Cities Skylines 2 Steam reviews are already down to ‘mixed’ as the new city builder from Paradox and Colossal Order divides players, owing to a number of performance and technical problems. Although CS2 introduces a range of new tools and mechanics, and improves systems like road-building, traffic management, and the in-game economy, as noted in our own Cities Skyline 2 review, it often does not run smoothly on PC. Freezes, long load times, and problems with level of detail and textures makes Cities Skylines 2 feel like a less-accessible game than its predecessor, which took up the city building mantle after the poor reception of SimCity 2013 – itself criticized for issues with performance and playability.
As noted in our extensive Cities Skylines 2 review, Paradox and Colossal Order have made several vital, impressive improvements to the city-building game. You can design, create, and grow a city much more easily and intuitively, and there is a solid foundation for a better game in the future. Cities Skylines 2 Steam reviews however are already down to ‘mixed,’ as players encounter many technical problems on day one. Take a look at the best Cities Skylines 2 settings to maximize performance, if you want to improve the experience.
As of this writing, 47% of the roughly 8,000 Cities Skylines 2 reviews are positive. To achieve a ‘mostly positive’ rating, a game needs at least 69% positive reviews, meaning CS2 has a little ways to go. Nevertheless, Cities Skylines 2 hit a peak of more than 104,000 players on launch day, way above the all-time player count record for the original game, at 60,386. Cities Skylines 2 is also currently top of the Steam best-seller chart.
SimCity 2013 was criticized owing to its always-online requirement, meaning that, when the game encountered server issues at launch, many players were unable to join the game. The Cities Skylines 2 system requirements and performance issues present a similar barrier to entry – where the original game ran very smoothly and easily on almost all PCs, representing an accessible alternative to SimCity, Cities Skylines 2 makes high demands of players’ gaming rigs.
Colossal Order has outlined plans for an upcoming patch, explaining it is currently being tested and aims to improve CS2’s performance issues. The developers says that it decided to go ahead with the original release date for Cities Skylines 2, despite anticipating possible backlash from players.
If you’re keen to get started and grow your megalopolis, find out how to make lots of Cities Skylines 2 money. We can also help with one of the game’s most difficult aspects via our guide to Cities Skylines 2 roads, which will help keep your citizens happy.