| Attack of the Fanboy |
J.R. Waugh |
3.5 / 5 stars |
10-19-2023 |
In many ways, Cities Skylines 2 is addictive, but the word ‘addictive’ should be taken subjectively. The game has good addictive potential, like the runner’s high after intense exercise or a delicious cup of coffee. But it also has bad addictive potential, like a narcotic, as you grind through the performance issues because you know it’ll get good again soon, and you know your rig can totally handle it, as you promise to your friends. |
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| But Why Tho? |
Matt Donahue |
9 / 10 |
10-19-2023 |
Cities Skylines 2 is a worthy successor to the long standing original city builder |
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| Cerealkillerz |
Steve Brieller |
8.4 / 10 |
10-19-2023 |
Cities Skylines 2 improves on the beloved first part of the series. While it misses scenarios and dedicated tutorial missions, it captivates from the first minute on with the premise of building your own dream city and optimizing all the little details. Be aware though, that even with high end hardware the performance is abyssmal. But Colossal Order already promised to deliver performance improving patches and an early WIP patch we could use made the situation way better already. With the performance upgrade and the yet to come mods from the community, this game will surely be the new frontrunner of city building games. |
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| CGMagazine |
David Walters |
8 / 10 |
10-19-2023 |
As far as world-building games go, Cities: Skylines II is second to none. The sheer volume of capability is staggering and the possibilities are endless for what you can create. |
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| Checkpoint Gaming |
Omi Koulas |
9 / 10 |
10-19-2023 |
Cities: Skylines II is a city-building experience of epic proportions, filled with complexity and creativity. Its immense ambition in city design is complemented by an intricate web of services and an intelligent population. It may stumble under the weight of technical performance and a few bugs but the series still continues to redefine urban strategy in games. Colossal Order have truly delivered a living, breathing, dynamic city management game. |
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| COGconnected |
Mark Steighner |
78 / 100 |
10-27-2023 |
Maybe it isn’t fair to compare Cities: Skylines II to its predecessor, which has had years of updates and addons. Setting aside some technical issues, Cities: Skylines II has some interesting new systems, some welcome mechanical improvements, and lots of potential. But it’s missing some content that long time players have probably come to expect, and it’s in need of optimization, bug fixes, and the sense of life and fun that characterized the first game. |
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| cublikefoot |
Claire Ferrin |
Not Recommended |
10-19-2023 |
The performance issues really just sour the entire experience. The game should not have been released in its current state and I would recommend waiting for further optimization. |
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| Everyeye.it |
Alessandro Preziosi |
8.5 / 10 |
10-19-2023 |
We could go into more detail about the many innovations introduced in Cities Skylines 2, but what really matters is to emphasize the freedom of choice it offers the player. |
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| Game Informer |
Sarah Thwaites |
7.5 / 10 |
10-19-2023 |
Quantifying the nuance of Cities: Skylines II isn’t easy. As I dig deeper into its complicated systems, more and more exciting features are still coming into focus. The sequel is ambitious and wants players to juggle hundreds of considerations as they build towards Elysium, and it delivers in that aspect. Yet, unfortunately, the game’s consistent technical problems tend to mire that calculated success. |
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| Game Rant |
Max Borman |
3.5 / 5 stars |
10-19-2023 |
Even with some of its shortcomings, Cities: Skylines 2 delivers an extremely deep and content-rich city simulator that genre fans will definitely want to check out. It should once again remind fans why Colossal Order is the perfect studio to lead the urban city-building genre after the failings of the SimCity franchise. However, it is also hard to look past the fact that this game is launching with less content than the original game currently has. Couple that with the limitations the districts have and the lack of the custom-building tools that players loved in the original, and the game feels like it is being held back a bit at launch. Much of this may be fixed with post-launch updates, but right now, it feels like a pretty glaring omission. |
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| Gameblog |
