Enshittification comes for us all. But we'll always have the OG. Great thing about a good game is that it doesn't go away because of a bad sequel.

I'm not too hopeful. The new devs' portfolio doesn't make it seem like they have enough experience to handle a big project like this. It's sad because while Colossal Order definitely messed up the launch (though I'm still unsure whether it's their fault or Paradox — probably both), they knew what makes city builders good. I feel like two years in, they've finally handled all the faults of the base game, and were ready to build upon it and release new content. I have to be optimistic because, like I said, the base game is now pretty good to build upon, but the new devs don't inspire confidence.

Totally unaware this was a thing.

This does look quite bad. What a shame, I bought the game at lunch and it was buggy and unstable. I assumed it will be improved and fixed over the next years. When I tried it a few months ago it had most of the same flaws including instabilities which are a deal breaker for this kind of game. And now they essentially killed it.

KSP2 comes to mind

Not surprising at all. I found a copy of the game online because I wanted to try it out before I considered buying it (I had a feeling I wouldn't like it). I got maybe an hour of playtime before I stopped playing. The new pretty skin doesn't do enough to make the game worth it.

I guess the console version will never become a thing then

I feel sorry for colossal order. They're clearly some very passionate people who's dreams have been ruined by their own executives and paradox.

We'll have to wait and see. They aren't shutting down, they're parting with Paradox, and hence the Cities IP. It's possible this will set them free to pursue something that'll allow that passion go shine through even brighter.

I dont know why they chose to chase graphics, it wasnt important for the first game, it wasnt going to be important for the second. I suppose it could have been Paradox controlling decisions. We just wanted more systems and simulations. I hope that CO can move on and make some great games.

Oh wow. They are way out of their depth here. Best of luck to them, I’m expecting a shallow mobile game in the future.

I’d love to see a Cities game that focuses on framework and provides a way for micro transactions to pay out mod developers.

They didn't chase graphics. Yeah the lighting system is better and the Civs having over 1000 polys is overkill for something you're gonna focus on for 0.1% of playtime. CO failed by choosing an architecture that was not ready for production use. There was a few devlogs where they straight up said they were using pre-release versions of Unity that were half baked to develop CS2. They were testing some technology Unity was supposed to release in the future. Because of that they had to write a bunch of tools FOR UNITY themselves. In doing so they couldn't get ahead of technical problems that kept popping up because it meant they had to fuck with Unity(the software and the company) more and more. The biggest example of this is the asset importer. Why in a video game built with modding in mind does this game have not have an asset importer almost 3 years later? Why did it take 2 years to release a DLC that was supposed to be out in the first 6 months? Why did it take 2 years to "fix" the economy part of the sim? They're never gonna fix the busted ass traffic. CO built this game on a half built foundation and they've been paying for it since day 1.

The size of their staff going from 1 to 2 made no sense to me with how much grander scale of a simulation they spoke of. It seemed unrealistic before launch and to this day they still seem to be struggling with it. Really screwed the pooch. Paradox for being penny pinchers for what could have become their Civilization in regards to beloved hyper geeky but high selling type of game. Colossal Order for not growing up and then trying to play off criticisms with how they're a hunky dory scrappy small indie developer that can't staff up for the AAA scope sequel of a hit of a game with major amounts of DLC. Self infantalization are for your early 20s

Oh they made Surviving the Aftermath? Nah, they’ll do fine, that means they’ll be working closely with Paradox again.

Because they basically had to rewrite the entire game after Unity pulled the rug out from underneath them.

I can't play CS1 after playing CS2

Sounds like a skills issue.

> I didn’t know games could choose to be made by new developers No, game's aren't alive and cannot choose anything. The higher-ups at publisher and IP owner Paradox Interactive can, however. Usually these things happen at Microsoft when they shut down studios, like what happened with Essemble Studios (Age of Empires, Halo Wars) and Double Helix Games (Killer Instinct).

Fair enough. Seems like my hope for them is slim, I was expecting similar corporate practices anyway, but seems they have bigger problems with development decision making.