44 hours later, I’m not sure whether Skate is the sequel I want

The Skate games rewired my brain, with each push and swish of the Flick-It system consuming hours of summers more than 15 years ago. Skate 2 is still one of the greatest games in the genre, but EA Black Box is no more. In its wake, Full Circle is resurrecting the series for a new generation, shifting the focus to a live-service title, because everything needs to be an online experience in 2025.

Not only have I put around 14 hours into the game’s early access preview build, but I’m at liberty to talk about the 30 hours I’ve devoted to the pre-pre-alpha version, too. Joining the Skate playtest is pure luck, but I didn’t hesitate to get stuck in after all these years of waiting when my invite landed a couple of months ago. Before I go any further, it’s important to note that when Full Circle says early access, it means it. Environments around San Vansterdam still lack textures, for example.

Everything is subject to change, according to a trio of developers appearing at a private presentation I attended. The aesthetic quality of Skate can be a bit jarring on that front, and that’s before we get to Full Circle’s chosen look for the series’ brand-new chapter. What I loved about the first two games is the imperfect, dirty, street-level visual dressings that give the locale of New San Vanelona an aura. Skate 3 veers away from this to a degree, giving the player a city to explore that embraces skateboarding.

Port Caverton’s gritter areas, like the docks, still exude a welcoming atmosphere in that regard. Following on from that notion, Full Circle’s world is essentially a skating utopia. Everything is vibrant, popping off the screen with saturated colors. Towering over the city is M-Corp’s headquarters, the corporate overlords looming over the prospect of skating in San Vansterdam. In-game lore dictates that M-Corp is responsible for sucking the soul out of the city during the 1980s Wall Street boom, and they even got Tim Robinson to be part of it.

It’s the kind of playful tone that Skate is known for, but at present, this threat doesn’t exactly feel palpable. Security guards are nowhere to be seen, removing the need to call up your skating allies to send them packing or to discard obstacles in your way. If San Vansterdam really is feeling the oppression of M-Corp’s reign, I’m struggling to see it. There’s a distinct lack of edginess across Skate as a result.

That extends to your character model, perhaps the most divisive aspect of Skate. It’s easily the biggest point of discourse within Skate’s community, and heavily featured in the firing line of a live chat that Full Circle included in its press event. It’s closer to Fortnite or Sea of Thieves than previous games, and it’s just as odd as it sounds. Luckily, the selection of cosmetics makes up for this. Well, when you have access to them, that is.

I get it, live-service games need to make money. In a bizarre move, the pre-pre-alpha build of Skate includes microtransactions. However, any purchases made don’t extend to the Skate release date. Say goodbye to those lovely Nike SB shoes. Rather than just purchasing clothes in the customization menu, shops contain various drops that you can redeem in exchange for in-game currency. To get this currency, you need to complete challenges, while more lucrative bundles want you to part with your hard-earned cash.

Most of these bundles contain your average clothing options, with a few brand collaborations popping up infrequently. The designs of the clothing are pretty good, I just wish I didn’t have to mess around with loot boxes to get them. Acquiring these bundles also increases your reputation with each of the map’s districts, giving you the chance to unlock more challenges. Full Circle makes it clear that Skate is coming with a story, one that it tells across each season.

Just don’t expect cutscenes or interactions with returning characters. Shingo, Slappy, and other familiar faces return, but with noticeably different voice talent in the booth. You can’t fool me, I know Dante Basco’s Shingo when I hear it, and that ain’t it. Instead, animated avatars of them appear at the bottom right of the screen during missions. I don’t feel like Skate is telling a compelling narrative, at least not right now.

Each game has a purpose, whether that is starting a brand to sell boards or making it to the X-Games. Aside from planning to get back at M-Corp and mingle with the San Vansterdam City Council, it has me questioning the need to grind challenges at all. Most of Skate’s challenges consist of pulling off various lines or death-defying feats (no Hall of Meat, though) with gradually harder modifiers to adhere to.

Returning from the other games, Own The Spot and Line Challenges are the bulk of Skate’s mission list in this build. That’s fine, and despite the lack of a strong story, the vast majority of these missions are actually quite fun. Skate excels when it encourages you to keep trying new things and experimenting with your approach. Factoring in the refined item drop system helps this, pushing me to place objects along my lines for maximum effect. This is what Skate, at its core, is all about: getting up and giving it another go.

With friends and other players, it’s a good time. However, the early access build for the press cut me off from the rest of the world. My time in the pre-pre-alpha is where I can see how Skate cultivates a social environment. Full Circle’s overhauled movement system for off-board traversal is genuinely brilliant, and is something the series has needed since the start. Built on the Frostbite engine, yes, the same tech as FPS game giant Battlefield, Skate’s parkour flows well.

I love climbing up to hidden spots, leaping across gaps, and dangling off high-rise buildings. One of my favorite moments across my 30 hours sees me setting up a bench on a skyscraper, and just admiring the world going by with other players. It’s a magical moment. When the game launches, I reckon squadding with friends and exploring is going to be sublime. I often boot up GTA 5 on my PlayStation 5 just to drive along the coast of Los Santos with my buddies, and Skate offers the same level of bliss.

But underneath it all, what is the primary feature: skating? Full Circle doesn’t disappoint in this department. Skate feels superb to play, with every familiar beat of the series’ unique take on the sport retained from Black Box’s era. Be it a 360 Flip or a Christ Air, it feels just as satisfying as it did in 2010. I’ve been booting up Skate purely to get my fix of reeling off lines, just like I did in the older games, so something is at least keeping me coming back to it.

But as is the common theme of Skate so far, there are some caveats. Tricks like Darkslides are absent right now, but Full Circle tells us that they will make an appearance with the game’s first major seasonal update. Footplants and handplants are virtually broken, again, another feature the developer plans to fix. Nollie tricks need some work, too. Having played the introduction to Skate twice, there needs to be an option to skip the entire opening tutorial hour, as each quest is a simple rehash to hammer in the basics.

As Skate is an evolving game, more tricks and features are planned to be added in the future. This extends to the soundtrack, which also features a solid selection of hits from the likes of Wallows, Joey Valance and Brae, Royal Otis, and more.

Some songs are in the environment as interactive orbs that lure you to locations off the beaten track. It’s a neat touch to get me to uncover what spots are hiding in the finer details of San Vansterdam. Performance-wise, the game is no trouble for ROG Ally, able to run at high settings at 1080p resolution and 120Hz mode without any major hitches. I played Skate mostly using the handheld PC’s 25W Turbo setting, but 15W fares decently. In some cases, it even ran better than the PlayStation 5 build.

This is the frustrating thing about Skate. For every positive element Full Circle succeeds at, there’s always something around the corner to drag it down. It pains me to say it, but there is a part of me that does feel somewhat disappointed in Skate.

I think, like many, I’d rather have had another $50 game that comes feature-complete out of the box, with some supplementary DLC down the line. I do wonder if a live-service switch is the nail in the coffin for Skate. I’m hoping that isn’t the case, as there’s every chance that Full Circle can iron out the creases.

Skate enters early access on September 16 on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X, and PC, with a free mobile game port set to follow. There is still no sign of a Nintendo Switch 2 port, so check out our Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 review in the meantime.