What did the Steam review say about Cities: Skylines?

The review stated that Cities: Skylines frequently “break[s] the entire game” when modded due to updates, and called vanilla Skylines “so lame it’s unbearable.” It accused Paradox of using “pastel cartoonish colors” and declared the game the “BY FAR most frustrating, enraging game” of the reviewer’s life.

Is 30,000 hours in Cities: Skylines a legit playtime?

Steam logged nearly 30,000 hours for that user, which is very high. However, Steam counts all time the game runs, including idle periods. Many believe a significant chunk of that time was AFK (game left open), though even then the remaining active playtime would still be thousands of hours.

How does Steam count “hours on record”?

Steam’s tracker adds time whenever the game’s process is active on your computer. If you leave the game open (even minimized or in the background), it will keep counting. It stops counting only when the game is closed or the PC goes to sleep.

Why do players say Cities: Skylines “must be modded”?

Most players find the base game limited. The community has created many mods that add missing features like advanced traffic systems, realism assets, or better tools that make Skylines far deeper and more interesting. Thus experienced players often treat mods as essential for the “full” experience.

Why do updates “break” Cities: Skylines mods?

When the developers patch the game, the underlying code or data may change. This can invalidate mod content, since mods were built for the previous version. Community members note that even small updates can cause dozens of mods to fail until modders update them, forcing players to constantly troubleshoot.

What are the most useful mods for Cities: Skylines?

Quality-of-life mods like Move It (for easier landscaping and asset control) and Traffic Manager: President Edition (for fine-grained road management) are top picks. The Loading Screen Revisited mod is widely recommended to greatly reduce load times and memory strain. Others include Bulldoze It! (auto-clear ruined buildings) and Prop and Tree Anarchy (for design freedom).

Is Cities: Skylines’ art style really “cartoonish” or “pastel”?

The game uses bright, stylized graphics, which some players dislike. Critics mention the palette of vivid “pastel” colors and simple building models. However, others enjoy the clear, cheerful look. The perception varies: one forum user found the base graphics somewhat unrealistic (e.g. purple polluted water). Overall it’s a matter of personal taste, but the negative review reflects a common complaint about the color scheme.

Why do some people still play Cities: Skylines even if they’re frustrated with it?

Cities: Skylines has a very compelling simulation loop: building, optimizing, and solving problems can be addictive. Many fans admit to a love-hate relationship: they enjoy the creative challenge so much that they tolerate its flaws. The reviewer himself continued playing 68+ hours in two weeks despite hating the game at that moment, which shows how hooking the gameplay can be. In essence, the satisfaction of city planning keeps drawing players back even when they get exasperated.

Why did players “go back” to the original Skylines instead of Skylines 2?

The first Cities: Skylines has received many expansions and patches over the years, while Cities: Skylines 2 launched with major issues (performance problems and missing features). Many players feel the original is still a better experience. The reviewer even mixed them up at first, but the playtime confirmed it was the original game being played. In short, because the sequel was rough at launch, dedicated builders often returned to the more stable, content-rich original.

What are some good city-building games to try as alternatives?

Besides Cities: Skylines, popular options include the Tropico series (you manage a Cold-War era island nation) and Surviving Mars (colonizing and building on Mars). Classic sims like SimCity (4 or 2013) and Anno 1800 (focus on industrial-era production chains) are also beloved. For a different flavor, consider medieval town-builders (Banished, Foundation) or others like Manor Lords. Each offers its own mechanics but shares the core appeal of planning and growing a community.

Steam Reviewer Logs 30,000 Hours in Cities: Skylines, Then Calls It “The Most Frustrating Game of My Life”

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Steam review with 30,000 hours in Cities: Skylines explained

In April 2026 a surprising Steam review surfaced: a user with 29,926.3 hours logged in Cities: Skylines gave it a vehement thumbs-down. The review shared on Reddit complains that the game’s constant updates break modded content, forcing an unbearable experience. In other words, this very high-hour player publicly declared the game “BY FAR” the most frustrating they’ve ever played. News sites like Games.gg and GamesRadar confirmed the review’s details, noting it was posted on April 11, 2026.

Yelzkizi steam reviewer logs 30,000 hours in cities: skylines, then calls it “the most frustrating game of my life”

Cities: Skylines “BY FAR most frustrating, enraging game” review breakdown

The negative review’s text is blunt: “Constant updates break the entire game if it’s modded. And it MUST be modded because the vanilla version is so lame it’s unbearable. Paradox seems fixated on pastel cartoonish colors and buildings that look absurdly ridiculous. The constant breaking with updates has made this the BY FAR most frustrating, enraging game of my entire life.”. In short, the reviewer argues that the base game is poor and only the modded version works well, but official patches repeatedly break those mods. They even single out Paradox Interactive’s style (the developer/publisher) as being overly “pastel cartoonish”. This summary reflects a mix of personal frustration and common community complaints about Skylines updates.

