Topic: Cities Skylines

Surprised this game also doesn't have a thread, time to make one.

I'm more curious at how this game performs on the Switch, mainly because I have the Steam version, and I don't place games on my computer as often. I prefer to play on consoles and with my computer...getting old, I'm considering buying the Switch version of Cities Skylines. I never got that far into this game, all I know is that it's way better than EA's train-wreck known as Sim City. (the most recent one) EA ruins everything, lol.

Anyways, how is the game on Switch...from the stream, it looked like the game could lag and all of that. Hopefully that was just the stream and not the game itself.

I'll keep it in my wishlist. Bought this on steam for like a few bucks (though my computer isn't quite good enough to play it), so I don't feel like buying it for the switch for full price.

Yeah I was hoping it would be $20 or something...sighs
But yeah, my computer is fine and can handle these games, but...I still just prefer to play them elsewhere. It still lags here and there when you get going so, I figured a console version would get rid of this.

I went and googled a bit before buying it, found one very early review that complained about FPS dropping to 20 when zooming in on busy cities - the same review also praised everything else. Now that I've been playing it for a day, I'm very happy with it. It controls surprisingly comfortably, I am more comfortable like this than playing it on my laptop, and it runs totally fine for me so far.

Just to add to what @MergonTheShade said, through my playing of it, the FPS has dropped a few times, but they just seem to be odd dips and the FPS shoots back up to normal again. Other than that, it feels and plays like the PS4 version in my experience thus far (only played undocked).

Eh, I don't play in handheld mode as often, a lot of the big games lag and all that.

Ah yeah I'll add as well that I only play handheld. Docked gameplay of anything is rare and generally only for the purpose of local co-op.

Looks rough. Not my thing anyways but doesn't look great

@Joeynator3000 I loved this game on PC and I have to say I am very pleased with the Switch version. Just drained my Switch battery in a good 3 hour session in portable mode. Let me give my first impressions:

The Good:
The controls. I was very worried about how to play this with a controller. On the PC version I am clicking all over the screen doing things. I have to give the guys who handled this port a lot of credit. The control scheme with a controller is very natural. Within minutes I had gotten the hang of it. Admittedly that's helped by being already familiar with the game, but still, it was very easy to go from keyboard and mouse to a controller. And with this kind of game, I did not expect that. (I dream that Civ 6 will make the transition just as well!)

The visuals in portable. I am pleased to be surprised, I was worried that playing on a small screen would have me squinting and getting a headache and such. But I had no issues. You have total zoom in control and it's very easy to do at any point. Further, I actually think the smooth way you control the camera with the joy sticks is better than the way it works on PC.

It's on Switch. Let's face it, if you want the absolute highest quality experience with this game, you need to buy it on Steam and play on a decent PC. But on Switch, you only sacrifice access to mods and some resolution in exchange for having the game on a portable device. If that's not important to you, then buy the PC version. But for me, I love having that freedom, and hands down, the Switch needed a game in the genre that wasn't about torturing prisoners.

The Bad:
Autosave chug Every time the game autosaves. It just stops for 1-2 seconds. It's not too frequent and it's only a second or two. But it is very noticeable.
Static I have no idea why this is an issue, but I do remember, to a much lesser extent, on PC as well, static in the audio. However on Switch, it's a lot more frequent. It's not enough to be a major issue, it's not loud and doesn't drown anything out. But you will hear it. Like the buzz of a fly you know is around but you haven't been able to swat.

The thing is, both of "bads" are things that could get patched out, and Paradox has a history of patching their game a lot. In fact, I read over on Eurogamer that they have already stated plans to further optimize it.

Cities Skylines remains my favorite city building sim. It's just so easy to drop hours at a time into crafting your own little utopia. The game being on Switch means now I can do that, whenever or where ever I want. And that's a hell of a win in my book!

Sounds like the Linux port that I own. Strangely, when the game was in beta, testers were reporting 100+ FPS in the Linux version, but when the game was released, it ran like a pig, and the developers have never fixed it.

At any rate, I was skeptical of how playable the Switch version would be from an interface standpoint, but looking at some of the gameplay trailers on the Switch itself, I was sold. It actually looks like a perfect portable game.

@Heavyarms55 thanks for this post! Game is on my radar so this info really helps.

@Heavyarms55 Does it have touch controls?

Surprisingly my 10 year-old brother became very interested in this game after seeing it in the Direct. I have a feeling it might be too complicated for him though. Does anyone have any thoughts on how likely it is to appeal to children? Is there a mode where the game gives you freedom to just build a city as you please, or do you always have to follow strict rules to keep the city thriving like in a typical strategy game? If it's the latter I imagine he would get too frustrated with it.

@iKhan It doesn't. Presumably to keep things consistent when playing in docked mode.

Well then I'm definitely not getting it. That completely defeats the point.

Eh, I don't really care for touch controls on this system anyways. Tried it before and it just makes my hand sore holding the system up with one hand, or I have to be some weird position to hold it up with my legs...I dunno.

Anyways, kinda surprised NL or GameXplain hasn't done a video on this yet.

I'm not really a PC gamer, but I don't think business sims play well on console. The only time it works IMO is when there is touch screen (hence why SimCity DS was great)

Does the Switch version include Terraforming?

@iKhan How does it defeat the point? It's still portable and plays very well with the controller.

@Majora101 The Switch version includes everything from the base game and the After Dark and Snowfall expansions.