Cities Skylines 2 performance on PC is causing worry for fans of the giant Paradox city builder. While its new features and tools are all welcome additions, and it offers a much greater scale and creativity than the original Cities Skylines, CS2 struggles on even the strongest gaming rigs, with our own Cities Skylines 2 review citing numerous issues. If you’ve got concerns about the upcoming sequel, but still want a great new building and management game, Cities Skylines 2’s closest rival, Highrise City, is the perfect option.
Our Cities Skylines 2 review provides detailed analysis on what works and what, unfortunately, doesn’t work in the new city building game from Paradox and Colossal Order. The new Cities Skylines 2 maps system is very welcome, as are the new road, traffic, and service tools, but even on a PC that can happily run some of the most high-end games of 2023, CS2 struggles. Enter Highrise City, a new city builder just launched on Steam that offers a similar but alternative experience.
Where Cities Skylines 2 focuses on the intricacies of people management, like efficient road networks and perfectly balanced taxes, Highrise City is more interested in production and industry. Of course, you still need to take care of the finer points of infrastructure, and put time and thought into the fundamentals of city planning, but this is also a tycoon game, where the goal is to amass wealth and success.
With more than 300 available buildings, 60 different resources, and the potential to grow a city of some 40 million inhabitants, Highrise City is certainly massive. The difficulty is adjustable, and you can even customize your creations with an in-depth building editor. Currently available at a 20% discount, if you’re still not convinced, there’s even a free Highrise City demo, so you can try before you buy.
Alternatively, if you’re still gearing up for CS2, check out all the Cities Skylines 2 DLC heading our way. We’ve also compiled all the best Cities Skylines 2 mods which ought to help improve the game even further.