Summary
Following the disastrousSimCity2013 reboot, simulation fans welcomed the arrival ofCities: Skylinesonly a few years later. With the help of a devoted modding community, the title offered the definitive city building and management experience. Eventually, the game’s graphics began to look somewhat outdated, prompting Colossal Order to developCities: Skylines 2. Sadly, when released in October 2023, the sequel suffered from some of the sametechnical issues that doomedSimCity.
Even though the PC release has improved after numerous updates, the plannedCities: Skylines 2Xbox Series X|S and PS5 versions have yet to materialize.Console gamers received bad newsin July when the game was further delayed without a new release date. Considering all the performance roadblocks on gaming PCs, how can the simulator make a smooth transition to the latestgaming consoles?
Cities: Skylines 2 Performance Concerns
To say theCities: Skylines 2launch on the PC was bumpy would be an understatement. When first released, gamers with the best AMD andNVIDIA GPUsstruggled to maintain 60 fps, even after lowering many settings.
When analyzing the game’s performance, it’s important to remember how much detail is shown in rapidly expanding cities. If a player zooms out, it isn’t easy to recognize everything displayed inCities: Skylines 2. However, looking at buildings more closely makes it apparent how much more complex the graphics are compared to past city builders.
For environments as complex as those inCities: Skylines 2, one way developers can keep gameplay smooth is by only rendering what’s directly in a player’s field of view. This process is called culling and can help reduce the stress on gaming PCs. Unfortunately, this game often forces GPUs to display every object continuously, regardless of its visibility. Consequently,Cities: Skylines 2tests or exceeds the limits of hardware, leading to framerate drops and stuttering.
Cities: Skylines 2
WHERE TO PLAY
If you can dream it, you can build it. Raise a city from the ground up and transform it into the thriving metropolis only you can imagine. You’ve never experienced building on this scale. With deep simulation and a living economy, Cities: Skylines II delivers world-building without limits.Lay the foundations for your city to begin. Create the roads, infrastructure, and systems that make life possible day to day. It’s up to you – all of it.How your city grows is your call too, but plan strategically. Every decision has an impact. Can you energize local industries while also using trade to boost the economy? What will make residential districts flourish without killing the buzz downtown? How will you meet the needs and desires of citizens while balancing the city’s budget?Your city never rests. Like any living, breathing world, it changes over time. Some changes will be slow and gradual, while others will be sudden and unexpected. So while seasons turn and night follows day, be ready to act when life doesn’t go to plan.The most realistic and detailed city builder ever, Cities: Skylines II pushes your creativity and problem-solving to another level. With beautifully rendered high-resolution graphics, it also inspires you to build the city of your dreams.
Since its original release, Colossal Order has addressed some of the issues through a long series of updates. A December 2023 patch focused on lowering civilian models' level of detail (LOD) when viewed from a distance. Still,Cities: Skylines 2takes considerable tweaking in graphical settings on many PCs to achieve satisfactory performance.
The developers face a significant challenge when it comes to the prospect of aCities Skylines 2Xbox Series X|S or PS5 version. Considering therecommended system specs forCities: Skylines 2, programmers will need to realize the full potential of both consoles to avoid dramatically downscaling visuals:
Anytime a game calls for an RTX 3080 or RX 6800 XT costing upwards of $600, it’s not ideal for abudget gaming PCor laptop. The minimum specs are more modest, but graphical upgrades from the originalCities: Skylineswill disappoint most gamers with lesser hardware. NVIDIA’s DLSS boosts image resolution and framerates, but sadly, it’s unavailable on Xbox or Sony consoles. AMD’s FSR is more commonly utilized on these gaming systems, which could aid in smoothing out the performance on consoles.
TheCities: Skylines 2developers caused more controversy when stating that 30 fps was the goal. It’s true that for an enjoyable experience in a city-building game, players don’t necessarily need 60 fps or higher. After all, these titles aren’t fast-paced shooters where losing a frame could result in instant destruction. What’s more important is that the framerate remains consistent on consoles; otherwise, just panning the camera around a city becomes annoying.
The History of Cities: Skylines on Consoles
There are mixed results when looking at the performance history ofCities: Skylineson consoles. The game debuted on the Xbox One and PS4 in 2017 with somewhat diminished capabilities. The framerate was mostly acceptable, but the older consoles struggled when zooming in on buildings. As with many PCs, as cities grew larger, the gameplay became increasingly choppy.
