LGR - Cities Skylines 2 Review 

This is why I like LGR. 1.68 million subscribers but buys the game with his own money and tells it how it is. All with that calming voice and silky smooth jazz music 😂

I love when LGR does a LGR.

>calls himself Lazy game reviews >creates some of the best, most well thought out game reviews

11:56 that motorcycle just casually turn left in the middle of the stroad, AI traffic is immensely accurate

I appreciate everyone who pre-ordered this game for beta testing it for us. I'll pick it up in a few years when it's on sale, fixed and the dlc is bundled into one.

The review all of us were waiting on, let's be honest.

11:56 that motorbike just went for it lol i love the traffic AI

I think a part of things that is often overlooked is that Cities: Skylines came out after the last SimCity debacle. It got a lot of goodwill simply by not being as bad as that shallow and always-online snorefest. C:S2 has nothing like that to elevate it - or challenge it during it's development - so we end up getting this underbaked game. Nevermind that Paradox is definitely turning into something of a monster, regarding how it treats teams that work under their umbrella.

I don't get why they won't just make the night look like twilight where the lights are already on but you can still see most things or long exposure photos which similarly translates the cozy feel of night without actually hampering visibility.

"Step forwards, step backwards." This is exactly how I feel about CS2, after spending 500+ hours in CS1. The new road tools are fantastic, and the new graphic design is a welcome upgrade, mostly. I love the new zoning as well. But the way trees work, the lack of bikes and bike lanes, no mod support, lack of policies among other little issues... I'd almost rather stick to CS1 for now. I know how to deal with the shortcomings of that game, I've played it basically since launch. And we have mods to fill the gaps there. Definitely a mixed bag on CS2, however I am confident things will improve. Thanks for the great review. I was absolutely waiting for this one as I said when I said hi to you at VCF, and you didn't disappoint. Hope the devs see this video and take the feedback to heart.

Clint really does his research and really thinks out these reviews. I trust him so much more than reviewers who say "this game sucks, worst game I've ever played" on every video they make.

I've had 42 hours of playtime since this review. And 3:51 literally blew my mind. I didn't realize you could purchase tiles that aren't connected to your currently purchased ones.

1 year of patches and 500 bucks (DLC)later It will be a good game

You mentioned how if this was Early Access then people would see it as a promising successor to CS1, and I think that summarizes a lot of how people feel. It's certainly how I feel. I love so many of the new systems, but odd omissions and performance that makes me swear it hates my CPU personally, are things that get ironed out in Early Access, not a full release.

11:55 that guy on a motorcycle getting absolutely demolished just offscreen 😂

I haven't played it yet, but I'm still very happy to see this out. The limitations of CS1 was really starting to show itself. (Traffic quirks, deathwaves, snow, most of the DLC using a very similar mechanic). CS1 is still a great game and it's not going away, but it's good to see a new platform for mods and Colossal Order to build on.

I'm here for every LGR video, but I'm especially here for this one. FWIW, I've opted to avoid making a video about CS2 on my channel because of several reasons you've mentioned, but especially performance. For the most part, my audience are city enthusiasts, not gamers, and they're not going to have the latest GPUs. And no bicycle infrastructure makes it even harder to recommend at this time. I'm sure it'll get there eventually, but I don't believe this game is ready yet for city enthusiasts and casual gamers. Edit: 13:00 I take it back. LGR is dead to me.

I don't even play city builders anymore, yet I always find LGR reviews of these games and their expansions to be relaxing.

CS2 is one of those games I'd be willing to revisit and purchase a couple years after launch, when a few expansions have been released and the optimization is further improved. Also, I want to be able to set up post offices or parcel delivery services and routes.

Very well put and exactly expresses my sentiment with the current state of the game. This is just _another_ example of why people should not pre-order games.

Hearing LGR doing his casual reviews and prob one of the best feelings available on RU-vid, for real...

LGR said that he feels like the game should have spent a little more time in the development oven and I'm glad he pointed that out. I know it's nothing new at this point in the industry, but there have been a number of high profile games in recent years that feel like they could've used the same. I really wish that extra polish and care was taken for these games.

Clint, I really enjoy all of your videos. I’ve been watching for years. They never get old or stale. Just good, retro tech fun. Thank you!

Your videos are still the best in the genre. I follow games that I probably won’t play, just to hear your reviews and understand the games. Thank you so much for you continued efforts!

My favorite thing in CS1 was the somewhat obscure ability to drive cars around your city, for some reason the pink doughnut truck was ridiculously fast.

