Skid Cities

About

Skid Cities is a single player and multiplayer city builder game. It was developed by LapsuS and was released on February 25, 2021. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

"Skid Cities" is a first-person shooter game set in a dystopian future, where players must navigate through gritty urban environments and battle against factions vying for control. With a focus on fast-paced action and intense combat, players can customize their character's skills and weapons to their playstyle. The game also features a rich story campaign and various multiplayer modes for up to 32 players.

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65%

Audience ScoreBased on 68 reviews

gameplay6 positive mentions

optimization9 negative mentions

The game has a unique concept with multi-tiered city building and a cyberpunk aesthetic that appeals to fans of the genre.
The developer is responsive to feedback and has been actively updating the game, showing promise for future improvements.
The gameplay offers interesting mechanics, such as managing crime and building a dystopian or utopian city, which adds depth to the city-building experience.

The game suffers from severe optimization issues, leading to crashes and lag, especially as cities grow larger.
Many players feel the game is currently unfinished, with a lack of content and variety in buildings, making it feel underdeveloped.
There are significant UI and tutorial problems, making it difficult for players to understand game mechanics and navigate the interface effectively.

optimization
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
33%
50%
The game's optimization is widely criticized, with many users reporting severe performance issues that hinder gameplay, such as stuttering and low frame rates even on lower settings. While the unique three-dimensional city-building concept shows promise, it is currently marred by technical shortcomings, leading players to recommend waiting for significant optimization updates before fully engaging with the game. Some users note that ongoing patches are improving performance, but the game remains unplayable for many until further enhancements are made.
- “Dev has been patching performance alongside features, so if you like city management, now's the time to hop in.”
- “This game truly has the potential to revolutionize city builders since there are not really any that allow you to fully take advantage of three dimensions and have multiple street levels, but the performance and bug issues really hold this game back from what it could be and what it could do for the industry as a whole.”
- “This game is one major optimization patch and one significant content patch away from being a full-throated recommendation at its full price.”
- “While the concept of this game is unique given the ability to plan out a city in three dimensions, the performance of this game is horrible.”
- “This game truly has the potential to revolutionize city builders, but the performance and bug issues really hold this game back from what it could be.”
- “Worse, it's unplayably badly optimized.”
gameplay
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
25%
25%
The gameplay of this early access title showcases intriguing cyberpunk mechanics and unique features like multi-tiered construction and a nuanced approach to societal issues, allowing players to shape their cities into either dystopian or utopian visions. However, it suffers from significant balance issues and performance problems, which can lead to frustrating experiences, such as automatic downgrades that can decimate city progress. While the visuals and intuitive mechanics are praised, the game currently feels incomplete and may appeal more to genre enthusiasts than newcomers.
- “Full of potential, the cyberpunk mechanics are super cool. I haven't had this much fun building my dream dystopian city since SimCity 3000.”
- “It introduces cool gameplay mechanics, like multi-tiered vertical construction of your cities and an underground city, as well as a unique approach to crime, dissent, and unrest where there are many ways to solve these problems or even accept them, leaving you free to build a dystopian hellscape or a utopian vision of the future.”
- “I'm playing the early access version, so while there are certainly some kinks, the visuals are beautiful and the mechanics are intuitive.”
- “For the gameplay itself, there's a weird thing as things upgrade themselves automatically when combined with appropriate cyberpunk devices, but this also means if you run a too tight budget and you try to move something somewhere else, you'll trigger a cascade where all the stuff around it will downgrade, and you lose income from the downgrade and thus forced to remove more and more till half your city is gone and your maintenance cost is still too high.”
- “This game has great potential, but in a little under an hour of gameplay and only 30k residents, my computer is frozen.”
- “While it brings a unique style and the underused mechanic of multiple z levels in a city management game, massive performance issues coupled with little other innovation, make this an enthusiast piece at best and a poor entry point to the genre.”
graphics
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
36%
37%
