Cities: Skylines ▶ Trailer
Cities: Skylines screenshot 1Cities: Skylines screenshot 2
SimulationStrategyCity BuilderBuildingManagementSandboxSingleplayer

5,784 playing

Peak in the last 24 hours: 9,867

Peak in the last 7 days: 11,802

Cities: Skylines Steam store

Game description

Cities: Skylines is a modern take on the classic city simulation. The game introduces new game play elements to realize the thrill and hardships of creating and maintaining a real city whilst expanding on some well-established tropes of the city building experience.

Basic info

DeveloperColossal Order
PublisherParadox Interactive
PlatformsWindows · macOS · Linux
Steam DeckPlayable
Release dateMar 10, 2015
Price

Prices by IsThereAnyDeal

Minimum specs

OSWindows® 10 Home 64 Bit
ProcessorIntel® Core™ I7 930 | AMD® FX 6350
Memory8 GB
GraphicsNvidia® GeForce™ GTS 450 (1 GB) | AMD® R7 250 (2 GB) | Intel Iris Xe G7 (Tiger Lake)
Storage4 GB
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Review Analysis Score

Based on 402 reviews from the past 1 year

77.7/ 100
Bottom 50%

Steam rating: Very Positive (93%)

Metacritic: 85 /100

Review analysis summary (Reviewed Oct 12, 2026)

Freedom to build any city, helped by mods, keeps Cities: Skylines at 77.7 from 290,876 Steam reviews, and its DLC draws the most criticism.

👍 Strengths

Gameplay ranks 246th of 1396, and 56 reviews praise its creative freedom, the most upvoted describing building a dream city with mods. Content Volume ranks 222nd of 1351: some call it the best city builder ever, with a deep economy and lots of content. 18 praise the visuals and simulation detail, and 16 describe an immersive world that helps them forget real problems. Others praise a developed modding community.

👎 Where it falls short

Pricing & Fairness ranks 1281st of 1399, and comes up in 35% of analyzed reviews. 92 reviews object to the DLC pricing, the most upvoted counting 72 packs costing 453 dollars. Tech & Support ranks 1139th of 1399: 28 report lag as the population grows, and some say a late update broke mods. 25 warn about a steep learning curve, and others find traffic management stressful.

Representative reviews Original reviews ↗

“72 DLC costing $453, predatory monetization with subscription model” · 92 reviews
“built dream Beijing city with mods, freedom to create personal vision” · 56 reviews
“realistic simulation of river evaporation and city building” · 18 reviews

How it holds up

−50+5

Controls, difficulty, progression and depth
Mentioned in 46% of reviews · Top 20% of the games we've analyzed

Freedom +3.75 · Room to explore, build, and play your own way
Positive “built dream Beijing city with mods, freedom to create personal vision” · 56 reviews
Negative “only choice is car-dependent suburb hellscape, no pedestrian streets” · 4 reviews

Progression 7% · Difficulty 7% · Onboarding 13% · Strategy 13% · Controls & feel 5%

Plot, characters and the world

Not enough data — only 9% of reviews mention this.

World +3.24 · Lore, atmosphere, and how immersive the setting is

Story 0% · Characters 0%

How much there is to do, variety and replay value
Mentioned in 21% of reviews · Top 20% of the games we've analyzed

Volume +3.11 · How much there is to play, including endgame, for the price
Positive “best city builder ever with deep economy gameplay and extensive DLC content” · 14 reviews
Negative “game is extremely time-consuming” · 1 review

Variety 7% · Replayability 3%

Graphics, art style, music and sound
Mentioned in 13% of reviews · Bottom 30% of the games we've analyzed

Visuals +2.19 · Graphics, art style, and animation
Positive “realistic simulation of river evaporation and city building” · 18 reviews
Negative “without mods and DLCs the game feels ugly and empty” · 5 reviews

Audio 2%

Playing with others, the community and servers

Not enough data — only 8% of reviews mention this.

Community +2.95 · Who you play with — how many, and how friendly

Playing together 1% · Servers & Connection 0%

Pricing, cheaters, balance and matchmaking
Mentioned in 35% of reviews · Bottom 10% of the games we've analyzed

Pricing -0.96 · Whether the price, DLC and microtransactions are reasonable, and how much paying gives you an edge
Negative “72 DLC costing $453, predatory monetization with subscription model” · 92 reviews

Anti-cheat 0% · Balance 6% · Matchmaking 0%

Bugs, performance and developer support
Mentioned in 28% of reviews · Bottom 20% of the games we've analyzed

Developer support -0.38 · Updates, patches, and how devs respond to players
Negative “mod-breaking update 2 years post-release disrespects modding community” · 15 reviews
Positive “developers support mods and lots of mods to choose from” · 1 review

Stability 8% · Performance 13%

Grey means too few reviews mention it to trust. — means almost no reviews mention it.

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