

It doesn’t come with any wild sci-fi fantasy themes, like 2018’s science-fiction city-builder Surviving Mars (view on Steam). Competition: Other city-buildersĬities: Skylines is a regular city-building game.

And because it’s a sandbox, you’re the one who has to make these kinds of heavy decisions.įor a base game that doesn’t come with any scenarios other than the basic sandbox with a handful of maps, it’s a little frustrating. It’s what makes its reasonably fast gameplay interesting, and fun. To build up a population, maybe you’ll have to tear out that adorable residential neighborhood in favor of high rise apartments that are designed to attract younger populations.Īs much as I wanted to keep that children’s playground right next to the school, building a college campus beside the high school made more sense to build up my education numbers and create high wage jobs-even if the neighborhood released sad faces into the air over the loss. You’ll need to decide how much funding to invest into your local education or your garbage disposal (a lot to this last one). You’re going to want to tear out roads and rebuild them. As weird as it seems initially, this rewards system makes sense.Īs with the roads, this game is designed to be in a constant state of construction. I would have been that weirdo who would have spent the original amount doled out to start the city on the Statue of Liberty just because I could. Thanks to amazing local traffic simulations-a quality the game does and should boast of-you’ll have to build your population up to earn the right to build those highways.Īlong with road options, other rewards come as your population grows: parks, commercial districting, industry building, loan options, even the concept of garbage disposal. The game starts out with two roads: one leading into town, and one leading out of it. Thanks to amazing local traffic simulations-a quality the game does and should boast of-you’ll have to build your population up to earn the right to build those highways. Modern times means that the idea of the modern city grows, too. That was part of the beauty of the 20 hours I spent playing Cities: Skylines, though. As I learned quickly, a lot of thought goes into it-and one lane roads are your new best friend. In fact, I never realized how much thought one needs to put into creating traffic lanes and streets until I became mayor of my cities. They sent out social media blasts praising new parks I put in, and they also made sure you knew if there were traffic problems.

My citizens “tweeted” to me when I forgot to put in sewer lines. Once I got past this bump in the road, though, a modern take on city-building led me to new heights. Cities: Skylines throws you into the experience headfirst and expects you to succeed.