In 2018, the city builder arrived on handhelds when Switch players gained access. Unfortunately, this version exposed the portable console’s technical limitations. Even with smaller cities, graphics were blurry, and the framerate frequently fell below 30 fps. Some native Switch features like touchscreen controls weren’t supported, and precisely laying down roadways with the Joy-Cons was frustrating. It’s hard to imagine the more demandingCities: Skylines 2seeing a Switch release, butSwitch 2 specsare more promising for supporting the game in 2025 or beyond.
2023 demonstrated the benefits of more powerful consoles when a remasteredCities: Skylinessurfaced on the Xbox Series X|S and PS5. Graphics maintained their fidelity better, and closely inspecting traffic jams no longer caused as much stuttering. The developers also added the ability to expand cities up to 25 tiles.
If history repeats itself,Cities Skylines 2Xbox and PS5versions may need to wait until a new generation of consoles is ready for a completely satisfactory experience. The recent delay of a console release is directly related to the struggle to hit performance targets. On the other hand, diminished visuals did not prevent Xbox One and PS4 players from enjoyingCities: Skylines. After ironing out some of the shortcomings of the PC version, there is time to optimize the game so that current console players aren’t left behind.
Building Cities with Console Controllers
Controls are another challenge developers often encounter when porting RTS or city-building games to consoles. WithCities: Skylines 2, gamers have access to a tremendous amount of information about their evolving cities.Gaming keyboardswith a full arsenal of commands can make finding and solving issues with traffic or pollution less stressful.Cities: Skylines 2allows access to these panels with one keystroke shortcut, while oncontrollers, players often need a series of button presses.
In similar games, panning the camera around a map feels natural enough with Xbox orPS5 controllers. Top triggers and bumpers can zoom in and out, while analog sticks move the cursor to focus on buildings. That said, controllers simply can’t match the precision of a gaming mouse, and that elevated performance can allow players to prepare a city before disaster strikes.
Cities: Skylines
Cities: Skylines is a modern take on a classic city builder. With original gameplay to realize the thrill and hardships of creating and maintaining a real city. Boasting fully realized transport and economy systems, Cities: Skylines is designed to suit any play style - and now, anytime, anywhere.Multi-tiered and challenging simulation: Constructing your city from the ground up is easy to learn, but hard to master. Playing as the mayor, you’ll be faced with balancing essential requirements like education, healthcare and much more along with your city’s real economy system. Citizens in your city react fluidly, with gravitas and an air of authenticity to a multitude of gameplay scenarios.Extensive local traffic simulation: Colossal Order’s extensive experience developing the Cities in Motion series is put to work in fully fleshed out, well-crafted transport systems.Districts and Policies: Be more than just an administrator from city hall. Designating parts of your city as a district results in the application of policies which results in you rising to the status of Mayor for your own city.After Dark: Focused on leisure and tourist specialization, this expansion’s central feature is to utilize the day and night cycle and alter the approach to managing your city. Will you construct a bustling city that lives and breathes at night, or succumb to the perils and misadventures of the dark hours?Snowfall: The difficulty heats up when the city cools down, thanks to this expansion’s added challenges and assets, like snow maps, streetcars, and heating systems. There are in-game temperature readings, cosmetic weather enhancements, extra parks, and infrastructural demands to keep your citizens warm and safe from freezing conditions.
Cities: Skylineson the Xbox clearly gave considerable thought to designing a practical control scheme. Certain essential functions are mapped to the A and B buttons to act like a mouse’s left click or to cancel actions. Many buttons on Xbox controllers are utilized for multiple commands, even if some seem a bit awkward. For instance, holding down the left analog stick long enough will change the time progression rate. Reducing the number of inputs needed to navigate menus, the D-pad works differently than analog sticks to browse the hotbar at the screen’s bottom. Finally, the Y button opens the radial menu with shortcuts to vital city information.
WithCities: Skylines 2, some added complexity and features further complicate its controls. Mixed-use zoning enables players to stack residential and commercial properties next to each other. Assigning these zones demands greater precision, which is usually not an issue with mice. However, pinpointing a cursor on tiny blocks with analog sticks takes much more finesse.
