When does Cities XXL get good?

Give it 10 hours. In the first 2 hours most reviews are negative (84%); after 10h it's 1 in 3 (39%). The opening is criticised more than in 100% of games we track.

All games

Simulation

Cities XXL

Feb 5, 2015 Steam: Mixed

Give it 10 hours

Gets good by 10h then rated almost like by veterans

Started playing 65% of owners

Steam reviews 41% positive of 2,371

What the data shows

In the first 2 hours most reviews are negative (84%); after 10h it's 1 in 3 (39%).
The opening is criticised more than in 100% of games we track.
Only 65% of owners have even the first achievement — the rest barely played.

When it gets good

Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.

before it gets good opening up fully opened up

Based on all 2,371 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 293 reviews: 16.5h for positive, 7.8h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.

Where players quit

Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (65% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.

Story milestones aren't labeled yet; all achievements are listed below.

All achievements (27)

Let's ride! (Bronze) Own 10 kilometers of roads. 100%
Environment (Bronze) Environment satisfaction is higher than 70% for 1 000 citizens. (requires a positive balance). 87%
Income (Bronze) Income is higher than 1 000. 82%
Total population (Bronze) Reach 5 000 citizens. 81%
Full employment (Bronze) The unemployment rate is below 1% for 1 000 citizens (requires a positive balance). 81%
Let's ride! (Silver) Own 50 kilometers of roads. 67%
Income (Silver) Income is higher than 10 000. 66%
Budget (Bronze) Own a budget of 500 000 (requires a positive balance). 62%
Builder (Bronze) Own 1 000 buildings in your town (requires a positive balance). 51%
Environment (Silver) Environment satisfaction is higher than 70% for 50 000 citizens. (requires a positive balance). 49%
Full employment (Silver) The unemployment rate is below 1% for 50 000 citizens (requires a positive balance). 47%
Trader (Bronze) Trade 1 token (requires a positive balance). 46%
Bus (Bronze) Own 1 bus route (requires a positive balance). 41%
Budget (Silver) Own a budget of 10 000 000 (requires a positive balance). 31%
Let's ride! (Gold) Own 200 kilometers of roads. 29%
Total population (Silver) Reach 500 000 citizens. 19%
Builder (Silver) Own 3 000 buildings in your town (requires a positive balance). 16%
Trader (Silver) Trade 100 tokens (requires a positive balance). 13%
Budget (Gold) Own a budget of 100 000 000 (requires a positive balance). 12%
Full employment (Gold) The unemployment rate is below 1% for 1 000 000 citizens (requires a positive balance). 9.8%
Income (Gold) Income is higher than 500 000. 9.7%
Trader (Gold) Trade 200 tokens (requires a positive balance). 8.6%
Environment (Gold) Environment satisfaction is higher than 70% for 1 000 000 citizens. (requires a positive balance). 6.9%
Builder (Gold) Own 5 000 buildings in your town (requires a positive balance). 6.3%
Bus (Silver) Own 10 bus routes (requires a positive balance). 5.1%
Total population (Gold) Reach 10 000 000 citizens. 1.4%
Bus (Gold) Own 50 bus routes (requires a positive balance). 1.2%

Steam page Updated: 2026-10-19.