Is 30,000 hours in Cities: Skylines real or mostly AFK time?

By Steam’s logs, this user’s clock reads ~30,000 hours but is that actual gameplay? In practice, many players note that such extreme totals often include long idle or AFK periods. Steam counts time while the game is running (even minimized). As one Redditor observes, if the computer goes to sleep, those hours aren’t counted, but leaving the game active will tally up time. Another commenter noted games like Skylines can rack up hours by running in the background. The consensus: a portion of those 30k hours was likely not focused gameplay. Still, even if a majority was idle, it leaves thousands of hours of actual play, which is exceptionally high for a single-player game.

How Steam “hours on record” actually works

Steam’s “hours on record” simply totals how long a game’s process has run on your computer. It does not pause when you tab out or lock your screen, as long as the process remains active. In other words, Steam does not distinguish between active playing and leaving the game idle. One user pointed out that even if your PC sleeps, those hours won’t count but if the game is left open (for example, in a queue or while you do other tasks), Steam will keep adding up time. This explains how marathon city-builder sessions can accumulate vast totals even when the player isn’t actively clicking all the time.

Why Cities: Skylines players say the game “must be modded”

Many veteran Cities: Skylines players agree that the unmodded base game is relatively bare-bones. The reviewer’s claim that vanilla is “so lame it’s unbearable” reflects a common sentiment: the base experience lacks many advanced features.

Community sources explain that the vanilla game is functional but limited, and the real depth comes from mods and community content. For example, the modding community has added enhanced traffic systems, new building assets, realistic visuals, and other gameplay tools that the original developers did not include. In practice, playing with a wide suite of quality-of-life and content mods is often seen as necessary to experience Skylines at its best. Without mods, the game feels sparse, which is why this player (and many others) insists Cities must be heavily modded to be enjoyable.

Cities: Skylines updates breaking mods: what players complain about

A central frustration cited by the reviewer and many in the community is that game updates often break existing mods. Each time Paradox Interactive patches Cities: Skylines, it can render dozens of custom mods incompatible. The reviewer specifically says “Constant updates break the entire game if it’s modded”. Forums and comments back this up: mod authors report that even minor patches can break popular mods, forcing players to debug by disabling or updating content. One Reddit user detailed that troubleshooting mod conflicts “takes a shitload of time” after every patch, making the game feel unstable. Over years, this cycle of patch-and-fix becomes incredibly tedious. In short, players complain that patches frequently disrupt their heavily modded setups, requiring constant maintenance.

Best Cities: Skylines mods that stop the game from feeling “unbearable”

To counteract these issues, many players rely on essential mods that improve stability and quality of life. Some of the top recommended mods include Move It (for freely moving assets) and Traffic Manager: President Edition (for advanced road and traffic control). Bulldoze It! is another popular tool that automatically clears ruined buildings. Perhaps most crucial is the Loading Screen Revisited mod, which dramatically cuts load times and RAM usage during startup.

Users report that without it, base load times are “notoriously slow,” but with it the game can load much faster. Visual tweak mods like Prop and Tree Anarchy let players customize the look of their cities more freely. For those wanting larger worlds, the 81 Tiles 2 mod unlocks all 81 map tiles instead of the default 25.

In short, quality-of-life, performance, and expansion mods are often cited as must-haves to prevent the game from becoming “unbearable” as described by frustrated players.

Paradox and Colossal Order criticism: “pastel cartoonish” art style complaints

One unusual gripe in the review was aesthetic. The reviewer says Paradox (the publisher) is “fixated on pastel cartoonish colors and buildings that look absurdly ridiculous”. Indeed, some fans have long debated Skylines’ art direction. While the art style is stylized and somewhat cartoon-like, other players praise it as clear and vibrant.

Critics who dislike it note that the color palette is overly bright and unrealistic. For example, one longtime Skylines fan wrote that buildings are “low quality models combined with questionable… architectural art style” and mentioned how polluted terrain can turn odd colors like “purple” for water. This kind of criticism suggests that some players find the game’s visual style too toy-like. (Notably, the reviewer may have conflated Paradox’s role with the developer Colossal Order, but overall the art style remains a divisive point among players.)

30,000 hours in Cities: Skylines: how many hours per day is that?

To grasp the sheer magnitude of ~30,000 hours, fans quickly did the math. If the game launched in 2015, then 11 years later 30k hours averages out to about 7.4–7.5 hours per day, every single day.

