Cities Skylines vs Cities Skylines 2: Which City Builder Should You Buy?

Cities Skylines vs Cities Skylines 2: What Changed in the Sequel

Cities: Skylines launched in 2015 from Colossal Order and became Paradox Interactive’s best-selling game. Cities: Skylines II arrived on Windows on October 24, 2023, built around a more realistic simulation of supply chains, traffic and city services. Colossal Order later handed development to Iceflake Studios.

The sequel also changed what a city looks like. Maps are divided into many more, smaller tiles, and the game leans toward realism over the first game’s cheerful, toy-like look.

Play videoOfficial Release Trailer | OUT NOW I Cities: Skylines II

Quick pick: take the sequel for the ambition of the simulation. Take the original for polish.

Mods and Content: The Original Has a Decade Head Start

The first game was built with modding in mind. Workshop support on Steam gave it more than 200,000 user-made items by February 2020, and mods can even unlock the full 81-tile map. Add its long list of expansion and content packs, and you get a game that can be shaped into almost any style of city.

Cities: Skylines II uses Paradox Mods instead of the Steam Workshop, and that service only launched on March 25, 2024. The catalog is smaller and younger. If a specific asset pack or traffic mod is why you want a city builder, the original is where it lives today.

Play videoCities: Skylines – Release Trailer

Performance and Stability: The Sequel Needs a Stronger PC

Launch was rough for the sequel. Colossal Order warned players before release that performance might fall short, raised the minimum specs, and apologized in April 2024. The console versions for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S were delayed indefinitely in July 2024 over stability and performance problems. Patches have since improved frame rates, but the hardware bar is still much higher than the original’s.

The original asks for a GeForce GTS 450 class graphics card and 4 GB of storage. The sequel lists a GTX 970 or RX 480 class card as its minimum and 60 GB of storage. That gap matters if you play on a laptop or an older desktop.

Quick pick: pick the original if your PC is more than a few years old or if you want to play on PS5, Xbox or Switch.

Player Reception: 92% vs 56% on Steam

Steam reviews tell the clearest story. The original sits at Very Positive with 92% positive across 291,025 reviews. The sequel is Mixed at 56% across 92,111 reviews. On Metacritic, the PC versions score 85 for the original and 74 for the sequel. Critics were split on the sequel, with scores ranging from IGN’s 6/10 to Game Informer’s 7.5/10.

Some of that is launch fallout, and the sequel still earned a Best Sim/Strategy nomination at The Game Awards 2023. Its Beach Properties DLC also drew heavily negative reviews, which hurt trust. Numbers like these can improve with patches, so check the Steam page before you buy.

Platforms: Where You Can Play Each Game

The original runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, plus Xbox One, PS4, Switch and the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S editions. The sequel is Windows only for now, and no console date has been announced.

That makes platform the simplest tiebreaker. If you want a city builder on a console or a Mac, only the original fits. If you like city building in general, our list of the best city building games shows other options beyond these two.

Cities Skylines vs Cities Skylines 2: Full Specs

Which City Builder Should You Buy?

WinnerCities: Skylines

Cities: Skylines II is the more ambitious simulation, with deeper supply chain, traffic and city service systems, and it may mature into the better game as updates continue. Even so, the original wins the Cities Skylines vs Cities Skylines 2 matchup for most buyers today. It has far stronger player reviews, a huge mod and expansion library, modest system requirements and console versions, so it is the safer way to spend your time. Choose the sequel if you have a powerful gaming PC, you want the newer simulation and you are comfortable with a game that is still being patched.