Skate 4, officially titled “skate.” (seriously, EA?), arrived on Steam in Early Access yesterday. The reaction has been swift and harsh. Full Circle’s reboot of the beloved extreme sports sim franchise is getting hammered with negative reviews bashing it as “mostly empty, soulless, and constantly remind[ing] you to spend money” and “everything i didn’t want.” But then I see incredible clips of players doing ridiculous nonsense and I immediately become transfixed.
Skate 3 came out well before our current age of social media brain rot, but clips of Jesus shredding to Pearl Jam have still made it the stuff of internet legend. I have no idea if Skate 4—excuse me, I mean “skate.”—will be able to rekindle the same grungy magic of a lost skater age, but I can say, based on some of the new clips going viral, that it does not seem like an entirely lost cause.
Man you don't even know pic.twitter.com/4XIlCEdKx4
— Konto (@KontoLetzPlay) September 16, 2025
The new Skate’s off-board mode, for example, apparently allows players to roll around like Donkey Kong, or body-surf the streets like a concrete-resistant Mario, picking up speed at rates even more frictionless than wheels, defying both the laws of physics and the apparent purpose of the game. “looks massively enjoyable,” wrote one player. “No I really do enjoy it and improved beyond this clip lmao I just find it funny how I have more fun off the board than I do actually skating,” admitted the other.
You will find this contradiction on the game’s subreddit as well, with reactions that oscillate between “What a disappointment…” and “shut the fuck up and let me skate in peace.” One player summed it up like this on Bluesky: “The gameplay is so good i just wish it wasn’t soulless. Doesn’t capture the charm of the old games and the tutorial is way too hand-holdy.”
