State of the Skateboarding genre

One game genre that was a big part of my life growing up was skateboarding games. Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3, 4, and Underground were games that I played frequently growing up. When I got my own PS2, I would play those 3 games a lot. It took me forever to finish 3 and 4. Underground was a game I saw through because of its compelling narrative and highly polished gameplay. Honestly, I did not finish 3 and 4 until I revisited the games in my freshman year of college, and it was just as fun as I remembered. Even more so, since I could understand some of the more mature humor of the game. However, despite the large gap between the start of these games and their completion, I was still playing other games within the genre, mainly the Skate games.

I was first introduced to the Skate series through my brother and his PS3. My brother has been a lifelong skater, so he was all over the skate series since day one. I don’t really remember the game that was my introduction to the series, because Skate 1 and Skate 2 share a lot of the same DNA, but I do remember playing Skate 3 a fair amount. In fact, when the big 2011 PSN hack occurred, I ended up playing Skate 3 because the online services were down. I think I was trying to play some Uncharted 2 multiplayer at the time or something similar, but that’s besides the point. Not long after that, I had my own PS3 and owned a copy of Skate 3. I played through the story mode, and then, around 2015, I made the dumbest decision of my gaming life and traded in my copy, thinking that Tony Hawk Pro Skater 5 was going to come out and be good. It wasn’t, I didn’t buy it, but I saw the press around, and thus began the dark years of no new skateboarding games and a repurchase of Skate 3.

Luckily, these dark years didn’t last for long, and we are currently seeing a resurgence of the genre. Today, we have the likes of the Skate, Skater XL, Session, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3+4, and the relatively newcomer Skate Style. There’s also Skate Story, but I have a lot to say about that game, and I don’t think reserving a section within this post gives it the proper recognition it deserves. Anyway, within the current line-up of skateboarding games, there is a clear division among them in their control schemes and overall design goals. I would say the genre can easily be split into 3 sub-genres: arcade, flick it, and simulation.

Let’s take a look at the oldest of the sub-genres first, the arcade-style skate games. Tony Hawk Pro Skater is a textbook example of the sub-genre. It focuses on simple button inputs that the player strings together to perform tricks and combos. In recent years, the series has seen a resurgence due to the popular 2020 remake of THPS 1 and THPS 2. These games were remade from the ground up in Unreal Engine 4 and helmed by Vicious Visions. The remake brought THPS 4’s gameplay and merged it with the levels from the first two games. The result was an experience that felt like a true successor of the series, and a remake of THPS 3 and THPS 4 felt like a no-brainer.

However, Activision decided to disband the studio, and the team’s remnants became a support team for Blizzard. We eventually received the remake of THPS 3 and THPS 4 last year, but the experience was flawed. The gameplay was fine, but the main problem that I had, and many others had with it, was that the game did not deliver the full THPS 4 experience. For those unfamiliar with THPS 4’s changes to the series, the game removed the time limit previously seen in the series and implemented a hub-based design that allowed players to take on challenges within the level. This key aspect was removed from the THPS 4 remake, and in its place, the levels were reverted to a list of challenges that the player must complete within a time limit. Due to this change, I often refer to THPS 3+4 as THPS 3.5 because of the cut features of 4. Before the remake’s release, I was talking to my brother about the cut features. He agreed that it was something they should address because he remembered that THPS was starting to feel stale and repetitive, and then 4 came out and changed everything, and with Tony Hawk wanting Underground to be remade next, it is something they need to figure out. Also, Underground is quite raunchy in its humor, which could be a problem due to some of the sanitation the genre has seen since its comeback.

Speaking of sanitation within the genre, there’s no bigger victim of this than Skate, a reboot of the Skate series. Again, the game is mechanically solid and blends a nice mixture of realism and arcade fun through its flick-it trick system. Like its predecessors, it relies on the player to move the right joystick in certain ways to perform tricks. Unlike its predecessors, this title is a free-to-play live service game that is in early access. As a result of this difference, the game’s design goals differ from its predecessors. Skate has to create content that keeps players returning to the game and find ways to get players to spend their money. Due to this need, Skate resorts to using an in-game store where players can buy in-game currency to buy items for their skater. In-game currency can also be gained by completing challenges scattered throughout the map, but that’s just about the only motivation for the player to do those challenges. These challenges are also very limited; you only really do a few types of challenges, like lines, own the spot, and stunt challenges. In past games, you had those challenges, but you also had games of S.K.A.T.E., death races, photo ops, and competitions. Another major thing that’s missing in the new Skate game is varied locations. The current map is good, but it feels really flat. The game could use some areas that are similar to some of the more downhill locations, like the drainage ditch and quarry in Skate 3. Sometimes I also feel like the world design relies on the player to add objects within the game to complete lines scattered throughout the world. There are a few spots within the game where you have lines that don’t have any clear landing spots, such as the parking lot to the church cap and the new crane ramps that they added near the M-Corp tower. Despite all my complaints about this game, I do enjoy skating in this game and have spent many a night skating the streets of San Van while playing YouTube videos in the background.

