Session
- September 22, 2022
- crea-ture Studios Inc.
- 44h median play time
Although Session: Skate Sim is a difficult game to get used to, the joy of pulling off tricks far outweighs the frustration. It faithfully recreates skateboarding culture of the 90s, and offers tons of freedom to play however you want.
"Session: Skate Sim" is a realistic skateboarding game with dual stick controls representing each foot, providing a true-to-life skateboarding experience from the 90s street skating era. The game focuses on physics, smoothness, and immersion, with a challenging learning curve that rewards mastery and creativity. There's no scoring system, just you, your skateboard, and your imagination. Customize your settings and dive into a skateboarding culture simulation.
Reviews
- The game offers a realistic skateboarding experience, capturing the nuances of tricks, balance, and movement.
- The controls, while challenging, provide a rewarding sense of accomplishment when landing tricks.
- The game features extensive customization options for gameplay mechanics, allowing players to tailor their experience.
- The game is plagued by bugs and glitches, including issues with trick registration and character animations.
- Many missions are poorly designed or bugged, leading to frustration and a lack of clarity on objectives.
- The game lacks essential features like grabs and vert skating, making it feel incomplete despite being labeled as a full release.
- gameplay683 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 68 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The gameplay of "Session" is characterized by a steep learning curve and a focus on realism, appealing primarily to dedicated skateboarding fans. While the core mechanics are praised for their depth and potential, many players report significant bugs, unfinished features, and a lack of polish that detracts from the overall experience. Despite its challenges, those who invest time in mastering the controls often find the gameplay rewarding, though the game is still considered to be in an early access state with ongoing development needed.
“The gameplay customization is very dynamic and provides lots of freedom when it comes to how the player wants to play the game, and that is a very good thing, although a little jarring to figure out at first.”
“Once you start figuring out how to skate (huh... kinda like skating in real life, must be a sign of a good skate sim), the gameplay is genuinely so rewarding.”
“The core gameplay genuinely, 100% makes up for it; if you're looking for a challenging skate sim that makes landing a fs bigspin lipslide down a handrail actually feel dope, session is definitely it.”
“Game had promise, until it took them over 2 years for a small bug fix. All they want to do is sell you new maps; I doubt there will be any major updates to actual gameplay or new tricks anymore. Sad to see it.”
“The gameplay itself is clunky but a good foundation, although it's buggy as hell. Literally, the first mission bugged out and was incompletable.”
“The game is fun once you get used to the controls, but the game is not done yet despite the 1.0 update and continues to have bugs, clunky mechanics, stiff animations, and other issues that make it obvious the game wasn't ready for release.”
- story659 mentions
- 11 % positive mentions
- 78 % neutral mentions
- 10 % negative mentions
The game's story mode is criticized for being shallow and poorly executed, often feeling more like a series of frustrating missions than a cohesive narrative. Many players report significant bugs that prevent mission completion, inconsistent trick registration, and vague instructions, leading to a lack of engagement with the story. Overall, while the game offers a sandbox experience for skating, the story elements are seen as underdeveloped and in need of substantial improvement.
“The story mode is now broke, and you can just randomly fall over skating switch.”
“The story seems forced, grinding is literally impossible, and the city just seems bland.”
“The missions are frustratingly broken and seem barely playtested for someone who plays all manual no alignment with medium trucks.”
“The lack of story or any actual missions that have any meaning or impact in the in-game world makes this game feel extremely underwhelming.”
“The story mode is not worth your time; the missions are simplistic and poorly explained, offering little guidance on how to complete them.”
“The 'story' that they added is shallow, awkward, and feels cheaply made despite having big-name pros.”
- stability425 mentions
- 1 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 99 % negative mentions
The game's stability is a significant concern among users, with many reporting frequent and frustrating glitches that hinder gameplay, such as character freezes, unresponsive controls, and mission failures. Despite its potential as a skateboarding simulator, players feel it remains in an unfinished state, often likening it to an early access title rather than a polished product. While some find the bugs amusing or manageable, the overall consensus is that the game requires substantial updates and fixes to improve its stability and user experience.
“Ps: I play this on Steam Deck, which runs great.”
“That's really one of my only gripes with the game at the moment; the graphics and physics are really good and it's not that buggy for an early access game.”
“Update: For those with a Steam Deck, this runs great at 30fps locked with high graphics settings.”
“It's just too buggy in its current form to be worth the price.”
“The game is still buggy as all hell; one mission is currently softlocked, so I can't progress that mission.”
“I really wanted to like Session; I really did, but the reality is this game needs a huge amount of work and polish before this can be a full release.”
