LEGO Skylines Preview: This Is What LEGO Is Made For

Published Sep 2, 2026, 2:00 PM EDT Carrie is a Senior Writer at ScreenRant who previously managed Geek to Geek Media and wrote for SwitchRPG. She is particularly knowledgeable when it comes to WoW, Diablo, and cozy games. She has a passion for supporting the indies and always enjoys sharing her passions with others through her writing. Whether you're a fan of city-builder games or simply love everything LEGO, the recent announcement of the upcoming LEGO Skylines video game probably has you already jumping out of your seat. The game was revealed during Gamescom Opening Night Live, and although they haven't given us a set release date yet, it already looks spectacular. LEGO has always been about building. Some of my earliest childhood memories involve my brother and me building somewhat chaotic, sprawling LEGO cities across our floor. Therefore, it's actually a bit surprising that out of all the LEGO video games that exist, the company has yet to dive into the city builder genre, until now. ScreenRant was recently invited to take a look at an early preview build of LEGO Skylines for a hands-on peek at what's to come, and I can already say that this game could very well turn out to be everything I could hope for. Cities: Skylines But Make It LEGO If you're wondering about the similarities in the name LEGO Skylines to the popular city-builder franchise, Cities: Skylines, it's no mistake. LEGO Skylines is developed by Iceflake Studios, the very same developer currently in charge of Cities: Skylines 2. Of course, it's more complicated than that, as Cities: Skylines 2 was initially developed by Colossal Order before they split from the publisher, Paradox Interactive, last November. Paradox Interactive kept the rights to the Cities: Skylines brand, and then brought in Iceflake Studios to take over. All that to say, the developer behind LEGO Skylines absolutely has ties to Cities: Skylines, and so the similarities go far beyond simply sharing a word in the game titles. Choose Your Buildings, Decorations, And More To Build A City Everyone Will Love At its core, LEGO Skylines is a city-builder game that uses the look and feel of classic LEGO bricks as its theme. However, it's so much more than that. I played a short, 45-minute guided experience that previewed how the game would start, along with a brief look at an example late-game city save file. What I experienced showed that LEGO Skylines has blended the humor and pure joy the LEGO brand is known for with a classic management experience where you have to keep an eye on things like electricity, food, happiness, and more. Yes, you have the basic needs of having to put down residential areas of varying values for citizens of any economic bracket to be able to move in, but you can also zero in on picking what style of home or apartment building you want from within those options, if you choose to. Then, you can customize even further by painting the buildings, adding a bench or other decorations, and more within the individual plot. When you're placing a Leisure area, you can choose a swimming pool, skate park, or something else. You can make this city whatever you wish it to be. Of course, you still need to make sure there are enough Fire Stations and Hospitals, or you may run into some trouble. Unless that's the kind of chaos you're looking for. Citizen Requests Add Some Direction, While Also Bringing The World Alive Perhaps what I loved the most was when there would be a little exclamation point over the head of a minifig in my city. Talking to them would reveal their own little requests. Whether it's someone wanting a home in the forest off-grid (yet with all the amenities that make it not really "off-grid") or a kid wanting a park to play at, the personalized requests bring the world to life. Clicking on each home, shop, or really any building at all will show what types of decorations or buildings could be added around it to make the residents there even happier. But, you can also choose to ignore everyone and just build whatever pops into your head. LEGO Skylines Blend Of Creativity And Management Just Clicks I wish I could have played even more of LEGO Skylines, as it's a game you can sit down to for a few minutes and, before you know it, several hours will have gone by. The absurd amount of customizations, decorations, and even buildings you can create is fantastic. The vibrancy and life you feel just watching your city is fun to watch. And even just clicking on each little minifig to see their names can be far more fun than it should be. However, digging deep into the intricacies of the management aspects will also draw you in for hours as you see each little graph of studs showing how well your city is running, or not running, as the case may be. It's hard to say early on whether it will have as much management depth as some other city-building games. However, the amount you can do is already impressive and makes me eager to see what else the game adds. Unfortunately, LEGO Skylines doesn't have an official release date yet. The game is said to be coming to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC, likely sometime in 2027. Systems Released 2027 ESRB Everyone / Users Interact, In-Game Purchases Developer(s) Iceflake Studios Publisher(s) Paradox Interactive Franchise LEGO Number of Players Single-player Steam Deck Compatibility Unknown Genre(s) City Builder, Casual, Simulation, Sandbox