San Van has not been the only city I have skated around late at night and listened to YouTube videos at the same time. Back during the dark ages, when there were no new Skate or THPS games, I dove into the skate genre’s indie scene, where the focus was more on simulation. The first game I dove into was creā-ture Studios’ Session. I bought the game back in 2019, and when the pandemic hit a year later, it became a major part of my lockdown daily routine. I would spend most of my day making 3d models within Maya, then hop onto Session and skate around before going to sleep. At the time, the game was still in early access, and there were no NPCs, so it was just me, my skateboard, the streets of New York City, and some YouTube videos. It was quite the experience to play a game that reflected real-world conditions of 2020, and my daily sessions really got me hooked on the new trick system it introduced. I found the idea of each foot being a joystick to really add a new level of depth to gameplay. It forced me to really think about my inputs and timing when performing tricks. The added difficulty also made performing lines much more impressive because you had more inputs to juggle. I continued to play the game post-pandemic and enjoyed the mission structure it introduced. However, the lack of grab tricks was a bit of a buzz kill for me, and the game’s priority was slowly shifting more in the live service direction, where new maps were given more of a focus over new tricks.

Another big reason why I slowly moved away from Session was the discovery of Skater XL. I probably started playing Skater XL in 2021 on PlayStation 5. I think my brother told me about the game, and he had been playing it for a while before I jumped in. Over time, I took a liking to Skater XL and found it easier to play than Session. The controls were a bit more forgiving and didn’t require as much thought as Session, because the way you performed tricks stayed consistent regardless of the stance you were in. If you found yourself in a switch stance, your joystick’s functions were not flipped like in Session. Another big factor that led me to play Skater XL more than Session was having it on console. At the time, I was still adjusting to PC gaming and was still primarily a console gamer, so I found it much easier to turn on my PS5 than to boot up Steam on my gaming laptop. I think the addition of multiplayer was another big boost to the game, because I remembered playing a bit of the game with my brother. There were a few sessions where we just built big mega ramps within some of the game’s levels to perform massive jumps.

Unfortunately, we both grew tired of Skater XL over the years and felt that the game wasn’t really delivering everything we were hoping for. We found most of the newer levels quite small, and we were hoping to get some that could compete with those seen in Session. We did find the concept of an active modding scene to be a cool concept for the game on console, but we were hoping for additional content from the main studio that never really came. The only level that is somewhat comparable to something you would see in Session is downtown LA. However, I will say that a focus on smaller maps does make for a unique experience. Skater XL has no shortage of skate parks that are based on or inspired by real spots, and I have spent entire sessions skating around some of these smaller levels. The game is still getting some pretty cool maps as recently as 2025. I was especially impressed by Area 52 and the 2025 Tampa pro skate park introduced into the game.

Despite Skater XL’s unique nature, I have learned of a new skateboarding game called Skate Style. A game that could overtake Skater XL. Skate Style is still extremely early on in its development, with the title only being announced this past week, but a demo was released to accompany the announcement trailer. I have played the demo, and I can report that it feels pretty solid but has a lot of room for improvement. The trick system is another simulation-based control scheme that uses the dual analog control scheme. At the time of writing, the demo consists of a tutorial area that teaches you the basics of the trick system and a decently sized skate park that has 3 sections. The first section is composed of a plaza with ramps and some rails to grind. The second section has more rails to grind, but includes a few ramps and slopes to skate up. The third area has two pools and a half pipe. Each section is connected by a short hallway that has some curved curbs for the player to grind. The only major problems I have with the game are that grinding feels too easy, the game will occasionally cause a bailout out of nowhere, and the camera for on-foot controls needs some work to prevent clipping through walls. I am really excited to see how this game evolves and what it can bring to the table in terms of level designs and systems. The game’s reveal trailer showcases a mix of street and transitional skating. The trailer also features a toolkit that allows players to tweak trick animations to their liking. I personally won’t be diving into the feature too much, but I imagine there will be a lot of variety across the player base.

Overall, the skateboarding genre feels stronger than ever. Each of the games I have discussed has the potential to do great things. I imagine Tony Hawk Pro Skater will continue to get remakes, but if they wanted to do a Tony Hawk Pro Skater 6, it would be good hands. The new levels featured in Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4 remake were good enough to fill the gaps left from the cut levels from the original release, and my only gripe with the latest remake is that a key feature of 4 was cut. The core gameplay was as solid as it has ever been. As for Skate, it has a rough road ahead, but I am hoping future seasons will address some of the problems I have with the game. On the simulation side of the genre, things are progressing as well. Session is getting a major update in the coming days. Skater XL is a bit less active than other skateboarding games, but it has a dedicated modding scene, and new maps are added through mods throughout the year. The recent addition of Skate Style also bodes well for the genre because it shows there is room for additional games to bring in new ideas, such as a custom animation system and different takes on level designs seen within the genre.