Tom is an knowledgeable in all issues Fortnite or the most recent RPG launch, however might be spending an excessive amount of time on the most recent EA FC sport.
Revealed: September 27, 2026
I’ve all the time discovered Cities: Skylines slightly bit overwhelming. The model, introduction, and sheer depth of its administration is rather a lot. When Lego Skylines was revealed, I had my fingers crossed that it would not simply be Cities with a extra colourful pores and skin. Fortunately, Iceflake Studios has made its new sport extra welcoming, with out utterly abandoning the depth the collection is understood for.
The important thing factor right here is that it does not really feel such as you’re thrown in on the deep finish. As soon as the profession mode introduces you to a household who strikes into the realm in search of a house, you are regularly taught how the primary Lego Skylines mechanics work, and how you can construct a useful city.
Issues begin small. You are tasked with constructing a number of homes, connecting them with roads, and including some retailers for individuals to frequent. Development follows a sequence of requests from residents. They’re going to be asking for sure issues round their houses, some ornament possibly, and you will discover ways to handle a metropolis as a part of it. It is a way more pure strategy to introduce gamers to a administration sport, with out overwhelming them too shortly.
A number of what you do early on is addressing ‘attraction’ wants. Each single inhabitant of your blossoming city has explicit needs, and needs their residence to have a sure aesthetic. They may need extra nature round them, formal ornament, or extra a historic design, and you have to add objects to the realm to maintain them glad.
This underlines Lego Skylines’ concentrate on aesthetics. It is a beautiful sport, and every thing is geared to creating the world look good. The homes are constructed brick by brick at tremendous velocity, and characters wander round with that whimsy that Lego is synonymous with. There’s an all-encompassing pleasant tone to the sport, which provides to the truth that it is extra welcoming. The builders even mentioned that every thing you construct within the sport is one thing you possibly can construct in actual life with the identical blocks the sport makes use of. It is fashionable, genuine, and wonderful to take a look at.
When you get used to the concentrate on model and attraction, Lego Skylines begins to introduce the basic metropolis administration options. Water, energy, waste, and different metropolis staples are necessary right here, too; you are not simply slapping down a great deal of homes on a area. Fortunately, guaranteeing these assets are useful is fairly simple, a minimum of in a smaller city.
My first city was a little bit of a multitude. For the reason that inhabitants needed such totally different decorations round their homes, the place was a mismatch of various themes. A home surrounded by foliage was subsequent to 1 engulfed by statues and stone; it seemed odd. As you develop an understanding of how you can effectively hit the attraction calls for, you may begin to think about how you can design your metropolis’s structure on a bigger scale. You may take into consideration areas by theme, or how you can maintain individuals glad with out the answer overwhelming the encircling space. As soon as the fundamental mechanics are second nature, you can begin to dive into the sport’s concentrate on aesthetics.
To see how all that seemed on a big scale, the previous few minutes of my preview session took me to an enormous metropolis that the event workforce had put collectively. It had distinct districts, an enormous downtown space, bridges throughout rivers to new islands, and a great deal of individuals milling about, going about their every day lives. It confirmed me that Lego Skylines nonetheless has the depth that is core to the collection. My preliminary response was “yeah, I might by no means have the ability to do this,” however I feel it is extra achievable than in vanilla Cities: Skylines.
Whereas the beginning of the sport is extra welcoming and there is a actual tutorial, that should not scare off Cities consultants in the event that they’re in search of one thing with a distinct tone. There must be greater than sufficient for them right here, whereas guaranteeing that the sport is one which new gamers will really feel comfy with. I feel Iceflake Studios has received that stability proper.
I am additionally excited to see how they deal with one other core side of Lego: IPs. There’s barely a single IP on the planet that hasn’t been Lego-ified sooner or later, and the Skylines devs informed me that they’ve full use of the IPs Lego has used, and that they are excited to utilize them within the close to future.
I feel it is good to concentrate on getting the sport proper first, with out letting it drown in IP stuff. We do not want a Gringotts Financial institution or Arkham Asylum from the beginning, however they’re going to be greater than welcome as updates within the coming months and years.
Whether or not acquainted IPs are featured or not, Lego Skylines is a brilliant sideways transfer for the Cities collection. It’s going to usher in a complete host of recent gamers to the town administration collection, with out scaring off the devoted fan base. It is cute, cozy, and nonetheless deep – what’s to not love?
