You don't need to be into skate culture to have a blast.
Skate heads to free-to-play early access on 16 September here in Australia, and ahead of time, Stevivor was provided a chance to hands-on with the upcoming title. After an hour with Full Circle’s revival of the long-running skateboard franchise, I’m itching to play more.
“Our guiding vision has been to create an ever-evolving skateboarding sandbox; a living, breathing world built for skaters,” head of creative, Jeff Seamster, told Stevivor ahead of our hands-on access. “That’s why early access was the right approach because we built it with the community and that’s been our driving motivation. We want players to get into the game ASAP. No nonsense, just straightforward — jump in and skate.”
So much of the presentation before I played focussed on the notion of “skate culture”, and that had me a bit worried. I’ve never skateboarded in real life, and at 43 with dodgy hips, I don’t plan on doing so. While I could appreciate Full Circle’s desire to “capture the spirit of skateboarding,” according to senior creative director Deran Chung, I didn’t know if I would enjoy the experience as much as others.
How wrong I was.
Firing Skate up and identifying I’d really not been exposed to skate culture, nor to Skate 3, I was expertly onboarded. Within five minutes I was building speed, pulling off ollies, and grinding rails… and admittedly, face planting here and there. Skate‘s colourful world, energetic soundtrack, and AI app assistant helped to make me feel welcome on the Isle of Grom, Skate‘s tutorial zone, and then within the larger region of San Vansterdam.
“When [skaters are] to move on, we drop them right into Hedgemont,” executive producer Mike McCartney said, referring to Skate‘s first region. “Each [neighbourhood] is packed with its own spots and secrets to discover. Once players arrive in the city, there are a bunch of missions designed to get them exploring, mastering new skills, and racking up rewards. These aren’t just tutorials, they’re a ticket to discovering the city’s hidden spots and crafting a unique personal style on the board.”
Hedgemont is a great place to learn how to refine the basics, all the while earning RIP score and progressing through Skate Passes (of course, in both paid and free varieties). I worked on my grind, my kick flips, and even started to do spins and grab my board. It was easy to go through challenges and slowly build up my own skills; at the same time, I could fail fantastically and just shrug it off, hitting up on my d-pad to teleport myself back to the start of a trick run.
“As players skate around, they’ll meet key members of our San Van City Council and learn more about the city. San Van is split into four unique neighbourhoods, each with its own identity, local crew, and secret spots to discover,” Seamster explained. “The best thing is that no part of this city is off limits. You can skate anywhere, anytime. It’s a huge place, but you set the pace.”
You’re also able to hop on and off your board at any time, which was useful for me as stairs sometimes proved a challenge. Parkour is also a huge element inside Skate; I was frequently climbing up the sides of large buildings to skate on rooftops and, eventually, throw myself off the sides of buildings to land in dumpsters or to glide through bridge supports. No matter if I was skating, running, climbing, or diving, I was having stupid, silly fun.
Our hands-on experience was using a special server that’s not going to be the same as the servers offered for early access, though Full Circle confirmed that each server will allow 150 players at one time. EA also confirmed that servers will be based in North America, Europe, and Asia/Australia. We’re seeking to clarify where Australia’s server farms will be located.
Frankly, the only reason I stopped playing the preview build is because I knew my progression wouldn’t carry over into the full early access release candidate next month. As soon as San Van opens its doors to skate faithful, I’ll be back — and, with cross-platform and cross-progression support, I’m sure to see a lot of you there too.
Skate heads to a free-to-play early access release on Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, PS4, and PS5 from 16 September here in Australia. A later release is planned for both iOS and Android devices.
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