Skate Preview: A tad quirky but otherwise a welcome return

Considering how 2024 ultimately went for Electronic Arts as a video game company, and the latest bunch of layoffs at the start of the summer, I went into this season under the impression that 2025 could also be quite a tough one for EA. Rumours and reports painted a picture that Battlefield 6 had nothing but an uphill battle to fight due to a staggering budget and immense player number expectations, and the rest of the publisher's slate for the year seemed to revolve around its annual sports franchises that likely only hold the interest of dedicated and returning fans. Despite all of this, Battlefield 6 had two excellent beta weekends and is now looking like a sure-fire success, and on top of this, I've had the chance to check out Skate in a hands-on build, and surprise, surprise, it too is shaping up to be mostly everything I hoped it would be.

Yep, after years of development, most of which with the help of a dedicated community who has been providing helpful feedback, developer Full Circle is ready to put Skate into the hands of players. On September 16, the game will launch as an Early Access project on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox, and what that means is that while the core body is present and there is a decent amount of content, this is only a fraction of what we'll get when the eventual 1.0 launch arrives.

So, being in Early Access, does this mean you should avoid it until the time is right? Is this one of those occasions where there is frankly not enough to justify any investment? Nope and nope. Skate is a free-to-play game, meaning while it's loaded with ways to spend real money to buy cosmetics (and only cosmetics, as no gameplay-affecting elements are set to be paid), you don't have to spend a dime to begin your journey in the vibrant playground of San Vansterdam. Also, Full Circle has basically created a fully functioning world and gameplay system as part of this Early Access build, a slate of mechanics and features that basically feels like Skate 3 if it was launched in 2025.

I've always been more of a Skate fan than a Tony Hawk fan, and if that's you too, you'll be glad to know that Full Circle offers two control schemes when you begin, with one being a carbon copy of how Skate played. If you, like me, have all of the tricks and combos implanted deep in the recesses of your mind, the first five minutes of 2025's Skate will awaken them all, summoning your past self like some sort of gnarly and radical cold war sleeper agent. Adding to this, the movement on the board is as floaty and smooth, the movement off-board is as heavy as before, there are ways to set a respawn point, systems to capture a clip and edit it into a great showreel, tons of customisation systems to make your skater your own, excellent and stupid bail mechanics, and even a rocking soundtrack filled with all manner of modern and classic indie and alternative hits.

The point is, 2025's Skate feels like Skate, as though it never left. All the hallmarks of the series are here and hopping back in feels natural and smooth, a delightful transition that I for one have been waiting a decade and a half to make, This isn't to say there aren't differences though, as there are plenty. For one, while Skate has never been a realistic looking series, here Full Circle has tended towards more animated character designs and a more colourful art direction, a bit like Dragon Age: The Veilguard in many ways and how that changed how fans saw the Dragon Age series. The characters try to be more real and authentic too, sometimes even looking to explain many of the game's more extravagant systems, such as a treatment being given to your character that apparently makes them unbreakable hence the epic bails they can easily get back up from. These things are minor changes in the grand scheme of things, but they teeter on the edge of taking the signature vibe and impression the Skate series has always presented and instead push it in a more modern direction.

In terms of gameplay, while there seems to be a few elements from the Skate days of yore that are missing at the moment, like being able to skitch on cars, most of the features are present and are even supported and expanded with some excellent ideas. For example, now when you hop off your board, you can parkour and climb up some surfaces to reach new areas. It's not as broad a system as say Assassin's Creed, but it does allow you to clamber to find hidden areas and ideal places to throw yourself off, and while I admit it sometimes looks a bit quirky and odd, in practice it just makes finding new places to shred all the more interesting.

There are also very grand ambitions for the cooperative and community side of this game, but I'll have to offer a more reserved opinion on that for the time being, as there can be hundreds of other player skaters riding around one server of San Van at a time, but due to the nature of the preview, I only ever encountered a few. I'm sure this will make the experience all the more entertaining when there are countless others popping tricks and setting up sweet lines to own.

And also, back to the microtransactions side of the game, I can't yet make much of an informed opinion on how much of the overall experience these will take up, but I will say that anyone who just wants to play and wants to tick off in-game challenges (which even reset on a seemingly daily basis) to earn reputation and progression points, you will find many, many ways to earn new cosmetics and gear too.

The long and short of it is that from what I've experienced, Skate seems to be a pretty great return to form for the series. In a manner, it's a bit like Battlefield 6, because I'm waiting for the curveball, I'm waiting for the pin to drop and to find out what's been put in place that will make my time and investment feel unrewarding. So far, again like Battlefield 6, I don't see any worry, I just see a truly fun game that absolutely wreaks of nostalgia but not in the safe and quite boring way that the endless stream of remasters and remakes do.