A potentially great game which is hampered by issues with simulation, glitches, and lack of key features that should have been available from day 1. I still recommend the game, as there is no mixed/middle ground option, as long as one is aware of the game's shortcomings.

GAMEPLAY:
Most features from base CS1 are back, together with a mixture of the old DLC content, and even mods, and some new great features of its own. There is a ton of content available, and this is where the game shines.

Building things is much more pleasant in this game than in CS1. No forced roadside requirement. Roads and tracks can intersect multiple other roads/tracks. Upgrading and adjusting roads is much easier. Electricity and water are automatically transported via roads. Adjusting intersections a la TM:PE is a breeze. Roads and tracks can be freely connected to city neighbors. Out of bounds intercity lines are now at the player's discretion.

Buildings can be upgraded via modules, a nice addition and one that quite likely allow for quite a bit of customization later on when mods are allowed - i.e. expandable train stations. Building scale is overall improved relative to the first game, though airports are still horribly undersized.

Maps are bigger, though like in CS1 only a fraction of it is available to the player without mods, and even then there are limits on the number of tiles you can buy. This is a drawback in my opinion, and at the very least the available area that can be bought should be fully available, if not the rest of the map.

SIMULATION:
A mixed bag for me. In one hand, traffic is more random and when it works is more pleasant to watch in my opinion. There are nice new touches like seasons - though more control over them is desired - and traffic accidents.

In the other hand, the simulation is very slow, and things take long to progress, even at the fastest simulation speeds. Furthermore, AI vehicles leave a lot to be desired in many circumstances, for example, near highway ramps where they tend to all try to merge into the highway instead of exiting, at the very last second, causing huge backups along the way.

Another key issue for is the separation of residential demand into low/medium/high density. As a sandbox game, the choice of density should be left at player's discretion, especially when commercial and office buildings are not affected by this. In the current state that the game is, there is way too much low residential demand that never seems to end, forcing one to build swaths of suburbia, even if some or all can be replaced at later stages in the game.

GRAPHICS:
I quite like the direction of where the game is visually going. However, the execution is poor in that visuals are quite "grainy" and pixelated, and can look downright horrible at certain angles and distances, even on the highest graphical settings with a good GPU.

SOUND:
The radio with a mix of generic relaxing music intersped with newcasts and talkshows discussing minutiae in and of your city is back. Music is ok but bland, and overall rather limited in which it becomes repetitive pretty quickly. Personally I listen to something else in the background instead.

OTHER ISSUES:
At the moment there is no official modding support, or a map editor included, and there is not a big variety of maps to begin with in the base game - only a dozen or so. There are already mods being developed and released in third-party platforms, however.

Furthermore, even when modding support does come in 2024, it will be limited to the Paradox servers, and there will be no Steam Workshop support.

Also, the game may suffer from occasional to frequent crashes to the desktop, so make sure to enable autosave, which comes disabled by default and is a source of grief to many people in the forums. Or at least save manually often.

SUMMARY:
Cities Skylines 2 is a game that has a lot of potential but suffers from a rushed release. Updates will likely rectify many of the issues and the review will be re-edited accordingly. In the state that the game is now, and its price, I think is a decent game, and one that is quite entertaining if it runs right, but nowhere near its potential. 6/10

Dec 1st 2023 edit: reduced my rating from 7 to 6, due to finding out no official Steam Workshop, too frequent crashes at times, and quickly dwindling performance in very large cities.

A potentially great game which is hampered by issues with simulation, glitches, and lack of key features that should have been available from day 1. I still recommend the game, as there is no mixed/middle ground option, as long as one is aware of the game's shortcomings. GAMEPLAY: Most features from base CS1 are back, together with a mixture of the old DLC content, and even mods, and some new great features of its own. There is a ton of content available, and this is where the game shines. Building things is much more pleasant in this game than in CS1. No forced roadside requirement. Roads and tracks can intersect multiple other roads/tracks. Upgrading and adjusting roads is much easier. Electricity and water are automatically transported via roads. Adjusting intersections a la TM:PE is a breeze. Roads and tracks can be freely connected to city neighbors. Out of bounds intercity lines are now at the player's discretion. Buildings can be upgraded via modules, a nice addition and one that quite likely allow for quite a bit of customization later on when mods are allowed - i.e. expandable train stations. Building scale is overall improved relative to the first game, though airports are still horribly undersized. Maps are bigger, though like in CS1 only a fraction of it is available to the player without mods, and even then there are limits on the number of tiles you can buy. This is a drawback in my opinion, and at the very least the available area that can be bought should be fully available, if not the rest of the map. SIMULATION: A mixed bag for me. In one hand, traffic is more random and when it works is more pleasant to watch in my opinion. There are nice new touches like seasons - though more control over them is desired - and traffic accidents. In the other hand, the simulation is very slow, and things take long to progress, even at the fastest simulation speeds. Furthermore, AI vehicles leave a lot to be desired in many circumstances, for example, near highway ramps where they tend to all try to merge into the highway instead of exiting, at the very last second, causing huge backups along the way. Another key issue for is the separation of residential demand into low/medium/high density. As a sandbox game, the choice of density should be left at player's discretion, especially when commercial and office buildings are not affected by this. In the current state that the game is, there is way too much low residential demand that never seems to end, forcing one to build swaths of suburbia, even if some or all can be replaced at later stages in the game. GRAPHICS: I quite like the direction of where the game is visually going. However, the execution is poor in that visuals are quite "grainy" and pixelated, and can look downright horrible at certain angles and distances, even on the highest graphical settings with a good GPU. SOUND: The radio with a mix of generic relaxing music intersped with newcasts and talkshows discussing minutiae in and of your city is back. Music is ok but bland, and overall rather limited in which it becomes repetitive pretty quickly. Personally I listen to something else in the background instead. OTHER ISSUES: At the moment there is no official modding support, or a map editor included, and there is not a big variety of maps to begin with in the base game - only a dozen or so. There are already mods being developed and released in third-party platforms, however. Furthermore, even when modding support does come in 2024, it will be limited to the Paradox servers, and there will be no Steam Workshop support. Also, the game may suffer from occasional to frequent crashes to the desktop, so make sure to enable autosave, which comes disabled by default and is a source of grief to many people in the forums. Or at least save manually often. SUMMARY: Cities Skylines 2 is a game that has a lot of potential but suffers from a rushed release. Updates will likely rectify many of the issues and the review will be re-edited accordingly. In the state that the game is now, and its price, I think is a decent game, and one that is quite entertaining if it runs right, but nowhere near its potential. 6/10 Dec 1st 2023 edit: reduced my rating from 7 to 6, due to finding out no official Steam Workshop, too frequent crashes at times, and quickly dwindling performance in very large cities.