Cities Skylines 2 Debuts Strong on Steam Despite Performance Criticisms

Cities Skylines 2, the new city-building game from Colossal Order, has launched on Steam with more than 100,000 concurrent players and topped the best-sellers chart. Despite this success, the launch has been plagued by performance issues, leading to a 'mixed' user review rating of 48% on Valve's platform. Many of the negative reviews complain about performance glitches which the developer had warned could be problematic prior to release.

The game's poor performance is cited in many reviews, with various bugs noted, contributing to a drop in game quality and overall user experience. In response to these issues, Chief Technical Officer "damsku" of Colossal Order explained that the intended frame rate for Cities Skylines 2 is 30 frames per second even on the most powerful PCs. What matters more in city-building games, according to "damsku", is to avoid stutters and maintain a responsive user interface.

Colossal Order acknowledged the performance issues and has shared tips on how to improve gameplay. These include reducing screen resolution to 1080p, disabling Depth of Field and Volumetrics, and reducing Global Illumination. The developer is also planning to release a series of updates aimed at improving these issues. Despite the initial challenges, the team at Colossal Order remains committed to refining the game and delivering a rewarding game experience to its users.