With the constant onslaught of gaming releases on every platform almost daily now, it’s hard to keep up. For that reason, I love to revisit games that have been out for a bit but either have received significant updates and/or improvements. For today, there are two titles in particular that stand out. Enjoy!
Cities: Skylines II
No doubt about it, Cities: Skylines II had a bit of a rocky launch despite the ambition present. When the city builder sequel arrived in October 2023, it was plagued by performance issues, missing features, and an overall sense that it simply wasn't ready for prime time. Steam reviews cratered, and many players retreated to the beloved original rather than struggle with its ambitious but broken successor. But here we are in 2026, and the story has changed dramatically. Recent Steam reviews have flipped to Mostly Positive, sitting at 74% approval from the last 30 days of user reviews, a remarkable turnaround from the dismal reception at launch. The community sentiment is shifting, with players noting that under new studio management (featuring ex-Colossal Order staff), fixes and improvements are arriving at a pace that feels like lightspeed compared to before.
The latest developments paint a picture of a game finally growing into its potential. A brand new dev diary from the Paradox Mods team details a wave of incoming improvements set to drop by the end of April 2026, headlined by Playset Sharing, a system that lets players share their entire modded configurations with friends and the community through versioned snapshots, so subscribing to someone's setup won't accidentally break your game when they tinker with it. Under the hood, the in-game mod experience is getting a major overhaul: actions no longer stall waiting for downloads to complete, parallel downloads allow up to three mods at once with smart queuing, and the Paradox Mods website itself has been refreshed with cleaner design and paginated browsing.
Combined with the game's genuinely improved simulation depth, larger maps with no tile limits, streamlined road building with integrated utilities, and a thriving modding scene with thousands of community assets, Cities: Skylines II is finally becoming the worthy successor fans always hoped it could be. If the rocky launch scared you off, now is the time to give it a fresh start!
Enshrouded
Enshrouded hit the ground running with its early access launch in January 2024, drawing in survival RPG fans with its gorgeous open world of Embervale, satisfying building mechanics, and a refreshing blend of action combat and exploration. But developer Keen Games has refused to rest on that strong foundation. Over eight major updates, the game has steadily evolved from a promising early access title into something that feels increasingly like a polished, feature-complete experience. And with the Forging the Path update dropping on dropped earlier this week, the final early access update before the planned 1.0 release this fall, Enshrouded just made its biggest leap yet.
Forging the Path is described as the deepest systems overhaul in the game's history, and the 13,000-word changelog backs that claim up. Physical combat has been completely reworked with a new focus resource that fills during battle to unlock powerful weapon special abilities, hold-to-charge heavy attacks for every weapon type, revamped two-handed weapon combos, and smarter enemy AI that reacts to environmental noise and requires line of sight to call for reinforcements. The skill tree has been fully restructured with upgradeable skills and rebalanced progression costs, and a new gear upgrade system lets players enhance armor, shields, and rings with runes that unlock unique perks. Perhaps most exciting is Adventure Sharing, a first-of-its-kind feature that lets players upload their custom-built castles, dungeons, and obstacle courses for the entire community to explore , a system being built out for 1.0 that could fundamentally change how players engage with Enshrouded's exceptional building tools. The early game has also been refined with better tutorials, denser starting areas, and smoother XP pacing. With a console launch on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S planned alongside the full 1.0 release, Enshrouded is an already fantastic game that just keeps getting better, and there has never been a better time to jump in.
