The sport is in fixed improvement, however this implies including new mechanics and new content material. The “core” is already there and completely playable. Plus, the group provides tons of mods which may be downloaded from inside the recreation.
Now, as for monetization, it’s kind of sophisticated. In case you can tolerate that a lot of the buildings take a while (fortunately, minutes – not weeks) to construct, you possibly can play it with out paying something. Nevertheless, there’s a premium forex within the type of diamonds. These are used to construct some premium constructions (however these should not needed), insta-build buildings (with out ready), and unlock the third, ultra-fast pace (for a restricted time).
There are additionally adverts which are used within the context of “when you had been away (not enjoying the sport), your city earned $1M – watch an advert to assert it”. Once more, this isn’t essential to play.
Total, I really feel that after introducing the f2p mechanics, the sport began enjoying extra slowly. It requires plenty of ready in your cash to build up. Fortunately, there’s a Sandbox mode the place you possibly can construct no matter you want, with none limitations.