If you're quick, you can now try Cities Skylines 2 for free and see how far it's come in the two years since its disappointing launch

Still hoping to right the wrongs of your home town? Think you can solve its traffic woes with another road placed instantanously by your god hand? This weekend might be the best time to prove it. Virtually, at least. Cities Skylines 2 is free to play until November 10, giving you the opportunity to try the initially ill-received sequel to one of the best city-building games of all time without watching the clock to stick within the two-hour Steam refund window. Not that you would stand a chance; the hours just fly by with games like this.

Back when it released two years ago now, we called Cities Skylines 2 a "bigger, not better" sequel to one of the greatest city management sims of its generation. In the years since, Cities Skylines 2 has been on a bit of a redemption arc, curtailing plans for the fairly frequent paid expansions we came to expect from the original game to instead focus on getting the game into a better overall state.

With the Bridges and Ports expansion released at the end of October, itself delayed for not meeting developer Colossal Order's own standards, Cities Skylines 2's honeymoon period appears to be over. But is it better for it? Maybe not. Recent user reviews on Steam still have it down as 'mixed.' Reading through them, players are still complaining about the ever-present crashing issues that have plagued it since launch, which threaten to erase entire towns in an instant. There's also the issue of it missing "basic functions of the previous game." Remember: bigger, not better.

But even with those complaints, some of the people highlighting its many issues also call it simply "fun." Maybe you can ignore progress-wiping crashes if you imagine them as randomly occurring digital annihilation events. It's a feature, not a bug.

Either way, the Cities Skylines 2 free weekend means you have a couple of days to potentially test your patience without opening up your wallet. Though you could have played it on release through PC Game Pass, too. You won't get access to the Bridges and Ports expansion or the various Creator Packs padding out its DLC page, but plenty of free updates over the years have brought new features, like quays and piers, to the base game for the low, low price of nothing at all.

While you're at it, chunk in some of the best Cities Skylines 2 mods. Many of them were deemed near-essential for getting the game in good working order during the frankly disastrous launch period. A recent one even fixes its apparent "excessive cleanliness." There's just no pleasing some people.

I'm one of those who, after waiting on bated breath for a bigger, better sequel to Cities Skylines, put off the purchase when those first reviews started to pour in. With a rare weekend free of societal obligation having just begun, this free-play period could not have landed at a better time. Setting your virtual world on fire is only an 82GB download away.

Cities Skylines 2 is free to play on Steam until Monday November 10 at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm GMT / 7pm CET. If you like it, you can buy it at a 20% discount until Wednesday November 12, paying $39.99 / £33.59. Head here to try it without breaking out your wallet.