Choose Cities: Skylines
Choose Cities: Skylines if you want a Strategy experience. 99,307 Steam reviews back the pick.
Cities: Skylines vs Catalyst
Cities: Skylines and Catalyst both land in Simulation on Steam, which is why they keep getting compared. The comparison below is built from each game's Steam metadata — release year, genres, categories, Steam Deck status, price, and review score — refreshed daily by imho.run's scraper. Headline differences: Both are Simulation games on Steam. Cities: Skylines (2015) is 4 years older than Catalyst (2019). Cities: Skylines is currently ~10% cheaper on Steam than Catalyst (8.99 USD vs. 9.99 USD). No login or purchase needed — scroll for the full table, the verdict FAQ, and links to ranked similar games for both titles.
Which should you pick?
Choose Catalyst
Choose Catalyst if it's the newer release (2019) and ships with the modern feature baseline. Catalyst launched in 2019.
Both Cities: Skylines and Catalyst sit in Simulation on Steam, so either pick lands in the same broad neighborhood. Use the side-by-side table for the feature view, or follow the "Games like" links below to see ranked alternatives for either title.
Side-by-side comparison
 Cities: Skylines |  Catalyst | |
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2015 | 2019 |
| Genres | Strategy, Simulation | Simulation |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows |
| Steam Deck | Deck Playable | Unrated |
| Price | 8.99 USD | 9.99 USD |
| Steam reviews | 92.8% positive (99,307 reviews) | 3 reviews |
| Multiplayer | Single-player only | Single-player only |
| Developers | Colossal Order | Doubleton Game Studio |
Side by side
- Both are Simulation games on Steam.
- Cities: Skylines (2015) is 4 years older than Catalyst (2019).
- Cities: Skylines is currently ~10% cheaper on Steam than Catalyst (8.99 USD vs. 9.99 USD).
- Cities: Skylines is Deck Playable on Steam Deck; Catalyst has no Deck rating yet.
Cities: Skylines vs Catalyst — FAQ
- Should I play Cities: Skylines or Catalyst first?
- If you want chronology, Cities: Skylines (2015) came out before Catalyst (2019). If neither is a sequel to the other, order doesn't really matter — start with whichever fits your current mood, since both share enough on Steam to make either a reasonable opener.
- Are Cities: Skylines and Catalyst similar?
- They overlap on Simulation on Steam, so the catalogue groups them together — but "similar" depends on the specific mechanics. Use the genre + category rows above to decide whether the overlap matches what drew you to the one you've already played.
- Does Cities: Skylines run on Steam Deck?
- Yes — Cities: Skylines is rated Deck Playable by Valve. Catalyst doesn't have a Deck rating yet, so its Deck behaviour is currently unverified.