"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". Since last month's megathread, this same question was asked roughly once every 36 hours.
This megathread aims to gather resources, reviews, and recent first-hand 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.
Patches and Bug Fixes
As of the start of this month, there have been 35 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:
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.
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.
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.
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).
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!
