With a game like Cities: Skylines 2, it might be difficult to know when to stop playing. I have a tendency to play anything with a hook like that until I become tired of it. Usually, I'm fascinated for weeks on end, and then I give up after I've explored every possible angle of novelty. Although that's not my typical behavior, I generally stick with a sim, survival game, MMO, or anything like for a long when I discover that it simply clicks.
Whether it is the budgeting of another Theme Park sim or the construction mechanisms in Valheim , I feel that most games even somewhat connected have a lot of that draw. Where can I find Cities: Skylines 2 , if you ask me?It's difficult to determine right now where it falls on my scale from incredibly gratifying to teeth-grinding wrath. It lies halfway between tediousness and enjoyment; I'm never sure if its sea of options, notifications, and tools is making me feel more annoyed or at ease.
There are undoubtedly issues with Cities as they stand now, the most of them are related to performance. Developer Colossal Order has been transparent about as much, and I've played two builds in order to write this evaluation. I can't comment to the game as a whole since I only recently received this most current one, but I can give my experience so far as I figure out a conclusion.
Creator: Magnificent Order
Publisher: Paradox InteractivePublication date: 24 October 2023
MSRP: $49.99
designated for enhancements
I'm not a civil engineer, however maybe the screenshots gave you that impression. Still, I really like it when I can line up tiles in Cities: Skylines 2 exactly. I like designating certain areas for new building development and look forward to seeing what kind of business emerges from my haphazard tile choices. Usually, it's followed by a whirr of delight when my little town, Mississippi 2, recognizes that I've once again provided for its necessities. I called it after the state where I was born; the two are there because I should have constructed more storm shelters in the first one. As soon as I saw horrible weather and no money, I gave it up. At least true to its moniker.
All of my games begin that way, however, and it's simple enough to concentrate on a developing little area of the map like Cities .begins. I utilize the City Information meters in the bottom left to get an overview of how things are going, and selecting the menu brings up a report with further details. While many of the menus in the sequel are recognizable and enhanced versions of those seen in the previous construction sim, this one grows more technical while still being easily readable. Rather than just stating, "We need residential buildings," my residents are quite specific about the kinds of housing they are seeking.
That's part of the juggling act, that the things I love about the simulation may quickly turn into things I detest. I watched video after tutorial for what seemed like an eternity, and most of the time, I didn't really understand what I was doing until I was really doing it. It shouldn't be an issue if you're already just passingly acquainted with the first, but if this is your first major job, be ready for a steep learning curve. Skylines 2 Cities is not very excellent at teaching you how to play, but once you figure it out, there's a lot of pleasure and satisfaction to be found within the development and milestone reward trees in the game.
The dangers associated with perfection
I'm sure I built enough little towns throughout the trial and error stage to launch my own terrible nation, but that's all part of the joy in getting it perfect. Cities allows you to start constructing with infinite resources and all the features unlocked, but I much rather enjoy the highs and lows of destroying my world with bad financial decisions and then rebuilding it from the ground up. Applying the knowledge gained from one community to the next, maybe I can reach Metropolis rather than going bankrupt at the Busy Town level.
Although discovering the formula and experiencing little moments of gratification fuel the trip between Milestones, the instruments necessary to make it happen seem a little tricky. The thirtysomething infographics in the corner covering topics ranging from tourism to sewage systems don't bother me. I do find it annoying that, even after I've mastered less difficult designs elsewhere on the map, my road tools suddenly decide they can't make the height jump from position A to point B. This seems to happen randomly. My irrational clicking doesn't appear to be saying, "Just pave over that; I have no idea what you're colliding with."
Building on a hill is not something I like doing; that one is quite bothersome. However, I managed to overcome that challenge. Usually, when I begin a new city, I use the Terrain Tool to level everything off. Given its nature, that tool is quite simple to use, at least so far. It saves me a ton of hassles in the future, and it's simple enough to link any additional zones with a gentle slope up or down as I grow my city by buying up adjacent tiles. But don't laugh at my very flat, very apparent beginning tile if you're a visitor to the big, expansive city of Mississippi 2, Coerthas, or Mt. Ontario Online Casino.
The majority of personalization irritates me; when a building type has the same form or feel for the millionth time, it no longer has the same attraction. That, I believe, is a big part of my desire for modifications. I also like how vibrant and intricate the user-made content scene in Cities: Skylines is, even though I didn't play the initial sim as much as I did other sims.
I'm still attempting to understand imports and exports. Making a rather conservative rail system to support my city during a period of rapid population expansion was one of my most recent experiences; nevertheless, the flow of freight made possible by the sparkling new trains didn't appear to have much of an impact on growth. Despite my belief that I had been very cautious, my city swiftly collapsed, and I was unable to pinpoint why my train system lost money so quickly, even though I continued to reduce service costs, halted some activities, and eliminated growth. I put it next to a nearby city's line as the instruction instructed, hoping to open up a new trade channel, but I should have saved myself the hours of labor to fine-tune the arrangement.
Rather, I would suggest that most people just keep creating new, disorganized cities until they figure out the formula. As it is, if you've invested too much effort in creating the ideal road bend or park location, cumbersome systems and their intricacies are awful. While it's simple to become obsessed with such things, it's not worth the work until you know what's expected to occur.
This is a work zone.
with the end, I'm trying to say that, similar to the first appeal, there's a fine line between how annoying some of these city-building activities may become and when they get very annoying, but with this most recent version, I do think there has been some progress. I have limited tolerance for any awkward, early tool problems since stability and performance appear to be the main sources of my complaints. After I reduced all of the parameters to low, the initial version stopped crashing on me quite a bit.
Although the creator requested that my Level of Detail remain at Very Low, the latest version did not break in the same manner. I've tried adjusting the parameters on my own, but nothing appears to improve the appearance at this time. My city often has a smeared or blocky appearance, but I don't really care about that; I simply want to construct. However, it's not a good idea if you're itching to experiment with the picture mode.
Even with all of the ugly, there is still potential there, and I'm invested enough in it to keep going. Just the other night, I was searching city plans on Google, feeling like I should be able to figure out how such things operate. That career has obviously not taken off. Currently, Cities: Skylines 2 seems to be more of a project that requires more time. Although the personalization, fine-tuning tools, and choices degrade the experience, they all seem like reasonable challenges. In the worst case scenario, I'll definitely look into the modding scene once it gets underway, but my goal is for Colossal Order to streamline the launch process.