- graphics370 mentions
- 52 % positive mentions
- 44 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many praising the overall visual quality and aesthetic appeal, particularly in environments and trick animations. However, several users report issues such as inconsistent performance, graphical glitches, and a lack of optimization, which detracts from the experience. While some consider it the best-looking skateboarding game available, others feel it falls short compared to older titles like Skate 3, highlighting a need for further improvements and refinements.
“The graphics are amazing, there's challenges and missions to do, shops with merch from real brands, there's plenty of content to keep you busy.”
“The graphics are the best they have ever been in a skateboarding game, and has a nice soundtrack to fit the NYC atmosphere.”
“The graphics are beautiful, and the environments are amazingly detailed recreations of real east coast spots.”
“The game's visuals are so stuttery and inconsistent that I get a migraine playing it.”
“Graphics glitch making the screen completely yellow and unplayable for Intel graphics card.”
“Playing on highest settings in 2K looks below average for 2023; again, in a sim, the graphics are kind of important.”
- music356 mentions
- 31 % positive mentions
- 61 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with many players noting its limited variety and repetitive nature, primarily featuring reggae and chillhop tracks. While some appreciate the chill vibe it provides for skating, others express a desire for a more diverse soundtrack that includes genres like punk and rock, reminiscent of classic skate culture. Overall, players suggest adding more music options or allowing custom playlists to enhance the experience.
“The music is dope.”
“Excellent realistic sick soundtrack.”
“The soundtrack is amazing as well.”
“Now for one of the big things for me, music.”
“The only real complaint I have is the music, but that is personal preference and I just mute it and play my own.”
“As of 1.0, they got rid of the majority of their soundtracks (basically less than a handful of short songs now), which completely removes the original feel of 90's skate culture.”
- grinding154 mentions
- 1 % positive mentions
- 1 % neutral mentions
- 97 % negative mentions
Grinding in the game is a polarizing experience, often described as tedious and glitchy, with many players finding it overly precise and difficult to master. While some appreciate the realistic feel and challenge it presents, others are frustrated by the frequent bails and inconsistent mechanics that detract from the overall enjoyment. Overall, grinding is seen as a significant area needing improvement, with many players hoping for future updates to enhance its functionality and responsiveness.
“You'll need a second life for grinding.”
“A bit grindy sometimes.”
“Grinding is an absolute chore...and it is way too easy to bail.”
“Grinding is incredibly scuffed and barely works; half of the things in this game barely work.”
“Grinding is hard to lock in and very glitchy.”
- optimization93 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 61 % neutral mentions
- 18 % negative mentions
The optimization of the game has received mixed reviews, with some players praising its performance on lower-end systems while others report significant issues, including lag, stuttering, and poor control responsiveness. Many users express frustration over the game's inconsistent performance across different hardware configurations, particularly on consoles, and call for more focused optimization efforts from the developers. Overall, while some players find the game runs smoothly with adjustments, a substantial number highlight the need for further improvements to enhance the gaming experience.
“The game is well optimized and the physics are really good.”
“With the newest patch, performance is better again.”
“The graphics are great for what it is and the game is amazingly optimized. I was able to run it smoothly on my own PC, which is pretty underpowered for gaming, just by tweaking the video settings.”
“Love the game, it's a really good game. It's a shame that I have to give a negative review, but it is not optimized for PC at all. First off, Steam completely screws the controls because if you customize it to your standards or how you want to play, for example, I play with the Nintendo Switch layout. Setting it that way in-game just completely breaks the game, like the controls switch back and forth to the Xbox layout and then the Nintendo Switch layout. It just gets really annoying. I would recommend playing on a console as opposed to a PC. I've tried this on other gaming PCs that I own, and it just isn't optimized for PC.”
“The optimization is not very good, and there are noticeable issues, but in general, it is a very good game, and there is more to be fixed and implemented.”
“Performance is atrocious; it's super clunky, animations are stiff and buggy, so there's really nothing nice to look at either.”
- humor74 mentions
- 99 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 1 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is a mixed bag, with many players finding the physics glitches and ragdoll falls amusing at first, but often becoming tedious over time. While some bugs lead to genuinely funny moments, they can also disrupt gameplay, leading to frustration. Overall, the game's comedic elements, particularly in its quirky physics and character animations, provide a lighthearted experience, especially for those who enjoy skateboarding culture.
“The game still has some bugs, sometimes affecting your playthrough, which can either be problematic or funny, depending on what happens and what sort of attitude you have.”
