“Cities: Skylines II” Receives Mixed Reviews Upon Release
October 24 – The highly anticipated game “Cities: Skylines II” developed by Colossal Order was officially released yesterday evening. However, the initial feedback from players on Steam has been a mixed bag, with the overall evaluation sitting at a mere 45% positive or negative.
According to the reviews on the Steam platform, many fans of the game expressed their satisfaction with the larger and more intricate management settings of the second-generation map. However, a significant number of players criticized the game’s performance and lag issues within the game environment.
Interestingly, it appears that this situation was somewhat expected by the game’s publisher, Paradox Interactive. Last week, the company had already cautioned players about potential performance concerns, stating that the benchmark performance of the game was not up to their satisfaction.
Acknowledging the performance problems, Paradox quickly took action and released a “Tips: Performance Optimization Guide” announcement. The guide recommends that players prioritize the “virtual texture” step during the game’s startup, as it’s essential for rendering updates. Additionally, it advises players to set the resolution to “1920 x 1080 x 60Hz” and disable depth of field and volumetric clouds for optimal performance.
Furthermore, the guide highlights three optional settings: motion blur, depth of field, and dynamic resolution. It warns that removing depth of field and motion blur might result in significant visual issues while enabling dynamic resolution may improve frame rates but could make the game appear blurry.
While Paradox has offered solutions to address the performance problems, it’s advisable for players to carefully examine the performance setting options or seek guidance from experienced players before diving into the game to ensure a smooth gaming experience on their respective computers.
“Cities: Skylines II” was officially released on October 24 with a price tag of NT$1,398 for the Steam standard version. Additionally, the game will be available for Xbox Game Pass users on the day of its release.