Cities: Skylines II ▶ Trailer
Cities: Skylines II screenshot 1Cities: Skylines II screenshot 2
SimulationCity BuilderBuildingSandboxManagementSingleplayer

6,649 playing

Peak in the last 24 hours: 10,861

Peak in the last 7 days: 14,689

Cities: Skylines II Steam store

Game description

Raise a city from the ground up and transform it into a thriving metropolis with the most realistic city builder ever. Push your creativity and problem-solving to build on a scale you've never experienced. With deep simulation and a living economy, this is world-building without limits.

Basic info

DeveloperIceflake Studios, Colossal Order
PublisherParadox Interactive
PlatformsWindows
Steam DeckUnsupported
Release dateOct 24, 2023
Price

Prices by IsThereAnyDeal

Minimum specs

OSWindows® 10 Home 64 Bit
ProcessorIntel® Core™ i7-6700K | AMD® Ryzen™ 5 2600X
Memory8 GB
GraphicsNvidia® GeForce™ GTX 970 (4 GB) | AMD® Radeon™ RX 480 (8 GB)
Storage60 GB
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Review Analysis Score

Based on 410 reviews from the past 1 year

58.5/ 100
Bottom 10%

Steam rating: Mixed (56%)

Review analysis summary (Reviewed Oct 20, 2026)

Fans of city builders give Cities: Skylines II a rough score of 58.5 from 410 reviews, held back by performance and stability.

👍 Strengths

49 reviews still enjoy it, and some call it refined with good quality of life features or say it grows on you. 49 like the visuals, and some point to detailed roads and buildings that can look beautiful, while Visuals & Sound ranks 906th of 1249. 39 credit recent developer updates and patches for fixing issues, and some now recommend it after a new studio took over. Gameplay ranks 747th of 1396.

👎 Where it falls short

139 reviews say performance is poor, and some report low frame rates once a city grows large. 77 describe crashes and bugs, and some lost hours of work or whole saves. 28 criticize the developer for slow fixes and a focus on paid DLC, and some feel the game was abandoned. Tech & Support appears in 79% of analyzed reviews and ranks 1345th of 1399, while Pricing & Fairness ranks 1232nd of 1399 and Content Volume ranks 1023rd of 1351.

Representative reviews Original reviews ↗

“improved industry mechanics and special building unlock system” · 49 reviews
“game is refined and enjoyable with great QOL features” · 49 reviews
“removing railway bridges over water to sell as DLC is predatory monetization” · 26 reviews

How it holds up

−50+5

Controls, difficulty, progression and depth
Mentioned in 36% of reviews · Bottom 50% of the games we've analyzed

Freedom +2.05 · Room to explore, build, and play your own way
Positive “best way to build your own cities available, love spending hours in it” · 15 reviews
Negative “traffic system broken, pedestrians ignore signals, city building feels restricted and monotonous” · 6 reviews

Progression 5% · Difficulty 2% · Onboarding 6% · Strategy 13% · Controls & feel 8%

Plot, characters and the world

Not enough data — only 4% of reviews mention this.

World +1.95 · Lore, atmosphere, and how immersive the setting is

Story 0% · Characters 0%

How much there is to do, variety and replay value
Mentioned in 28% of reviews · Bottom 30% of the games we've analyzed

Variety -1.70 · Fresh content and situations versus repetition
Negative “becomes repetitive traffic management simulator after phase 15” · 5 reviews

Volume 20% · Replayability 2%

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

Visuals +2.11 · Graphics, art style, and animation
Positive “improved industry mechanics and special building unlock system” · 49 reviews
Negative “recent update made graphics cartoonish, flat, pixelated with lost detail and saturation issues” · 2 reviews

Audio 3%

Playing with others, the community and servers

Not enough data — only 4% of reviews mention this.

Community +0.33 · Who you play with — how many, and how friendly

Playing together 1% · Servers & Connection 0%

Pricing, cheaters, balance and matchmaking
Mentioned in 32% of reviews · Bottom 20% of the games we've analyzed

Pricing -0.58 · Whether the price, DLC and microtransactions are reasonable, and how much paying gives you an edge
Negative “removing railway bridges over water to sell as DLC is predatory monetization” · 26 reviews

Anti-cheat 0% · Balance 16% · Matchmaking 0%

Bugs, performance and developer support
Mentioned in 79% of reviews · Bottom 5% of the games we've analyzed

Performance -1.30 · Frame rate, optimization, and loading times
Negative “game chews through framerates and poor optimization” · 139 reviews
Positive “runs smoother with 10 FPS improvement after patches” · 7 reviews

Stability 40% · Developer support 55%

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

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