Developer: Colossal Order
Publisher: Paradox Interactive
Genre: City Building Sim
Players: 1
Console Reviewed: PC
Progress: Mayor of Blackthorn City (population 50,000)
Though we’re only in the first quarter of 2015, it’s turning out to be an exciting year for city-building sims. Earlier we reviewed the revamped Cities XXL which was a worthy, if uninspiring entry in the series. Now we have been blessed with a brand new take on the genre from a developer that burst onto the scene a few years ago with a duo of transportation simulators. As a civil engineer I am especially excited to evaluate the merits of city-building sims, not only by how they function as a video game, but also by how closely they can emulate reality in a fun way. The developer of Cities: Skylines is marketing this product as the ultimate anti-SimCity. They sought to make the definitive city-building sim that is everything that SimCity failed to be, without the destructive, toxic influence of Electronic Arts. Is this the revolution in city building that we have been waiting for? Is this the one sim to rule them all? Read on to find out.