Camille Allard |
4 / 10 |
10-25-2023 |
In its current state, it is impossible to recommend Cities Skylines 2, as the game proves to be unplayable, even on a very powerful machine. The game has enormous potential and could score much higher after the necessary corrections. It is important to note that this is not an early access version, but a “final” version that is being sold for 49.99 euros. Players have the right to expect a smooth and complete gaming experience for this price, and unfortunately, Cities Skylines 2 does not meet these expectations in its current state. |
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| GameMAG |
Unknown |
8 / 10 |
10-19-2023 |
Cities: Skylines II is a gripping experience and a perfect follow-up to the first game. Sadly, all of that is really dragged down by myriads of technical problems. For now, we can only hope that Colossal Order will fix most of the issue and gets the game to the state it deserves to be. |
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| Gamersky |
Mega杰尼龟 |
8.6 / 10 |
10-19-2023 |
Cities: Skylines II is a game that’s ahead of its time in terms of both gameplay and hardware demands. It has taken significant steps forward in terms of quality, gameplay, and detail compared to its predecessor, although this comes at the expense of very demanding system requirements. In an era where city-building simulations are becoming increasingly scarce, Cities: Skylines II remains the top choice for fans of city-building simulation. |
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| GamesRadar+ |
Dustin Bailey |
2 / 5 stars |
10-19-2023 |
It’s going to take a lot of improvement to get this sim into an acceptable form |
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| GamingTrend |
Ron Burke |
Not Recommended |
10-23-2023 |
Suffice it to say I’m excited for this game, and so much of me wants to recommend every bit of it. Right now, the performance issues make that very, very hard. I’m not sure why Colossal and Paradox didn’t delay all of it until 2024 instead of just consoles, but here we are. Much like other games that launched in a rough state, I’m certain that Cities: Skylines II will eventually be something to behold. For now, however, there’s a bit of buyer beware. |
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| God is a Geek |
Mick Fraser |
8.5 / 10 |
10-19-2023 |
While it does struggle under the weight of its own ambition a little, Cities: Skylines II is still a super addictive city sim. |
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| GRYOnline.pl |
Konrad Sarzyński |
6 / 10 |
10-19-2023 |
Cities Skylines 2 can be engaging – expanding your city provides a lot of fun. Unfortunately, it cannot overshadow a vast sea of greyness, identical, levitating cars and ugly graphics that do not explain ridiculous system requirements. |
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| Hobby Consolas |
Alberto Lloret |
75 / 100 |
10-21-2023 |
City Skylines 2 is a great city management and creation game, with a bright future ahead thanks to updates, mods and user-created content, which already has a range of interesting options, although the whole is weighed down by poor optimization that still has a little way to go to unfold its full potential. |
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| IGN |
Leana Hafer |
6 / 10 |
10-19-2023 |
Cities: Skylines 2 is an ambitious sequel that might have bitten off more than it can chew – be prepared to do a lot of terraforming if you don’t want your metropolis to look like a nightmare. |
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| IGN Italy |
Stefano Castelli |
8 / 10 |
10-19-2023 |
A good sequel which provides a better interface and lots of freedom for building your own cities. Too bad the game lacks in modes and optimization. |
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| INDIANTVCZ |
Filip Kraucher |
6 / 10 |
10-20-2023 |
Cities: Skylines II offers a wide range of options for building your city on a foundation that isn’t yet very stable. It doesn’t provide all the features and expansions that its predecessor has received over the years, but it has at least set the stage for developers to continue working on the game. Cities Skylines 2 will keep you entertained for hours already. It’s more accessible, creative, and fun, as you can feel the enormous work the developers have done on the build features. On the management and city governance side, it’s unfortunately worse. You must also forgive the relatively poor technical state, which spoils the impression of a reasonably successful sequel. |
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| Noisy Pixel |
Colin Buchanan |
9 / 10 |
10-19-2023 |
