Since its unveil, Session has been talked about as the spiritual successor to EA's Skate. Similar to the activity itself, the decline of interest in skateboarding overall has impacted skateboarding games even more. There have been attempts to revive the sub-genre, but not even a new Pro Skater game was able to rekindle the former glory of skateboarding games.

Session finds itself at a unique opportunity to distinguish itself as something new whilst also proving that there's still interest and desire for skateboarding games.

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The State of Skateboarding Games

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Since skateboarding on its own has faded from being the pop culture phenomenon it was in the 90s, skateboarding games have suffered even worse in terms of relevancy. The last mainstream skateboarding game to come out was Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 in 2015, which had a lot of problems upon release and received very poor critical reception. For a franchise that basically built the sub-genre of skateboarding games to suffer as hard as it did in 2015, it's no wonder there haven't been many skateboarding games released since.

The last well-received skateboarding game was EA's Skate 3 in 2010, the only other well-established skateboarding game franchise out there competing with the Tony Hawk games. Skate was praised for its slightly more grounded approach to skating compared to the Tony Hawk series, separating themselves from its counterpart. Many have been hoping for a Skate 4 announcement from EA, especially after EA renewed the trademark for the Skate series and sparked community hype for a potential sequel on its way.

The unfortunate truth is that hope for proper sequels in both franchises is very bleak. Putting aside the fact that skateboarding on its own is no longer as popular as it was, both franchises have in one way or another de-confirmed any potential sequels from any of these series. Electronic Arts' CEO has confirmed Skate 4 is not currently in development, disappointing several fans who were begging on social media for the highly requested sequel.

Tony Hawk himself also confirmed he is no longer working with Activision's Pro Skater series, citing he's more focused on his Pro Skater documentary as well as his own skateboarding game separate from Activision. While that's slightly more promising news, it likely spells the death of the iconic Pro Skater series players know and love. With the two major skateboarding intellectual properties likely dead in the water, it leaves a small but significant space wide open for a newcomer to reinvigorate skateboarding video games.

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The Potential of Session

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Bring on Session, a new title in the sub-genre of skateboarding games from a completely new developer. Crea-ture Studios' Project Session is a skateboarding game designed with simulation in mind, striving to be as close to the real thing as possible. Session's main focus is attempting to capture the creativity and ingenuity of skateboard tricks, which transfers well into the gameplay's current design. There's a reason why players believe Session may be the next Skate game, or at least a spiritual successor of it.

The defining difference so far between Session and Skate is its control scheme, which is more complex in comparison. Each analog stick now represents the character's feet in an attempt to capture hardcore realism in gameplay. Players will have to balance themselves in the use of both feet when pulling off tricks, essentially an expanded version of Skate's "flick-it" trick system. Even though they will be adding a "legacy" control scheme, Session is staying true to its skateboarding sim commitment, which is exactly what Skate fans have been waiting for.

The main thing Crea-ture Studios will need to do to set it apart from Skate and Tony Hawk is frame its gameplay around personal progression. The game's creative director Marc-Andre Houde has made it clear Session will not use a traditional scoring system from tricks. Instead, Session will focus on the personal and social aspect of the real-world sport and incorporate that into gameplay progression. Players will need to focus on their execution to get better at performing certain tricks. The game will also include a photo and video sharing social system for players to show off their progress. A system heavily reliant on player interactivity is a wonderful idea, and encourages community participation. At the same time it begs the question: for players who don't want to film or photograph their avatars doing these tricks, what can they do in the game?

Session could still adhere to its core philosophy of personal progression, but an idea would be to incorporate stunt/trick activities that require a unique approach. Something like clearing a large set of steps without hitting the ground, grinding a rail the whole time, etc. Forza Horizon does this well by breaking up the monotony of just racing by including Stunt races and other types of races. Now it doesn't have to be as crazy as a Halo crossover in a racing game, but adding activities that encourage creativity could bring Session a step further.

Other than that, Session shows great promise in revitalizing the skateboarding games sub-genre. Players have been demanding for another Skate game or a better Tony Hawk game for years, and Session may be coming out at the perfect time to surpass both.

Session is out now on Steam early access for PC and will be released in spring 2020 for Xbox One.

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