As of the current patch (late 2024/early 2025), sits in a complicated space.
When Cities: Skylines launched in 2015, it resurrected the city-builder genre from a long SimCity slumber. Nearly a decade later, Colossal Order returns with a sequel promising true next-gen urban simulation. No more fake traffic, no more city size limits, no more agent limits. Cities: Skylines II aims for the stars—but arrives with engine trouble. Cities Skylines II
The game pushes you to zone low-density residential because it looks like a suburb. However, low-density taxes do not cover the cost of the pipes and roads they require. Mix in (medium density) as soon as possible to consolidate tax base. As of the current patch (late 2024/early 2025),
This is the elephant in the room. On release, even high-end PCs (RTX 4090, i9-13900K) struggled to maintain 60fps at 1440p. The game is heavily CPU-bound due to the deep agent simulation—every citizen, every car, every good being tracked. Colossal Order has improved performance with patches (LOD adjustments, occlusion culling), but medium-range systems still see stutter once cities pass 100k population. The game looks good, but not this demanding good. No more fake traffic, no more city size