TheRetroArcade
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Joined: Feb 2026
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You probably don't need me to recap the difficult life Cities: Skylines 2 has had since hitting the streets in 2023. Plagued by performance issues and prompting questions over whether its additions made it a worthy sequel right out of the gate, thus followed years of tweaks aiming to undo the damage. Eventually, original developers Colossal Order handed over the game and series' reins to Iceflake Studios, with Paradox Interactive staying on as publishers.
The latter two have now revealed the next game in the Skylines series - a brick-built city builder dubbed Lego Skylines. It's not a bad name, but surely they could have gone with Lego Cities.
Regardless, the game's been revealed during Gamescom Opening Night Live. In a press release, Paradox and Iceflake suggested it to be a "playful" take on metropolis crafting. "You’re encouraged to build a city that's both beautiful and functional," they wrote. "First, cover the basics like roads, electricity, food, and water to make your city run smoothly. Then, make it a place your citizens love. Add cozy homes for them to return to after work, green parks where they can unwind, quirky stores stocked with their favourite goods, and well-equipped hospitals to keep everyone in one piece. Turn your city into a cultural capital with great museums and impressive sports arenas, or plop bakeries on every street corner, serving delicious donuts baked with wheat from your own farms."
Growing your Lego city unlocks new buildings and services, which in turn up the city’s rating and the happiness of its denizens. A big enough selection of customisable buildings and plots is promised that your city shouldn't end up looking like everyone else's, or like the generic image on the box to put it in real world Lego terms.
"With LEGO Skylines, we want to turn city building into a more personal experience, where only your imagination limits what kind of cities you can build," said Iceflake co-founder and game director Lasse Liljedahl. "We can't wait to see how players bring their dreams to life in it." Meanwhile, the Lego Group's SVP and Global Head of GAME - the latter possibly being the best job title in the industry - Fredrik Löving declared that "From the beginning, our ambition wasn't just to make a Lego city-builder, it was to create a game that is considered among the best in the genre."
That's rather a bold quote to be putting out there right off the bat given how Skylines 2 went, but hey, you can't fault the Lego man for hoping the series can firmly re-establish itself as the biggest collection of skyscrapers and multi-storey car parks on the block. That said, I think Lego Skylines is the ideal way to try and get the series back on track. The Lego element might give it a wider appeal outside of established city builder players and means the game doesn't come with the inevitably huge weight of expectation Cities: Skylines 3 will face whenever it gets made. Plus, in my experience Lego games are generally a pretty good time no matter what form they take. Here's me and James having a nice time in Lego Voyagers as proof.
Plus, you can recreate all of the memes about a man having fallen into the river in Lego City.
Beyond Lego Skylines, which is without a release date for now, Paradox have already spilled the beans on the grand strategy game they've been teasing. It's a post-apocalyptic wasteland tribe-battler called Afterworld.
Cities: Skylines II
PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S
LEGO Skylines
Nintendo Switch 2, PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S
Rock Paper Shotgun is better when you sign in
Sign in and join us on our journey to discover strange and compelling PC games.Read more: Full article on www.rockpapershotgun.com
What do you think about this?
You probably don't need me to recap the difficult life Cities: Skylines 2 has had since hitting the streets in 2023. Plagued by performance issues and prompting questions over whether its additions made it a worthy sequel right out of the gate, thus followed years of tweaks aiming to undo the damage. Eventually, original developers Colossal Order handed over the game and series' reins to Iceflake Studios, with Paradox Interactive staying on as publishers.
The latter two have now revealed the next game in the Skylines series - a brick-built city builder dubbed Lego Skylines. It's not a bad name, but surely they could have gone with Lego Cities.
Regardless, the game's been revealed during Gamescom Opening Night Live. In a press release, Paradox and Iceflake suggested it to be a "playful" take on metropolis crafting. "You’re encouraged to build a city that's both beautiful and functional," they wrote. "First, cover the basics like roads, electricity, food, and water to make your city run smoothly. Then, make it a place your citizens love. Add cozy homes for them to return to after work, green parks where they can unwind, quirky stores stocked with their favourite goods, and well-equipped hospitals to keep everyone in one piece. Turn your city into a cultural capital with great museums and impressive sports arenas, or plop bakeries on every street corner, serving delicious donuts baked with wheat from your own farms."
Growing your Lego city unlocks new buildings and services, which in turn up the city’s rating and the happiness of its denizens. A big enough selection of customisable buildings and plots is promised that your city shouldn't end up looking like everyone else's, or like the generic image on the box to put it in real world Lego terms.
"With LEGO Skylines, we want to turn city building into a more personal experience, where only your imagination limits what kind of cities you can build," said Iceflake co-founder and game director Lasse Liljedahl. "We can't wait to see how players bring their dreams to life in it." Meanwhile, the Lego Group's SVP and Global Head of GAME - the latter possibly being the best job title in the industry - Fredrik Löving declared that "From the beginning, our ambition wasn't just to make a Lego city-builder, it was to create a game that is considered among the best in the genre."
That's rather a bold quote to be putting out there right off the bat given how Skylines 2 went, but hey, you can't fault the Lego man for hoping the series can firmly re-establish itself as the biggest collection of skyscrapers and multi-storey car parks on the block. That said, I think Lego Skylines is the ideal way to try and get the series back on track. The Lego element might give it a wider appeal outside of established city builder players and means the game doesn't come with the inevitably huge weight of expectation Cities: Skylines 3 will face whenever it gets made. Plus, in my experience Lego games are generally a pretty good time no matter what form they take. Here's me and James having a nice time in Lego Voyagers as proof.
Plus, you can recreate all of the memes about a man having fallen into the river in Lego City.
Beyond Lego Skylines, which is without a release date for now, Paradox have already spilled the beans on the grand strategy game they've been teasing. It's a post-apocalyptic wasteland tribe-battler called Afterworld.
Cities: Skylines II
PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S
LEGO Skylines
Nintendo Switch 2, PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S
Rock Paper Shotgun is better when you sign in
Sign in and join us on our journey to discover strange and compelling PC games.Read more: Full article on www.rockpapershotgun.com
What do you think about this?