Cities: Skylines - Remastered Review: Is It Worth Playing?

What is Cities: Skylines - Remastered?

Cities: Skylines - Remastered is an updated re-release of the 2015 city-building simulation from Colossal Order and Paradox Interactive. You play as mayor and urban planner of a blank plot of land, transforming it into a sprawling metropolis.

You must zone residential, commercial, and industrial areas, manage traffic flow, and provide services like power, water, healthcare, and education. The goal is to keep your virtual citizens, known as Cims, content while balancing the city's budget.

This remastered edition, released in 2023 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, is a technical overhaul rather than a sequel. It is distinct from the original PC game and its successor, Cities: Skylines II.

Gameplay

Playing Cities: Skylines - Remastered feels like conducting a complex orchestra where the instruments are roads, pipes, and zoning grids. The core mechanics are deep and largely unchanged from the original.

You begin with a limited budget and a single highway connection. The initial learning curve is gentle, with clear tutorials introducing zoning and basic utilities. The game's true depth reveals itself as your city grows.

Traffic management evolves into a full-time engineering puzzle, demanding clever use of roundabouts, public transport, and road hierarchy. Citizen happiness is a web of interconnected needs; a poorly placed landfill can lower land value and cause sickness, which overloads clinics.

Key Improvements

The remaster introduces several technical improvements that tangibly affect play. The most significant is the removal of the old 9-tile buildable area limit, allowing you to develop all 25 tiles on the map from the outset.

The addition of a map editor on console is another substantial boon for creative players. Gameplay adjustments like increased service vehicle limits and new progression milestones help larger cities run more smoothly.

• 25-tile freedom: The entire map is now available for purchase from the start, enabling expansive regional planning.
• Map editor: Console players can now craft their own landscapes.
• Improved late-game: Higher service vehicle limits reduce previous frustrations.

While the fundamental simulation is familiar, these enhancements make late-game management feel more fluid and less hampered by technical limitations.

Who is Cities: Skylines - Remastered for?

This remaster is primarily for two groups: console players who never experienced the PC version with its mods, and existing fans on last-generation consoles seeking a definitive version. It is a deeply solo experience, perfect for players who enjoy intricate planning and incremental optimisation.

The game caters to both casual and hardcore simulation fans. A casual player can enjoy creating a picturesque, slowly-growing town. A hardcore player will min-max traffic flow and tackle complex pollution and budget challenges.

It sits directly in the lineage of classic city-builders like SimCity 4, with a greater emphasis on realistic traffic simulation. It is less whimsical than the SimCity (2013) reboot and more serious than Tropico.

Crucially, this remaster is specifically for console enthusiasts. PC players already have access to the original with near-limitless mods, making this version less essential for them. It is ideal for anyone who wants a deep, thoughtful management sim on their sofa.

Graphics and performance

Visually, Cities: Skylines - Remastered retains the original's clean, slightly cartoonish art style, which has aged reasonably well. This is not a complete graphical remake with new models or textures.

The improvements are under the hood: the game targets native 4K resolution and 60 frames per second on compatible hardware. This is the most transformative aspect of the remaster.

The original console versions, locked at 30 FPS, could feel sluggish when panning across a dense city. The leap to 60 FPS makes the game feel incredibly responsive and fluid, which is a major benefit when placing assets or tracking traffic.

Performance Notes

Performance holds up well in typical play, though it is subject to the same engine limitations as the original. As your city grows to tens of thousands of Cims, expect some frame rate dips during auto-saves or when zooming into detailed areas.

Load times are significantly reduced, and the visual fidelity is clean and crisp. It is a functional upgrade that prioritises smooth gameplay over a graphical revolution.

Value for money

The value proposition is nuanced. For new players on current-generation consoles, it represents the best way to experience one of the deepest management games available. The base game includes the core simulation, plus the free 25-tile unlock and map editor.

Potential playtime is virtually limitless, easily running into hundreds of hours for dedicated city planners.

What You Need to Know

However, this is a remaster of the base game only. The vast catalogue of DLC from the original, from Mass Transit to Industries and Parklife, is not included and must be purchased separately. Not all DLC is currently available or updated for the remaster.

For existing owners on PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, the upgrade path was free. For everyone else, the price must be weighed against the fact this is an eight-year-old game, albeit one with substantial technical improvements.

• For newcomers: Excellent value for a deep, replayable sim with hundreds of hours of content.
• For existing DLC owners: Consider whether the performance boost and new features justify potentially re-purchasing add-ons.

Verdict

Cities: Skylines - Remastered is a successful technical upgrade that polishes a classic to a brilliant shine for current consoles. The 60 FPS jump and 25-tile freedom fundamentally improve the gameplay feel.

Cities: Skylines - Remastered is a thoughtful technical upgrade that fulfills its specific purpose. It does not reinvent the wheel, but it polishes it for the current console generation. The jump to 60 FPS and the removal of the tile limit offer a sense of scale and fluidity previously missing on consoles.

We recommend it wholeheartedly to simulation enthusiasts on PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X|S who have yet to dive into this classic. It is the definitive console version of a modern genre masterpiece.

However, we cannot recommend it to PC players, who have a superior, moddable version, or to last-gen console owners who already own the DLC and do not plan to upgrade hardware. Those expecting a visual overhaul or new content may be disappointed.

This is a remaster in the truest sense: it takes an outstanding game and finally lets it perform on console as it was always meant to.