LGR gives such authentic reviews compared to all the media outlets. He does a fantastic job of providing a thorough list of the pros and cons, giving his analysis of the balance, all the while leaving the ultimate decision up to the viewer. A true gem on RU-vid

As soon as I saw this video pop up on my recommendations, I knew my day was going to get instantly better. Thank you for making these reviews, Clint! you always were and still are my favourite RU-vidr to watch. Keep it up!

Nice video. I'd love to see you make a video on SimCity 4 since I keep returning to/think about that game whenever I see CS1/2. There's just something special about that game that noone since have quite managed to recapture.

The best thing about Cities Skylines 2 right now is that us CS1 players no longer have to deal with those annoying game updates that cause Steam Workshop Mods to break.🥳

Its crazy to think ive bin subed to this channel for like a decade

Youre so good :) i must confess i had not realised how much I missed your game review videos, as I normally tune in for the oddware episodes. Never played this series but I like games such as SimCity 3000 so i'm familiar to be interested in the genre at least

Excellent detailed technical review, thank you. As a massive fan of the first instalment (from your recommendation) I appreciate your honesty and look forward to purchasing when things improve, which I'm sure they will. FYI I watched the IGN review, yours really blows it out of the water.

Sounds like it has some stronger bones than the original game (which had some deep, fundamental flaws no amount of modding could ever truly fix), but a lot of growing and polishing to do. I'll hold off on it for now.

Longtime CS1 player here. Just bought CS2, three days ago. Honestly i think its a great upgrade to CS1, but only from the perspective that CS2 will get as much, if not more love than CS1. The framework is there. It fixes alot of stuff from CS1. However, there is a clear lack of content and apparently alot of the underlying systems are bugged. I have faith though.

Haven’t watched this channel in a while but I’ve been subscribed for over a decade now. Good vid my man

I haven't watched you in a long time LGR, but whenever your videos get recomended randomly to me every once in a while, i dont get dissapointed! Great video as usual!

I totally agree. The basics is there and I can see it to grow to an amazing city builder. but it really needs another year of patches. Its like they missed a beta phase

Those more fluid road possibilities look sweet! I remember trying to reconstruct my home city, but being frustrated by not being able to make my intersections just perfect, even with the add-ons!

I knew it was smart to wait for your review before buying. You're great at giving an honest take and from the perspective of a general gamer (as opposed to shill reviews and reviews done by niche parties catering to the more hardcorde crowd, both of which seem to encompass most CS2 reviews). I'm glad they're improving things overall. I love the innovation seen in district planning and such. But I'm definitely gonna wait for things to be ironed out and fleshed out, as we as to see what kinda dlc approach they take this time around. I want this game to be great. I'm just... cautiously optimistic for its future.

Great honest review, glad I watched, thank you, enjoyed to a great extend!

God I feel old. I'm watching a Cities Skylines 2 review by you but it was like yesterday I remember watching your review on SimCity 2013 in class during highschool while everyone else was watching March Madness stuff.

That motorcycle crash at 11:56.

I also really like fixing traffic. Getting the perfect flow with a mix of roads and different public transportation is super satisfying.

You've got the kind of voice that should do the voiceover for movie trailers. "He was a cop. She was a poodle. Together they did stuff befitting their character traits. Coming summer 1996."

Would love to see a re-review of you after a couple of months. I believe this will become an amazing game.

What a monstrous PC you have, Clint. I can only ever dream of owning anything half as powerful.

WOAH. An actual GAME review on Lazy GAME Reviews? Thank you Clint!

i've just played maybe half a day in total or something but my review would be EXACTLY the same. love this channel, glad i subscribed!

Since the modular buildings mechanic from Simcity 2013 was mentioned: CS2 does a worse job in that aspect, buildings that directly snap to the core can often only be placed once and in a single position (unlike simcity 2013 where two hospitals with the same amount of modules might look different) "Detached" modules have to be placed touching the core complex (unlike simcity 2013 where a fire station might be placed on one side of the road with an annex down and across the street for extra fire engines)

One thing I loved about CS1 was the whimsical, old-fashioned buildings and structures that were part of the base game. I want retro-style gas stations, rather than those boring, newfangled ones. I miss all my custom assets and cosmetic zones. Simply put, there's not much that I look forward to seeing, other that unlocking new buildings. No particular complaints about performance, but I've yet to reach 20,000 residents. One thing I think the last SimCity got right was that day/night was actually tied to the length of an in-game day and night. Every morning, commuters and school buses clogged the roads, and every night, the party people came out to play. I was hoping that, having baked them in from the start, this time, CS2 would take a more realistic approach to day/night cycles. Instead, like you, I was forced to disable nighttime, almost immediately. I do love mixed-use zones, and I look forward to what the game becomes. For now, though, I'm itching to fire up CS1.

