Choose Cities: Skylines
Choose Cities: Skylines if it's currently about 80% cheaper on the Steam Store. 99,307 Steam reviews back the pick.
Cities: Skylines vs Planet Zoo
Cities: Skylines and Planet Zoo both land in Strategy, 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 share Strategy, Simulation on Steam. Cities: Skylines (2015) is 4 years older than Planet Zoo (2019). Cities: Skylines scores higher on Steam reviews (92.8% positive) than Planet Zoo (91.3% positive). 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 Planet Zoo
Choose Planet Zoo if you want a Casual game with HDR available. On Steam, it's the newer release (2019) and ships with the modern feature baseline. 41,603 Steam reviews back the pick.
Both Cities: Skylines and Planet Zoo sit in Strategy and Simulation on Steam, so either pick lands in the same broad neighborhood. Steam reviews are nearly tied (92.8% vs 91.3% positive), so genre fit is the cleanest tiebreaker — scroll the table for the feature-by-feature view.
Side-by-side comparison
 Cities: Skylines |  Planet Zoo | |
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2015 | 2019 |
| Genres | Strategy, Simulation | Strategy, Simulation, Casual |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows |
| Steam Deck | Deck Playable | Deck Playable |
| Price | 8.99 USD | 44.99 USD |
| Steam reviews | 92.8% positive (99,307 reviews) | 91.3% positive (41,603 reviews) |
| Multiplayer | Single-player only | Single-player only |
| Developers | Colossal Order | Frontier Developments |
Side by side
- Both share Strategy, Simulation on Steam.
- Cities: Skylines (2015) is 4 years older than Planet Zoo (2019).
- Cities: Skylines scores higher on Steam reviews (92.8% positive) than Planet Zoo (91.3% positive).
- Cities: Skylines is currently ~80% cheaper on Steam than Planet Zoo (8.99 USD vs. 44.99 USD).
- Both are Deck Playable.
Cities: Skylines vs Planet Zoo — FAQ
- Which is better, Cities: Skylines or Planet Zoo?
- On Steam reviews the two are nearly tied: Cities: Skylines sits at 92.8% positive (99,307 reviews), Planet Zoo at 91.3% (41,603). The choice usually comes down to genre fit and the platform features each one supports — see the comparison table above.
- Should I play Cities: Skylines or Planet Zoo first?
- If you want chronology, Cities: Skylines (2015) came out before Planet Zoo (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 Planet Zoo similar?
- They overlap on Strategy, 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.