Much like a brand-new town, Cities Skylines 2 has taken a while to get going. Despite the huge popularity of its predecessor, CS2 struggled a lot at launch. Performance troubles, bugs, and flaws in core systems left it languishing with a mixed Steam review score. Even now, almost three times as many people have been playing the first Cities Skylines in the last 24 hours as have touched its sequel. But developer Colossal Order continues to work on improving and polishing the game through transformative updates and smaller patches alike, and now you can see how far it's come without spending a dime.
A Cities Skylines 2 garbage patch has reworked how trash is handled, while also delivering improvements to students and jobseekers alike.
With so many changes under its belt, and more to come, the ability to play Cities Skylines 2 as a free Steam game temporarily is ideal. You can jump straight in and get to work, getting a full impression of the current state of the game. The free trial is also available through Nvidia's GeForce Now streaming service, so if you don't have a PC that's up to the task of running it to your liking (or don't want to commit the space to install it) you can take advantage of the cloud option.
Cities Skylines 2 is free to play on Steam through Monday December 9. If you like it, you can also buy the full game with a 20% discount until Thursday December 12, paying $39.99 / £33.59. Just it from the store page to get started, and judge Colossal Order's progress for yourself.
If that's not enough to satisfy you, here are the best simulation games to keep you plenty busy whatever you desire.
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