The good news is that controller support already exists in the PC version ofCities: Skylines 2, even if many gamers aren’t aware of it. Steam lists the game as havingXbox controllercompatibility, and the functionality works surprisingly well.Cities: Skylines 2uses the same approach as past console versions to assign as many commands as possible to controller buttons. Players are also allowed to remap these actions in the game’s settings. However, while some text appears at the top of the screen describing controls, the interface doesn’t have persistent labels with button icons likeCities: Skylines.
With the rising popularity of cloud gaming,mobile controllerslike the Backbone One also work withCities: Skylines 2. Yet, the experience could use some refinement, especially considering the multi-layered game menus. Gamers often need dozens of d-pad clicks to find their desired selection. Also, hovering over some icons doesn’t generate a helpful text label like when using a mouse, which is problematic for newer players.
TheCities: Skylines 2developers need to make the game a bit more accessible for console players without oversimplifying its mechanics.
Bringing Cities: Skylines 2 Mods to Consoles
Many gamers argue that the massive mod community was essential to the popularity ofCities: Skylines. These mods went well beyond cosmetic changes to objects and new maps, with some adding traffic management tools or the ability to easily move buildings. Consequently, building and managing cities has become more realistic and less tedious.
One of the biggest initial disappointments withCities: Skylines 2was its lack of support for the Steam Workshop, where players downloaded many of these modifications. Gamers would have to wait months for Paradox Interactive to add official mod support for the game. The available options don’t currently have quite the variety ofCities: Skylinesmods, but the selection is gradually improving. The developers also provide publically available tools to code mods for the most ambitious users.
How mods are distributed inCities: Skylines 2compared to its predecessor has enormous implications for future console versions. As opposed to a library of files downloaded outside of the game, the latest city builder relies on the Paradox Mods interface. Players can browse and install the mods without alt-tabbing, and a similar process is expected with theCities Skylines 2Xbox Series X|S and PS5 releases.
House Flipper 2programmers implemented a similar strategy with the game’s console versions to move away from PC-only mod availability. The only disappointment is that most downloads are user-created homes and flipping jobs that don’t dramatically impact gameplay.
Whether mods on console versions will be limited in any way is an open question. If Paradox Interactive delivers all the features of the PC release to console players, gameplay could presumably be changed or improved in the same way. It may be unrealistic to expect full mod development on the Xbox Series X|S, but the map editor should at least survive the transition.
Benefits of Cities: Skylines 2 Console Delays
Despite the indefinite delay of theCities Skylines 2Xbox Series X|S and PS5 releases, it seems inevitable that the game will find its way onto consoles. A few major retailers still have these versions up for pre-order for release later in 2024. Also, the developers clearly designed the game partly with consoles in mind.
With the extra time, Paradox Interactive can avoid some of the problems that have plagued PC players. Performance has seen modest gains, and a recent majorCities: Skylines 2updateoverhauled the game’s economy, making earning money more challenging. When the city-building simulator makes its console debut, it should be a more complete, balanced, and smoother-running game.
A strong foundation exists to build on for futureCities Skylines 2console versions.However, the game continues to stress capable gaming PCs, and achieving acceptable framerates on the Xbox and PlayStation is no easy feat. With more detailed zoning and roadways, quickly accessing these options with controllers is critical. Finally, developers must fulfill their promises of implementing the same modding experience on consoles.
In the past, console gamers were often excluded from in-depth simulators that seemed natural to play only with a keyboard and mouse.Cities: Skylines Remastereddemonstrated the potential of multi-platform gaming, even if it lacked some of the depth of the PC version.Cities: Skylines 2can find success if it brings a more polished game to eagerly awaiting console audiences.
FAQ
Q: Should I play Cities: Skylines 1 or 2?
While it’s a controversial subject, the originalCities: Skylinesstill has many supporters because of fewer performance concerns. Also, there is a larger collection of mods that change or improve the game at a deeper level. That said, issues with framerates and gameplay balance are gradually being addressed, andCities: Skylines IIhas the potential to become the preferred city builder.
Q: Is Cities: Skylines better than SimCity?
While the 2013SimCityrelease largely disappointed audiences, prior editions likeSimCity 4are beloved city building classics.SimCityis a somewhat more accessible simulator with a cartoonish look, making it more of an ideal console port. On the other hand, many players considerCities: Skylinesa deeper and more realistic series, especially after installing popular mods.