In other words, the reviewer would have had to play essentially a full-time job’s worth of Cities: Skylines daily. Even assuming large idle time, this is an extraordinary commitment.

According to Games.gg, even if 75% of that time was AFK, it still means over 7,000 hours of actual play. The Reddit post famously pointed out that it “averages 7.38 hours per day for 11 years”. This context underscores how unusual 30k hours is: most dedicated players might hit 1,000 hours on a game only after many years.

Reddit r/Steam “most hours I’ve ever seen” Cities: Skylines post

The news caught fire after a Redditor on r/Steam posted titled “Most hours I’ve ever seen on a game”. That post highlighted the user’s 7.38 hours/day calculation and noted the negative review. In the comments, people discussed exactly why the playtime is so high. Many pointed out Steam’s tracking quirks: one wrote “Steam only tracks when the process is active, so they definitely left it running”. Others agreed that games like this easily rack up idle time. Overall, the Reddit thread shows the community finding humor and fascination in the stat: one commenter quipped that players often “talk shit” on games but still play them obsessively.

In summary, the Reddit discussion confirmed the details (7.38h/day) and sparked debate on why Skylines demands this many hours.

Why people keep playing Cities: Skylines even when they hate it

Despite the anger, the reviewer clearly kept playing Cities: Skylines regularly up to the end. This “love-hate” loop is common for Skylines. As Games.gg notes, the game has a “compelling” gameplay loop that pulls players back even when they’re frustrated. In their words: “Cities: Skylines is one of them. The loop is compelling enough that you keep returning even when it makes you want to throw your keyboard across the room.” The fact that the reviewer played 68.3 hours in two weeks then wrote the review shows he couldn’t quit.

Fans on Reddit observe this pattern too: it’s typical for Paradox games to inspire marathon play even alongside scathing reviews.

In short, the combination of creative freedom, complex city management, and modded possibilities makes Cities addictive – players endure its flaws because building a thriving city remains deeply satisfying.

Cities: Skylines vs Cities: Skylines 2: why players went back to the original

The timing of this story is notable because Cities: Skylines 2 launched in 2023 to poor reviews, whereas the original remains highly regarded. The Games.gg article points out that the original is still considered “the gold standard for the genre,” while Skylines 2 had a “notoriously troubled release”.

Many players felt that Skylines 2 was buggy and underwhelming, leading them to return to the first game even after playing it for years. In fact, GamesRadar speculated the negative review might have been meant for Skylines 2, given the complaints, but confirmed it was indeed about the original. Essentially, fans say the first Cities has more content and stability (thanks to its many DLCs and mods) than its sequel in early 2026. This partly explains why a veteran player would continue pouring hours into the original: it still offers more polished city-building challenges than the sequel.

Cities: Skylines burnout: signs you’ve played too much

Playing Cities: Skylines for thousands of hours can lead to burnout. Gaming burnout generally includes symptoms like exhaustion, irritability, and losing enjoyment of a game. In this case, the reviewer’s irate language and inability to quit are clear signs of burnout: he admitted to hating the game yet couldn’t stop playing. Common red flags include feeling bored or frustrated with something you used to love, or becoming overly critical (calling it the “most frustrating game of my life”). Other signs are playing even when unhappy or neglecting breaks. In other words, the player’s experience echoes textbook burnout the combination of long play sessions and growing rage suggests Skylines has ceased to feel fun and become more like a chore.

Cities: Skylines performance and stability issues: common causes and fixes

Many Cities: Skylines players experience performance slowdowns when their city grows large or when using many mods/assets.

The game’s simulation is largely single-threaded, meaning a fast primary CPU core is crucial. Heavy memory usage from thousands of assets can bog down even strong PCs.

Common fixes include reducing graphics settings and asset count, which lowers strain on CPU/RAM. Crucially, the community recommends the Loading Screen Revisited mod (LSM) to significantly improve performance. LSM pre-loads assets in a more efficient way, cutting load times and memory usage users report load times dropping from 50 minutes to 2 minutes with it. Other tips are to disable unnecessary DLC assets (via LSM “prefab skipping”) and optimize workshop content. In short, better hardware (higher GHz CPU and more RAM) and user-created tools like LSM are common solutions to the game’s notorious performance issues.

Best city-building games like Cities: Skylines (alternatives to try)

For players looking to try something beyond Cities: Skylines, there are many excellent city-builders in different styles. Tropical island management games like the Tropico series are often recommended. In Tropico, you play as “El Presidente” building and running a Caribbean island nation, balancing economy and politics (it’s praised for fun gameplay and replayability).

