skate. is here, featuring a free-to-play model and set in a new location: a city called San Vansterdam. SV is considered the sister city of San Vanelona, the home city of the first two Skate games in the series before the franchise switched to Port Carverton for Skate 3. There’s also a new art style for the characters (which has been very controversial amongst the community).
However, despite everything being new for the latest installment, known simply as skate, some classic elements return, including the always brilliant Flick-It system. This control scheme is as good as it’s ever been and makes pulling off lines in San Van extra satisfying. However, things like Hall of Meat, pro skaters, and cops are currently not in this game, sadly.
The ragdoll physics were a highly popular aspect of the first few Skate games, particularly in Skate 3. Well, those physics return, but now, you can go crazy with it off your board, as parkouring is now a part of the series. So, in some ways, you could say it’s two extreme sports games in one.
Parkour opens up your eyes to new possibilities in skate. Using parkour can help you find some fun, new skate spots that you didn’t think were in the game. In this article, we’ll explain what types of parkouring you can do and how to do them (including one completely unexpected move).
Climbing
Yes indeed, you can hop off your skateboard and start climbing things in skate. Almost any building that you see in San Vansterdam is climbable. And when you reach the top of certain buildings, you’ll be welcomed by an awesome new skate spot.
This also includes some amazing drops and big ramps where you can pull off some huge aerial moves and give you some great, vertical satisfaction. Even the tallest building in San Van is climbable, but, spoiler alert, there’s nothing at the top. However, it’s a cool spot to drop your own ramps and rails to create a mini skate park in the sky.
But to start climbing, all you need to do is find ledges that look grabbable and then jump, and your character will grab on. Hold the jump while holding the left stick up to climb up higher if there’s another grabbable spot right above. You can move side to side as well while holding on to a ledge during your ascent.
Doing Flips
When you’re off your board in skate., another thing you can do is perform flips. You can score points for doing these tricks, by the way. It’s a fun little change of pace for tricks if you decide to take a little break from the skating. Front flips, backflips, rodeo spins, etc, you can do it all.
To pull off some flips, just hold down the left trigger (L2 on PS5, for example) and move the left stick in any direction while you jump. You’ll then perform a flip. By the way, you can do flips while you do a Hippy Flip. A Hippie Flip lets you jump off your board while you’re skating and then land back on it while the board is rolling.
It’s a popular move for when you want to let your board roll under a bench while you jump over it and then reconnect with your board. It’s always an awesome move to do, and so, you can do flips during your Hippy Flips as well. X and square at the same time lets you Hippy Flip while it’s A and B on Xbox.
Flying
Yes, you read that right, you can fly in skate. Well, OK, glide, but still, it’s pretty wild that you can do such a thing in the game. Find yourself a building to climb, and you can glide right off of it and gain some distance. You can do so by holding R1 and X at the same time on PlayStation and RB and A on Xbox controllers.
You can also dive like a torpedo, too. If you really want to go for a good slam, this is one way to do that in San Vansterdam. You can do so by holding R1 and circle on PlayStation controllers, while it’s RB and B on Xbox controllers.
Even if you aren’t the biggest fan of this feature, it can lead to some neat photo opportunities if you’re jumping off of a fairly tall building. It’s also just fun if you want to goof off a bit before getting back to the juicy stuff, which is the skating.
Rolling
This is something in skate. that is so wild that it needed its own section. You curl up into a ball and roll around San Vansterdam. Yes, this is not us trolling. You can go from doing kickflips in the streets to turning into Sonic the Hedgehog.
No doubt that some of the silly animations and physics from Skate 3 were an inspiration for this, but even knowing that, it’s still hilarious seeing this randomly added to the new game. If you want to get the ball rolling on this, then simply hold down the R2 button for PlayStation or RT for Xbox while off of your board to start your roly poly adventure.
You can also press X (PS) or A (Xbox) to jump while you’re in this rolling maneuver. This actually helps you pick up speed during the roll (maybe you’re Sonic after all). This was definitely a feature that caught a lot of gamers off guard, even for players who experienced some of the wackiness of Skate 3. All we need now is the iconic Green Hill Zone level from the first Sonic, and we’ll really be cooking.
