Session: Skate Sim is the most realistic skateboarding game out there. It’s not about instant rewards and crazy tricks, it’s about learning the hard way, it’s about failing the same trick over and over again until you finally land it. The grind is real but if you’re into skateboarding, you’ll love this game from the very first minute.
A love letter to skateboarding
Before I begin this review, let me get right to it, if you’re expecting an arcade game like Tony Hawk, you better stay away from Session, even the more realistic Skate franchise doesn’t come close to the realism of this one. Session is the first true skate sim in its genre and you’ll immediately understand why the moment you start playing. At its core, Session is all about freedom and exploring the city to find those perfect skating spots but before you can go explore, you’ll need to understand the basics first. In the first minutes of the game, you’ll have to play a small tutorial explaining the complicated controls of the game. Unlike other games, the thumbsticks aren’t used to steer or move around, if you want to turn to your left or right, you’ll need to hold down the corresponding trigger on your controller. Want to push off with your left or right foot? You can use one of the action buttons for that. Want to perform tricks? You’ll need to understand the importance of the thumbsticks. In Session, your right thumbstick corresponds to your right leg, and the left one to the left leg. This means that if you want to do an ollie, for example, you’ll need to hold down your right stick while skating and push your left stick upwards when the momentum is there. The movement you recreate with your thumbsticks is the exact same movements your legs should do in real life if you want to land an ollie. If you have a background in skateboarding and remember the placement of your feet and legs, you can start recreating those tricks using the thumbsticks as your virtual legs. Of course, weight distribution is as crucial as the movement itself so you’ll need to pay attention to how far you push down your stick in order to land some of the more challenging tricks. These controls are amazing but you’ll need some time to adjust to them. In order to get good, you’ll need to spend a couple of hours in the game.
It’s here where the game will have a hard time convincing a lot of gamers. During your first hours, you won’t land a lot of tricks and things can become frustrating at first. I’m sure a lot of gamers will play this and never want to return to it due to its steep learning curve. In all honesty; I was one of those gamers. Session is extremely hard to master and I had trouble landing a grind at first, forcing me to try over and over again until the controls finally clicked and I finally landed the trick. It was at that moment that I saw the true potential and appeal of the game. Skateboarding isn’t supposed to be easy. If you want to land a trick in real life, you’ll have to try it over and over again before you finally land it. The adrenaline rush when you finally succeed is the greatest feeling of skateboarding and until now, no other game was able to recreate that feeling. Session is the ultimate skateboarding game and is the only simulator that’s able to recreate the struggle of learning a trick right up to the moment it finally clicks and you finally land it.
The city is yours
Locations in New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco set the stage for Session and the best thing about them is the fact that you’re entirely free to explore them just the way you want. Searching for those perfect spots to land some epic tricks is part of the game’s charm and it really works pretty well. Don’t expect a highly detailed city filled with other people, skating is the beating heart of this one so the locations look empty at first but are filled with great skating possibilities. If you want some more guidance, you can clear some of the game’s missions. Finished missions result in money and you can use that money to change your outfit or your deck. Since it’s a simulation game, you’ll recognize the biggest skating brands in the stores and you can alter your deck just the way you would in real life. The customization options are insane, adding to the feeling of total and complete freedom. Although the missions aren’t really mandatory and you can explore the cities just the way you want to, having some extra cash does alter the overall experience for the better. To more you earn, the more you can personalize your deck and even the world around you.
To give you total freedom over the world, you can place and replace almost everything to your liking, lining up certain objects to perform a combination of tricks. Of course, landing those will take some time but if you’re able to, you’ll love it the moment you achieved it. Since sharing those tricks is a huge part of the culture, the game also comes with a nice replay feature that allows you to create some of those iconic nineties skateboarding videos and share them with the world. Sure, the game is still a bit rough around the edges, and the environments could use some extra flair but at its core, this is the most complete and realistic skateboarding game out there since it allows you to alter everything to your preferences.
Conclusion:
Session: Skate Sim isn’t a game for the mainstream audience, it takes patience and perseverance to become good at it, just like skateboarding in real life. If you’re looking for the most realistic skateboarding game out there, this is the one for you. Just don’t give up on the controls, eventually, they’ll click and you’ll never want to go back to regular controls.
8/10
Tested on Xbox Series X
