This review is updated after their recent 'apology'.
I will NEVER change this review type to recommended.

After 6 months and counting, the game is barely fixed or optimized, PR stunt is ♥♥♥♥♥♥ as ♥♥♥♥, Paradox being an ass like always (several stupid WotW is the proof), and they still won't add Steam workshop, which make it possible to Paradox to censor, limit, and/or monetize the mods, and adding another possibility to make the game has zero official mod in the future when Paradox decided to shutdown their mod sharing platform.

The game is more city-painter than the original C:S, due to every single thing is disconnected as ♥♥♥♥. Deep simulation my ass.

So, if you:

• Had this game and still under Steam's refund requirements, congrats! Do it. Right now.
  
• Had this game and no longer able to refund (like me), play it if you want to, but don't let every problem this game has to make you stress, or wait until either the game is dead or our earth finishes another 75 revolution around the sun. Mental health is important, do not let this game ♥♥♥♥ your hobby. Then set your mind that your money used for this game is used to give the poor, the sad and unlucky people of society.
  
• Had Cities:Skylines (C:S) and have all of its DLCs, go play it instead and mod the ♥♥♥♥ out of it if you want to (and if your device able to).
  
• Had C:S base game and don't have all of its DLCs yet, try to complete it on sale during its lowest possible price if you want. Use Steamdb to check it. Then play it however you want.
  
• Don't have both C:S and C:SII, congrats! Find another alternative instead, don't let these two companies have your money (mainly Paradox, because they are a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ass company), or better yet, just go buy SimCity 3000 that was released on Steam few days ago, it is less than 2 USD during this review is rewritten and with a simple patch you could get a proper city-building game that runs flawlessly even with Pentium4 machine and a game that doesn't get plagued by greed and incompetence.

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Before reading my review, you (reader) need to know that my PC was built in 2020 with a ♥♥♥♥ ton of money and totally dedicated to run the sequel of C:S (this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ game) when the day comes:

• Ryzen 5950X
  
• Radeon RX 6800XT
  
• Corsair DomPlat DDR4 3200MHz 32GB RAM

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The game actually has so much improvements and new mechanics that it can really called as a sequel to C:S, but its ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up stability, optimization, graphical glitches, and water physics, just made it a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up game even after 4 months+ after its release.

I bought the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ultimate edition, just to get ♥♥♥♥♥♥ even more after 4 months since this game release.

Stability is so random, a stock, vanilla game in its latest version has been reported still having Crash to Desktop (CTD) without any fixed, known causes, even I got several times of it during my last play week.

'Optimization' is still ♥♥♥♥♥ up your play, as graphics settings still significantly drags down anything related to simulation and animation, and additionally simulation still ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up too. Latest version in ultra low (even with 6800XT) with population less than 50k (even with 5950x) still make my game stutters in randomness. Considering it's been 4 months+ now, this is just ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ stupid.

Graphical glitches also ♥♥♥♥♥ up the game, building in mountains land would just either make it looks so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ stupid or breaks its models, in my case my dam got glitched that it looks like Gon's hair from HunterxHunter. It ♥♥♥♥♥ my save, it ♥♥♥♥♥ the simulation, it got so high that the camera can't even see the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ top of it.

Water physics is another disappointment. Building a 20k MW dam, waited 5+ years of in-game date or 50hrs of play time, the water just decided to ♥♥♥♥ my city in the most absurd way possible. The water just become a Goku's hair (RIP Akira Toriyama), going full super saiyan mode and ♥♥♥♥♥ my dam and goes way above it to ♥♥♥♥ my city located below the dam.
I also need to mention that the only power we can utilize is 800MW, which made the 20k MW number is a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ lie.

The current performance is also a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ mockery.
Advertised as a city building game that can creates a anything from small to huge, a city-building game people waiting for.
Where the ♥♥♥♥ is it? Which ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ part does the game able to run a huge city?
I'm using 16-core, 32-thread CPU here and beyond 125k population the simulation got significantly slower even with the CPU setting using the 'simulation speed' config.
Trying out the 1Mil pop save, it just becoming a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ GIF animation.

The parking AI can ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ kill people (inside the game). The fact most parking lot only have 1-in and 1-out and most sims would prioritize parking on it despite the road had parking spaces making the traffic goes beyond stupid, people would lining up to few months just to get into parking.

The public transport also had its own ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ problems. Passenger train boarding would take few months of in-game date to finish, and that makes a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ traffic jam on the railway, which then make the trains disappears due to deadlocks, and then ♥♥♥♥♥ the supply chain and the railway traffic even more because it would just spawn another train from the depot.

The mod support, ah yes the mod support. The ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ mod support.
WHY THE ♥♥♥♥ THIS GAME HAS NOTHING RELATED TO MOD SUPPORT ON RELEASE AND THE MODS NEEDS TO USE PDXMODS?
Where the ♥♥♥♥ is the 'our game thrives with mods, so we will release this game with modding capability'? When it got released, there is ZERO support to modding inside the game's core.
Steam's workshop is also working fine, and these decisions is the primary cause of all of these ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, and no one can confirm if PDXMODS will ever ♥♥♥♥ us the customer or not.
Mod release is a joke. Using any mods would cause simulation speed goes worse. Great job.

Their communication is also a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ problem.
What kind of corporate management to let a person from your company make a statement to the public that "something is coming next week" and when the week actually comes in form of #15, it was just another rewritten statement from the previous WotW?
Players are asking for a timeline and a roadmap, because we have ZERO trust due all of this stupid PR ♥♥♥♥ they've done, then customer starts complaining and being called toxic.
What the ♥♥♥♥ is this?
A group of middle schooler would do better work in group project and PR management than this!

They (CO & PDX) somehow publishing an apology which, to be honest, seems like another cluster♥♥♥♥fest. I don't really feel it was sincere, and it seems most people there finds the same. Really disappointed with how things goes.

PDX had the ability to control and delay the game, and they just literally say "♥♥♥♥ it" and let their greed made them look so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ stupid.

CO could go Valve's way during Half-Life by threaten to delay the game with their own funds if PDX don't want to, or fix this problematic release by increasing their team members for this game, but perhaps this is way too much for such a company that probably has zero risk management related to their primary stakeholders, the customer.

I paid around 30% of my country's average monthly salary for this game's ultimate ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ edition.
This amount of money would be better if being donated for the actual poor and unlucky people instead rather than to pay this way too ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ greedy publisher and too ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ incompetent developer.

This game also made me broke my own principle to not doing pre-order, and the game's reply was all these stupid ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

♥♥♥♥ this game, ♥♥♥♥ CO, and ♥♥♥♥ you too PDX.
Will never spent anything from these two again.