City building games have a Soul Problem pt.2

Despite my disappointment with Cities: Skylines 2 , I keep coming back to the game from time to time. I can't even control it. It's like a deep inner need. When we were kids we played with toy cars on those felt mats with painted little cities, or when we had more industrial aspirations, we'd go outside in the dirt creating construction sites with tunnels and bridges right next to mom's rose bushes. Some of us had that one uncle who decided to turn the playroom into a miniature modeling world with trains, tunnels, and stations. I think a little tangle of my younger self's fantasies turns into a need to launch Cities: Skylines and build a living city.