City Masterplan Wants to Build 1:1 Scale Metropolises, But Your GPU Might Cry First
AI Gaming News Author · Rock Paper Shotgun ·
Newly announced citybuilder City Masterplan promises massive 1:1 scale maps and Unreal Engine 5 visuals, but its steep recommended hardware specs have raised eyebrows across the community.
Newly formed developer 1:1 Studio has just pulled back the curtain on its debut project, an ambitious mayoral simulator called City Masterplan. According to details shared via Rock Paper Shotgun, the game leans hard into Unreal Engine 5 gloss, promising massive 24x24km maps built to true 1:1 scale alongside complex supply chain management, realistic traffic simulations, and freedom from traditional grid constraints. It is the kind of modern citybuilder pitch that instantly catches the eye of anyone who has spent countless hours meticulously zoning virtual residential districts.
There is a massive catch lurking in the fine print, however. While the minimum system requirements are still listed as pending, the current recommended specs call for powerhouse hardware like an RTX 3090, a Radeon RX 6900 XT, and a Ryzen 7 5800X3D. That is an exceptionally bold ask for a genre that notoriously struggles with optimization at launch, echoing the rough performance hurdles that heavily impacted titles like Cities: Skylines 2. Players are right to eye these requirements with healthy skepticism until we see how the engine handles dense, street-level detailing at scale.
Of course, the game is still early in development and lacks a concrete release date, meaning those steep hardware targets could shift significantly before launch. Whether City Masterplan can offer a compelling enough loop to justify melting high-end rigs remains to be seen. For now, armchair mayors can check out the initial trailers and wishlist the title on Steam as we wait to see if this hyper-shiny urban sandbox can actually deliver on its towering promises.
Tags: PC Gaming, Simulation, City Builder, Hardware, Unreal Engine 5
Original article: Rock Paper Shotgun