The second Lego Skylines was announced, I could hear it. That click-clack of speed-building Lego sets has become synonymous with cozy joy for kids and grown-ups alike, particularly on a rainy Sunday afternoon. Lego Skylines takes the kind of setup you see in the dad’s basement in The Lego Movie and takes it city-wide, putting industrial-scale creation in your hands for a fraction of the cost (and floor space).
However, just because it’s a Lego game doesn’t mean it’s a city builder for kids. I’ve just spent 3-4 hours with a playable preview build of the game, and this is still as complex and multi-faceted as either of the Cities: Skylines games, but with some delightful Lego tweaks that make this a seriously fascinating game. Created by Iceflake Studios – the same team that’s now running Cities: Skylines 2 – it’s what you’d hope, of course, but I’m already mentally planning out my cities, and we don’t even have a release date yet.
Brick by click
My preview build is split into two parts. The first is a tutorial area of sorts, which I’m told is inspired by the start of the game but made specifically for this preview. It’s delightfully small-scale, starting with a single family asking for help turning a pretty much abandoned island into a rural village. My first task is to place a house, and I’m immediately given a choice of what kind of style I want it to have. This isn’t a brick-by-brick creator – you’re not going to be building everything from scratch here with different blocks – but there are some elements that are more modular, meaning you feel a lot more in control of the wider aesthetics than you do with other city builders.
Once I’ve placed the house, the dad asks for some yard modifications, and I’m zoomed into an editor that’s reminiscent of build/buy mode in The Sims. I can remove picket fences and carrot patches to make way for a patio table and BBQ if I so wish; tweak bush and flower arrangements to my liking. Despite being a ‘city’ builder, Lego Skylines is already very good at making things feel a lot more personal. The little people – or minifigs – of Lego Skylines feel important and individual, but so does where they live on a very micro level, and that’s reflected in the personal missions they’ll send you on too. Even just in this preview build I found myself creating a cabin in the woods for one soul looking for solitude, while also making sure there were enough flowers in town for another.
Zooming out slightly from an individual plot, each household has a preference for the kinds of decorations they’d like placed nearby. Different flowers or natural foliage might tick off requests for ‘natural’ vibes, but the playful theme lets you dabble in different playpark equipment, and cozy coded items bring more rural, farmyard elements to the fore. It allows you to quickly bring in visual variation and personality without hand-placing every petal. But of course there’s tonnes of Lego whimsy in there too, so just discovering what’s new with every unlock becomes another little moment of glee in this game.
That customization extends to the city buildings too, with modules that you can add onto facilities like farms or universities, all the way to the sewage works. These add-ons give them upgrades and perks, but also a little visual va-va-voom, because even poop deserves a little customization love in a Lego game.
Still a city, just with more bricks
Of course, that zooming out continues all the way to the city’s infrastructure. The Skylines part of the game’s title is alive and kicking, with plenty of high-level management required to keep things clicking along. From the utilities like water and power, to emergency services and education, constantly striving for the perfect balance is still a quest for your role as Master Builder. But the focus on leisure and beauty is bigger than it’s ever been in Cities: Skylines, and there’s a particular joy scrolling around the late-game city I’m also given access to and seeing Lego people flipping tricks at the skate park or playing tennis.
It’s these varying levels of involvement that make Lego Skylines an interesting hybrid for city builder fans. It’s about watching Lego come to life, literally hearing those clicks as the steamroller that unfurls the roads you’ve just mapped out or the cars clacking from bricks to vehicles as your minifigs go about their days. People matter, their homes matter, and ensuring individuals are satisfied is the core gameplay loop – it’s not just about building a city that works well. Taking time to make things look and feel as good as they run is what is going to make Lego Skylines distinct – not to mention the potential for cross-collaborations and ever-growing new items to unlock. Lego Skylines is already exactly what I hoped it would play like, so I just can’t wait to see more.
Lego Skylines is coming to PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, and Switch 2 at some point in the future. There’s currently no confirmed release date or release window.
While we wait, let’s click back into the best Lego games of all time