Sci-fi city-builders are another option: for example, Surviving Mars casts you as a colony manager on the Red Planet. Other alternatives include classic titles like SimCity 4 (for traditional city sims) and Anno 1800 (which blends city-building with production chains). If you’re open to different settings, consider medieval builders like Banished or Foundation, or even niche ones like Bellwright (fantasy co-op) or Manor Lords (historical setting). Each offers its own mechanics and challenges, but they all share the core joy of planning and growing a community.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What did the Steam review say about Cities: Skylines?
The review stated that Cities: Skylines frequently “break[s] the entire game” when modded due to updates, and called vanilla Skylines “so lame it’s unbearable.” It accused Paradox of using “pastel cartoonish colors” and declared the game the “BY FAR most frustrating, enraging game” of the reviewer’s life.
Is 30,000 hours in Cities: Skylines a legit playtime?
Steam logged nearly 30,000 hours for that user, which is very high. However, Steam counts all time the game runs, including idle periods. Many believe a significant chunk of that time was AFK (game left open), though even then the remaining active playtime would still be thousands of hours.
How does Steam count “hours on record”?
Steam’s tracker adds time whenever the game’s process is active on your computer. If you leave the game open (even minimized or in the background), it will keep counting. It stops counting only when the game is closed or the PC goes to sleep.
Why do players say Cities: Skylines “must be modded”?
Most players find the base game limited. The community has created many mods that add missing features like advanced traffic systems, realism assets, or better tools that make Skylines far deeper and more interesting. Thus experienced players often treat mods as essential for the “full” experience.
Why do updates “break” Cities: Skylines mods?
When the developers patch the game, the underlying code or data may change. This can invalidate mod content, since mods were built for the previous version. Community members note that even small updates can cause dozens of mods to fail until modders update them, forcing players to constantly troubleshoot.
What are the most useful mods for Cities: Skylines?
Quality-of-life mods like Move It (for easier landscaping and asset control) and Traffic Manager: President Edition (for fine-grained road management) are top picks. The Loading Screen Revisited mod is widely recommended to greatly reduce load times and memory strain. Others include Bulldoze It! (auto-clear ruined buildings) and Prop and Tree Anarchy (for design freedom).
Is Cities: Skylines’ art style really “cartoonish” or “pastel”?
The game uses bright, stylized graphics, which some players dislike. Critics mention the palette of vivid “pastel” colors and simple building models. However, others enjoy the clear, cheerful look. The perception varies: one forum user found the base graphics somewhat unrealistic (e.g. purple polluted water). Overall it’s a matter of personal taste, but the negative review reflects a common complaint about the color scheme.
Why do some people still play Cities: Skylines even if they’re frustrated with it?
Cities: Skylines has a very compelling simulation loop: building, optimizing, and solving problems can be addictive. Many fans admit to a love-hate relationship: they enjoy the creative challenge so much that they tolerate its flaws. The reviewer himself continued playing 68+ hours in two weeks despite hating the game at that moment, which shows how hooking the gameplay can be. In essence, the satisfaction of city planning keeps drawing players back even when they get exasperated.
Why did players “go back” to the original Skylines instead of Skylines 2?
The first Cities: Skylines has received many expansions and patches over the years, while Cities: Skylines 2 launched with major issues (performance problems and missing features). Many players feel the original is still a better experience. The reviewer even mixed them up at first, but the playtime confirmed it was the original game being played. In short, because the sequel was rough at launch, dedicated builders often returned to the more stable, content-rich original.
What are some good city-building games to try as alternatives?
Besides Cities: Skylines, popular options include the Tropico series (you manage a Cold-War era island nation) and Surviving Mars (colonizing and building on Mars). Classic sims like SimCity (4 or 2013) and Anno 1800 (focus on industrial-era production chains) are also beloved. For a different flavor, consider medieval town-builders (Banished, Foundation) or others like Manor Lords. Each offers its own mechanics but shares the core appeal of planning and growing a community.

Conclusion

The saga of the 30,000-hour review highlights both the dedication and frustration that can accompany long-term gameplay in Cities: Skylines. On one hand, reaching such a milestone shows how engaging the game’s core mechanics are. On the other, the reviewer’s rant underscores real pain points: mandatory modding for depth, recurring update conflicts, and performance hurdles. The outcry about “pastel cartoonish” aesthetics reflects a minority view, but it became a humorous catchphrase in the discussion. Ultimately, Cities: Skylines has a passionate community that even underlines the irony of hating a game while playing it endlessly. The situation sparked conversations about how Steam tracks playtime, how to manage modded setups, and why despite its flaws this city-builder remains addictive.

Players frustrated with Skylines’ challenges have dozens of other building sims to explore, but this case shows the original city simulator still holds many players’ undying attention.