Can you trust Cities: Skylines's Steam reviews? Adjusted rating 92.3%
Genuinely great 400 positive and 400 negative reviews analyzed · data as of 2026-10-12
Summary
The adjusted rating for Cities: Skylines is 92.3% (95% range 92.0–92.6%), in line with the official 92.9% on Steam. It is based on 400 positive and 400 negative reviews weighted by trust. Verdict: "Genuinely great" (the adjusted rating is 70% or higher and the positive reviews carry high average trust).
Average trust is 0.70 for positive and 0.77 for negative reviews, but the gap is too small to move the official rating much. The most common discount factor is very short reviews, at 47% of all reviews.
Across 140 months of history, Sep 2026 stands out: review volume and the negative share jumped together. Of 7,612 reviews that month, 92% were negative, and that single month holds 28% of all negative reviews. Excluding it, the positive share in the monthly data rises from 89.5% to 92.2%.
The last 180 days show 90.6% (last 30 days: 87.5%), close to the all-time figure.
Japanese-language reviews (1,669) show 91.5%, close to the overall rating. In the last 180 days, Japanese-language reviews show 87.5%.
The adjusted rating estimates trust from how reviews are written; it does not judge any individual review as fake. Data as of 2026-10-12.
Positive vs negative breakdown
Share of sampled reviews that meet each condition that lowers trust. When a condition is more common on the positive side, the adjusted rating falls below the official one.
| Condition | Positive reviews | Negative reviews |
|---|---|---|
| Under 2 hours played at review | 1% | 16% |
| Very short text | 49% | 23% |
| Key activated outside Steam | 22% | 17% |
| Received for free | 1% | 2% |
| Owns very few games | 27% | 19% |
| Over 100 reviews written | 2% | 4% |
| Average trust (1.0 = full) | 0.70 | 0.77 |
The median total playtime of the sampled reviewers is 43.1 hours.
Rating history
Monthly positive and negative review counts since release, as published by Steam.
Shaded months were detected as concentrated waves of negative reviews (2026-09). Detection rule
Recent sentiment
| Period | Positive | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| Last 30 days | 87.5% | 288 |
| Last 180 days | 90.6% | 5,955 |
| All time | 92.9% | 291,104 |
| Japanese, last 180 days | 87.5% | 40 |
About this verdict
- Every figure is computed from review data that Steam makes public. No AI estimation is used.
- Review text is never stored or republished. Read the actual reviews on Steam.
- Read the methodology and its limits
- If you disagree with this verdict, please reach us via the contact on the About page. About