City building games have a Soul Problem pt.2
3 hours ago
- The author returns to Cities: Skylines 2 despite disappointment, driven by a childhood fantasy of building living cities.
- The game's aesthetics are criticized for square, flat surfaces that feel unnatural and ugly without extensive mods.
- The text highlights a lack of organic shapes, neurotic cleanliness, and missing details like stairs, potholes, trash, and graffiti.
- Realistic elements such as poor/abandoned houses are absent, which could provide visual feedback about city problems.
- The author hopes future city-building games or DLCs will add more soul and character, rather than relying on manual micromanagement.