Cities: Skylines
Shares rank 2 of 21 city builder games by recommenders
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.
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.
38 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 20
- criticize it
- 18
- approval share
- 53%
Recommended in 9 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 20 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.1 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 9 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Strong graphics and lighting
“CS & PZ can make things look incredible, but it's a PITA to get there.”
Comment from 28 May 2026 in “SimCity 3k in 4k” “Now Skylines certainly uped the game game in graphics”
Comment from 19 Nov 2025 in “The Cities Skylines Paradox: how the sequel stumbled” “captured lighting in a bottle with the first title”
Comment from 18 Nov 2025 in “Paradox and Colossal Order have mutually decided to pursue independent paths” Mods add transit and features
“might as well just play cities skylines with transit mods”
Comment from 27 May 2026 in “SimCity 3k in 4k” “it only really shines with tonnes of mods”
Comment from 28 May 2026 in “SimCity 3k in 4k” “this is definitely doable in CS (+mods)”
Comment from 9 Feb 2026 in “Art of Roads in Games” Large, expandable land plots
“One of the things I love about Cities Skylines is how massive the land plots are”
Comment from 27 May 2026 in “SimCity 3k in 4k” “the fun comes from the progressive expansion and optimization of a design”
Comment from 5 Oct 2026 in “City building games have a Soul Problem pt.2” Loved by long-time players
“Couldn't they just keep working on the original game, which already worked really well and lots of people loved?”
Comment from 19 Nov 2025 in “The Cities Skylines Paradox: how the sequel stumbled” “Omg, I love city Skylines I remember i used to play that game alot!!!”
Comment from 27 May 2026 in “Ask HN: What game have you replayed more times than any other?”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Awkward road and path building
“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.”
Comment from 30 Sep 2026 in “What is the best shape of a city? Modelling effect of urban form on distance” “it is always incredibly awkward to build roads and paths to the point where I find it frustrating”
Comment from 27 May 2026 in “SimCity 3k in 4k” “Building the roads and paths is always awkward and frustrating.”
Comment from 4 Nov 2025 in “Show HN: A CSS-Only Terrain Generator” Needs many mods to work
“it only really shines with tonnes of mods”
Comment from 28 May 2026 in “SimCity 3k in 4k” “it's so frustrating in Cities Skylines without mods, that it's so common difference in height causing so much placement issues”
Comment from 28 May 2026 in “SimCity 3k in 4k” “only palatable with dozens of mods, which is disqualifying to me”
Comment from 28 May 2026 in “SimCity 3k in 4k” Shallow, little chance of failing
“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”
Comment from 4 Oct 2026 in “City building games have a Soul Problem pt.2” “Cities Skylines is not a game that rewards strategy”
Comment from 29 Sep 2026 in “What is the best shape of a city? Modelling effect of urban form on distance” Outdated zoning and engine
“they stuck with euclidean zoning from SimCity and most car trips in CS don't need parking”
Comment from 9 Mar 2026 in “Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (March 2026)” “Both could definitely have used a completely updated engine at the very least”
Comment from 19 Nov 2025 in “The Cities Skylines Paradox: how the sequel stumbled”
Other city builder games people recommend
The four most recommended other city builder games, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SimCity 3000 | 23 | 2 | 92% | 5 | — | Approved |
| Cities: SkylinesThis page | 20 | 18 | 53% | 9 | — | — |
| SimCity 2000 | 20 | 7 | 74% | 11 | — | Approved |
| SimCity | 20 | 12 | 63% | 9 | — | — |
| Microlandia | 20 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
39 of the 42 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Imagine a City Skylines-style game done like this!”
“CS and CS2 already go to great lengths to add soul to the game.”
“the fun comes from the progressive expansion and optimization of a design”
“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”
“Cities feels like "Logistics: the video game" sometimes”
“Skylines always felt sterile and dead.”
“an entire simulated city in Cities Skylines”
“has a much more interesting simulation”
“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.”
“Cities Skylines is not a game that rewards strategy”
“all my favorite ones have really been in that genre in some way: Factorio, Dwarf Fortress, Cities Skylines, even Minecraft”
“I actually had the same experience as you”
“It felt too "micro-manage-y" (for the lack of a better word) while also having the pressure of the ticking time.”
“I enjoyed both, but it always felt weird”
“which i haven't paid for due to its excessive amount of dlcs”
“only palatable with dozens of mods, which is disqualifying to me”
“CS & PZ can make things look incredible, but it's a PITA to get there.”
“it only really shines with tonnes of mods”
“it's so frustrating in Cities Skylines without mods, that it's so common difference in height causing so much placement issues”
“it is always incredibly awkward to build roads and paths to the point where I find it frustrating”
“One of the things I love about Cities Skylines is how massive the land plots are”
“so complex that the actual simulation is sloppy”
“might as well just play cities skylines with transit mods”
“Omg, I love city Skylines I remember i used to play that game alot!!!”
“crashes for me when I try to load it in Wayland on Fedora”
“they stuck with euclidean zoning from SimCity and most car trips in CS don't need parking”
“I've not seen roads in CS that ever looked appealing to me.”
“Cities: Skyline added car pokeballs (where drivers get out of the car and put the car in their pocket )”
“this is definitely doable in CS (+mods)”
“which itself has had issues with the CS2 launch”
“which was taxing, but ran it fine”
“the game release state was (and still is) so bad”
“Skylines rendering teeth on models miles away”
“Now Skylines certainly uped the game game in graphics”
“Both could definitely have used a completely updated engine at the very least”
“Couldn't they just keep working on the original game, which already worked really well and lots of people loved?”
“captured lighting in a bottle with the first title”
“I'm not convinced they'll ever run well”
“Building the roads and paths is always awkward and frustrating.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.