Cities: Skylines - Calling all SimCity fans

[M.Steiner]

I posted a preview to this in the 2015 thread not so long ago but since I expect it will fly under the radar for a lot of folk and it looks like it could be the SimCity that SimCity wanted to be (and more), I thought I'd create a thread for it. They've just announced the release date today (in the trailer below) so have a looksie and see. As several of us here played SimCity at release or have been long-term fans of that series I expect this will appeal to a few of you too. Actually looks really great!


Cities: Skylines is a modern take on the classic city simulation. The game introduces new game play elements to realize the thrill and hardships of creating and maintaining a real city whilst expanding on some well-established tropes of the city building experience. From the makers of the Cities in Motion franchise, the game boasts a fully realized transport system. It also includes the ability to mod the game to suit your play style as a fine counter balance to the layered and challenging simulation. You’re only limited by your imagination, so take control and reach for the sky!

Main features:[list]
[*]Multi-tiered and challenging simulation: Constructing your city from the ground up is easy to learn, but hard to master. Playing as the mayor of your city you’ll be faced with balancing essential requirements such as education, water, electricity, police, fire fighting, healthcare and much more along with your citys real economy system. Citizens within your city react fluidly, with gravitas and with an air of authenticity to a multitude of game play scenarios.
[*]Extensive local traffic simulation: Colossal Orders extensive experience developing the Cities in Motion series is fully utilized in fully fleshed out and well-crafted transport systems.
[*]Districts and Policies: Be more than just an administrator from city hall. Designating parts of your city as a district results in the application of policies which results in you rising to the status of Mayor for your own city.
[*]Extensive modding support: Build or improve on existing maps and structures. You can then import them into the game, share them as well as download the creations of other city builders on the Steam workshop.[/color][/list]

citysize.jpg (48.78 KiB) Viewed 26402 times

Worth a look too - Cities: Skylines – Dev Diary 9: Info Views





Pre-order is up on Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/255710/

Deals:
Cities: Skylines | £17.47 [£22.99][/size]
· GMG VIP offer, no discount code required. Redeems on Steam.

Cities: Skylines Deluxe Edition | £22.79 [£29.99][/size]
· GMG VIP offer, no discount code required. Redeems on Steam.


Releases next month (March 10th), though you'll know that already if you watched the trailer
Just about to pre-purchase it myself. Only 4 weeks away too!

[Isileth]

Been following the dev diaries of this, hope it turns out as good as they are promising. Will certainly be waiting to see some in depth reviews of it.

[M.Steiner]

[M.Steiner]

Nobody else?. Thought we'd have a lot more folk interested in this
Last post for now..

Paradox did a live stream of the game earlier this afternoon which was a great watch. There's an archive of said stream here (skip to 01:07:00 (of 04:26:39) for Cities: Skylines)
I've been following this game since just before Christmas but it just keeps looking better and better and has been shooting its way up my most anticipated list ever since. If they deliver, I can honestly see this as a GOTY contender for me. Let's hope so because as I say, it's everything SimCity should have been & more. Really excited for it ^^

[BlackDove]

Sim City ruined city building games for me. I'm done.

This one looks good tho.

[Anubis]

I might try this when it launches. Had my eye on SimCity for a while after it launched as I felt like trying that kind of game, but the issues it had put me off. By the time Lirik rekindled my interest, general interest had died.

Though my gaming backlog is currently ginormous, so it might take a while before I get to it even after it launches!

[Whizbang]

I'm interested in the game and am monitoring it but I won't commit to it until I can see more. After SimCity and the fiasco that was, I'm a bit leery towards the next city building sim.

[M.Steiner]

I'm interested in the game and am monitoring it but I won't commit to it until I can see more.

I might try this when it launches. Had my eye on SimCity for a while after it launched as I felt like trying that kind of game, but the issues it had put me off. By the time Lirik rekindled my interest, general interest had died.

Speaking of Lirik (and since you're both fans of his too), he's spoken about the game a few times on his stream and had trailers for it playing etc so I expect he'll be streaming it in March. It was on his stream where I first heard about the game iirc

I'll update with some review links when the time comes (and my own impressions) but the 35min YouTube vid above and the Twitch archive stream are both worth a watch if you're looking to see more. Lots of Q&A in the twitch one too!

[M.Steiner]

Isi will have seen this covered in the dev diaries already but this guy has some good vids:

So hyped.

[M.Steiner]

Just a quick heads-up but Lirik will be streaming this today if any of you want to check it out
His streams start at 5pm GMT though it may or may not be the first game he plays. Guessing he'll play battle royale or something first but I may be wrong.

TotalBiscuit is streaming it right this minute too

[NF]

Just watching the stream now and I must admit I'm quite liking the look of the game..

[M.Steiner]

Been watching streams of this all evening and it really does look fantastic. Haven't seen 1 thing which has bugged me or left me unsure. I guess todays footage must have gone down well with others too as it's #3 in the top sellers on Steam right now. Roll on Tuesday!

