Cities: Skylines

Steam Reviews

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• Recommended Posted January 26, 2026 on Steam I would recommend this game BUUUUUT I would not recommend a Subscription. Perfect way to ruin a game. Listen Paradox! I get you have to make money but NO ONE can pay every Freaking studio a subscription to play one or more games! Not to mention we all pay to watch things on TV, pay for apps, video players, software, car, home insurance, you get me. You know freaking life's important things. We can't pay for more than the game itself. You want people to make money how about putting out freaking game s that are finished with a couple of bugs and when I say a couple I mean like three not 8000, Cities Skylines 2. This "you will own nothing and like it" ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ needs to end NOW!!! I can see Paradox you have 2 games out there that are doing great one is 11 years old and if you wanted to you could have given people what they wanted and fixed things but instead you guys put out a game that was no were near done and now you want people to purchase a subscription? The tech industry is the MOST POORLY RUN GREETY INDUSTRY I HAVE EVERY SEEN IF MY 53 three years on this planet. Freaking figure it out Paradox and fix freaking CS2.
• Not recommended Posted March 6, 2026 on Steam Loved the game but... JESUS CHRIST PARADOX, STOP TURNING EVERYTHING YOU TOUCH IN A BLOODY DLC HELL FFS!!! YOU GREEDY BASTARDS. Edit: OH! AND I DON'T NEED ANOTHER BUGGED LAUNCHER.
• Not recommended Posted May 17, 2026 on Steam As community-friendly and accredited as this game is, I recently came across quite possibly the worst consumer scam in the video game market when I was trying to get back into Cities Skylines. As a preface, I switched to console gaming a long time ago. So when I stopped using my computer, I downloaded Cities Skylines on my PS4. Over a period of about 4-5 ish weeks, I put money aside to buy DLC until I had it all. Mind you, Paradox's model is literally DLC centered! Nearly all of their games cost 100-400 dollars in just DLC! They literally have a SUBSCRIPTION for DLC on nearly ALL OF THEIR GAMES!!! When you load the Paradox launcher to play Cities Skylines, there is a text bubble that f**king says "LOG INTO YOUR PARADOX ACCOUNT TO ACCESS ALL OF YOUR DLC" Imagine my frustration when I log into my Paradox account on my pc... And DONT have access to the DLC I spent weeks putting money aside for!!! Blew the dust off the Playstation and sure enough, I'm signed into my Paradox account there. So I look it up online, and people are literally being MOCKED for expecting cross platform DLC when you are literally F***ING PROMPTED to sign into a CROSS PLATFORM PARADOX ACCOUNT!???! YOUR BUSINESS MODEL IS CENTERED AROUND DLC. YOU HAVE A CROSS PLATFORM DATA STORAGE SYSTEM. To assume that this "lack" of a feature is something less than greedy, malicious, noncompliance that f***s over the dedicated players who are willing to drop paychecks on your games would mean that you're willing to repaint your living room the same color twice. That is absolutely absurd. DEAD BY DAYLIGHT, A GAME THAT ISNT EVEN SUPPORTED ANYMORE HAS THIS FEATURE. YOU DON'T SAVE MY MAPS, YOU DON'T SAVE MY PROGRESS, YOU DON'T REMEMBER WHAT I SPENT MY MONEY ON, WHY ARE YOU GIVING ME THE OPTION TO SIGN IN ON BOTH PLATFORMS, THEN TELLING ME ITS SO I CAN LOAD MY DLC. Go to hell.
• Not recommended Posted February 21, 2026 on Steam Ive played Cities since release. well over 5000 hours on Console and about 100 on pc. It saddens me to say this about what USED to be on par to be the greatest city building game of all time but Cities: Skylines doesn’t just have a DLC problem. it has a full‑blown DLC addiction, and the players are the ones footing the rehab bill. 72 DLC. Let me say that again, 72. That’s not a game, that’s a car note. The total cost? $453. For a city builder. Not a luxury cruise. Not a GPU. A city builder. And the wildest part? The last time they gave players a free DLC was 2017. That’s almost a decade ago. Since then, the only thing they’ve built consistently is a paywall tall enough to cast a shadow over Mordor. They dropped two tiny free DLCs in 2017 and one in 2016 and then decided, “Yeah, that’s enough generosity for the next ten years.” Everything since then has been monetized like they’re trying to fund a private space program. And now, because the DLC list is so bloated it needs its own public transit system, they’ve introduced a recurring subscription so players can “afford” the content. Imagine creating so many paid add‑ons that you have to invent a monthly payment plan just to soften the blow. That’s not innovation, that’s a hostage negotiation. Meanwhile, other studios are out here dropping free updates for a decade straight (No Man’s Sky says hi), while Cities Skylines is busy selling you a $5 pack that adds three new trees and a slightly different parking lot. At this point, the real city you’re building is Paradox’s financial district, and every DLC is another skyscraper in their skyline. Edit: Currently the game is on sale for $19.99 with Mass Transit and Industries, +3 additional DLC. At that price, its absolutely worth paying and playing. Those are core components that should have been included into the base game. They vastly improve the quality of life. The game is bearable without DLC due entirely to the tireless efforts of the community. The smartest thing Paradox did was allow mods. Also, they are soon releasing 4 more DLC's as we speak.
• Not recommended Posted September 24, 2025 on Steam A 10 year old single player game that requires an online connection in order to track and mine your data. "prod-telemetry.paradox-interactive"; "braze"; "usage.trackjs" Piss right off and fix the second game.
• Recommended Posted April 20, 2026 on Steam At its core, this is a genuinely strong city building simulation that successfully recaptures the feeling of classic titles like SimCity. There’s a real sense of satisfaction in watching your city grow from a small town into a sprawling urban center, and the foundation is undeniably solid. That said, the game does a poor job of onboarding new players. It starts you off with very limited tools and explanations, and the tutorial feels either too barebones or poorly paced. I found myself having to rely on external guides just to understand basic systems, which shouldn’t really be necessary for a game of this scale. As you progress and unlock milestones, more mechanics open up and the depth becomes apparent. However, this is also where the experience starts to shift. By the mid-game especially once systems like public transportation are introduced the game can begin to feel less like a creative sandbox and more like micromanagement heavy work. This is a common criticism echoed in other reviews, where players note that traffic, zoning inefficiencies, and service management can become tedious rather than engaging. One of the biggest drawbacks, and something widely criticized across the community, is the DLC monetization. While the base game provides a decent starting point, it often feels like a stripped down version of what the full experience should be. Many key features and improvements are locked behind paid expansions, and over time, the sheer number of DLCs has become overwhelming. To get what feels like the “complete” experience, you’re looking at a very high total cost even years after release. This pricing model has been called out in numerous reviews as excessive and unfriendly to new players, especially when compared to other simulation games that offer more substantial base content. Mods do help fill in the gaps, and in many cases, they’re almost essential for improving quality of life and expanding gameplay. However, relying on the modding community to address shortcomings in the base game and DLC structure isn’t ideal. On the presentation side, the game does a lot right. The visuals are clean and appealing, and there’s a nice level of detail when zooming into your city. The soundtrack is relaxing and fits the tone well, and the inclusion of radio stations is a creative touch. However, the in between commentary on those stations can quickly become repetitive and, at times, irritating. This is a great simulation game at its foundation, but it’s held back by a weak onboarding experience, mid game pacing issues, and an aggressive DLC model that makes the full experience feel unnecessarily expensive.