Cities: Skylines is great, but I do feel it leans a bit too strongly on the agent simulation. So much that a lot of the game is about traffic planning. You are almost required to mod the game (with TMPE) to make the most optimal traffic network, which involves manually planning each major intersection, micromanaging road lanes and configuring timed traffic lights. I've had a lot of fun with it, but I wish I could let the computer handle all the road planning details and I could get on with designing the city, but past a certain size, I feel it forces me to start doing road planning more than city planning. Almost wish there was a "Traffic Manager AI" mod to do all that for me.
Alternatively, you could use it to build dioramas. With enough mods it is one of the best tools for building digital city dioramas and best of all, the simulation still mostly works, so you get to watch people live in the city.
Overall definitely a fun game, lets you build much more natural-looking cities than Sim City, with the only downside being that the road network has a greater impact on the simulation and requires more micromanaging than I would like.
Traffic planning is the single most important aspect of planning real cities too. If everyone would just pick a spot and stay there, cities would be a lot more pleasant.
Alternatively, you could use it to build dioramas. With enough mods it is one of the best tools for building digital city dioramas and best of all, the simulation still mostly works, so you get to watch people live in the city.
Overall definitely a fun game, lets you build much more natural-looking cities than Sim City, with the only downside being that the road network has a greater impact on the simulation and requires more micromanaging than I would like.