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LEGO Skylines turns Cities into a deeply personal experience
At Gamescom, Paradox Interactive previewed LEGO Skylines, a new city-building game that reimagines the Cities Skylines formula around hands-on, individual construction rather than automated zoning. Unlike its predecessor, where players lay out zones and let the city grow itself, LEGO Skylines requires every building and prop to be placed and customised manually, with each structure carrying its own specific needs that must be met to keep citizens satisfied. This shift towards granular, personal city management, paired with a strong narrative element, could help the game bridge the gap between The Sims and Cities Skylines for a more casual audience.
The preview build allowed roughly 45 minutes of hands-on play, spanning both an early-game introduction with story-driven characters and missions, and a glimpse of the late game, where populations of around 2,500 citizens can support a sprawling, metropolis-style city. Buildings and props are notably large and detailed compared to other city builders, meaning even smaller populations create a strong sense of scale. Extensive customisation options, including colour schemes and add-on props, let players fundamentally alter how each structure looks, reinforcing the game's emphasis on personal creativity over broad-strokes simulation.
In short
- Paradox's LEGO Skylines previewed at Gamescom, blending LEGO with city-building
- Players manually place and customise every building, unlike automated zoning in Cities Skylines
- Late-game cities can support around 2,500 population with detailed, large-scale builds
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Requiring players to place and customise each building could make city-building feel more creative and personal, giving people a stronger connection to their city than broad zoning allows. Story-driven missions and hands-on needs management may also make the genre more welcoming to players who enjoy character-focused games such as The Sims.
The case against
The same level of manual control could make city-building laborious, shifting attention from planning a city as a whole to tending each individual structure. Players who value the scale, automation and emergent growth of Cities: Skylines may find that the narrative focus and detailed customisation narrow the appeal or interrupt the strategic flow.
Explained simply
Cities: Skylines is a city-building game series in which players plan a city and manage its growth. In the earlier games, players marked areas for housing, shops and industry, and buildings appeared as the city expanded. LEGO Skylines is a new game from Paradox Interactive, shown at Gamescom, that uses LEGO pieces and asks players to place and customise buildings individually.
Players must also meet the needs of each building to keep its residents happy, while story characters and missions guide them through the game. Its focus on detailed construction and personal choices may appeal to people who enjoy creative life games such as The Sims as well as city planning.