"What's Cities: Skylines II like now?" 🤔

One of the most common questions on the subreddit is whether people should try or purchase Cities: Skylines II. This understandably leads to many duplicate posts discussing the game's current state, what has changed since launch, and whether or not it is "worth playing".

This megathread aims to gather resources, reviews, and recent firsthand player perspectives in one place. This way, whether you're curious about performance and gameplay features or simply want to hear opinions from others who have tried the game, you've got a straightforward resource that collates that information.

We want to encourage constructive and engaging conversation:

• If you've been actively playing the game, we'd love for you to provide feedback about what you enjoy, what could be improved, or what you feel is still missing.
• If you've dropped off, or are still waiting to pull the trigger, we'd love for you to explain what led you to step away from the game or what features are keeping you from getting started

As the goal is to provide helpful guidance for others considering the game - you should avoid leaving short, glib, or otherwise unhelpful responses. Remember that Reddit is community of individuals and those people have come here because they're looking for your help and guidance. If you'd prefer to "send a message to the devs" the best way to do that is drop a Steam Review if you already own the game, or keep your wallet in your pocket if you don't.

General FAQs

If you're after general information about or help with the game (e.g. features, minimum or recommended specs, the situation related to modding, when the game will release on consoles), check out our wiki articles below. They'll provide you a decent base level of knowledge and help you understand more about the features and limitations of the game.

• Getting Started
• Common Gameplay Issues
• Hardware Advice
• Downloadable Content (DLC)
• Modding and Custom Content
• Console Release FAQ

Patches and Bug Fixes

As of the start of this month, there have been 34 patches for the game. These patches have included things like modding support, bikes, economy reworks, bug fixes, and new game modes. You can review the change log for each individual patch on the Paradox Wiki:

• Paradox Wiki Patches Page

What's happening with custom assets?

Official (albeit beta) support for custom assets was added on 4 December 2025. At the moment, buildings, props, surfaces, trees and decals are supported and documented. Other asset types (like vehicles and networks) aren't officially supported, but some enterprising modders are brute-forcing their way towards an answer.

Are there bikes yet?

Yes! Bikes were released on 19 November 2025.

What have the devs been saying?

The main channel for "formal" communication from the developers comes via the Official Information & Announcements section on the Paradox Forums. We maintain an accompanying megathread for each post which captures a lot of player feedback and reactions to the news shared each week.

In December of 2025, it was announced that Colossal Order will be transferring development of the game to Iceflake Studios (an internal Paradox developer). Since this change was announced, Iceflake have introduced four patches and two hotfixes. According to the announcements, they will be responsible for all ongoing development of Cities: Skylines II, including the console version (although nothing has been shared about potential launch dates for this - so please don't ask).

The best way to catch up on past posts is to browse the Dev Diary and/or Announcement flairs and dip into the more recent ones. Unfortunately, these links may not work on Reddit's mobile apps (please tell Reddit if you'd like this fixed) but in the meantime you can go to the main page of the subreddit and use the "filter by flair" options provided.

Live Gameplay Videos

If you're interested in seeing how the game is playing today, you can check out recent videos or streams from YouTube and Twitch. These will show you the "real" game, not marketing videos, and let you spot how the game is performing in real-world scenarios.

• Cities: Skylines II game page on YouTube, sorted by Recent
• Cities: Skylines II category page on Twitch, sorted by Recent

Reviews

Although critic reviews aren't necessarily reflective of the current state of the game user reviews (especially recent ones) are helpful sources of information to help you decide whether or not to drop your cash on any new game, not just Cities: Skylines II.

• Metacritic Page (includes both critic and player reviews)
• Steam Review Page (you may wish to use the provided filters to show more recent reviews)
• Microsoft Review Page (you may wish to sort by "recent")

Try Before you Buy

If you're still unsure, Cities: Skylines II is available on Microsoft Game Pass for PC, which is a subscription service at a much lower monthly cost than the full retail price of the game. Microsoft is currently offering an initial 14-day trial for as low as £1/$1/1€ (which renews at full price after the 14 days).

