It’s been nearly a decade and a half since the last Skate game was released, but veterans won’t have to wait much longer to tear up the streets once again. The next entry in the arcade-y skateboarding series launches into early access on Sept. 16.

The franchise reboot (just named «Skate») was developed by Full Circle, a studio composed of much of the same talent that worked on the original games.

After a long drought, skateboarding game fans have dined well on the compilation remakes of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2, along with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 and 4. The Skate series has always been a bit different, emphasizing freeform skating with its unique control scheme of flicking the controller joysticks in different directions to achieve tricks, which has been faithfully rebuilt in the new game.

Even so, many fans of the series who would be otherwise excited for its return have their hackles raised, and I can’t blame them.

That’s because Skate is launching as a free-to-play, mainly online game in the «live service» fashion, with plans to continue releasing content for players to earn or buy. That might be a red flag for fans of the older offline single-player games, who may have grown weary of live service games that pressure players to play with limited-time events and to buy rare in-game items.

But after getting the chance to play Skate alongside dozens of other press members and influencers during an online prelaunch preview, I’m hopeful this might be one of the best examples of how live service games can work for developers and gamers alike. It feels like an experiment that developers poured their heart and soul into.

Community, collaboration and nailing tricks with your friends

The developer Full Circle aims to keep player freedom at the core of the new Skate game. The setting is the sprawling fictional city of San Vansterdam, designed to allow you to pull off whatever trick you want, wherever you want, whenever you want. Every street corner has some sort of attraction that implicitly encourages you to get big air, grind a long rail or climb a building to soar your board through the skies.

The game’s simple promise of letting players make their own fun at every juncture is a return to the series’ roots. The reason it works so well is that you’re surrounded by dozens of other players exploring the world, too.

Dumping 150 players into an open-world sandbox and letting them do their own thing is an inspired way to build a community. Skaters in real life are collaborative — they egg each other on and lift each other up as they work at the next big trick — and that applies to this virtual world just as well.

During my preview time in San Vansterdam, I played with only a couple of dozen other players at any given time, and it was an electric experience. It was awesome to watch skilled players pull off tricks (and then flounder to try and replicate their motions) before peeling off in another direction.

Skate is the rare game where I didn’t feel like I needed an objective to guide my gameplay, mainly because I was having lots of stupid fun on my own. At one point, I discovered players rolling around off their boards, and I joined them in an impromptu tumbling conga line. Another time, I watched a player parkour up a building and followed their lead, discovering an entirely new area to do tricks above the hustle and bustle of the street.

My favorite moment was made possible by the new spectate feature. With this feature, I could watch nearby players do their thing and instantly teleport to them if I decided to join in on the action.

While I was flicking through perspectives, I discovered one player standing on top of a bridge in the northeast corner of the map. They were jumping off and ragdolling toward a bronze anchor statue, trying to thread the needle through the hole at the top.

I took part and made several dozen attempts at the base jump before making it through the hole myself, but not without my character slamming his head into the statue with a comically loud bang.

As Skate gets its early access release, I imagine an emerging community working together to find the most entertaining trick spots in San Vansterdam. The only thing more entertaining than trying to nail a trick is doing so while watching half a dozen randoms (and your friends) flounder around with you.

Will the game appeal to newcomers and veterans alike?

As a Skate first-timer and someone whose skateboarding experience mostly entails watching my brother learn to ollie and kickflip, I was worried that I might be in over my head.

Luckily, I was able to choose between the original dual-stick-flicking control scheme and a simpler, modern one that makes it easier to focus on landing tricks. There’s still a bit of a learning curve, but I was able to get on the board and nail some rudimentary moves to get me properly moving around the city after the tutorial wrapped up.

While I wasn’t the biggest fan of how my player character looked (he appeared soulless no matter how hard I tried to meddle with his face), I enjoyed how completing challenges in the open world would directly unlock more outfit options — though I suspect the best clothing will be locked to the purely cosmetic microtransactions that will support the game at launch.

As I donned a tangerine shirt and shorts and stuck a cherry pattern on my board, I felt like I was showing off my in-game experiences to other players. Likewise, their own avatar customization told me a story about their time with Skate.

While the world of San Vansterdam was built with player freedom in mind, the art style doesn’t reflect the Skate games that veterans have come to love and revere. Everything is minimalist, bright and sanitized. The city feels like it belongs in Mirror’s Edge rather than an arcade-style skateboarding game, a genre that embraces the grit and graffiti of street culture.

There are no realistic skateparks or grimy aqueducts to grind down. Gone are the Hall of Meat replays that would highlight gnarly bails and broken bones. And if you’re looking for familiar faces in the world of professional skateboarding, like those featured in the Tony Hawk games, you aren’t going to find them here.

Longtime fans will likely have their gripes with some of these choices, and those aren’t easy fixes. You can’t just change an entire art style on a whim, even if you can sign a deal to license pro skaters to feature in your game.

It remains to be seen if these will be deal-breakers for the vets, but I’ll say this much: Skate is made with a lot of love. The classic flick-it control scheme from the old games was rebuilt from the ground up just to cater to the old heads who want to play the same Skate they’ve known for years.

As an early access live service game, Skate has room to grow and develop according to its fans’ wants and needs. If Full Circle keeps an ear to the ground and addresses any pain points that arise early on, I think this may become a perennial fan-favorite.

Skate will be launched into early access on Sept. 16, releasing concurrently on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC. The game will support cross-platform play and cross-progression.