Steam reviewer logs 30,000 hours in Cities: Skylines, decides it sucks: "BY FAR most frustrating, enraging game of my entire life"

It's not often you spend 30,000 hours playing a single video game, but when that does happen it's usually because you're really, really into it. Not always the case, however, as proven by a fascinating Steam review for Cities: Skylines from a player with nearly 30,000 hours logged.

When I first came across this post on Reddit, I had to check for myself, and sure enough, I was able to track it down and confirm that, at the very least, the reviewer had 29,926.3 hours logged in Cities: Skylines at the time of writing. That doesn't mean the reviewer actually played the game for that long - although it's possible - but that's the amount of time the game client was active. Still, even if half, or even three-quarters of that time, was spent idling, that's still an absolutely absurd amount of playtime for a single-player game.

The Redditor who shared the review did the math, and assuming the 30,000 hours is legit, that would be the equivalent of more than seven hours of playtime, every day, in the 11 years since the game came out. That's a full-time job! Of course, I'm inclined to believe a lot of that time was spent AFK, but no matter how you slice it, that's a lot of Cities: Skylines. According to Steam's data, 68.3 hours were logged in just the last two weeks alone, so it sounds like the player stays pretty consistent.

Anyway, apparently that was enough time for them to decide they don't really like Cities: Skylines. The review, posted April 11, 2026, reads:

"Constant updates break the entire game if it's modded. And it MUST be modded because the vanilla version is so lame it's unbearable. Paradox seems fixated on pastel cartoonish colors and buildings that look ubsurdly rediculous. The constant breaking with updates has made this the BY FAR most frustrating, enraging game of my entire life."

Most hours I've ever seen on a game from r/Steam

Whether or not this person actually sat down and played Cities: Skylines for 30,000 hours, this is a terribly funny review for someone who clearly enjoys the game enough to play it consistently. As a recovering League of Legends player, I completely understand the feeling of playing a game so much that you begin to hate it, but I can't say I can relate to having even a fraction of that amount of playtime in any game I've ever played. I reckon I was pushing 1,000 hours in Diablo 2 and Ultima Online back in the day, but these days I'm lucky if I can last a hundred hours in a game before I get bored.

I think what tickles me about this review, other than the sheer irony, is that Cities: Skyline is a generally very well-received city builder. It's literally number one on our list of the best city building games, and it's without a doubt a better experience than the disastrous sequel that came out in 2023. I'd be inclined to think the above Steam review was written by someone confusing Cities: Skylines 2 for the first game, but with that amount of hours logged, there's no denying they were playing the game they reviewed.

Anyway, here are the best sim games you can play right now.