Despite its few peculiarities and performance issues, Cities: Skylines II successfully upholds the legacy of its predecessor and raises the bar for the city-building genre. Whether you’re a seasoned city planner or a newcomer ready to embark on an urban adventure, Skylines II offers endless possibilities and countless hours of creative enjoyment. |
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| PC Gamer |
Christopher Livingston |
77 / 100 |
10-19-2023 |
The city builder sequel is packed with big improvements but a fair share of disappointments. |
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| PCGamesN |
Edward Smith |
7 / 10 |
10-19-2023 |
Intricate, intuitive, and ambitious, Cities Skylines 2 successfully integrates all the major improvements that players might have wanted. Something personal is lost in its larger scale, while performance problems spoil the beauty, but this could one day become the superior city building game. |
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| Polygon |
Cameron Kunzelman |
Recommended |
10-19-2023 |
Skylines 2 appears to be the distinct result of a dev team looking out at other places to find beauty and, more importantly, designing with an aim toward getting players interested in thinking of themselves as people making aesthetic choices. It’s thrilling. |
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| Rock, Paper, Shotgun |
Sin Vega |
Not Recommended |
10-19-2023 |
An engaging zone-based city builder that balances simulation with ease of play, but offers little that feels substantially new or improved enough to warrant a sequel. |
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| Saving Content |
Scott Ellison II |
5 / 5 stars |
10-19-2023 |
Colossal Order offers an intricate deep simulation of a city builder. Aside from the taxing performance, it’s simply amazing to see in motion. For the price, you get a metropolis-sized game full of options. It’s also one of those things where I can’t wait to see what this game is like eight years from now. Cities: Skylines II offers the next-generation of the city builder that constantly impressed and amazed. |
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| SECTOR.sk |
Branislav Kohút |
7.5 / 10 |
10-19-2023 |
Skylines II is a good strategy builder that meets today’s standards, but could have delivered a little more. You won’t find anything in the management that you haven’t seen in the previous game or in other city building games. We appreciate the opportunity to build a really huge megalopolis with a complex structure. |
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| Shacknews |
Josh Broadwell |
8 / 10 |
10-19-2023 |
There’s still work to be done, but Cities Skylines 2 is an impressive improvement over the original. Its systems work together seamlessly, and you have more control over how your city develops without it feeling overwhelming or intimidating. |
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| SpazioGames |
Daniele Spelta |
8 / 10 |
10-19-2023 |
Cities Skylines II does its best to become the best city builder on the market and this first step surprises for how many things Colossal Order managed to improve. Of course it still needs more time to build (pun intended) on this foundation, but the ambition of this game was surely delivered with the right amount of love and care for even the little details. |
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| The Games Machine |
Alessandro Alosi |
8 / 10 |
10-25-2023 |
Cities: Skyline II expands, refines, simplifies and complicates where necessary the legacy of the first chapter, but right now it is above all a vision. It is the vision of what could be after the dev patches for technical problems and the community mods to increase the content, the two premises on which the foundations of a fortune rest that, hopefully, will accompany the days and nights for a long time of a large group of city builder fans. |
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| TheSixthAxis |
Stefan L |
8 / 10 |
10-24-2023 |
Cities: Skylines 2 has a bright future ahead of it. The core city building is solid, a well-rounded new take on the city building genre that already covers a lot of bases, but has plenty of room for expansion and further ideas to come through to it. Sure, you might miss the creature comforts of old DLC and mods, but given time Cities: Skylines 2 will be a bigger and better city builder. |
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| VG247 |
Alex Donaldson |
Recommended |
10-19-2023 |
This is an excellent sequel, and an exciting foundation for what I’m sure will be a bright, addition-packed future. |
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| VideoGamer |
Antony Terence |
8 / 10 |
10-19-2023 |
Cities Skylines 2 is a well-loved home that picks smart renovation over a sweeping revolution. With incredible visuals and immaculate detailing, few cities can eclipse this colossal effort in terms of sheer freedom and choice. |
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