You're really the only reviewer I trust on this subject

Love all of your videos and all of the old tech and Oddware and Blerbs but I also love that there are occasionally still (not so) Lazy Game Reviews 😂

Loooove your reviews LGR, saw this video on my timeline and was so excited, did not disappoint! Thank you for your time!

Thank you for this review! Also great you pointed out the missing animations, they have been bugging me eg: emergency vehicle interaction and building animations like the scaffolding growth that we had in CS1 previously. I really hope we get those in a free update at least.

Thank you for an unbiased review, couldn't trust anyone else. As a curiosity, 6:29 "kapine" could be loosely translated as "funky gadget".

Thanks for this constructive and comprehensive review. Some, tbh a lot, of usually honest content creators i watch were shilling the game really hard. I guess they need the money, but this implies to me that paradox knew of the shortcomings and made really tight contracts for CCs. That offends me more than the state of the game.

I have seens like 20 different reviews already but LGR reviews are still the best for me. Always a great clear concept, entertaining and honest!❤ thank you for your work!

All points made here are valid and i do agree with them. I think it's definitely an upgrade over basic CS1, even with some dlc. But as the game is right now, i also wouldn't fully recommend it, and promises mean nothing until they are fulfilled. The potential is definitely there, but so many early access games also have/had massive potential.

Man I’ve been waiting for this ! Keep on going

I can't believe you have 1.68m subscribers! When I first started watching your channel you only had around 1000. Impressive. Glad things worked out for you.

Saw this from Patreon so just dropping by to give it a quick like and to say. I truly do have faith that CO will fix the issues with Cities: Skylines II as there is a lot of potential and, like Clint said, you can tell where they were going. I'm sure Paradox made them speed along the release. Like with Maxis and EA.

Wow, this really helped me make a decision with all the talk about the game, the good & the bad. I was heavily considering buying, but you made me decide that it's probably best to wait for when they've added improvements. Some of the features you mentioned seem incredibly important to be just missing for no real reason. Thanks for being totally honest, but also not being totally negative at the same time. What a helpful review!

Awesome video. Can you please do a follow-up if/when the issues in 2 are fixed/major improvements are made? Myself and others hold off on purchases until I hear that issues are done away with, but it's not always easy to keep track.

Man homie, been away for a bit and good lord you've grown! HELL YEAH! xoxo

Excellent review. The state of this game caused me to get a refund and re-download CS1 with all my favorite mods/assets. Maybe I will revisit in a year when it is out of beta.

Genuine long time viewer and fan here! A genuine heart-felt thanks, with genuine appreciation for your genuinely brilliant reviews and other videos. Clint you are, genuinely just great :) Thanks again, and God bless you and your family!

One note, you mentioned that you can't see the path cars/pedestrians are taking, I believe it's because of the new travel AI. in CS1 Cims decided the entire route when they left their location and wouldn't deviate unless forced to (deleted road or something). With the CS2 AI Cims will decide a basic route but will alter depending on different factors, so the game can't tell you the route because it hasn't been fully decided yet.

An excellently structured, narrated video. Great content.

I was just thinking when this would drop! Haven’t watched the entire thing yet but I already know this is gonna be a great video by you.

love me a review from LGR

Thanks for the review. I always enjoy your Cities Skylines reviews and this one was no exception. I bought the game at launch and I haven't had many of the performance issues but with other aspects, there are lots of room for improvement. The road tool is much better now. I haven't gotten very far along yet so some issues you have, I haven't gotten to yet. I am still enjoying it and I think it will be a good game once some more updates/patches hit.

I started a comment in the middle of the video, but your summary was perfect. I think a lot of games are released in an advanced beta mode these days. In fact, I don't know that Halo Infinite ever moved beyond a beta stage. For a game like CS2, that has such an excited following, I don't really mind as I trust improvements will be coming, and I am just excited to play it.

Thank you Clint! For me it's the lack of communication and accessibility to import and export as you said very well in your vid. The automatic and uncontrollable import of garbage took away my feeling of "ok that's good for 10 years" and being able to calmly focus on other things. I thankfully hooked my water up well enough but think if one zone wasn't watered properly, we'd never know until we unnaturally investigate a problem we don't even know exists.

Dangit looks like I'm going to be binging all the LGR CS1 reviews this afternoon!

That was a great review! I'm definitely going to keep an eye on this game it looks like a lot of fun. I haven't played the first skylines, would it be a good idea to try that first, or wait until this one matures a bit?

Be nice to see some classic game reviews again sometime soon! Oh and an update on your Arcade machine would also be cool to see! 🙂

Lgr day comes at last... And it's a GAME REVIEW! The rarest and choicest of LGR content! I feel blessed on this momentous day.

