More than a decade after Skate 3 graced our seventh-gen consoles (we’re in the ninth-gen now, btw), a new Skate game is dropping next year. Developed by Full Circle Games, Skate 4 – or rather, skate. – is confirmed to release into Early Access in 2025, and it’ll be available on PC for the first time in the series’ life.
The game was initially teased in 2020, and the developers have been trickling out details for the past four years. Thankfully, this means we have quite a good idea of what the game is going to look like when it drops into early access.
Check Out the Teaser Trailer
Is it the prettiest looking game? Not really. But does it look awesome? Yes sir.
The Skate team have actually dropped a whole bunch of gameplay snippets over the past few months, and, with the game having been open to playtesters for some time, you can easily find footage of what’s coming next year.
In fact, here’s another look at the game from some recent Insider playtests.
From what we can tell, the new Skate is really focused on giving us a faithful sequel to 2010’s Skate 3, and will be delivering some new and improved flick-it tricks soon.
Full Circle’s head of creative Jeff Seamster noted in a recent developer update that the game would be a free-to-play game in a “massively multiplayer world”, where players coexist in the world together and, presumably, rag doll into one another. In fact, the game will feature crossplay across last-gen, current-gen and mobile ports, which should help the world to feel full of players.
How Do We Think It’ll Work?
Skate’s development team confirmed the game will be utilising the famous ‘flick-it’ control scheme it pioneered in the 2000s, though added that they had done a ton of work rebuilding the system for the next game.
The game has also revamped what you can do off your board, according to gameplay engineer Lance Lawson, who noted that players will be able to climb buildings and nearby architecture in order to get to new places – presumably to then launch themselves off of it.
“We want to make sure every trick feels fun and satisfying, while delivering the familiarity from past Skate games,” Lawson said.
“On top of that, we’ve improved accuracy and control to make learning tricks easier. The team is also hard at work to give you the tools to have fun your way, by yourself or with friends, anywhere in San Vansterdam.”:
You can also create your own fun by dropping objects into the world to skate on using the game’s new ‘Quick Drop’ system, which we see a little bit in the trailer, with a ramp appearing in front of a character to change how they get onto the rail ahead.
Full Circle’s lead systems designer Tobin Tse noted that the system allows you to drop rails, ramps, and other objects, into the multiplayer environment in real-time to better create the kind of experience you want to skate in, and then challenge your friends, or randoms, to jump into your little obstacle course.
Honestly, the idea of exploring a city with my friends, and making my own little skatepark, sounds awesome.
When is Skate 4 Coming Out?
The game is coming to early access in 2025, though no specific release date has been confirmed yet, though we know it’ll be on PC, mobile, PS5 and Xbox Series S and X. You can, however, sign up to be a part of the game’s playtests here, if you’re itching to get into the streets of San Vansterdam.
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