# Cities: Skylines

20 Hacker News commenters recommended Cities: Skylines and 18 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended for its satisfying progressive city-building, large land plots and good graphics, though many say it only shines with mods and that road building is awkward.

## Why people recommend it

- Strong graphics and lighting (3 comments): "CS & PZ can make things look incredible, but it's a PITA to get there." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48311254)) "Now Skylines certainly uped the game game in graphics" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45981882)) "captured lighting in a bottle with the first title" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45960007))
- Mods add transit and features (3 comments): "might as well just play cities skylines with transit mods" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48299494)) "it only really shines with tonnes of mods" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48303581)) "this is definitely doable in CS (+mods)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46941133))
- Large, expandable land plots (2 comments): "One of the things I love about Cities Skylines is how massive the land plots are" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48301580)) "the fun comes from the progressive expansion and optimization of a design" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49960515))
- Loved by long-time players (2 comments): "Couldn't they just keep working on the original game, which already worked really well and lots of people loved?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45979097)) "Omg, I love city Skylines I remember i used to play that game alot!!!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48293735))

## What people warn about

- Awkward road and path building (3 comments): "The path optimisation that forces them to all choose 1 lane when 3 lanes are available and go to the same direction is so annoying." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49904276)) "it is always incredibly awkward to build roads and paths to the point where I find it frustrating" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48301906)) "Building the roads and paths is always awkward and frustrating." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45813599))
- Needs many mods to work (3 comments): "it only really shines with tonnes of mods" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48303581)) "it's so frustrating in Cities Skylines without mods, that it's so common difference in height causing so much placement issues" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48303534)) "only palatable with dozens of mods, which is disqualifying to me" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48311670))
- Shallow, little chance of failing (2 comments): "isn't really much of a game as much as it's a city painting/traffic management sandbox with very little chance of ever failing" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49953149)) "Cities Skylines is not a game that rewards strategy" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49890184))
- Outdated zoning and engine (2 comments): "they stuck with euclidean zoning from SimCity and most car trips in CS don't need parking" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47314837)) "Both could definitely have used a completely updated engine at the very least" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45979161))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [SimCity 3000](https://hackerapproved.com/p/simcity-3000.md): 23 recommend
- [SimCity 2000](https://hackerapproved.com/p/simcity-2000.md): 20 recommend
- [SimCity](https://hackerapproved.com/p/simcity.md): 20 recommend
- [Microlandia](https://hackerapproved.com/p/microlandia.md): 20 recommend
- [SimCity, but with Permits](https://hackerapproved.com/p/simcity-but-with-permits.md): 19 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://www.paradoxinteractive.com:443/games/cities-skylines-ii)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Cities: Skylines", https://hackerapproved.com/p/cities-skylines/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).