It is no secret that SimCity had a less than stellar launch back in 2013. Maxis wanted to reinvent the franchise with new mechanics in a whole new style, but the launch left much to be desired. Because of that, the series has been on hiatus ever since. But its failings also led to the rise of Colossal Order's Cities Skylines to fill the void. And now, the studio is back with the hotly anticipated Cities Skylines 2, which will surely take the genre by storm once again.

SimCity was once the premiere city builder on the market, which is why it heavily inspired Cities Skylines. Even though it may not seem like SimCity 2013 would have anything to offer Colossal Order, the studio has also seemingly taken cues from it for Cities Skylines 2. Not only is the game refining the core city building mechanics of the first one, but it is injecting many features that are heavily reminiscent of Maxis' last outing. While this will likely not lead to a resurgence in that franchise, it is great to see that some of its best features will get to live on in some fashion.

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SimCity is Inspiring Cities Skylines Once Again

Just like with the first game, Cities Skylines 2's core gameplay feels a lot like the classic SimCity games. Players construct the city of their dreams, ensure it runs smoothly, and have the ability to micromanage almost every single aspect. Colossal Order has thrown in unique things like the district-making feature to make the experience feel different, but that core loop will be instantly familiar to anyone who has enjoyed SimCity games in the past - and that is not the only thing the studio seems to have taken inspiration from.

One of the first things that Cities Skylines 2 players may notice is that power, water, and sewage work completely different. In the last game, Cities Skylines players would have to draw power lines to zones that were too far away from the power station. Buildings would supply power to each other, so eventually the cities did not really need power lines. But, if players ever wanted to construct things farther away or keep certain services on the outskirts, then they needed to build those power lines. Additionally, water and sewage pipes would also have to be drawn underneath any building that needed it.

Cities Skylines 2 has completely changed it so that all three of those services run through the streets instead. Any building that is connected to a street will instantly have all three of those needs satisfied, as long as there are no bottlenecks in the system. This is something that SimCity2013 also did, and it really helped clean up the cities a bit. No longer do players have to fill the map with annoying power lines. Instead, they can simply build out their city without having to worry about them too much.

Cities Skylines 2 has also taken the popular modular upgrade feature that SimCity 2013 introduced. In that game, players could add on to their city services with new rooms and features to make them work more efficiently. Cities Skylines did not include a feature like that, which was sorely missed. However, Colossal Order seems to have listened to some fans' wishes because they can now upgrade their city services in the same exact way in Cities Skylines 2. Not every single service can be upgraded this way, but the ones that can feel a lot more interesting now.

These two additions may seem small, but they absolutely help make Cities Skylines 2 a lot more fun to play. Even though SimCity 2013 may have killed that series for the foreseeable future, it is great that some of its better features will be able to live on in the Cities Skylines series. Hopefully, this means that there will be even more unique features on the horizon over the next couple of years.

Cities Skylines 2 is available now on PC with a PS5 and Xbox Series X/S version launching Spring 2024.

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