Summary
After years of post-launch support forCities Skylines, the hotly anticipated sequel has finally arrived.Cities Skylines 2seems to take everything good about the first game and improve upon it tenfold for a fantastic city simulator. It seems to be showing audiences once again why Colossal Order is the perfect studio to lead the city builder genre after the failings ofSimCity 2013. However, that game still seems to be an exclusive feature thatCities Skylines 2could thrive with if given the chance.
SimCity 2013included a lot of massive changesto the series' formula, with one of the biggest changes probably being the introduction of multiplayer. While it may have been an extremely controversial decision to force it on the players, the actual idea behind it had a lot of promise. Being able to build cities alongside friends sounds like a recipe for success, which is whyCities Skylines 2should run with it. It already seems to have the perfect set-up for a feature like that, so hopefully the studio delivers.
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Cities Skylines 2 Could Thrive with Multiplayer
UnlikeSimCity 2013, there are no elements ofmultiplayer withinCities Skylines 2. Players must create their own saved games, build cities by themselves, and can only interact with the greater community outside the game. This makes sense since the genre is primarily focused on delivering fun single-player simulators. However, if done right, multiplayer has the chance to take the concept to greater heights.
SimCity 2013did not do multiplayer right, which is partly why it failed. While it should have been an optional mode, it was forced upon players at launch. They could not play the game without connecting to the servers, and that proved extremely difficult at launch since they were overloaded. This caused the game to be unplayable, which is never a great look. Once players could actually play, they quickly realized justhow limitedSimCity 2013was due to the forced multiplayer.
Even thoughSimCity 2013’s multiplayerwas not handled well, it was still an interesting concept that more city builders should consider adopting. It let players build cities alongside each other and had them build up an entire region together. They could trade with each other, their cities could work together, and they could even build great works together. Even with the server troubles, it could still be a lot of fun when it worked. And that is whyCities Skylines 2should take it to the next level.
Cities Skylines 2already seems to have elements of this feature through its single-player. When players build various public transportation like trains or airports, they can create outside connections with other cities. These cities may not be visible outside a little icon with a name, but it feels like they are actually there. It helps make the world feel a bit more alive, which is great to see. Now,all that Colossal Order has to dois give players control of those other cities to take it to a whole new level.
Instead of forcing players to build within tiny squares together,Cities Skylines 2could give players free rein to construct the city of their dreams. Then, they could create trade or public transportation routes to other players rather than nonexistent cities. Players could even hop in and look at someone’s city if they wanted. As long as it was not forced onto the player, having a feature like this could really help liven upCities Skylines 2even more. It would just feel special to be a part of a world filled with player-created cities, so hopefully something like that is in the pipeline.
Cities Skylines 2is available now on PC with a PS5 and Xbox Series X/S version launching in Spring 2024.
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