Cities Skylines for Mac

Cities Skylines for Mac is a single-player city-building simulation game developed by Colossal Order and published by Paradox Interactive on Mac and Windows platforms in 2015.



It allows players of all ages to engage in urban planning by controlling zoning, road placement, taxation, public services, and public transportation of an area, with in-depth customization options for every possible module of city planning and infrastructure management imaginable.

The game provides a platform for players to create and manage their own virtual cities, offering a wide range of customization features and tools for city construction and management.

It also features highly realistic simulation elements, enabling immersive and challenging city-building experiences for all types of players, from novices who just want to recreate their cities, enthusiasts who are interested in urban development and management simulations, and real-life urban planners who want to see what modern simulation games can deliver today.

All these extensive features are of course bundled inside a stunning visual engine that showcases stylish and eye-catching visuals that require strong rendering hardware.

Numerous ports and standalone VR versions have fueled sales of over 12 million copies, ensuring that this title is regarded today as one of the most successful city-building games ever released.

Its success has fueled the development of a fully featured sequel “Cities: Skylines II”, which arrived in late 2023 on the Windows platform but was regarded by many as inferior due to severe technical and stability issues.

Main Features

• Flexible City Building – Building cities from the ground up is easy to learn, but hard to master.
• Local traffic simulation – Organize the flow of traffic on foot, cars, and public transportation.
• Set City Polices – Organize not only building jobs but also set policies that regulate life in residential and business blocks.
• Daily and Seasonal Impacts – Enjoy detailed city simulation that showcases daily and seasonal changes, including night and winter scenarios.
• Natural Disasters – Survive dangerous disasters that can destabilize city life.
• Stunning Visuals – Experience the stunning 3D representation of urban development.

Installation and Setup

To install this game o on a Mac computer, must download the game from the digital distribution platform Steam.

This standalone client manages discovery, payment processing, downloading, automatic patching, and a wide array of community features that all players of this game can easily take advantage of.

To get it up and running, users simply need to purchase the game and click on the Install button, which will start an automated procedure of deploying this game on local storage.

Launching of the game is also performed from inside the Steam client, although users can easily create a desktop shortcut to this gaming app that simplifies startup.

How to Play

Cities Skylines allows players to create and manage their own cities by manually drawing roads, zones, water pipes, and power lines to lay the foundation for the city's infrastructure.

All these procedures are completely open to the players’ imagination, enabling them to create both standard and widely unrealistic city structures, all with the goal of building a functional city that can satisfy the needs of its digital denizens.

Players will have to directly manage everything from health and safety to education, industry, and more while setting up rules for the city's policies and economy.

User Interface

The game features a user-friendly interface that provides access to various tools and options for city construction and management.

The interface allows players to toggle between different views, manage city policies, and access the Steam Workshop for mods and additional content.

The game requires extensive use of the mouse for direct manipulation of on-screen objects, as well as “painting tools” for choosing exact areas and pathways of various city infrastructure modules, zones, and individual buildings.

FAQ

What is Cities Skylines for macOS?
It is a popular city-building simulation game that allows players of all ages to create their dream cities and explore detailed simulations of city management on Mac computers.

Is it safe?
Yes. This is a stable gaming app that is focused on singleplayer experiences and does not feature extensive online capabilities.

Alternatives

SimCity – A popular franchise of city-building games developed by Electronic Arts for Mac and Windows platforms.

Tropico – A Caribbean-themed settlement building simulation video game that empowers users to also manage various ocean-themed industries beside urban centers.

Frostpunk – A post-apocalyptic city-building game where players must ensure the survival of their small community of survivors in a world besieged by the endless winter.

Pricing

This is a premium game that is often offered for a discount on its primary digital distribution platform Steam.

In addition to the base game, users can also purchase four different bundles (Deluxe, The Classic Bundle, Collection, and New Player Bundle) that add numerous add-ons that were released over the previous years.

The steam platform lists a total of 62 addons, which include not only content such as new modules for building Airports, Harbors, Hotels, and more, but also in-game radio stations covering many popular genres of music.

Developers have not provided access to a free demo.

System Requirements

• OS: macOS 10.11 (64-bit)
• CPU: 3GHz Dual Core Intel processor (quad-core is recommended)
• GPU: Nvidia or AMD graphic cards with at least 512MB of memory
• Memory: 6GB of RAM (8GB is recommended)
• Storage: 4GB of available space
• Network: Broadband internet connection

PROS

• Extensive and challenging city simulation.
• User-friendly interface.
• Stylish and eye-catching 3D visuals.
• Wide range of expansion packs and downloadable content.
• Flawlessly emulated via Rosetta.

CONS

• Can be hardware resource intensive.
• Complex city management features.
• No free demo.
• Not natively optimized for M-series processors.

Conclusion

Cities: Skylines for Mac is a comprehensive and immersive city-building simulation game that offers all users access to a large selection of tools for virtual urban development and management.

While it may have a steep learning curve for new players, it provides a rewarding and engaging experience for players looking to create and manage their own virtual cities. It should be noted that this Intel-optimized game today also runs great on Apple Silicon Mac hardware, providing an excellent gaming experience both at home and on laptop Mac computers.

Also Available: Download Cities Skylines for Windows