were defective , to say the least . However , once I got the clutches of affair , I had a dependable idea of how to take tending of the citizens ’ basic needs and happiness ; I gave much greater grandness to city design and even try out more with the more complex tool in the game . I was blown aside by the flexibility of the road tools , the realistic aspects of citizen simulation , and the implementation of different climates and seasons . This game has a stack of things arrive , and contrary to the first biz , it already tamp a vast amount of content from the get - go . Let ’s face it , to have it otherwise would have been a full cap sin .
Overall , a very complex yet intuitive experience made me require to invest more clip in the game . I was hold merriment , and to have merriment while also learning about a practically new dealership is a really rare natural event for me . It is either one style or the other . And while I would have loved to fiddle much more than what I ended up wreak , I just could n’t . Not because I did n’t require to , but because I was prevented from doing so .
Image: Colossal Order
They warned us, we weren’t prepared
Now , I am not an FPS — frame of reference per second — radical . I do realize that 60 fps is a standard that I hope all games aim for , but whenever I review a biz , I unremarkably leave this aspect behind in favor of the experience . However , when the performance of the game start up hinder the overall delectation of the game , well , it would be a mistake to just give the secret plan a whirl . One would gestate a PC with a 4090 and an i9 13900k to be able-bodied to melt down a biz of the size of Cities : Skylines II , but yet again , life is full of surprisal , which in this typesetter’s case make out in the form of a major lack of optimisation .
While my ready locating to deform the quality down to 2k improved my operation , I can not imagine players using a 3060 or a 1650 — the most used GPUs by Steam players — to run this biz properly . Remember when I said that I wanted to carry on represent this game and I could n’t ? It was n’t because of the lack of optimization , but due to the invariant crashes that came at the most inconvenient moments , drive me to begin from zero . All because I did n’t enable car - save , which would have been a not bad option to extend whenever you commence the game for the first clock time or in a new metropolis . Moreover , after these collapse , neither of my nontextual matter setting were saved at all , so I would have to reconfigure them to have a more stable biz , which inevitably ended up in a clangoring again .
Graphically competent
The good news show is that the graphics are good . I would n’t say that Cities : Skylines II has the skillful graphics of all time since I found them underwhelming at time — maybe the optimization issues did n’t permit me to have them as the developer intended . I have realize what this game is capable of and I was take care forward to replicating the city I have realise before . However , I never engender to see what I was go for for . The music and sound excogitation was great , though , even becoming one of the upright aspects of the biz .
And to turn to the elephant in the room , yes , thedevelopers saidthat the biz was n’t going to hunt perfectly . In fact , they are unbowed - up accepting there are functioning issues that are taking over the game . I do n’t know about you , but I rather choose a game postponement than a tainted reputation by plunge it in a deplorable country . Maybe you get to know the game a lot good than me , who knows , but releasing this game in the state it is — I was even given a young build that promised to meliorate operation but did nothing for me — is just one of the blood-red flags that concern me . And now that we are talking about red flags …
The modding scene under fire
metropolis : Skylines did n’t release to be or become an highly realistic city - building game . The responsibility behind its irksome transformation to the game that the residential area treasures and roll in the hay now falls on the modding community . The Steam Workshop was a blessing for the folks over at Colossal Order , and Paradox gain from it . by nature , one could expect the same to happen for Cities : Skylines II . After all , imagine the possibilities of an already vast game that brings forth a lot more subject matter than the release translation of Cities : horizon propelled to the stratosphere by the hands and wit of the best modders in the scene .
Well , not only will Steam Workshop support disappear , but the mods will occur directly from Paradox , under the undivided Mickey Charles Mantle of Paradox Mods . Now , if history has told us anything , it ’s that restricting creativeness to only a group of hoi polloi who also happen to have the power and authority to approve and shelve any idea on the spot is a risky idea and a perfect concoction for failure . Using the cross - platform stability concern may be a valid point . However , bound the modding community , the one responsible for what the enfranchisement has become , pee-pee this more of a scapegoat than a reason . Also , to say that Paradox Mods will become available “ in short ” after release is something that makes me feel uneasy and distressed , to say the least .
Related : metropolis : Skylines II rises toward dismission in 2023
Image: Colossal Order
The verdict
Cities : Skylines II is the upright model of a decent biz being hindered by confutative decisions and an seeming unfitness to even handle the hardest unity . While the backlash of delaying the game ’s release could be a setback for the developers , relinquish a game with the issuance that it has and with the restriction they are willing to keep will be a stake in the marrow of fans waitress for the sequel of a game they love .
The plot is honest , if I ’m being generous — “ acceptable ” could be a near Holy Writ — but how many good games have we realize hail and go without even seek to go the superfluous Swedish mile ? I do n’t think expecting a game to run well is outrageous or fussy . I think it is a obligation the developers should take in charge . To say , “ Oh , well , just release it as it is , ” is the middle - school brain we do n’t necessitate or merit .
I just hope the developer take aid of this game as much as their fan love it and open up the modding capabilities the community used to have so we can see the game we were all trust for . For now , it is n’t there , and while the skyline could look hopeful , just like Icarus , it just fly too close to the sun .
Image: Colossal Order
Other city : apparent horizon 2 article
Image: Colossal Order
Image: Colossal Order
