Fans of extreme sports have great reason to be excited. Skater XL is out now on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, with a Nintendo Switch port confirmed for a later date. Check out the launch trailer here!
2020 is shaping up to go down in history as a hallmark year for sports games revolving around the popular extreme sport of skateboarding. First, we learn that the iconic Tony Hawk Pro Skater games are getting promising remakes, and soon after Electronic Arts announced their plans to revive the Skate franchise.
From early in development, we were very decided on bringing something new to the genre. We felt there was another big step that this genre could take and we were very well positioned to have a go at it. This is our interpretation of the skating game people really wanted the whole time.This is where things were moving to.
The most important thing to understand about Skater XL is that it’s designed to be fun in the same way that skateboarding is fun. The core of the gameplay is designed more as an expressive and creative tool than a traditional video game with pre-set challenges to complete. The game is unique in that it doesn’t have any tricks programmed into it, only control of the movement through the thumbsticks. Each thumbstick is connected to the character’s corresponding foot — the right stick controls the right foot, the left stick controls the left foot.
But today Skate XL beat them both to the punch and is already available to play. And it sure looks like indie developer Easy Day Studios has hit a home run. The reception by the gaming community was already very positive during its Early Access period.
Physics-based gameplay and unprecedented control over your character give you a deep skateboarding experience where every trick is not only nice to look at but a satisfying achievement.