Excellent review Clint, thanks! I have been looking forward to this game for years, and while I have come to expect a certain level of incompetence in game development these days, I was not expecting it to be near this severe. I do agree there is a good foundation here, but it is obviously designed to maximize DLC and future monetization. In my opinion the DLC potential is why they decided to not have a Steam Workshop. It gives the developer and publisher complete control over what mods they allow, weather they choose to monetize that aspect or not. They say they are not going top do that, but corporations do corporate things, period. I have been modding games and computer hardware since I discovered it was a thing in the late 70's. I will continue to do so as long as it is a thing. The days of expecting to pay for a game only once and have it be complete and fully playable from day one are over. I am waiting for the monthly, or even weekly subscription fees to start! I am sure they are coming soon. We have to pay for their "intellectual property" after all, yet they have absolutely zero problems with stealing and selling ours and paying high priced lawyers and lobbyists to make it all legal. Corporations are people too!!

Okay that outro music had me really confused. Great review, though! I guess they weren't kidding when they said they hadn't hit their optimization targets yet, and it makes sense since the game itself isn't even close to finished yet.

Thanks that someone finnaly spoke of the nonsensical service building sizes, they gave us the ability to build mixed zoning but I still cant have a small 5 or more store school to fit around my skyscrapers? Or that gigantic cemitery that when you unlock will be bigger than your city. Other problem is how you will need dozens of elementary schools while only one high school for a 10ths of thousands pop city. I think the education based tax was made with the subsidize feature in mind so you can influence people to come, but those should be separate from taxes. Oh, and if you want to solve traffic, build tuns of public transport, and ban parking (Never build parking slots and either remove all sideways parking or tax the shit out of it) Its very realistic. I love my 0 traffic city where every medium road has a tram going in a circle and stoping in every subway/bus station.

I almost bought it until I read the Steam reviews, and this video just shows that I was right to wait. Thanks for biting the bullet on this one for all of us Clint!

The core mechanics of the game are excellent - improved road tools, more zoning options, more realistic population model - and the rest of it is pretty thin at the moment.

Wow, looks very nice. I will add it to my wishlist. I had a lot of fun playing Cities Skylines 1, but this one looks like it improved on many of the features. Many thanks for this review.

Love the informative review (as always), and I will be waiting to purchase this game once (as you mentioned) they release some more patches. I think they should have never mentioned CS2, and spent more time developing before making the announcement as I do believe a lot of the players were wanting to play ASAP - and the original announcement seemed so far away. But look at where we are now, mixed reviews on all the review sites… whereas if they had spent more time on working out the bugs, we may have a solid groundbreaking new city game. As for me, I’ll stick to CS1 for now. 😉

The underlying simulation is 10x more important to me than visuals. Things like making money with a negative budget and RCI demands making no sense are dealbreakers for me. This is the core of the gameplay, SimCity 4 (and earlier sim cities)got this right and I still haven’t seen something better. This looks like it does some amazing things depending on what you’re looking for, but for people like me looking for rewarding service and budget management it’s another miss. Taxing by education? Really?

I like a lot of the improved gameplay elements of CS2 better than the first game, but there’s so much that seems missing as you covered. Performance is also weird too. Sometimes, I can get a solid 60FPS with all the details maxed out, but other times it’s barely 30 with the same settings. There’s no rhyme or reason to it. At least it ran with Proton on Linux day one, so that’s a plus. I’m looking forward to see what future patches bring.

Love this reviews!!! ❤❤ keep up

Very nice review. I was looking forward to it. Especially with your experience and passion for this type of games.

This is the reality of so many games these days. A pile of shirts with creases to iron out.

I appreciate this review, it's spot on. I wish I would've waited for a RU-vidr I trust, like LGR, to review this game before I bought it.

man, i was thinking about buying this game but now i think i'll wait. great video. love how u tell ur views.

Fondly remember your glowing CS1 review. Having played it on game pass I also feel this one needs maybe up to a year of updates and a few crucial mods before I'm ready to sink much time into it

A Paradox sequel missing features they can monetize? You don't say.

Thank you for this review LGR!! I had pretty much already decided to pass for now until things were better - now 100% decided. I too have faith in the team and that this game will improve but I will certainly wait until it does 👌

Hey man I just wanted to say that your original video on cities skylines was my inspiration to build my first PC!

14:20 😂 That had me laughing out loud! Elevated light rail without elevated terminals -- and NO visible stairways, just sims magically floating up and down.

Was waiting for thissss

This game will be amazing after like a year and a half

Love your videos man!

This is by far the most engaging, detailed, and fair review. :) Thank you!!!!