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Cities: Skylines II and its current public perception is an incredibly interesting byproduct of the current state of software development these days. Cities: Skylines was a cult hit that was catapulted into stardom over the course of the 9 (!!!) years since its initial release due to an incredibly passionate community of talented programmers, artists, and content creators that managed to extract everything possible out of the base game.

The question, of course, is how do you even go about making a sequel to a game with as much continuous momentum as Cities: Skylines? What could Colossal Order offer people that didn't already exist on the Steam Workshop for Cities: Skylines that could justify a $50 price tag?

The philosophy of the sequel is easy to understand: take everything people loved about the original, fix the things people had issues with, and implement some of the most popular community mods into the base game. Wrap that all up in a new engine that allows more flexibility for both developers and modders alike and enjoy another near-decade of content.

That is exactly what Cities: Skylines II is. However, and I'm by no means the first person to make this observation, the end result is a game that is equal parts bounding with promise and incredibly flawed.

Its evident that *something* marred the development of the game. I, again, am not the first nor the last to point this out, but Cities: Skylines II is a game that feels rushed. Whether it was the game's performance issues at launch or the continued frustrations players are feeling with the new simulations mechanics, Cities: Skylines II is a frequent exercise in being so close to achieving exactly what you want out of a city builder only to hit a metaphorical wall caused by missing features, confusing design decisions, or performance issues that grind any positive momentum one has with the game to a halt.

That's the story of the game as of today. It's why the game is currently sitting at a "Mostly Negative" recent review status on Steam. But as mentioned at the start of this review, we live in an interesting moment in time with regards to software development.

I work in tech. I've personally been on projects where something gets pushed live and it doesn't work, breaks a bunch of stuff, or just flat-out sucks. It never feels good. Nobody gets into an industry like software development to purposely do bad work. Given infinite time and infinite resources, I think Cities: Skylines II could have avoided the issues players are encountering mentioned above. But of course, that's not how real life works. Paradox Interactive is a notoriously difficult publisher to work with, and I have no doubt that the issues experienced during development have at least something to do with unrealistic expectations set by the publisher.

However, as of writing this review, Cities: Skylines II has just been updated with mod functionality - a feature that was highly criticized for being absent from the game on launch. Should the game have had mod support at launch? Absolutely. Not including it highlights a lack of knowledge about what made the original game so special. Do I think Colossal Order wanted it available at launch? Absolutely. I think, based on the state of the game as mentioned above, its simply something they weren't able to achieve within the timeframe given by Paradox. Is it a good sign that it was eventually added back in? Absolutely.

I think the folks at Colossal Order understand the mountain they have to climb in order to get the game to the state they want it to be. You only need to watch the pre-release Developer Insights interviews to see the passion folks on the team had for what they were building. I see this most recent update as a positive sign of things to come. Again, they do have a mountain to climb to reclaim the good faith that was lost with the launch of Cities: Skylines II. But I'm hopeful that everyone, especially Paradox Interactive, have taken the deserved criticism of the game to heart. Games like No Mans Sky and Cyberpunk 2077 found themselves in similar situations and managed to turn things around. I'm hopeful Cities: Skylines II will as well.

So, I do recommend Cities: Skylines II. Pick it up on sale. You will get frustrated. You will wish the game wasn't the way it was. But I see the game's most recent update as only a sign of things to come. At its core, Cities: Skylines II has so much potential. Its up to the team at Colossal Order now to extract that potential through continuous updates, bug fixes, and community support.

"We've made it clear that Payday 2 will have no microtransactions whatsoever (shame on you if you thought otherwise!)"

EDIT: $7 Goat Simulator DLC. GG