Choosing which edition of a game you're going to buy can be tough, but luckily we've looked and tried the two different versions of Cities: Skylines and can answer if deluxe is worth the $10 bucks. The two editions both include the base game, but one includes a little bit extra. 

As far as the base game goes, this isn't a review, but you can pick it up here for just $29.99, except when it goes on sale (which it should within the next month or so). For just the base game, you're going to be set with the game and the Steam Workshop - Valve's crowdsourced content network. If someone makes a mod, map, or widget of some kind for the game they can upload it to the Workshop and share it. It makes adding and modifying modifications a breeze. 

For ten extra bucks, you can get the deluxe edition. Now Cities: Skyline Deluxe Edition retails for $39.99 and includes the following real life monuments for your game: 

  • Statue of Liberty 
  • Eiffel Tower 
  • Brandenburg Gate 
  • Arc de Triomphe 
  • Grand central terminal 

In addition, you'll get the game's soundtrack which is a nice bonus and the digital art book. So here is the question - is the deluxe worth the bucks, and my answer is rather a vague no. When I build cities, I built them to create metropolises, giant realistic looking towns. The last thing I ever really want is random real world monuments cluttering up my city, confusing its style. 

However, there is something to be said for historical builders that are trying to recreate certain real world cities. With the deluxe edition and some of the real life style maps that are out there, you can easily recreate New York or Paris with these landmarks. 

Sadly, Cities Skyline's deluxe edition is more of a DLC containing five buildings and the soundtrack, which makes it hard to justify adding the $10 pricetag to it. However, when the game goes on sale, things change a little bit. Even with 25% off, the deluxe edition loses $2.50 and then you get five cool pieces of DLC for $7.50 which is a lot easier to swallow. 

It's interesting to note that this game is like almost half the price or was half the price of SimCity (2014) at launch, which also had a deluxe edition with about the same rewards, so you're really still coming ahead of the curve no matter what if you comparison price.  

Moving on about the Steam Workshop and modding, one reason to maybe not get the deluxe edition is the fact that you can mod the game to pieces. While the deluxe assets aren't in the workshop (obviously), there is a lot of cool stuff and a huge community growing around it. So even if you save the $10, the game is extendable as far as you want it to be. 

The last point I'll make is that you might want the digital deluxe edition if you want to support Paradox for making a non-EA non-new-Maxis city simulator with day one modding support and no BS DRM. That's another point. 


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Cities: Skyline Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 15, 2016

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Get in the bush with David "Xerin" Piner as he leverages his spectacular insanity to ask the serious questions such as is Master Yi and Illidan the same person? What's for dinner? What are ways to elevate your gaming experience? David's column, Respawn, is updated near daily with some of the coolest things you'll read online, while David tackles ways to improve the game experience across the board with various hype guides to cool games.

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