Cities: Skylines 2 has been out for more than a couple of months already but shows no sign of truly improving, at least that’s what its fanbase is starting to think. Read on to learn more about player reactions to CS2’s improvements, or lack thereof.
Cities: Skylines 2 Put on Blast by Community
Despite being hyped up in 2023 as the foremost city-builder, Cities: Skylines 2 continues to disappoint its community with its plethora of optimization issues and general lack of polish. Although updates and patches have been rolling out weekly since its October 2023 release, fans have started to think that there’s no hope for this game as their frustrations come to a head on Reddit and YouTube.
Comments on the latest Devlog — which hasn’t been followed up for nearly 10 days now — ranged from scathing to utter disbelief at the game’s current state to outright anger. "I wish I had bought this game twice so I could leave two negative reviews on Steam," said one commenter. "Done with this game, I'll revisit in a year when it'll be optimised for cities above 100k citizens," said another.
We reviewed the game as worth its $50 price tag, despite the extensive performance issues it exhibited. Read more of our review at the link below.
Content Creators are "Done" with Cities: Skylines 2
Casual fans weren’t the only ones up in arms at the game’s poor performance capabilities; content creators and reviewers also fanned the flames with their recent uploads. Cities by Diana — a content creator who’s covered the game extensively since release — uploaded a video to her channel titled "i'm done* [not clickbait]" where she went over the game’s questionable launch and the weeks that followed. The video has since been set to private.
"There’s a lot to like," Diana said. "I’m not gonna lie, it’s a good game. But even while modded, the game feels empty. The user interface feels offputting. Something about playing the game feels clunky and slow. It takes forever to do anything and there’s almost no content for it whatsoever apart from the bare minimum."
Another content creator, Biffa Plays Indie Games, also shared their thoughts on the game’s quality, releasing a 40-minute breakdown of why they don’t like Cities: Skylines 2. While Diana focused more on the game’s lack of mod support, Biffa went over how a majority of the game’s "New Features" were just pointless.
It’s evident that CS2 is losing the good faith of its community as the months roll by. It’s uncertain what Paradox and Colossal Order have planned for their latest city-builder, but it will be an uphill battle to regain the trust they’ve lost from the community.
Cities: Skyline 2’s Lackluster Release
All the negative press about Cities: Skylines 2 — and by extension its publisher and developer, Paradox Interactive and Colossal Order, respectively — didn’t come from nowhere. Cities: Skylines 2 was hyped up as the next-generation city-builder, with its AI pathfinding and stellar graphics presented front and center.
Considering the success of its predecessor, Cities: Skylines, expectations were high and people were clamoring to get a taste of their favorite game’s newest iteration. The disappointment that followed was immediate and resounding.
It became clear that the game wasn’t ready but was released anyway. Countless performance issues plagued the game, making even the beefiest rigs slow down to accommodate all the simulations. The game was beautiful, but its wings were clipped by a plethora of bugs that nearly made it unplayable.
Colossal Order’s reaction to the feedback didn’t help in maintaining their community’s trust either, with Mariina Hallikainen — Colossal Order’s CEO — writing "If you dislike the simulation, this game just might not be for you," in the game’s official forums. Hallikainen apologized shortly after, but the damage was done.
This comment was followed by weeks of patches and updates that seemingly did little to improve the game’s optimization and performance, prompting the eventual uproar that led to the reaction mentioned above.
Holding Out for A No Man’s Sky-esque Redemption Arc
Games promising more than they can actually deliver on release is nothing new. The infamous "No Man’s Sky" incident from 2016 is perhaps the most well-known one, but it’s also the best example of how to recover from such a flawed release. Though initially panned for not delivering on its promises, No Man’s Sky eventually became a serviceable game after a few updates. It’s apparent that many in the CS2 community are holding out for a similar outcome for Cities: Skylines 2.
"I often say that I hope Cities: Skylines 2 has a No Man's Sky redemption arc," Biffa said. "No Man's Sky had huge potential. It promised a lot and under-delivered. What did they do? Well, Hello Games took the money and put it back into the game. They made it what it should have been on release and more. They also took responsibility for the mistakes that they made, they showed humility, and they fixed it."
A commenter on the aforementioned Devlog had the following to say as well: "I mean shutting up to try and pull a No Man's Sky probably does make sense, but there do still need to be some... better words than this, even if not more words."
There’s no telling if Cities: Skylines 2’s improvements will ever reach the degree that Hello Games was able to accomplish with No Man’s Sky. Still, its dedicated community presents avenues for change that could potentially save the game.
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Frustrations with Cities Skylines 2 are starting to boil over among city builder fans and content creators alike: "It's insulting to have a game release that way"
Colossal Order's Latest Cities: Skylinse 2 Devlog
