Cities Skylines: Snowfall Review

Written by: Adam "ManKorn" Korenman, CC2K Video Games Editor

There are a few buildings to add to the aesthetics of your city, including a fancy looking ice-rink. Sadly, like the skate park and entertainment venues before, these are just sprite-filled locations and not dynamically altered parks. Your citizens will visit, but not actively participate. It calls to mind the largest criticism laid against this particular brand of DLC: That it all comes down to window dressing without substantial upgrades. More akin to “Stuff” packs from EA than a full on expansion ala The Witcher 3.

With a very reasonable $12.99 price tag, though, many avid fans of the series are willing to pay. We spoke to a few on Steam forums, asking for reactions to the recent release. 

“I’ll always support [Colossal Order],” said one user. “There hasn’t been a good city builder since SimCity 4. This isn’t perfect, but it’s really fun and addicting.”

On the other side, user Celador felt less satisfied with the overall product. “I realize that having true season changes would’ve required an effort and a lot of new textures but i was hoping that the main game did good enough and DLC’s are expensive enough to provide us with proper ‘extensions’ of the game rather than just some overpriced cosmetic bits and pieces.”

Currently, Cities: Snowfall has a 52% positive rating on steam and a Metascore of 74. While those are certainly lower numbers than the developers would want, even the most scathing criticism is qualified. Each reviewer starts with some variation on, “I love Colossal Order, and Cities: Skylines is incredible, but…”

Truth be told, we at CC2KOnline were torn as well. Colossal Order is not Maxis or EA. They do not have fifty-person staffs to throw at DLC while another hundred-person team works on sequels. This is a small shop of incredibly talented developers cranking out better product than most AAA titles. Their first expansion, After Dark, was an astounding change of pace from the original, with all manner of new additions and gameplay features.