A Glimpse of the Future, Running on Hardware from the Future

Review:

There is a fine line between "ambitious" and "hubristic," and Cities: Skylines II has built a beautiful, eight-lane superhighway directly over that line... which promptly leads to a 15-frame-per-second traffic jam.

As the heir apparent to the undisputed champion of modern city-builders, CS:II had one job: to be CS:I but bigger, deeper, and better. It is, unequivocally, bigger. The "deeper" and "better" parts, however, seem tobe stuck in simulation-limbo, still waiting for a patch to load.

The Performance: A PowerPoint Presentation with Good Intentions
Let's address the elephant in the room—an elephant so large it has tanked the entire city's performance. This game is not "unoptimized" in the way we've come to expect. It is a work of technical audacity. It seems to believe that every player is running a dual-CPU quantum supercomputer cooled by liquid nitrogen.

My rig, which can comfortably render parallel universes in other AAA titles, sputters, chokes, and begs for mercy at the mere sight of a medium-sized suburb. We were promised a deep simulation; what we received is the world's most demanding slideshow. The game is meticulously simulating the dental records of every citizen, the thread count of their bedsheets, and the existential dread of their cat, all while forgetting that the player needs to be able to move the camera smoothly.

The "Deep" Simulation: A Puddle Pretending to be an Ocean
The core promise was a revolutionary economic and citizen AI. We were told every "cim" would live a "full life." This, it turnses out, is technically true. They are born, they get a job (which they may or may not drive to), they mysteriously generate wealth despite the entire city's economy being on fire, and then they require a hearse... which may or may not arrive before the next ice age.

The economy is a baffling magic show. Industries demand workers, but no one wants to work. You import... something... and export... something else... and your bank account either swells to the size of a small nation's GDP or collapses instantly. It's less "complex economic simulation" and more "pulling a lever on a very confusing slot machine." And the new land value mechanic? A fantastic way to ensure your entire population becomes homeless millionaires overnight.

The Foundation Is Here (The Rest Is Sold Separately)
Make no mistake, the bones of a masterpiece are here. The new road tools are (mostly) a dream. The scale is breathtaking. The potential for creation is vast.

But that's the key word: potential.

This feels like a game built for its next five years of DLC. So many features that were refined to perfection in the original—advanced transit management, specific industry controls, even basic landscaping props—are either missing, broken, or simplified to the point of being abstract art. It's a magnificent, sprawling, half-empty canvas.

The Verdict:

Cities: Skylines II is not a bad game. It is a fantastic game that is trapped inside an unfinished, unoptimized, and frankly, baffling piece of software. It is a blueprint for a 10/10 sequel that was shipped as a 5/10 reality.

It has successfully captured the feeling of being a real-life city mayor: you have grand, beautiful plans, but you're constantly fighting a broken infrastructure, a nonsensical budget, and a population that seems to be operating on a different plane of existence.

It’s an investment in a future promise, not a finished product. We were sold a metropolis; we received a construction site with a fantastic parking lot.

I came for the loot, I stayed because a giant robot sat on me.

ARC Raiders is a unique experience that perfectly simulates what it feels like to be a mosquito at a picnic attended by angry, laser-equipped appliances.
The Gameplay Loop:
* Sneak through gorgeous landscapes feeling like a tactical genius.
* See a Drone. "I can take him," you whisper.
* You shoot the Drone.
* The sky turns red. The ground shakes. A machine the size of an apartment complex drops from the heavens and politely deletes you from existence.'

It is chaotic. It is terrifying. It is absolutely beautiful.
I have never stressed so much over a piece of digital scrap metal. My heart rate is up, my survival rate is down, and I am having the time of my life.

10/10. Would get vaporized by a flying toaster again.