Skateboarding was once a quintessential subgenre in gaming. Series like Tony Hawk Pro Skater and EA’s Skate helped introduce the sport to new generations, thanks to satisfying mechanics that even the most athletically-averse gamers could get behind. But in the modern era, few games are gamifying skating the same way developers were 15 years ago.
Enter Skate City: New York, a new game from developers Agens and Snowman coming to Apple Arcade in early 2025. Skate City: New York is actually a sequel to a 2019 game, Skate City. But thanks to some smart departures from the original to keep the experience fresher for longer, as well as expanding into 2.5D mechanics, this sequel feels like a substantial addition to the history of great skateboarding games.
Like the original, Skate City: New York is a side-scrolling skating game that combines the intuitive, timing-based flick-it controls of the Skate series with the combo-obsessed sensibilities of the Pro Skater games. The marriage of mechanics is entirely intentional, according to Andew Schimmel, the game’s senior producer.
“We wanted to feel like an authentic take on skateboarding,” Schimmel told Inverse. “But we of course looked to those games for inspiration.” For veterans of those older games, the touch-based controls will only take a moment before muscle memory kicks in. Like Skate, ollies and flip tricks are executed by sliding a finger in one of eight directions and releasing the tap when ready to jump. Hitting grinds is about timing jumps and aligning with rails and ledges just right. There are also body spins for rotations.
Meanwhile, landing a manual (skateboarding’s equivalent of a wheelie) is about tapping the upper corners of the screen before all four wheels hit the ground. Balancing manuals and grind tricks is about carefully balancing a meter like in the Tony Hawk games. Scoring big is about risking huge falls to tag on one more trick to your continuous combo. These mechanics may sound difficult, but colleagues who played the game with little prior experience seemed to get their skating sealegs after just 10 minutes or so.
The game’s backgrounds are also interactable. Slopes, ramps, and railings in the background and foreground aren’t there just for show. Prepare a jump near them and the skater automatically rides these areas. It’s a pretty dynamic system that works great and looks even better. That does a lot to add environmental variety to the stages.
Where Skate City: New York really shines is its look and feel. The first game was simple in its presentation. Its three stages, Los Angeles, Oslo, and Barcelona, had a few recognizable spots for fans of the sport, but the focus was on nailing tricks. As the name implies, this sequel takes place entirely in a mostly faithful recreation of New York City. At launch, the game will feature Central Park, Manhattan streets, and Brooklyn’s downtown area.
“New York is one of the coolest cities in the world and a skating mecca,” Schimmel said.
Unlike the previous game which had cities with clearly defined beginnings and ends that looped together, New York is endlessly skatable in the objective-based Pro Skate mode thanks to procedural generation.
“We wanted to feel like you're actually scoring New York, and you feel like you can go through the city forever,” Schimmel said. “ We have a highly tuned difficulty system that will notice if you’re falling a lot it will show you the obstacle more so you can practice. But keep going and you’ll start entering totally new areas or you’ll drop into the subway. You'll experience something new around every corner that just helps to stay fresh all the time.”
While procedural generation is old hat for 2D endless runner-type games, it was striking how often that I, as a lifelong resident, recognized locations. Manual-ing past a legally distinct Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory under the Brooklyn Bridge or building speed as I passed the iconic globe at Columbus Circle all brought an air of authenticity that I wasn’t expecting from a Canadian studio.
“A lot of the research was looking up photography and satellite imagery,” Schimmel said. “It was running through the city and picking the best landmarks and areas that add different unique elements of like, vibrancy to the city.”
“We also spent a lot of time creating a lot of different NPCs,” he added, explaining the real sense of hustle and bustle that the game’s more.
Expanding on this part of the game is a big part of Snowman and Agens post-launch plans for Skate City: New York. “The biggest additions are gonna be new areas of the city,” Schimmel said. “I won't say exactly what's going to come out when. But we have plans to hit Harlem, Queens, the Highline, and the airports.”
In addition to new locations, the game will get a constant stream of new challenges for its skill-based single-player modes focused on high scores and objectives. But while there is a proper mode for players looking to complete Skate City: New York, there’s also a more laid-back free skate mode aligned with the freestyle nature of the sport.
“Free Skate is when you want to chill out and session your favorite spot or just practice,” explained. In free skate, levels are finite, letting players go to specific spots they want to master. “If you crash, you just get back up. There are no consequences.”
In Free Skate mode, it’s also possible to change the game’s 2D perspective, perfect for recording clips of your best combos, applying slo-mo and other effects, and sharing them online.
Skate City: New York is a fun throwback to the skating games of yesteryear. Its trick system borrows the best parts of the most important games in the genre. But it’s also a fun kickback game with plenty of reason to return. If developers Snowman and Agens can provide updates that feel as authentic, visually striking, and fun to skate as the game’s starting levels, Skate City: New York is destined to be an early must-play for Apple’s underrated subscription service.
