There are video games that, once you start playing, make you lose track of time. Cities: Skylines 2 is one of those games. The Finnish studio Colosal Order and the Swedish publisher Paradox Interactive launch today on PC their new city strategy and management title, a project immense in terms of its complexity and options, but which comes short of content and with serious performance problems.
The premise of Cities: Skylines 2 is very simple: build your own city, whether it's the town of your dreams or a large metropolis with millions of inhabitants. And in this process everything depends on you. From urban planning, to land use, the road network, public transport, waste management or energy sources. Everything, absolutely everything – and it is difficult for me to give enough importance to the absoluteness of these everything – depends on you. But don't get overwhelmed.
If you're coming from the first Cities: Skylines, this will be like a walk through the countryside, a return home with several quality of life improvements – power grids and water pipes are now installed next to roads automatically – and new graphics. generation. But newbies don't have to worry. Each game begins with a small settlement with a single street and few buildings and the difficulty and complexity increases as the number of inhabitants increases.
As was the case in the first installment, progress is slow and linear. It is very progressive and at no time does it generate frustration. Making mistakes, tearing down, remodeling, and reconverting is an essential part of the Cities: Skylines 2 experience and is part of the process.
The new Colossal Order comes to PC with less content than its first installment, but it was to be expected. The first Cities: Skylines has received constant updates for 8 years, with expansions of all kinds: means of transportation, renewable energy, heavy industries, airports, pedestrian zones... This second installment arrives with much less content, which will be added as it progresses. the months go by.
The developers have focused on improving the formula. Many mechanics have been simplified or simply now offer more options. A clear example is road construction, which is much more complete and easier to use. In fact, it is the basis of any city.
The first step when creating a new city is to plan the road network, with its main and secondary arteries. Next, the land use is decided (residential, commercial, industrial or office) and the density (the maximum height of the buildings) is established. This is how different neighborhoods are generated, depending on the level of income, studies, services and job offers.
The next step is to improve the lives of citizens with more services, regulating taxes and approving public policies. Cities: Skylines 2 contemplates any city model, whether it is a sustainable municipality with almost no cars or a huge American city with avenues that almost look like highways.
But all that glitters is not gold and Cities: Skylines 2 hits stores today with two serious problems. To begin with, there is that of performance. Colosal Order has not managed to sufficiently optimize the game, which works with pedals even on the most powerful computers. The studio has promised to fix it, but the current situation greatly clouds the launch.
On the other hand, there is the absence of mods. The first Cities: Skylines has become the reference game in terms of city management thanks to its developers, but also thanks to the community that has created content for 8 years. Most of these mods were published on the Steam Workshop platform, which is no longer compatible with this sequel. Paradox Interactive assures that this is because the Cities: Skylines 2 mods will be managed from their own platform so that they are also available on console.
Cities: Skylines 2 promises to be an hours-long game. Those of us who dedicate entire days to the first installment know what we are facing: starting a game means forgetting about the clock. It's like entering a trance. What's new about Colosal Order is what you would expect: more and better management and strategy. Although the launch on PC is hampered by performance problems, less content than desirable and the absence of mods. Now we have to wait for the studio to fix and improve the game, which has the potential to be excellent.
Cities: Skylines 2 arrives today on PC and will also be released on consoles during 2024.
