Is Cities: Skylines II worth buying in 2026?
SKIP
No — Cities: Skylines II is not worth buying in 2026. Years after launch its overall Steam rating is still Mixed, and the two complaints that put it there — performance and a simulation shallower than the original’s — are the two things a city-builder cannot be short of. Cities: Skylines with a couple of expansions remains the better game.
Mixed — 56% positive across 91,798 Steam reviews · Released 2023
key resellers today 26,29 €offer last seen 1 Sep 2026
The case
Cities: Skylines II is the deliberate skip of our Cities: Skylines guide, and it earns that place on the crowd’s verdict, not on nostalgia. The sequel promised a deeper simulation on a bigger canvas; what shipped ran badly on hardware that ran the original fine, and the simulation underneath turned out to model less than the first game once players looked closely. The overall Steam rating is Mixed.
Time has not rescued Cities: Skylines II the way it rescued some launches. Patches and paid content have arrived, but the rating that matters — the overall one from people who bought it — is still Mixed at the time of this build. Colossal Order polished the first game over a decade; the sequel has had years, and the crowd has not changed its mind.
The city-builder to buy instead of Cities: Skylines II is, awkwardly, Cities: Skylines — the original with an expansion or two is the deeper and more stable game. If you want something new rather than something finished, Manor Lords, Anno 1800 and Timberborn cover the medieval, industrial and wooden ends of the genre, and all three are ranked in our guide.
Buy it anyway if
- You have a strong current PC and want the larger map and modern visuals badly enough to accept the trade
- You have exhausted the original with its expansions and mods and want a new canvas at any cost
Skip it if
- Simulation depth is the point of a city-builder for you — the original models more
- Your hardware is mid-range; performance is the loudest complaint against it
- You have not played the first Cities: Skylines yet — start there
FAQ
Has Cities: Skylines II been fixed?
Patched, yes; fixed, not by the crowd’s measure. The overall Steam rating is still Mixed at the time of this build. We check it on every build; when it moves out of Mixed, this verdict is the first thing that changes.
Is Cities: Skylines II better than the original in 2026?
Bigger maps and better visuals, yes; deeper or smoother, no. The original with its expansions still models more of a city and runs on far more machines. That is why our guide treats the first game as the answer and the sequel as the skip.
Would a deep sale change this Cities: Skylines II verdict?
It changes the risk of the purchase, not the game. At a low price it is a curiosity if you want to see the bigger canvas; as a serious city-builder purchase in 2026, the answer stays no.
What to play instead
Want a city-builder that is finished today? Our Cities: Skylines guide ranks Timberborn, Anno 1800, Manor Lords and more — and explains why the sequel is the one to skip.