City building games have a Soul Problem pt.2
City building games have a Soul Problem pt.2
城市建造游戏面临的“灵魂缺失”问题（第二部分）
October 3rd, 2026 | Alex Lingris 2026年10月3日 | Alex Lingris
Despite my disappointment with Cities: Skylines 2, I keep coming back to the game from time to time. I can’t even control it. It’s like a deep inner need. 尽管我对《城市：天际线2》感到失望，但我还是会时不时地回到这款游戏中。我甚至无法控制自己，这就像是一种深层的内在需求。
When we were kids we played with toy cars on those felt mats with painted little cities, or when we had more industrial aspirations, we’d go outside in the dirt creating construction sites with tunnels and bridges right next to mom’s rose bushes. Some of us had that one uncle who decided to turn the playroom into a miniature modeling world with trains, tunnels, and stations. I think a little tangle of my younger self’s fantasies turns into a need to launch Cities: Skylines and build a living city. 小时候，我们会在印有小城市图案的毛毡垫上玩玩具车；或者当我们有更宏大的“工业抱负”时，我们会跑到户外，在妈妈的玫瑰丛旁用泥土建造隧道和桥梁。我们中有些人还有一位叔叔，他会把游戏室改造成一个拥有火车、隧道和车站的微缩模型世界。我想，我儿时幻想的一小部分纠葛，最终转化为了启动《城市：天际线》并建造一座鲜活城市的渴望。
In the previous article, I dealt with the genre more broadly and explored some ideas that sparked (mostly on Reddit) very interesting discussions. I talked more about the simulation and less about the aesthetics. Today, my text won’t be technical at all; instead, it will tackle aesthetics and how much they disappoint me every time I gaze at my city. 在上一篇文章中，我更广泛地探讨了这一游戏类型，并提出了一些引发（主要是在Reddit上）非常有趣讨论的想法。当时我更多地谈论了模拟机制，而较少涉及美学。今天，我的文章将完全不涉及技术层面；相反，它将探讨美学，以及每当我凝视自己的城市时，它们是多么令我失望。
Surfaces are all square and flat
表面全是方方正正且平坦的
Everything is square and unnatural. Looking at a random part of my city, I was trying to figure out why it’s so ugly. What is it that makes me want to press alt+f4? Here we see a spot where the sidewalk, some tiles from a building, and the grass meet. Does this look nice to you? How hard would it be for it to look like this: 一切都是方方正正且不自然的。看着我城市中随机的一角，我试图找出它为什么这么丑。到底是什么让我想要按下Alt+F4？在这里，我们看到人行道、建筑地砖和草地交汇的地方。你觉得这好看吗？要让它看起来像这样（指代理想效果）到底有多难？
I know someone can achieve similar and better results with mods and decals. But for most of us, it’s just not realistic to spend 40 hours micro-managing every single corner of the city. And if you don’t put in those hours, everything feels lifeless. Also, something I truly enjoy in these games is being able to just stare at the city and see what the algorithm has generated. To be surprised. If I sit there and hand-paint every little corner, that “magic” is lost. 我知道有些人可以通过模组（mods）和贴花（decals）实现更好甚至更棒的效果。但对于我们大多数人来说，花费40个小时去微观管理城市的每一个角落是不现实的。如果你不投入这些时间，一切都会显得毫无生气。此外，我在这些游戏中真正享受的一点是，能够静静地凝视城市，看看算法生成了什么，并从中获得惊喜。如果我坐在那里手工绘制每一个小角落，那种“魔法”就消失了。
Neurotic cleanliness
神经质般的整洁
As I just said, one of the reasons I build my city is so I can later go and gaze at random corners. It’s the same when I take walks in downtown Athens; I look for charming little sides of the city. Not necessarily beautiful, not clean, but scenes that tell a story. In this game, everything is “sanitized” to the point of neurosis. Look how much difference these small textures can do to the overall atmosphere. 正如我刚才所说，我建造城市的原因之一，是为了以后可以去凝视那些随机的角落。这就像我在雅典市中心散步时一样；我寻找的是城市中迷人的小侧面。它们不一定漂亮，也不一定干净，但却是能讲述故事的场景。在这款游戏中，一切都被“净化”到了神经质的地步。看看这些细小的纹理能给整体氛围带来多大的改变。
What’s the deal with stairs?
楼梯到底是怎么回事？
For some reason, the game has beef with stairs. Can we get some stairs? Something I would do if I were a designer for the game, is look at 100 photos of real cities and note down some of the things that make them up. Like: Stairs, Potholes, Trash, Cables, Graffiti, Construction sites, Scaffolding, Poles, Traces of the past (repurposed public spaces or buildings), Leaves, Organic shapes. 出于某种原因，这款游戏似乎和楼梯“过不去”。我们能加点楼梯吗？如果我是这款游戏的设计师，我会做的一件事就是查看100张真实城市的照片，并记下构成它们的一些元素。比如：楼梯、坑洼、垃圾、电缆、涂鸦、建筑工地、脚手架、电线杆、过去的痕迹（被重新利用的公共空间或建筑）、落叶、有机形状。
I don’t know what your neighborhood is like, but in mine, maybe 1 in 50 houses is that clean and organized. Most have damp spots, weeds, abandoned toys in the garden, clothes hanging out to dry on the balcony. Some have rusted railings. Even the well-kept ones have let nature do its thing in some corners. And nature’s thing isn’t perfectly green squares. 我不知道你的社区是什么样，但在我住的地方，可能50栋房子里只有1栋是那么干净整洁的。大多数房子都有潮湿的斑点、杂草、花园里废弃的玩具，阳台上晾晒着衣服。有些还有生锈的栏杆。即使是维护得很好的房子，在某些角落也任由自然生长。而自然的状态绝不是完美的绿色方块。
Poor and abandoned houses
贫困与废弃的房屋
Unfortunately, every real city has poor areas with abandoned houses or ones in very bad shape. This is another aesthetic element that offers both realism and usable feedback. You shouldn’t have to open the stats panel to see where a problem lies. By just gazing at your city, the landscape could and should speak for itself. 不幸的是，每个真实的城市都有贫困地区，那里有废弃的房屋或状况非常糟糕的建筑。这是另一个既能提供真实感又能提供可用反馈的美学元素。你不应该非得打开统计面板才能看到问题所在。仅仅通过凝视你的城市，景观本身就能够也应该说明一切。
I hope that future city building games or CS2 DLCs will focus on adding some soul and character to city building. Until then, we have to rely on our Bob Ross instincts. 我希望未来的城市建造游戏或《城市：天际线2》的DLC能专注于为城市建造增添一些灵魂和个性。在此之前，我们只能依靠我们内心的“鲍勃·罗斯”（Bob Ross，著名画家，意指依靠自己的艺术直觉）了。
Discussions: r/CitiesSkylines/ r/CityBuilders/ Hacker News 讨论： r/CitiesSkylines/ r/CityBuilders/ Hacker News
AI Disclosure: Artificial intelligence was used exclusively for proofreading, generating descriptive image alt texts, and creating the “improved” visual concepts. AI披露： 人工智能仅用于校对、生成描述性图像替代文本，以及创建“改进后”的视觉概念。