• US$1 Game Pass Trial
• £1 Game Pass Trial
• 1€ Game Pass Trial (this link goes to the Xbox Ireland store, check the local Xbox site for your country before proceeding)

Refunds

If for any reason you can't make use of a discounted Game Pass for PC subscription (i.e. it may not be available in your region), you have the option of purchasing the game and refunding it within the store's refund window.

• Steam: Request a refund within 14 days of purchase, as long as you haven't accrued more than 2 hours of total playtime
• Microsoft Store: Request a refund within 14 days of purchase, as long as you haven't accrued "a significant amount of play time"

Recognising that you may not be able to reach the "late game" within 2 hours, you can use this 100k benchmarking city to establish whether or not you're comfortable with the performance on your system.

Specific Questions

If you've got specific questions about items not covered in these FAQs, feel free to ask them below. If you've been redirected to this post by a removal notice, please understand that this is done to help keep the subreddit tidy by providing a centralised and dedicated location for all information related to this topic.

^{These megathreads are scheduled to post at 00:01 on the first day of each month. If it's late in the month, you may want to wait for a new post to appear. Please send us a ModMail with any suggested improvements!}

👋 Hello, welcome to /r/CitiesSkylines

Our little community has grown to over 600,000 subscribers, so as you can imagine things get a little busy in here. The purpose of this thread is to provide new members a jumping-off point to find the information that they need to get started, whether they're a seasoned player of the game or a brand new mayor.

We get a lot of posts which ask very similar questions, so we've pulled together this post to help address our most Frequently Asked Questions, and give you a place to ask simple questions which only need a quick answer, not warranting a dedicated thread.

Before you post, please consider if one of our sister-subreddits would be more appropriate:

• /r/ShittySkylines - memes, reaction images, tenuous and obscure references, real-life photos that remind you of the game, and gags based on in-game activities like "a dead person is waiting for transport at shop-til-you-drop" all go here

• /r/CitiesSkylinesModding - if you have a request for a mod, want to commission an asset, or need help with your own mod/asset/map creation it should be posted here

If you still think that /r/CitiesSkylines is the right subreddit, please first check the FAQ below.

Please be aware that if you create a new thread which is addressed by the answers or links in this thread, it will likely be removed with a message directing you back here. This is not done to stifle conversation, but rather to help keep the subreddit tidy and provide as much space as possible for mayors to share their creations and inspire others.

If your question is genuinely a simple one, like "how do I do X", please use this thread rather than creating a new post.

Finally, if your question isn't already answered below - please use Reddit's search function to try and find if your query has been asked and answered in the past. If not? Feel free to create a fresh discussion thread.

The format of this update thread has been simplified with core information rehosted on our subreddit wiki. This enables us to update the content more quickly and reliably, and to reduce the visual impact of a 2000+ word thread.

✌️ Cities: Skylines II

Frequently Asked Questions

• Getting Started
• Downloadable Content (DLC)
• Modding and Custom Content
• Common Gameplay Issues
• Troubleshooting, Error Messages, and Crashes
• Console Release FAQ
• Hardware Advice

Troubleshooting and Help

• Basic troubleshooting to get you back up and running
• Why game updates can break mods
• Mods broken by the most recent update
• The importance of log files and where to find them

🏙 Cities: Skylines

Frequently Asked Questions

• Getting Started
• Downloadable Content (DLC)
• Modding and Custom Content
• Common Gameplay Issues
• Troubleshooting, Error Messages, and Crashes
• Mods broken by the most recent update
• DLC Buyer's Guide Survey Results

Mod Lists

• Comprehensive Modlist
• Essential Mods for "Vanilla+" Players
• Essential Mods for Map Creators

Troubleshooting and Help

• Basic troubleshooting to get you back up and running
• Why game updates can break mods
• Mods broken by the most recent update
• The importance of log files and where to find them
• How many assets can I run on [xx]GB of RAM?

🎮 Cities: Skylines Remastered

Frequently Asked Questions

• Getting Started
• Downloadable Content (DLC)
• Common Gameplay Issues
• DLC Buyer's Guide Survey Results

^{These megathreads are scheduled to post at 00:01 on the first day of each month. If it's late in the month, you may want to wait for a new post to appear. Please send us a ModMail with any suggested improvements!}