Just been having a watch of this guy's city too. If you skip towards the end where he's built stuff up, he's only built into 3 of 9 tiles there. Just 1 of those being the max grid size in SimCity 2013 heh. So good.


Currently £16.78 from GMG's VIP selection if anyone else has been tempted!

[SL33PY]

it's tempting... I'll have to think about it a bit more, I'm not completely convinced

[Kon]

I have to echo everyone's thoughts on this. SimCity was so bad it might have killed the genre. City builders will be confirmed dead if this game doesn't live up to the hype, so I do hope it comes through. I might pick it up on a 75% off sale if the reviews are good, but I can't say I have a huge interest in this genre anymore.

[M.Steiner]

I have to echo everyone's thoughts on this. SimCity was so bad it might have killed the genre.

No way. I'd say I've come across more people who are excited over Skylines because of how SimCity turned out than those choosing to be cautious over it or whatever. This is from a different developer & publisher entirely and from watching several hours worth of streams this week, they appear to have nailed it. Focusing on SP rather than trying to shoehorn multi in there, huge cities (and you can even mod them bigger), day one mod support, the return of power & water lines, dams etc.
Most of the hype around this has actually been generated from streamers I would say. Viewers have clearly liked what they've been watching (and not just carefully selected bits of footage from trailers) as it has been sitting very comfortably as the #1 seller on both Steam & GMG. Viewing figures on twitch have been up there with the likes of Dota 2 at times which is crazy.

You can't get much cheaper than $21 for a brand new release either (GMG VIP offer). Definitely something I want to support at release, this game ain't gonna suck

[BlackDove]

I actually watched some of the game with Paradox streaming it.

It seems way way better than SimCity. Not just the size but the depth as well.

I really wish them luck with it.

[M.Steiner]

I might pick it up on a 75% off sale if the reviews are good

Just to touch on the price again but it's actually cheaper to buy Cities: Skylines right now (with the GMG VIP deal for $21) than it is to buy SimCity ( $30). That's just the base game too btw, I'm not including SimCity's expanion in there (but even with that Skylines offers so much more heh)

I'll be sure to post a list of reviews when they start flooding in but to compare it again I paid £37/$56 for SimCity on release. At $21 this is not only very reasonable but incredibly cheap too. I wish more games were priced like this, they deserve props and support just for that

Here's a single review I found (think they may have broken the embargo so expect the others tomorrow) [Edit: Yep, they've taken it down now]:

http://www.gamewatcher.com/reviews/citi ... view/12173

[M.Steiner]

As promised:


IncGamers - 10/10
The Escapist - 5/5
CalmDownTom - 5/5
Gaming Nexus - 9.5/10
GameInformer - 8.75/10
PC Gamer - 8.6/10
GameWatcher - 8.5/10
IGN - 8.5/10
TheSixthAxis - 8/10
Total Gaming Network - 4/5
PCWorld - 4/5
LGR - No Score
RPS - No Score


The city builder we have been waiting for, as expected.
What are you waiting for?, go support it!

[M.Steiner]

I uploaded a vid of my first city to YouTube btw:

Few screenshots too:






Just to further comment on traffic (since Anny asked me about that yesterday). From the 12hrs I've played of it I would say that most traffic issues (maybe all) can be avoided with proper and careful planning. If you go about placing roads here there and everywhere without thinking about what you're doing then you'll likely run into a few probs at some point. I've experienced a few instances of heavy/backed up traffic in certain areas myself but #1 - I had always caused them myself and #2, they were fixable. Unlike the last SimCity, we not only have lots more tools (and policies) to our advantage here as a way of dealing with such things but lots of space to do that in too. One of my industrial areas is a little busy right now but when I go back on I'll be looking to hook that district up to a cargo rail for example.

If you have any interest in city builders then this is a must buy. I can't see why you wouldn't love it
Still available at GMG for £16.78 | $21.89 too - http://www.greenmangaming.com/vip/ (need to log in and the key redeems on Steam).

[NF]

Pretty fun looking mod for you all:

http://www.pcgamer.com/cities-skyline-f ... e-streets/

[M.Steiner]

Any of you got some screenshots to share?

Few more of my city now it's a bit bigger:



Also some mods you may like:

• All Spaces Unlockable
• Dynamic Resolution
• Tree Brush
• AutoLineColor
• Mod Achievement Enabler
• Extended Road Upgrade
• Photoreal Colour Correction

[BlackDove]

They just sold 500 000+ copies without any marketing.

[M.Steiner]

Yep. The game sells itself basically.
I was just saying on IRC the other night that with continued support (both from the devs themselves and the modding community), Skylines could quite easily surpass SimCity 4 for me. Not bad for a team which was only around 9 people (though I'm sure they've grown a little since)

[NF]

£12 on Instant Gaming: https://www.instant-gaming.com/en/519-b ... -skylines/