In March of this year, publisher Paradox Interactive and developer Colossal Order introduced us to Cities: Skylines, a city-building simulator. More importantly, it was the city-building game EA should’ve delivered with 2013’s SimCity reboot. Of course, as you’re probably aware, EA’s SimCity was a colossal failure, opening the door for Colossal Order’s take on the genre.
While it’s true Cities: Skylines does borrow a lot of the same ideas of the original SimCity franchise, what makes Colossal Order’s take on the genre stand out is how they actually listened to fans’ complaints with EA’s SimCity reboot and improved upon those aspects and features.
It all starts with depth. Though the technical aspects of zoning, budgeting, and public services can be a bit overwhelming, Cities: Skylines presents them in a way that’s streamlined and easy to understand. Even the more fickle aspects of city management, like health, happiness, pollution, etc. are presented with user-friendly graphics. Cities: Skylines offers the depth fans of the genre desire, but presents it in a way that’s not too overwhelming.
Most of the features in Cities: Skylines are familiar to veterans of the city-sim genre, but another key standout point for the game is its scale, and I’m not just talking about growing from a small town to a bustling city of skyscrapers. Aside from a rewarding progression system, Cities: Skylines — right from the start — offers you massive plots of open land that allow you the freedom to truly build the city of your dreams. With user-friendly tools (and the help of mods), if you can think of it, you can build it.
There’s no doubt Cities: Skylines capitalized on the disappointment of SimCity; but, I think even without the failed launch of SimCity that Cities: Skylines would’ve been lauded by both fans and critics. Though not perfect by any means, Cities: Skylines was a great first effort by Colossal Order and we can’t wait to see what the future holds for this game.
Next game: Ori and the Blind Forest
