During Microsoft’s E3 2018 conference, the studio shed a little light on a recent Kickstarter project called Session that looks to revive the skateboarding genre.
As you might imagine, Session leans heavily on your nostalgia for classic skateboarding experiences like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and the Skate series. That’s a sensible strategy, but it is one that runs the risk of making people subtly realize that it’s been over a decade since we’ve gotten a skateboarding game that is truly worthwhile.
So what will Session do to revive this troubled genre? That’s a fascinating question that we’re not entirely sure that the game’s developers have answered yet. What we can tell you is that Session will utilize a control scheme similar to the one seen in the Skate series – which means that it will rely heavily on the use of dual-analog stick controls – which seems to suggest it won’t be quite as arcadey as the classic Tony Hawk games. Your reaction to that news may vary based on your personal preferences.
Interestingly, Session features a surprisingly detailed filmmaking mode that allows you to capture and edit footage of your runs for the purposes of sharing them with the world. This harkens back to the ’90s when skateboarding became extremely popular largely due to an underground tape trading circuit that showcased the skills of some revolutionary skaters.
Advertisement
In that same vein, it appears that most of the game’s levels will accurately recreate famous skate spots from across the world. The E3 trailer alone showcases a few popular skateboarding locations in New York City, and we imagine the west coast will be featured heavily in the final project.
Here’s everything else we know about Session:
Session Release Date
Session will be available as part of Steam’s Early Access program starting on September 17. It will then be made available on Xbox via the Xbox Game Preview program a few weeks later. Session will then properly be released sometime in early 2020.
Further Reading: 20 Best Video Games to Play in 2020
Sessions Trailers
Here’s the E3 2018 debut trailer for Session:
Matthew Byrd is a staff writer for Den of Geek. He spends most of his days trying to pitch deep-dive analytical pieces about Killer Klowns From Outer Space to an increasingly perturbed series of editors. You can read more of his work here or find him on Twitter at @SilverTuna014.
Read and download the Den of Geek SDCC 2019 Special Edition Magazine right here!