“The ragdolling after you inevitably stack is also hilarious and is a throwback to Skate 3.”
“I find the 'OG' character incredibly hilarious due to his unfinished model and the funky physics of the hair when doing tricks.”
“But it's not funny.”
- monetization30 mentions
- 3 % positive mentions
- 7 % neutral mentions
- 90 % negative mentions
The monetization strategy of the game has been widely criticized as a blatant cash grab, with many reviewers expressing disappointment over the prioritization of microtransactions and paid DLC over essential game development and completion. Players feel that the game was released prematurely, lacking core features and polish, while aggressive advertising and monetization tactics detract from the overall experience. Overall, the sentiment is that the developers have shifted focus from delivering a quality product to maximizing profits, leaving the game feeling unfinished and exploitative.
“It just kills me seeing indie devs doing the gross stuff that the AAA devs have been doing and just not finishing their games, but at least there's no microtransactions.”
“Most of these are very simple fixes, yet the devs would rather spend their time pushing out microtransactions.”
“This game is exclusively a cash grab now, especially visible from the rampant additions through DLC that contribute nothing to the base experience which feels incredibly half complete, not even having proper animations for dropping down the board.”
“The 1.0 release is a cash grab.”
- atmosphere19 mentions
- 63 % positive mentions
- 21 % neutral mentions
- 16 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is praised for its satisfying sound design, detailed environments, and a diverse soundtrack that enhances the overall vibe. Players appreciate the chill ambiance, with features like a day-and-night cycle and interactive objects, although some note a lack of NPCs can make the world feel empty. Overall, the aesthetic and immersive qualities create a compelling experience reminiscent of classic skateboarding games.
“Satisfying sound design and details like wear and tear on your board make the game very atmospheric.”
“The game features a full day-and-night cycle, with streetlights turning on at night, making for an amazing atmosphere.”
“After playing this game for close to 50 hours, I just want more of it and I can't stop playing: the atmosphere, the music, the setting, and the gameplay all make for a great experience that reminds me of the one I had while playing Skate 2.”
“It's quite barren; there is no atmosphere. Very few places where you can get an actual good jump. I also enjoyed the game for a few hours, but it just lacks content. It needs a map browser where users can upload their maps, similar to Descenders. I haven't seen much of a roadmap for this title either; it needs a lot of updating for it to even remotely be a good game.”
“After the update, it started to feel like Skate 3, not control-wise but more in terms of the atmosphere. With the bots walking around the city, it really hit the spot.”
“The atmosphere and music are lacking, which detracts from the overall experience.”
- emotional16 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players express a mix of frustration and satisfaction regarding the emotional aspect of the game. While the complex controls and frequent falls can be annoying and reminiscent of real-life skateboarding struggles, successfully landing a trick provides a significant sense of accomplishment and emotional reward. The improvements in physics enhance the overall experience, but persistent issues with ragdoll mechanics and glitches can detract from the enjoyment.
“Even with that, I can spend hours not even touching the quests and just free skating around and trying the same trick/line over and over until it's perfect.”
“Landing a trick made me feel accomplished.”
“If you disable every help, landing a trick gets converted into a huge emotional reward.”
- replayability15 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 47 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
Players consistently highlight the game's high replayability, attributing it to a diverse range of tricks and a balance of accessibility and depth in gameplay. Despite being in early access, many find it more playable than completed titles, with the potential for endless replay value enhanced by community mods and ongoing improvements. While some challenges may lack motivation, the core gameplay and features like the replay editor keep players engaged for hundreds of hours.
“A diverse range of tricks, flips, and grinds adds depth and replay value to the gameplay.”
“That being said, the game offers so much and has, in my opinion, unlimited replay value.”
“Insane amount of replayability, I'm now some dozen hours in and I'm still figuring out new things.”
“Game used to be a little more playable than it is now, lmao.”
“Much more playable than the early release for the Xbox One - would not recommend purchasing for console at this time.”
“A little buggy, but it's more playable than other early access games I tried.”
- character development1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Character development in the game is minimal, with users noting that the dialogue is bland and unengaging, leading many to skip through text. This lack of depth is expected, as the game focuses more on gameplay mechanics than on narrative or character progression.
Critic Reviews
Session: Skate Sim review
Although Session: Skate Sim is a difficult game to get used to, the joy of pulling off tricks far outweighs the frustration. It faithfully recreates skateboarding culture of the 90s, and offers tons of freedom to play however you want.
75%Session: Skate Sim Switch review
Session: Skate Sim on Switch feels better when controlling the board, but the visuals certainly suffer in both handheld and docked.
70%