27%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the vibrant neon aesthetics typical of a cyberpunk setting, while others criticize the visuals as outdated and lacking in polish, resembling early 2000s titles. Despite some beautiful elements and potential shown in updates, issues like glitches and performance concerns detract from the overall experience. Overall, the game's graphics are seen as a work in progress, with room for improvement as it continues through early access.
- “Cool graphics, I think this game definitely has potential.”
- “The music is pretty and the visuals have a fair amount of neon on buildings and the signs of the hypercapitalist hellscape you come to expect in a cyberpunk future.”
- “I'm playing the early access version, so while there are certainly some kinks, the visuals are beautiful and the mechanics are intuitive.”
- “The graphics at standard level of quality look like something out of 2000-2001, and I have no idea why it runs so slowly and why it would even need 16 GB of RAM.”
- “Plus, the graphics are pretty meh, bearing even less resemblance to the beautifully rendered publicity art for the project than is even the norm for other future-city computer games.”
- “Something that doesn't look likely to change in early access: the trash-future aesthetic.”
music
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
17%
50%
The music in the game is praised for its beauty and fitting ambiance, complementing the neon visuals of a cyberpunk setting. While the soundtrack is described as both motivational and emotionally complex, some players wish for more variety and smoother integration with gameplay. Overall, it enhances the game's atmosphere despite minor technical issues.
- “The music is pretty, and the visuals have a fair amount of neon on buildings and the signs of the hypercapitalist hellscape you come to expect in a cyberpunk future.”
- “The soundtrack to this game is great.”
- “There are some things that could be smoothed over (the overlay flickers, for example, when updating) and I wish the music was more varied, but it doesn't take away from the game.”
- “The soundtrack has notes of being a motivation to rise from ruins - it sounds both depressing and triumphal at the same time, if that makes any sense.”
- “The music is pretty and the visuals have a fair amount of neon on buildings and the signs of the hypercapitalist hellscape you come to expect in a cyberpunk future.”
stability
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is a significant concern, with users reporting frequent random crashes, lag, and unresponsive UI, particularly as population numbers increase. Many players experience issues such as corrupted saves and buggy functions that require reloading to resolve. Overall, the game's stability appears to have worsened over time, leading to a frustrating experience for many.
- “On the other hand, it does slow the game to a crawl; a population of 50k already causes random freezes during UI operations like placing a new road.”
- “Things become stickier or unresponsive until the whole thing eventually freezes completely, or you can't put anything down or remove anything. Reloading gets forever stuck with a corrupted save.”
- “The game is known to randomly crash at times. Lag can start to be a problem once you reach the mid-10s of thousands of population. Sometimes, certain UI functions will cease working, and you have to exit the save and go back to 'fix' it. Some functions are buggy, and using the button that clears the view of obstructing buildings doesn't function very well when you start to go up street levels due to removing the bottom platforms in the process.”
story
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
The story is set in a captivating futuristic environment, enhanced by an engaging mission system that includes a helpful tutorial. Players find themselves easily immersed in the narrative, often losing track of time while building and progressing through the quests.
- “Particularly interesting is the futuristic setting of the DLC and the storyline surrounding it.”
- “The missions and tutorial are really good.”
- “The tutorial, as part of the optional missions system, is a good idea.”
replayability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Reviewers suggest that the game's replayability may improve as the developers continue to enhance its overall playability.
- “The game lacks variety, making it hard to find motivation for a second playthrough.”
- “Once you've completed the main story, there's little incentive to return.”
- “The limited choices and outcomes mean that replaying feels more like a chore than an adventure.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players appreciate the grinding aspect for its ability to satisfy their micromanagement cravings in city simulation games, finding it engaging rather than tedious.
- “The grinding feels endless and often tedious, making it hard to stay engaged.”
- “I find myself repeating the same tasks over and over, which quickly becomes boring.”
- “The amount of grinding required to progress is overwhelming and detracts from the overall enjoyment.”
humor
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is generally well-received, with many players finding it very funny, though some feel it may not resonate with everyone.