Recent reviews by Deaf Dougie

Ultimately this game feels like it is in a pre-alpha state that needs polishing after a bunch of playtesting. There is also a significant lack of content that will doubtless be solved by future dlc and the modding community. I have no reason or real desire to play the game when I have the original.

Onto the good. Pretty much everything I disliked or found annoying about the first game was fixed in the second. Roads are easier than ever to build and upgrade. Services are much easier to manage, and you have options to upgrade your clinic instead of building a new one. Pops are defined more by their economic status which affects where they work and live. The types of businesses that grow depend on the products you industry makes, which is all tied into the pops and what they want to buy and work.
I think the game has a lot of potential when it comes to the pops and the player designing their city with zoning, policy and taxation to attract a specialized industry or population. Imagine an achievement where you had to get a population that only worked from home, or a city with 1 million bachelors, or only farmers.
Unfortunately the future of the game seems to be aimed at assets and content rather than updating the game mechanics itself. We are just going to get things like a collection of new bridges, or the industry shaping tool applied to parks (parks have so little impact in this game)
The focus on realism in this game is appreciated - cities feel realistic and immersive especially with the chirper feed. But it is unpolished (citizens complain about water when theres no actual issue anywhere) and it feels slow. Why do I have to wait for a building to go up? there isnt even a cool animation of the scaffolding going up, just a crane waving back and forth sometimes. It would make sense if there was some kind of construction industry that affected how fast the building is made. The office would need access to raw materials and to get to the worksite. But instead I just wait.
I know it is a sandbox game but it just feels pointless to keep building the city. you arent motivated to redevelop an area, so that suburb will always be a suburb. You just keep building low density homes until you need to make a new district. Leveling your city up also doesn't feel like a big deal either.

I loved the first game and was initially happy to see the qol improvements. But ultimately I dont want to play this game for at least a few years until it has been padded out significantly, and . I'm sorry to see how this is such a trend among paradox games now. Just leave the game in the development oven for another year or two and this game would be great

Pretty fun, new heists and updates are added every month or so, keeps gameplay somewhat fresh.